TY - RPRT AN - 01069772 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Tri-State airport runway improvements, Huntington : environmental impact statement PY - 1972///Volumes held: Draft KW - Environmental impact statements KW - West Virginia UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/829157 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01069771 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Columbus airport land acquisition : environmental impact statement PY - 1972///Volumes held: Draft KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Nebraska UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/829156 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01069767 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Ingersoll airport runway construction : environmental impact statement PY - 1972///Volumes held: Draft KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Illinois UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/829152 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01069762 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Oxford County regional airport runway and taxiway improvement, Oxford : environmental impact statement PY - 1972///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Maine UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/829147 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01069761 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Panola County airport, Batesville : environmental impact statement PY - 1972///Volumes held: Draft KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Mississippi UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/829146 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01069760 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Mississippi County airport ADAP : environmental impact statement PY - 1972///Volumes held: Draft KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Missouri UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/829145 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01069759 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Bolton Field airport improvements, Columbus : environmental impact statement PY - 1972///Volumes held: Draft KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Ohio UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/829144 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01069758 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Concord municipal airport runway and taxiway construction : environmental impact statement PY - 1972///Volumes held: Draft KW - Environmental impact statements KW - New Hampshire UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/829143 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01069756 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Salt Lake City International Airport land acquisition and improvements : environmental impact statement PY - 1972///Volumes held: Draft KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Utah UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/829141 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01069755 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Duplin County airport development : environmental impact statement PY - 1972///Volumes held: Draft KW - Environmental impact statements KW - North Carolina UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/829140 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01069752 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Grant Municipal Airport runway construction, Perkins County : environmental impact statement PY - 1972///Volumes held: Draft KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Nebraska UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/829137 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01069746 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Aitkin municipal airport improvements : environmental impact statement PY - 1972///Volumes held: Draft KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Minnesota UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/829131 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01069743 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Cleveland airport development : environmental impact statement PY - 1972///Volumes held: Draft KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Ohio UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/829128 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00155615 AU - ECKERT, R D AU - American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research TI - AIRPORTS AND CONGESTION: A PROBLEM OF MISPLACED SUBSIDIES PY - 1972 SP - 71 p. AB - Although federal airport subsidy programs have strong adherents, the case in favor of them is an uneasy one. The beneficiaries of these subsidies are mainly higher income groups. The is no reason to suppose that airports and aviation make a contribution to the nation's economic growth that is more important than many nonsubsidized industries. Airports also create costs in the form of noise, air, and water pollution which suggest that their activities might be taxed rather than subsidized. For the purpose of this paper, however, one of the most important arguments against subsidies is that they increase congestion rather than reduce it. Charging below-cost prices also creates new users who lobby in behalf of continuing subsidies. Recent court decisions indicate that the pricing of airport services is legal. Pricing systems could be of two kinds. The first would impose peak-hour landing fees. These fees would have to be adjusted from time to time according to a "trial-and-error" procedure until queues declined to desired levels. The second kind would create landing rights or slots that would be vested in current users and be fully transferable. This would allow higher-valued users to purchase slots from lower-valued users, and thus improve airport efficiency. The rights need not be given in perpetuity. They could be renewable permits granted for 3-year periods. Neither of these pricing systems is likely to present large problems in implementation. But some experience with their operation could be gained through experiments at two or three airports that might last up to three years. The experiments could be funded under the planning grant authority of Public Law 91-258. They would produce information on the nature of airport demand, the extent to which prices can reduce congestion, and any unforeseen problems in administration. KW - Airports KW - Consumers KW - Costs KW - Environmental impacts KW - Environmental quality KW - Federal assistance programs KW - Federal government KW - Federal programs KW - Finance KW - Landing KW - Peak periods KW - Subsidies KW - Traffic congestion KW - Users UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/49313 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00155613 AU - Institute Transport Aerien TI - THE AIRPORT. ACCESS BY AIR AND LAND PY - 1972 SP - 190 p. AB - This symposium considered problems which are centered on the airport: on its setting, its location and its role. They are related to the characteristics of the air transportation industry and can be defined under six main headings: congestion, distance, number of airports, environment, cost and role. Congestion before and after the airport. The saturation of airspace and the congestion of surface links affect air transport in terms of time, regularity and financial costs. Compared with other transport media, they may also create a handicap if urban, suburban and regional extensions are not adequately drained and irrigated by convenient services. The dispersion of points and zones involved adds to the complexity. The increasing distance between cities and airports which are cut off from their economic and demographic context and lose in efficiency and integration in daily life what they gain from the technical viewpoint. An environment effected by disturbances - particularly noise -which are tolerated less and less. Increasing the number of airports, either to serve major cities or equip a region or country: diversification gives obvious advantages but poses problems concerning traffic distribution, operation and frequencies, investment and land acquisition. KW - Airport access KW - Airport capacity KW - Airport congestion KW - Airport location KW - Airport noise KW - Airport operations KW - Airport planning KW - Airports KW - Costs KW - Environment KW - Landside capacity KW - Location KW - Traffic congestion UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/49312 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00090092 AU - Moses, R O AU - Blackstone, S L AU - Martin Marietta Corporation AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - FILTER BELT OIL RECOVERY SYSTEM PY - 1971/12 SP - 308 p. AB - The results of a systems development program (Phase I) for preliminary design of a high seas oil recovery system are presented. Requirements were to project a system capable of recovering 2000 gpm of oil with a low water content. Oil would be recovered from the water surface by two continuous filter belts mounted in the center of a catamaran hull. The filter material retains oil but allows water to pass through freely. An additional oil/water separation system is not required. The system would include a 2000 gpm oil transfer system for offloading recovered oil. It may be used in conjunction with oil containment booms, floating oil storage bags, barges, or small tankers. The system would be designed to operate in waves up to 5 ft. average height. The system would be required to be transported by land vehicles or C-130 cargo aircraft. This report describes basic filter material performance testing, model basin testing, filter belt development, subsystem requirements definition, and preliminary design. KW - Belts KW - Filters KW - Manual safety belts KW - Oil spills KW - Performance KW - Performance engineering KW - Test procedures KW - Water pollution UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/23531 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00155597 AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Peat, Marwick, Mitchell and Company TI - AIRPORT ACCESS - A PLANNING GUIDE PY - 1971/10 SP - 20 p. AB - The organization and financing of airport access studies appear to be unique in each application. Financing sources range from the Federal Government with support from communities or local transportation agencies to the airport owner/operator. Regardless of the source of financing, a consistent and broad set of goals and objectives should be defined and analyses undertaken to evaluate the impacts of system and operational alternatives on the users, the community, and the organizations involved. Unless the financial implications and potential benefits are clearly defined, it will be difficult to implement the recommendations. Even a clear or reasonably accurate statement of impacts will not guarantee implementation, since the value structure of the private or public sector agencies, as measured by the definition of priorities and allocation of revenues, are influenced by institutional factors and may be different than the values structures of the community at large. Also, budgeting or resource-allocation considerations of potential implementing agencies may span a broader or different set of objectives. This set may be completely consistent with the role of the implementing agencies. KW - Airport access KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Financing KW - Impacts KW - Landside capacity KW - Resource allocation UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/49298 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00091282 AU - Dunlay, WJJ AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - A STOCHASTIC MODEL OF CONTROLLED AIRWAY TRAFFIC PY - 1971/10 SP - 55 p. AB - The model presented in this paper may be used to estimate the expected number of overtake, crossing and merging conflicts at one flight level of an airway network. In addition, procedures are described for estimating the workload and saturation capacities of the network. A number of simplifying assumptions facilitate the analysis. Among these are (1) poisson arrival processes at all points, (2) constant aircraft velocities, and (3) aircraft paths that are coincident with charted airways, or otherwise predictable straight line segments. Each conflict model is essentially a conditional probability model given a particular pair of aircraft types which is then summed up over all possible aircraft-type pairs to obtain the unconditional conflict probabilities. A discussion of possible extensions of the model is included at the end of the report. KW - Air traffic KW - Air traffic control KW - Capacity quantity KW - Civil aviation KW - Classification KW - Conflict (Psychology) KW - Flight paths KW - Forecasting KW - Mathematical models KW - Mathematical prediction KW - Networks KW - Probability KW - Stochastic processes UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/24087 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00090151 AU - ohio University, Athens AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - INSTRUMENT LANDING SYSTEM IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM PY - 1971/10 SP - 186 p. AB - Results of ILS improvement studies performed at Ohio University are reported. The report is divided into sections ILS Glide Slope and ILS Localizer. Some of the topics treated under ILS Glide Slope are terrain effects and terrain grading criteria, snow effects, development of a directional glide slope antenna with integral monitoring, siting problems at specific sites, and introductory work on reflections from large aircraft. The main topics treated under ILS Localizer are suppression of parasitics in the Scanwell localizer, study of augmentation of clearance generated by the Scanwell localizer, performance of the Scanwell array and three types of monitor under localizer fault conditions, reflection of localizer signals from hangars and from large aircraft, and preliminary work on design of a localizer array which produces clearance within a 35 degrees sector only. KW - Attenuation KW - Directional antennas KW - Glide path systems KW - Instrument landing systems KW - Monitoring KW - Radio transmission KW - Scattering KW - Transmission UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/23558 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00203770 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - GROVE CITY AIRPORTS, GROVE CITY PENNSYLVANIA. FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT PY - 1971/10 SP - 25 p. AB - THE PROJECT PROPOSES TO ACQUIRE LAND FOR AIRPORT DEVELOPMENT TO CONSTRUCT RUNWAYS AND TAXIWAYS TERMINAL APRON AND TAXIWAY TURNAROUNS; TO CONSTRUCT ACCESS ROADS; TO INSTALL MEDIUM INTENSITY LIGHTING SYSTEM INCLUDING VASL, STUB TAXIWAY LIGHTING AND ROTATING BEACON, AND LIGHTED WIND CONE AND SEGMENTED CIRCLE. THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT WILL PROVIDE A PAVED AND LIGHTED AIRPORT, WHICH WILL ENHANCE THE OVERALL ECONOMY OF THE AREA SERVED AND IMPROVED THE INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL GROWTH OF THE COMMUNITY. /AUTHOR/GRA/ KW - Airport runways KW - Airports KW - Development KW - Economic benefits KW - Economic development KW - Industries KW - Intermodal terminals KW - Lightning KW - Taxiways KW - Trade UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/95523 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00203771 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - SANTA BARBARA MUNICIPAL AIRPORT, SANTA BARBARA, CALTFORNIA: ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT PY - 1971/10 SP - 127 p. AB - THE PROJECT PROPOSES TO CONSTRUCT A PORTION OF A PARALLEL TAXIWAY TO SERVE THE MAIN INSTRUMENT RUNWAY AT THE MUNICIPAL AIRPORT. THE PROPOSED TAXIWAY IMPROVEMENT IS NOT EXPECTED TO AFFECT THE ENVIRONMENT OF THE SURROUNDING AREA OR HINDER THE ECOLOGICAL BALANCE OF GOLETA SLOUGH. /AUTHOR(GRA)/ KW - Airport runways KW - Airports KW - Construction KW - Environmental impacts KW - Taxiways UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/95525 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00226631 AU - Obrien, P J AU - National Aviation Facilities Experimental Center TI - A DYNAMIC SIMULATION STUDY OF AIR TRAFFIC CAPACITY IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY TERMINAL AREA PY - 1971/08 SP - 114 p. AB - A DYNAMIC SIMULATION OF AIR TRAFFIC OPERATIONS IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY TERMINAL AREA WAS CONDUCTED TO DETERMINE AIR TRAFFIC CAPACITY ESTIMATES WHEN SEVERAL DIFFERENT AIRPORT EXPANSION PLANS WERE IMPLEMENTED. CAPACITY ESTIMATES WERE MADE FOR THE FOLLOWING SEPARATE CONDITIONS: FIRST, THE PRESENT DAY SYSTEM SLIGHTLY MODIFIED TO ACCOMMODATE AN INCREASED VOLUME OF TRAFFIC; SECOND, WITH THE OPERATION OF AN ADDITIONAL RUNWAY AT SAN FRANCISCO AIRPORT; THIRD, WITH THE OPERATION OF AN ADDITIONAL RUNWAY AT OAKLAND AIRPORT; AND FOURTH, WITH THE OPERATION OF A NEW MULTIPARALLEL RUNWAY AIRPORT LOCATED NEAR THE SOUTH END OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY AND WITHOUT THE EXPANSION TO EITHER SAN FRANCISCO OR OAKLAND AIRPORTS. AN ESTIMATE WAS ALSO MADE OF THE TOTAL SYSTEM CAPACITY WHEN ALL AIRPORT EXPANSIONS WERE IMPLEMENTED. /AUTHOR/ (GRA) KW - Air traffic KW - Air traffic forecasts KW - Airport capacity KW - Airport planning KW - Airport runways KW - Airspace capacity KW - Development KW - Expansion KW - Forecasting KW - Highway capacity KW - Metropolitan Oakland International Airport KW - Parallel runways KW - Parallel taxiways KW - San Francisco International Airport KW - Simulation KW - Taxiways KW - Traffic simulation UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/112979 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01351688 AU - Mohler, Stanley R AU - Gerathewohl, Siegfried J AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Civil Aeromedical Standards for General-Use Aerospace Transportation Vehicles: The Space-Shuttle Follow-on PY - 1971/07/01/OAM Report SP - 8p AB - Second-generation general-use aerospace transportation vehicles will evolve, and aerospace medical specialists must provide timely medical criteria for (a) occupant selection, (b) vehicle design features, and (c) operational guidelines. Incorporation of this aeromedical data will result in (1) enhanced mission success and mission efficiency, and (2) minimized opportunity for mission failure, accidents, and long-range adverse consequences due to human factor deficiencies. The data include medical standards for the occupants plus standards for oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and monoxide, humidity, heat, water vapor, internal noise, radiation and other items. KW - Aerospace engineering KW - Civil engineering KW - Guidelines KW - Human factors engineering KW - London Orbital Motorway KW - Medical services KW - Space shuttles KW - Vehicle design UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/39000/39100/39167/AM71-33.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1114749 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01351732 AU - Smith, Roger C AU - FAA Civil Aeromedical Institute AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Personality Assessment in Aviation: An Analysis of the Item Ambiguity Characteristics of the 16PF and MMPI PY - 1971/07//OAM Report SP - 8p AB - Devices such as the 16PF and MMPI have been widely employed in the evaluation of personnel in aviation settings. The present study investigated the problem of item ambiguity (the degree to which an item elicits multiple interpretation) which may limit the utility of such devices when used in screening procedures.Subjects completed either the 16PF or the MMPI while concurrently rating each item on a five-point ambiguity scale. The ambiguity for each item was determined and the relationship between ambiguity and sex of the respondent, the individual factor scales, and the scores of subjects on the scales were considered. The implications of the findings for the item construction and use of the tests in various applications were discussed. KW - Ambiguity resolution KW - Aviation KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Gender KW - Human factors KW - Personality KW - Psychological aspects UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/39000/39100/39169/AM71-35.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1114753 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01351660 AU - Cobb, Bart B AU - Lay, Carolyn D AU - Bourdet, Nancy M AU - FAA Civil Aeromedical Institute AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - The Relationship between Chronological; Age and Aptitude Test Measures of Advanced-Level Air traffic Control Trainees PY - 1971/07//OAM Report SP - 32p AB - This study examined the interrelationships of age, aptitude measures, and training performance scores for 710 men who entered basic air traffic control (ATC) training at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) academy during November 1968 through March 1970. They ranged in age from 21 to 52 years, but less than 12% were over the age of 40. More of the subjects were former military controllers who possessed sufficient prior ATC experience to be (a) selected for training with an exemption from a qualifying aptitude index and (b) appointed to trainee status with higher-than-normal pay grades. Age correlated negatively with 21 of the 22 aptitude measures and with training grades. On most tests, performance means of subjects over age 34 were significantly lower than those obtained for the younger trainees,and their attrition rate for the training course was three times that of their younger classmates. Only one of the 22 aptitude measures failed to correlate positively with the training grades. The results indicated that greater effectiveness in screening such applicants could be attained if eligibility standards were modified to include considerations of both age and aptitudes. KW - Age KW - Air traffic control KW - Air traffic controllers KW - Aptitude KW - Personnel performance KW - Tests KW - Training UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/39000/39100/39170/AM71-36.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1114814 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00200611 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - OPERATIONS UNDER THE AIRPORT AND AIRWAY DEVELOPMENT ACT PY - 1971/06/30 SP - 46 p. AB - THE AIRPORTS PROGRAM IS BASED PRIMARILY ON THE PROVISIONS OF THE AIRPORT AND AIRWAY DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 1970 (PUBLIC LAW 91-258) ENACTED ON 21 MAY 1970. PRINCIPAL ACTIVITIES OF THIS PROGRAM INCLUDE: PREPARATION OF A NATIONAL AIRPORT SYSTEM PLAN; ADMINISTERING PROGRAMS OF GRANTS-IN-AID FOR AIRPORT PLANNING AND AIRPORT DEVELOPMENT; DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF AIRPORT PLANNING, ENGINEERING, AND SAFETY STANDARDS; AIRPORT CERTIFICATION AND INSPECTION FOR SAFETY OF OPERATIONS; FIELD COLLECTION OF INFORMATION FOR THE AIRPORT DATA PROGRAM; PARTICIPATION IN TRANSFER OF FEDERAL LAND AND PROPERTY FOR CIVIL AIRPORT USE; AND THE PROGRAM FOR ASSURING COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT OF AIRPORT AGREEMENTS. /AUTHOR/ KW - Airports KW - Development KW - Laws KW - Programs KW - Safety UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/89571 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00226628 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - SYSTEM DESIGN FOR AN ALL WEATHER AIRPORT SURFACE TRAFFIC SYSTEM PY - 1971/04/26 SP - 135 p. AB - THE DESIGN REQUIREMENTS AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR AN ALL WEATHER SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING AIRPORT SURFACE TRAFFIC ARE PRESENTED. THE STAGES IN PROGRESSING FROM THE CURRENT SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING AIRPORT SURFACE TRAFFIC TO AN ALL WEATHER SYSTEM ARE DESCRIBED AND INCLUDE: EXISTING SYSTEM, VISUAL SIGNALLING, DETECTION, ALARM/PRIORITY LOGIC, COMPUTER PROCESSING, AND REDUCED VISIBILITY GUIDANCE AND 1269545 TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS KW - Airports KW - Design KW - Design features KW - Detection and identification KW - Detectors KW - Guidance KW - Information processing KW - Traffic control KW - Weather UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/112976 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00092083 AU - Federal Aviation Administration AU - National Aeronautics and Space Administration TI - MEASUREMENT OF RUNWAY FRICTION CHARACTERISTICS ON WET, ICY OR SNOW COVERED RUNWAYS PY - 1971/04/01 SP - 26 p. AB - Three methods of measuring runway friction characteristics are described and possible usage of the data obtained is indicated. The information presented reflects the current state-of-the-art for measurement and classification of the relative slipperiness of runway surfaces. The three methods described include: (1) The diagonal-braked vehicle test method for measuring stopping distances on paved surfaces, (2) the Mu Meter method for evaluating runway surface characteristics, and (3) the James Brake Decelerometer method for determining runway slipperiness in the form of a friction coefficient. KW - Acceptability KW - Acceptance KW - Airport runways KW - Equipment tests KW - Friction KW - Ice KW - Military facilities KW - Moisture content KW - Pavements KW - Skidding KW - Snow KW - State of the art KW - Surfaces KW - Test equipment KW - Test procedures UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/28824 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01513857 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Grove municipal airport land acquisition and runway and taxiway construction : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Oklahoma UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1298181 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01513855 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Jesup-Wayne County Airport land acquisition and runway improvements : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Georgia UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1298179 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01513854 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Carrizozo municipal airport runway extension : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - New Mexico UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1298178 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01513853 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Redding municipal airport land acquisition : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - California KW - Environmental impact statements UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1298177 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01513852 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Albert Lea municipal airport expansion : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Minnesota UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1298176 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01513851 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Salisbury-Wicomico County airport land acquisition : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Maryland UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1298175 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01513850 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Wahoo municipal airport runway extension : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1298174 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01513849 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Lawrence Township municipal airport land acquisition and runway extension, Clearfield : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Pennsylvania UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1298173 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01513848 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Clarion County airport, new airport : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Pennsylvania UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1298172 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01512971 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Calhoun County airport, new airport, Pittsboro : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft(in F), Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Mississippi UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1297295 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01512970 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Lonesome Pine airport runway extension, Wise County : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Virginia UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1297294 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01512968 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Rexburg-Madison County airport runway extension : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Idaho UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1297292 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01512966 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Truckee-Tahoe airport land acqusisition and runway improvements : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - California KW - Environmental impact statements UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1297290 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01512965 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Dothan airport runway improvements and extension : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Alabama KW - Environmental impact statements UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1297289 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01512961 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Terry County airport runway resurfacing and extension, Brownsville : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Texas UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1297285 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01512960 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Memphis International Airport runway extension : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Tennessee UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1297284 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01512957 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - New Holstein municipal airport upgrading runway pavement : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Wisconsin UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1297281 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01512037 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Alma/Bacon County airport land acqusition and runway construction : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Georgia UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1296361 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01512036 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Batesville airport land acquisition, runway and taxiway construction : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Arkansas KW - Environmental impact statements UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1296360 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01512034 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton airport land acquisition and runway extension, Allentown : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Pennsylvania UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1296358 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01512033 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Gettysburg municipal airport land acquisition and runway extension : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - South Dakota UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1296357 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01512027 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Pierre municipal airport runway upgrading : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - South Dakota UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1296351 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01511118 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Jekyll Island airport runway-taxiway extension, Glynn County : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Georgia UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1295442 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01511117 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Mission Field runway extension, Livingston : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, F KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Montana UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1295441 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01511116 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Kent County airport runway extension : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Michigan UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1295440 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01511115 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Iowa Falls municipal airport land acquisition and runway construction : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Iowa UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1295439 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01511114 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Colby municipal airport runway extension : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Kansas UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1295438 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01511113 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Henryetta municipal airport runway extension and reconstruction : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Oklahoma UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1295437 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01511112 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Martin County airport runway extension, Williamstown : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - North Carolina UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1295436 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01511111 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Pender municipal airport, new airport : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1295435 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01510200 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Jefferson Davis airport, new airport, Prentiss : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft(in F), Final, Final(microfiche) KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Mississippi UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1294524 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01510199 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Capital Airport runway relocation, Springfield : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, F KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Illinois UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1294523 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01510198 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Reidsville airport, new airport : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Georgia UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1294522 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01510196 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Savannah municipal airport long term development : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Georgia UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1294520 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01510195 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Great Falls International Airport runway extension : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Montana UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1294519 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01510194 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Cambridge municipal airport land acquisition : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Minnesota UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1294518 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01510193 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Carson airport land acquisition and runway extension, Carson City : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Nevada UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1294517 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01510192 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Goldsboro/Wayne municipal airport land reimbursement and improvements : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - North Carolina UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1294516 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01510191 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Loup City municipal airport, new airport : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1294515 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01510189 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Lancaster County airport ADAP, Lancaster : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - South Carolina UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1294513 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01509309 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Atlanta airport loop road construction, drainage system, Clayton/Fulton counties : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Georgia UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1293633 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01509308 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Walker Field runway extension, Grand Junction : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Colorado KW - Environmental impact statements UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1293632 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01509307 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Bonifay airport new runway construction and land reimbursement : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft(in F), Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Florida UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1293631 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01509306 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Mankato municipal airport expansion : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Minnesota UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1293630 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01509304 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Minot International Airport land acquisition and runway extension : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - North Dakota UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1293628 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01509302 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Ogallala municipal airport, new airport : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1293626 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01509301 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Pickens County airport runway extension, Liberty : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - South Carolina UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1293625 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01508405 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Murray Field runway extension, Eureka : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - California KW - Environmental impact statements UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1292729 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01508402 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Broken Bow municipal airport land acquisition : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1292726 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01508401 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Salt Lake City airport land acquisition and runway extension : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Utah UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1292725 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01508399 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Reading municipal airport runway extension : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Pennsylvania UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1292723 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01508396 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Plattsmouth municipal airport, new airport : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1292720 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01507434 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Pine Belt Regional Airport (proposed), Laurel and Hattiesburg : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Mississippi UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1291758 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01507433 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Fostoria metropolitan airport, new airport : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Ohio UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1291757 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01507432 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Russell Field runway improvements, Rome : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Georgia UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1291756 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01507430 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Anaconda airport turf runway construction : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Montana UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1291754 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01507429 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Fulton/Itawamba County airport, new airport : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Mississippi UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1291753 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01507428 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Ortonville municipal airport runway improvements : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Minnesota UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1291752 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01507427 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Houghton County Memorial Airport reconstruction : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Michigan UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1291751 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01507426 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Ryan Airport runway reconstruction, Baton Rouge : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Louisiana UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1291750 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01507424 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Ashtabula County airport land acquisition and runway extension : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Ohio UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1291748 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01507423 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Brewster Field/Holdrege municipal airport runway extension : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1291747 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01507422 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Hastings municipal airport land acquisition and construction : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1291746 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01507421 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Tecumseh municipal airport land acquisition : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1291745 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01507420 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Wayne Wonderland Airport land acquisition and runway extension, Loa : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, F KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Utah UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1291744 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01507419 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Maury County regional airport land acquisition and runway extension : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Tennessee UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1291743 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01507418 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Norfolk regional airport land acquisition and runway extensions : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Virginia UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1291742 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01454132 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - The Eagle-Eyed Pilot (Video) PY - 1971 AB - This video stresses that a pilot's vision and flight safety go hand-in-hand. It acquaints the general aviation pilot with the physiology of pilot vision, particularly highlighting the limitations of the eye in flight and factors that can affect and impair sight and safety while airborne. KW - Air pilots KW - Aviation safety KW - Eye KW - General aviation KW - Vision UR - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRsw_cUl8CM UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1222789 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01161611 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Lexington municipal airport, new airport : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Mississippi UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/922595 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01069868 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Harlingen airport runway extension : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft, Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Texas UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/829253 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01069846 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Republic Airport runway extension transfer, Farmingdale : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft KW - Environmental impact statements KW - New York (State) UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/829231 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01069783 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Fairfax County airport, new airport : environmental impact statement PY - 1971///Volumes held: Draft KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Virginia UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/829168 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00911855 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - STAFF STUDY: CIVIL AERONAUTICAL PRODUCTION, CALENDAR YEAR 1968.. T2 - CIVIL AERONAUTICAL PRODUCTION. PY - 1971 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Air transportation UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/585464 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 00407652 JO - GA-20-85 -UNTRACED SERIES PB - Federal Aviation Administration AU - DAY, B A AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - THE AFRO-AMERICAN AIRMAN IN WORLD WAR II PY - 1971 SP - 1 p. AB - No abstract provided. KW - African Americans KW - Air pilots KW - History KW - United States KW - World War, 1939-1945 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/224330 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00402092 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - AVIATION'S ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION REPORT. COMPILATION OF THE NEWSPAPER, RADIO AND TELEVISION COVERAGE OF THE VARIOUS RELEASES AND DEMONSTRATI PY - 1971 SP - 89 p. AB - No abstract provided. KW - Aircraft exhaust gases KW - United States UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/215388 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00155616 AU - Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission TI - METROPOLITAN AIRCRAFT NOISE ABATEMENT POLICY STUDY, O'HARE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS PY - 1971 SP - 118 p. AB - At Chicago's O'Hare two runways built since 1965 will enlarge the noise-impacted area to include the homes of half a million persons by 1975. Land use strategies in this short time can only limit the 58,000 persons which residential construction trends would bring into the noise-impacted area by 1975. Operational changes plus acoustical lining of existing aircraft engine nacelles might reduce the impacted population to 190,000. Operational changes plus new engines of quieter design might cut the impacted population to 140,000--less than half of the 1965 number. Motel builders successfully have limited airport noise by adding 20 to 30 percent to construction costs for soundproofing. These techniques are feasible for new multiple-family dwellings in the moderately noise-impacted area, but not in the heavily noise-impacted area, and not for single-family dwellings. Local building codes legally could require soundproofing performance standards for new rental buildings but not for existing owner-occupied dwellings. One solution for two neighborhoods at the runways' edge might be to remove the dwellings and redevelop the land for commerce and industry. Proposed expansion of the airport grounds will remove some of the most noise-impacted vacant land from the market. So will the proposed Elgin-O'Hare Freeway, and the projected growth of industry and commerce. Thirty-nine million dollars should be spent to acquire six noise-impacted sites for regional open space, including flood reservoirs, golf courses, and cemeteries. Moderately noise-impacted land is also suitable for neighborhood playgrounds and ballparks. A regional airport systems plan should be drawn as the first step toward publishing noise forecast maps for all airports in the eight-county bistate region of northeastern Illinois-northwestern Indiana. Zoning could forestall noise impact problems around any future jetport, if land use controls can be coordinated on a regional basis. KW - Aircraft noise KW - Airport noise KW - Airport runways KW - Chicago O'Hare International Airport KW - Damping (Engineering) KW - Engine design KW - Engines KW - Environmental impact analysis KW - Environmental impacts KW - Housings KW - Land use KW - Nacelles KW - Noise control KW - Noise reduction KW - Vehicle design UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/49314 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 00155586 JO - AIRPORT SERVICES MANAGEMENT AU - Lakewood Publications TI - PASSENGER GROUND TRANSIT SYSTEMS PY - 1970/08 VL - 10 IS - 8 SP - p. 24-27 AB - Three new ground transit systems are described: automatic shuttle trains; prototype capsule-type vehicles; and moving walkways. The shuttle train system at Tampa International Airport incorporates a passenger transfer system which connects the main Landside building with the outlying Airside building where gate check-in, passenger holding and related ramp functions are conducted. A prototype overhead monorail system installed at Dallas/Fort Worth airport, consists of individual cars holding 14 passengers or up to 6,000 pounds of baggage operating along almost a mile of elevated track between the parking lot and terminal lobby. Two other systems being evaluated at the same airport, consist of small passenger transfer modules, containerized air cargo modules will be loaded and unloaded from aircraft by automated transfer systems. A conveyor system is described which can handle 22,000 passengers an hour over distances ranging from 1000 ft. to several miles. KW - Airport access KW - Automatic train operation KW - Conveyors KW - Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport KW - Elevated guideways KW - Ground transportation KW - Landside capacity KW - Passengers KW - People movers KW - Railroad bridges KW - Shuttle service UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/52598 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00155566 AU - Kiernam, J AU - Institute for Defense Analyses TI - BIBLIOGRAPHY ON AIR TRAVEL AND ASSOCIATED GROUND TRANSPORTATION PY - 1970/06 SP - 43 p. AB - This bibliography is intended to provide background reading for a study performed by IDA for the Office of Research of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation. In keeping with the focus of the IDA Study, S-351, Intra-Airport Transportation systems: An Examination of Technology and Evaluation Methodology, a survey of documents and articles was made to help identify current data and studies relating to air travel demand projections, alternative airport configurations, flow patterns and rates, and available or potential ground transportation concepts, systems, and components. This bibliography covers the subject areas up to August 1969. KW - Air traffic KW - Air traffic forecasts KW - Airport design KW - Airports KW - Bibliographies KW - Forecasting KW - Intermodal terminals KW - Intra airport transit KW - Landside capacity KW - Passenger terminals KW - Structural design KW - Terminal facilitation KW - Travel demand UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/49276 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00073998 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - THE NATIONAL AVIATION SYSTEM PLAN - TEN YEAR PLAN - 1971-1980 PY - 1970/05 AB - Orderly development of an adequate system of airways facilities and airports is essential if the demands of our rapidly growing aviation industry are to be satisfied. This, the second annual edition of the National Aviation Plan, is the Federal Aviation Administration's long-range plan for that development. It consists of the National Aviation System Policy Summary and the 1970 National Aviation System Plan, which cover the period 1971 through 1980. KW - Air transportation KW - Government policies KW - National Aviation System KW - Policy UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/24589 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00074089 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - R AND D PLAN TO INCREASE AIRPORT AND AIRWAY SYSTEM CAPACITY PY - 1970/05 AB - The purpose of the research and development activity described is to achieve the national goal of providing an air transportation system for all categories of aviation commensurate with projected growth of the air transportation industry. KW - Air transportation KW - Airport capacity KW - Development KW - Research KW - Research and development UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/24603 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00073834 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - PLANNING THE METROPOLITAN AIRPORT SYSTEM PY - 1970/05 AB - The metropolitan airport system plan is a representation of the aviation facilities required to meet the immediate and future air transportation needs of the metropolitan area. It recommends the general location for and characteristics of new airports and the nature of expansion for existing ones. The metropolitan airport system planning process involves the preparation of both broad and specific policies, plans, and programs needed to establish a viable, integrated network of airports at the metropolitan level. KW - Airport forecasts KW - Airport planning KW - Airports KW - Forecasting KW - Land use planning UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/24546 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 00155599 JO - ITA Bulletin PB - Institut du Transport Aerien AU - Institut du Transport Aerien TI - PARALLEL RUNWAYS TO BEAT AIRPORT CONGESTION PY - 1970/03 SP - p. 241-244 AB - Parallel runways make it possible to increase the airport's capacity and reduce delays to a greater extent than divergent or intersecting runways. The various possible configurations for parrallel runways are tabulated together with data relating to their respective capacity compared with those of intersecting or divergent runways. A minimum spacing of 5,000 ft. between runways is essential. This spacing makes possible simultaneous ILS approaches, thus giving the parallel runway system true double capacity. KW - Airport capacity KW - Airport runways KW - Instrument landing systems KW - Runway spacing KW - Spacing UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/52602 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00061108 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - NORTHEAST CORRIDOR AIR TRAFFIC AND HIGH SPEED GROUND TRANSPORTATION PY - 1970/03 SP - 38 p. AB - The report reviews the high-speed ground transportation program of the Department of Transportation and studies the impact high-speed rail passenger service may have on air traffic in this critical, congested area of the United States known as the Northeast Corridor. (Author) KW - Air traffic KW - Air transportation KW - Civil aviation KW - Economic impacts KW - Economics KW - Forecasting KW - High speed ground transportation KW - High speed rail KW - Impacts KW - Metroliner (Express train) KW - Northeast Corridor KW - Northeastern United States KW - Passenger service KW - Passenger vehicles KW - Passengers KW - Pricing KW - Railroads KW - Short takeoff KW - Socioeconomic factors KW - Statistics KW - STOL aircraft KW - Takeoff KW - Transportation KW - United States UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/17689 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00155610 AU - Goodfriend (LS) and Associates TI - NOISE-REDUCING CONSTRUCTIONS AND COST ESTIMATING IN HIGH NOISE AREAS PY - 1970/02 SP - 61 p. AB - The 1975 Noise Exposure Forecasts (NEF's) Base Line and Quiet Engine Contour maps were examined to obtain octave-band sound-pressure levels on the NEF-30 and -40 contours from which noise reducing structures and cost estimates were developed for existing and new buildings in the B and C zones. The process of computing the sound-pressure levels existing at approximately ground level at one mile intervals (the distance selected to provide sufficient sound-level difference) on the NEF-30 and -40 contours is discussed. The computed maximum octave-band sound-pressure levels on the NEF B and C contours were selected along with suitable interior noise design goals to determine the appropriate sound reducing constructions for various existing and new buildings types in the B and C zones. In addition, cost estimates were derived for these sound reducing constructions and the cost estimates are discussed and the results summarized. Recommendations for reducing the intruding aircraft noise levels by a system of electronically introducing a suitable interior background noise in the various building types are discussed. Respective cost estimates in incremental cost per square foot are also given for comparison of cost per square foot sound reducing constructions with cost per square foot of an electronic masking system. KW - Aircraft noise KW - Airport noise KW - Construction KW - Cost estimating KW - Effective sound pressure KW - Environmental impact analysis KW - Environmental impacts KW - Estimates KW - Noise KW - Noise contours KW - Noise control KW - Noise exposure KW - Noise reduction KW - Sound level UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/49309 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 00155600 JO - AIRPORT SERVICES MANAGEMENT AU - MARTIN, F F AU - Lakewood Publications TI - CURRENT PROBLEMS RELATED TO AIRPORT FINANCING PY - 1970/01 VL - 10 IS - 1 SP - p. 32-36 AB - Problems related to airport management's ability to obtain money to finance physical facilities to accommodate the rapid growth in air transportation are discussed. The lack of market for good quality bonds because of interest rate limitations by governing bodies is considered, as well as the situation with municipal bond prices, and the short-term money market for interim financing. The advantages of the latter approach seems now to be outweighed by the risk of the bond market continuing to decline. Possible changes in the existing tax-exemption of interest derived from state and municipal obligations are discussed and comments are made on the tax-exempt status of airport bonds. The development of airport authorities is noted, and non-profit corporations are considered as a practical approach to financing. KW - Airport operations KW - Airports KW - Bonds KW - Finance KW - Financing KW - Prices KW - Taxes UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/52603 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00074050 AU - Redlich, R W AU - MCFARLAND, R H AU - Gorman, J T AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - INSTRUMENT LANDING SYSTEM IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM PY - 1970/01 AB - Two new analog-type monitors have been designed, built and tested for the purpose of providing a reliable, and accurate representation of the ILS localizer signal as seen by an aircraft flying on an approach. This annual progress report also contains discussions of other work performed to provide for improvement in the operation of the present instrument landing system. KW - Analog computers KW - Analog systems KW - Approach KW - Instrument landing systems UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/24595 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00073860 AU - Yance, J V AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - THE DEMAND FOR USE OF WASHINGTON NATIONAL AIRPORT PY - 1970/01 SP - 22 p. AB - This analysis is part of a study to explore the use of a pricing system to reduce congestion at airports. It is clear that there is considerable excess demand for the use of National Airport. The question we attempt to answer here is, how much would airlines be willing ot pay for additional slots. First the study attempts to estimate the difference in average profit per flight of operating from Washington National vs. operating from Friendship, to each of a set of cities served from both airports. Using data collected in a CAB survey conducted in November, 1967, we calculate for each market the difference in average revenue per flight from National and from Friendship and the difference in average operating cost per flight, obtaining from these the average profit advantage per flight at DCA. KW - Airport capacity KW - Airport congestion KW - Airspace capacity KW - Baltimore Washington International Airport KW - Demand KW - Operating costs KW - Prices KW - Profits KW - Revenues KW - Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport KW - Traffic congestion KW - Washington Dulles International Airport UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/21046 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01512969 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Palmdale International Airport (proposed), Palmdale : environmental impact statement PY - 1970///v. held: Findings of the Secretary of Transportation on environmental impact B1 (2 pts, pt. 1 fol); Proposal for planning grant for area surrounding new intercontinental jet airport B2. KW - California KW - Environmental impact statements UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1297293 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01454866 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Silver Eagle: the Master of the Skies (Video) PY - 1970 AB - This video uses nostalgia and good humor to remind general aviation pilots of the importance of good aeromedical habits. It shows a pilot who envisions himself as having extraordinary judgment and flying prowess, but like many pilots, he occasionally overestimates his own capabilities. It discusses the adverse effects of alcohol, medicine, stress, and fatigue and emphasizes the importance of good vision, hearing, coordination, and judgment. KW - Air pilots KW - Alcohol effects KW - Aviation medicine KW - Aviation safety KW - Fatigue (Physiological condition) KW - Health KW - Stress (Psychology) UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1223291 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01454650 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Medical Facts for Pilots (Video) PY - 1970 AB - This video provides beginning pilots with facts concerning some of the fundamental physical, physiological, and psychological limitations in flight. It discusses such aeromedical factors as disorientation, the effect of alcohol, oxygen requirements, and pilot vision. KW - Air pilots KW - Alcohol effects KW - Aviation medicine KW - Aviation safety KW - Disorientation KW - Oxygen KW - Vision UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1223282 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01454098 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Caution - Wake Turbulence (Video) PY - 1970 AB - The video illustrates the phenomenon of wing tip vortices, how they are generated, what generates them, their effects on light aircraft, and suggests pilot actions on how best to avoid them. KW - Aviation safety KW - Small aircraft KW - Turbulence KW - Wakes UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1222783 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01074374 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Lexington industrial (municipal) airport, Lexington : environmental impact statement PY - 1970///Volumes held: Final(microfiche) KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Mississippi UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/833768 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00888525 AU - Gerathewohl, Siegfried J AU - MORRIS, EVERETT W AU - SIRKIS, JOSEPH A AU - Federal Aviation Administration AU - AM; TI - ANTICOLLISION LIGHTS FOR THE SUPERSONIC TRANSPORT (SST). PY - 1970 IS - 70-9 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Aeronautics KW - Airplanes KW - Lighting KW - Supersonic transport planes UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/579628 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00888560 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - INDEX TO FAA OFFICE OF AVIATION MEDICINE REPORTS, 1961 THROUGH 1969.. PY - 1970 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Aviation medicine UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/579645 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00888544 AU - LEWIS, MARK F AU - MERTENS, HENRY W AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - TWO-FLASH THRESHOLDS AS A FUNCTION OF COMPARISON STIMULUS DURATION. PY - 1970 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airplanes KW - Lighting UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/579635 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00888555 AU - DRUCKENBROD, WILLIAM F AU - HUSTVELDT, ERLING H AU - STREET, WILLIAM G AU - National Technical Information Service AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - ESTIMATED TRENDS IN UNIT COST OF GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS IN SUPPORT OF AIR AND HIGHWAY TRAVEL. PY - 1970 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Air transportation KW - Federal aid KW - Highway transportation KW - Transportation KW - United States UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/579641 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00888539 AU - FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, OFFICE OF NOISE ABATEMENT TI - ECONOMIC IMPACT OF IMPLEMENTING ACOUSTICALLY TREATED NACELLE AND DUCT CONFIGURATIONS APPLICABLE TO LOW BYPASS TURBOFAN ENGINES: FINAL REPORT. PY - 1970 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airplanes KW - Costs KW - Economic factors KW - Economic impacts KW - Nacelles KW - United States UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/579630 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00888559 AU - Mohler, Stanley R AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - PHYSIOLOGICALLY TOLERABLE DECOMPRESSION PROFILES FOR SUPERSONIC TRANSPORT TYPE CERTIFICATION. PY - 1970 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Atmospheric pressure KW - Certification KW - Physiological aspects KW - Physiological effect KW - Supersonic transport planes UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/579644 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00888006 AU - DINERMAN, BERNHART V AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - EVALUATION OF AREA NAVIGATION IN THE NORTHEAST CORRIDOR: FINAL REPORT. PY - 1970 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Air traffic control KW - Aircraft pilotage KW - Airports KW - Northeastern United States UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/579508 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00887303 AU - HORONJEFF, RICHARD D AU - PAUL, ALLAN AU - FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, OFFICE OF NOISE ABATEMENT TI - A DIGITAL COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR COMPUTATION OF NOISE EXPOSURE FORECAST CONTOURS: FINAL REPORT. PY - 1970 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airplanes KW - Computer programs KW - Forecasting KW - Simulation UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/579328 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00839054 AU - Garner, J D AU - BLETHROW, JOHN G AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - EVACUATION TESTS FROM AN SST MOCK-UP. PY - 1970 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Safety KW - Supersonic transport planes UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/531942 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00839055 AU - LATEGOLA, MICHAEL T AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - COMPARISON OF STATUS VARIABLES AMONG ACCIDENT AND NON-ACCIDENT AIRMEN FROM THE ACTIVE AIRMAN POPULATION. PY - 1970 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Air pilots KW - Psychology UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/531943 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00839053 AU - MCFADDEN, ERNEST B AU - SMITH, ROGER C AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - PROTECTIVE SMOKE HOOD STUDIES. PY - 1970 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airplanes KW - Oxygen equipment UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/531941 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00155607 AU - Cleary, Gottlieb, Sten & Hamilton TI - CERTAIN LEGAL ASPECTS OF REQUIRED SOUNDPROOFING IN HIGH NOISE AREAS NEAR JOHN F. KENNEDY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT IN NEW YORK PY - 1970 SP - 132 p. AB - The compulsory soundproofing proposals with respect to new and existing structures. This study is made primarily in light of Federal and New York state constitutional provisions and certain state and local legislation. The authors conclude that the principal constitutional problems are the scope of the police and spending powers; that extensive compulsory soundproofing requirements, at least in the highest noise areas, affecting such new privately-owned structures as multiple dwellings, schools and hospitals and perhaps private residences, are likely to be upheld, assuming that in other respects the requirements are reasonably drafted; but that such requirements for existing privately-owned structures would be of dubious validity, except perhaps for multiple dwellings, schools and hospitals. The authors conclude that such requirements could be enacted either by the affected municipalities, if state enabling legislation were made adequate, or by the state legislature in mandatory or optional form; but that at JFK state legislation would appear more promising. Soundproofing of publicly-owned structures and the requirement of soundproofing near airports by the Federal government itself present different problems which are not within the scope of this study and are only mentioned in passing. KW - Airport noise KW - Damping (Engineering) KW - Environmental impact analysis KW - Environmental impacts KW - Federal government KW - Hospitals KW - Housings KW - John F. Kennedy International Airport KW - Legal factors KW - Requirement KW - Schools KW - Specifications KW - State laws UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/49306 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00155608 AU - Tri-State Transportation Commission TI - METROPOLITAN AIRCRAFT NOISE ABATEMENT POLICY STUDY; JOHN F. KENNEDY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, NEW YORK PY - 1970 SP - 124 p. AB - The Tro-State Transportation Commission, under contract to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), has prepared this report as part of the Metropolitan Aircraft Noise Abatement Policy Studies (MANAPS) at four airports in different cities. This report considers alternative measures, or combinations of measures, to provide relief from aircraft noise in affected communities around John F. Kennedy International Airport, and offers recommendations for reducing aircraft-noise problems. The Commission studied present land use, local development policies and codes, sound insulations of structures, redevelopment, future land-use alternatives, legal aspects and airport operations. Alternative methods of reducing noise at the source were furnished by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). Costs are estimated for the alternative procedures considered. KW - Aircraft noise KW - Airport noise KW - Airport operations KW - Environmental impact analysis KW - Environmental impacts KW - John F. Kennedy International Airport KW - Land use KW - Legal factors KW - Metropolitan areas KW - Noise control KW - Noise reduction KW - Policy UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/49307 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00073002 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - OFFSHORE AIRPORT PLANNING PY - 1969/08 AB - This document provides planning guidance to interested planners concerned with development of airports in offshore marine environments. Basic planning factors are established and site evaluation methodology is suggested. Also provided are parameters to determine desirability of an offshore location and the types of construction and methods of access that may be used. KW - Airport construction KW - Airport planning KW - Airports KW - Construction KW - Offshore airports UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/24448 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00073001 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - EVALUATION OF CONSTRUCTION METHODS FOR OFFSHORE AIRPORTS PY - 1969/08 AB - This report presents a narrative summary and evaluations of existing and proposed offshore airports and related construction. Ranges of unit costs for construction of an offshore site, by the various construction methods, are compared. Methods of access are discussed, as well as unit costs for various access systems. On the basis of the studies and evaluations performed, it is concluded that the offshore airport is generally technically feasible but will normally cost more to construct than an onshore alternative. KW - Airport construction KW - Airports KW - Construction KW - Construction management KW - Design KW - Offshore airports UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/24447 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00146815 AU - O'Brien, P J AU - BUSCH, A C AU - National Aviation Facilities Experimental Center TI - EFFECTS OF SELECTIVE SYSTEM PARAMETERS ON COMMUNICATIONS INTELLIGIBILITY PY - 1969/03 SP - 64 p. AB - The communications frequency study was made to facilitate spectrum planning by FAA Frequency Management personnel. The study relates communications intelligibility to frequency channel spacing, bandwidth, modulation type, and signal-to-interference ratio. The overall approach was to conduct talker/listener intelligibility tests, voice communications equipment tests, and digital communications equipment tests. The test procedure subjected the Speech Communications Index Meter (SCIM) simulated speech signals, the Air Traffic Control (ATC) messages, and the Modified Rhyme Tests (MRTs) to specific levels of interference. The SCIM signal was first applied to the SCIM analyzer for computation and display of articulation index (AI). The ATC messages and MRTs were then recorded at the configuration which produced these discrete values of AIs. These recordings were subsequently used to perform subjective intelligibility testing. Talker/listener intelligibility tests were conducted to determine the particular values of AI required for communications links within the ATC system using both ATC and MRT vocabularies. Voice and digital communications tests were conducted to obtain data pertaining to channel assignments for various configurations of conventional and proposed operational modes. KW - Air traffic control KW - Air traffic controllers KW - Articulation index KW - Bandwidth KW - Civil aviation KW - Communication systems KW - Computer programming KW - Data communications KW - Definitions KW - Digital computers KW - Digital systems KW - Frequency (Electromagnetism) KW - Frequency allocation KW - Hearings KW - Intelligibility KW - Legibility KW - Management KW - Management planning and control KW - Modulation KW - Modulation (Communications) KW - Performance (Human) KW - Personnel performance KW - Physical distribution KW - Planning KW - Radio KW - Separation KW - Signal to noise ratio KW - Simulation KW - Speech KW - Speech transmission KW - Test procedures KW - Vocabulary KW - Voice communication KW - Voice frequency UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/63569 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00911517 AU - MAXWELL, JEWELL CLINTON AU - THOMAS, D D AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - MEMORANDA FOR GENERAL MAXWELL AND D.D. THOMAS CONCERNING THE SST PROGRAM.. T2 - MEMORANDA FOR GENERAL MAXWELL AND D.D. THOMAS CONCERNING THE SUPERSONIC TRANSPORT PROGRAM PY - 1969 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Supersonic transport planes KW - United States UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/585346 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00888541 AU - SULZER, RICHARD L AU - PAPROCKI, THOMAS H AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - FLIGHT TEST AND EVALUATION OF HELIPORT LIGHTING FOR VFR. PY - 1969 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airplanes KW - Airport runways KW - Heliports KW - Landing aids UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/579632 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00888543 AU - KILPATRICK, GEORGE A AU - Federal Aviation Administration AU - FAA-RD REPORT; AU - DEPT. OF TRANSPORTATION. TI - ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS ON AIRPORT PAVEMENT GROOVE PATTERNS. PY - 1969 IS - NO. 69-37 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airport runways KW - Design KW - Pavements KW - Testing UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/579634 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00888007 AU - PHILLIPS, CECIL B AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - RETRO-REFLECTIVE MARKERS AS TAXIWAY VISUAL AIDS: INTERIM REPORT. PY - 1969 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airport runways KW - Airports KW - Landing aids KW - Reflectorized materials UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/579509 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00887944 AU - WEINSTEIN, BERNARD AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - TEST AND EVALUATE RUNWAY ALIGNMENT INDICATOR LIGHT (RAIL) FOR ASPPROACH GUIDANCE: FINAL REPORT. PY - 1969 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airplanes KW - Airport runways KW - Airports KW - Landing aids UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/579499 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00839271 AU - BUCKLEY, EDWARD P AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INDIVIDUAL AND SYSTEM PERFORMANCE INDICES FOR THE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEM. PY - 1969 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Air traffic control KW - Evaluation UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/532035 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00839269 AU - SNYDER, RICHARD G AU - YOUNG, JOSEPH W AU - SNOW, CLYDE C AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - EXPERIMENTAL IMPACT PROTECTION WITH ADVANCED RESTRAINT SYSTEMS: PRELIMINARY PRIMATE TESTS WITH AIR BAG AND INERTIA REEL/INVERTED-Y YOKE TORSO HARNESS. PY - 1969 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Aeronautics KW - Airplanes KW - Safety harness (Aeronautics) KW - Shoulder harnesses UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/532033 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01454141 AU - Federal Aviation Administration AU - Flying W Productions, Inc. TI - All It Takes Is Once (Video) PY - 1968 AB - This video depicts the serious flight hazard of mental distraction, and shows how pilots can be distracted in flight by preoccupation with personal problems. Five psychological problems frequently encountered by general aviation pilots are presented. KW - Aviation safety KW - Distraction KW - General aviation pilots KW - Stress (Psychology) UR - http://archive.org/details/gov.ntis.ava05441vnb1 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1222781 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00911384 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - REGISTERED GENERAL AVIATION AIRCRAFT BY COMMUNITY SIZE, 1963-1968.. PY - 1968 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airplanes KW - Motor vehicles KW - Private aircraft KW - Registration KW - Statistics KW - United States UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/585311 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00888538 AU - SPERRY, WILLIAM C AU - FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, OFFICE OF NOISE ABATEMENT TI - AIRCRAFT NOISE EVALUATION: TECHNICAL REPORT. PY - 1968 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airplanes KW - Evaluation UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/579629 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00887992 AU - HIERING, WILLIAM A AU - GRISEL, CHARLES R AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - FRICTION EFFECTS OF RUNWAY GROOVES, RUNWAY 18-36, WASHINGTON NATIONAL AIRPORT: FINAL REPORT. PY - 1968 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airport runways KW - Asphalt concrete pavements KW - Design KW - Evaluation KW - Pavements KW - Skid resistance KW - Testing KW - Washington Metropolitan Area UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/579505 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00887987 AU - ROSSITER, SIDNEY B AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - GRAPHIC SIMULATION STUDY OF SITES FOR A THIRD CHICAGO METROPOLITAN AIRPORT. PY - 1968 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airports KW - Chicago Metropolitan Area KW - Location KW - Planning UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/579502 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00564133 AU - BULFORD, D E AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - COLLISION AVOIDANCE;: A BIBLIOGRAPHY, 1955-SEPTEMBER 1968 PY - 1968 SP - 166 p. AB - No abstract provided. KW - Aeronautics KW - Airplanes KW - Bibliographies KW - Crash avoidance systems KW - Safety UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/324851 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00427741 AU - Mohler, S R AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - AIRCRAFT ACCIDENTS BY OLDER PERSONS PY - 1967/10 SP - 5 p. AB - No abstract provided. KW - Aeronautics KW - Aged KW - Air pilots KW - Crashes KW - Health KW - Physical condition KW - United States UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/240814 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00073831 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - AVIATION DEMAND AND AIRPORT FACILITY REQUIREMENT FORECASTS FOR LARGE AIR TRANSPORTATION HUBS THROUGH 1980 PY - 1967/08 AB - This report presents forecasts of long-range airport aviation demand and selected airport facility requirements at the Nation's large air transportation hubs as developed by the FAA's Airports Service. The forecasts are designed for use in advance planning of the physical, as well as financial, airport facility development required to meet the air transportation needs of 1980. KW - Airport forecasts KW - Airports KW - Demand KW - Economic forecasting KW - Forecasting UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/24544 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01359637 AU - Collins, William E AU - Guedry, Fred E AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Adaptation to Vestibular Disorientation V. Eye-Movement and Subjective Turning Responses to Two Durations of Angular Acceleration PY - 1967/05 SP - 16p AB - During prolonged angular acceleration, inertial torque defects the capula but the deflection is eventually balanced, primarily by the capula’s elastic restorative force. Assuming that cupula displacement from its position of static equilibrium controls the magnitude of vestibular reactions, a prolonged angular acceleration should, according to the Torsion-Pendulum theory yield an increasing response for about 20-30 seconds; this response level should be maintained without decline as long as the angular acceleration continues. Several authors have reported that the subjective velocity rises and declines during prolonged angular acceleration, contrary to theoretical expectations. It has been shown that the temporal period required for the subjective reaction to peak (and then decline) was about constant at 27 seconds for angular accelerations ranging in magnitude from 0.5 to 2°/sec². Subsequent experiments showed this is true for stimuli up to 4°/sec². The experiments in this paper seek to compare cat and man in regard to several characteristics of nystagmic response elicited by two durations of a 4°/sec² angular acceleration. KW - Angular acceleration KW - Experiments KW - Eye movements KW - Spatial disorientation KW - Torsion tests KW - Vestibular response UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/42000/42800/42887/AM67-06.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1125662 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00073110 AU - O'Liddy, G E AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - COST/BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF SHORT TAKEOFF AND LANDING (STOL) AND VERTICAL TAKEOFF AND LANDING (VTOL) AIR TRANSPORTATION FOR THE UNITED STATES PY - 1967/01/20 AB - The availability of public transportation to meet the needs of a growing population has been, and will continue to be, a major factor in the economic development of the country. One of the responsibilities of the Federal Aviation Agency is to identify the role of civil aviation in meeting the nation's transportation requirements--in part with respect to the use of Short Take Off and Landing (STOL) and Vertical Take Off and Landing V/TOL aircraft. The use of STOL and VTOL aircraft could involve the introduction of a completely new high density mass transportation system in the 1970's. The Contractor's analytical effort hereunder shall be directed toward the evaluation of the utility of introducing STOL and VTOL air transport systems beginning in the middle 1970's. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Demand KW - Economic forecasting KW - Short takeoff aircraft KW - STOL aircraft KW - VTOL aircraft UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/24466 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00888405 AU - BALZO, JOSEPH M DEL AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - ECONOMIC AND TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS OF ESTABLISHING AN ALL WEATHER V/STOL TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM: A THESIS. PY - 1967 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Air transportation KW - United States KW - VTOL aircraft UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/579595 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00888008 AU - MARSCHALL, FRED AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - RADIOACTIVE TAXI GUIDANCE TEST CATEGORY III GROUND GUIDANCE EQUIPMENT: FINAL REPORT. PY - 1967 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airplanes KW - Airport runways KW - Airports KW - Landing aids KW - Road markings KW - Transportation markings UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/579510 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00825720 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - ANNUAL REPORT OF OPERATIONS UNDER THE FEDERAL AIRPORT ACT.. PY - 1967 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airports KW - Periodicals KW - United States UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/515904 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00564125 AU - COBB, B B AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CHRONOLOGICAL AGE, LENGTH OF EXPERIENCE, AND JOB PERFORMANCE RATINGS OF AIR ROUTE TRAFFIC CONTROL SPECIALISTS PY - 1967 SP - 9 p. AB - No abstract provided. KW - Air traffic controllers KW - Evaluation and assessment UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/324845 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00073599 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - NEW APPROACH TO AIR SAFETY STATISTICS PY - 1966/11 AB - It is our purpose here to show that any single number, no matter upon what basis computed, is logically insufficient for an adequate analysis of air safety; a meaningfuel aand revealing evaluation requires at least three independent rates. KW - Air transportation crashes KW - Airlines KW - Crash data KW - Crash investigation KW - Crashes KW - Statistics UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/24503 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00239078 AU - Annus, L K AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - ACCESS TO AIRPORTS PY - 1966/08 AB - THIS BIBLIOGRAPHY IS A PARTIALLY ANNOTATED COMPILATION OF SELECTED REFERENCES FROM 1963 TO DATE. IT IS DIVIDED INTO SECTIONS ON AIR TRANSPORTATION, MOTOR TRANSPORTATION, RAIL TRANSPORTATION AND WATER TRANSPORTATION. KW - Access KW - Air transportation KW - Airports KW - Bibliographies KW - Highway transportation KW - Railroad transportation KW - Water transportation UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/131153 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00073102 AU - Federal Aviation Administration AU - McDonnell Aircraft Corporation TI - TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF AIRCRAFT FOR INTERCITY SHORT-HAUL TRANSPORTATION - VOL. II PY - 1966/04 AB - This report evaluates the potential airline use of STOL/VTOL aircraft to serve intercity short haul travelers. The air travel market in the California Corridor (Between Los Angeles and San Diego on the south and Sacramento and San Francisco on the north) was used for the study but the results would be generally applicable to other areas. Based on 1970 technology, four STOL and VTOL aircraft configurations were designed as 60-, 90-, and 120-passenger transports and developed for lowest operating costs for a 500-mile stage length. A conventional jet transport was used as a base of reference and a conventional helicopter was included for comparison. The special STOL/VTOL airports were located for passenger convenience and acceptable noise levels for the surrounding areas. To evaluate STOL/VTOL economic viability, STOL and VTOL airline service was simulated in the California Corridor in 1975 and in 1980, and then compared with the conventional jet simulation in those years. It was found that the time savings and convenience provided by either STOL or VTOL airline service would enable STOL or VTOL to capture a substantial share of the short-haul air travel market when combined in a system with conventioal jets, and would induce additional air travel. This system would give a satisfactory return on investment The report is in three volumes. Volume I is an executive summary containing introduction, conclusions, and the summary of method and results Volume II develops each step in the method, and lists results in greater detail. Vol. III contains appendices . KW - California KW - California corridor KW - Central business districts KW - Costs KW - Intercity transportation KW - Short haul KW - Short takeoff aircraft KW - STOL aircraft KW - Transportation corridors KW - VTOL aircraft UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/24463 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01454099 AU - Federal Aviation Administration AU - Flagg Films, Inc. TI - Density Altitude (Video) PY - 1966 AB - This video follows a young married couple on a vacation flight from New Orleans to Lake Tahoe. In crossing the Rockies and the High Sierras, they learn the hard way about the effects of high altitude and temperature on light aircraft performance. KW - Aviation safety KW - Density altitude KW - High altitude KW - Small aircraft KW - Temperature UR - http://www.askacfi.com/1109/density-altitude.htm UR - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZCb6nw_T4U UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1222788 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00911507 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - GENERAL AVIATION OCCUPANT LOAD FACTOR: STAFF STUDY.. PY - 1966 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Air transportation KW - Local service airlines KW - Private flying KW - United States UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/585342 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00860077 AU - LEFKOWITZ, MATTHEW AU - SCHLATTER, ERNEST R AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - AN ANALYSIS OF MODIFICATIONS TO RUNWAY VISUAL RANGE EQUIPMENT FOR LOW RVR VALUES: FINAL REPORT. PY - 1966 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airplanes KW - Airport runways KW - Landing aids UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/522988 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00860076 AU - GREEN, THOMAS H AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - DISCUSSION OF THE UTILITY OF AVAILABLE TECHNIQUES FOR MEASURING AIRCRAFT NOISE AND PREDICTING COMMUNITY RESPONSE. PY - 1966 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airplanes KW - Airport noise KW - Measurement KW - Public opinion UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/522987 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00859889 AU - RWICHELL, N H AU - PHILLIPS, CECIL B AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - TESTING OF REFLECTIVE MARKERS FOR INDICATING THE THRESHOLD AND CENTERLINE OF RUNWAYS FOR SMALL AIRPORTS: INTERIM REPORT. PY - 1966 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airport runways KW - Design KW - Landing aids KW - Reflectorized materials KW - Road markings KW - Testing KW - Transportation markings UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/522922 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00839273 AU - VON ROSENBERG, C W AU - KEEN, F R AU - MOHLER, STANLEY R AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - THE "STALL BARRIER" AS A NEW PREVENTIVE IN GENERAL AVIATION ACCIDENTS. PY - 1966 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Aerodynamic stability KW - Indicators (Instruments) KW - Private flying KW - Stall KW - Warning signals UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/532037 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00401747 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - REPORT OF THE CHAIRMAN, UNITED STATES DELEGATION TO THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE REDUCTION OF NOISE AND DISTURBANCE CAUSED BY CIVIL AIRCRAFT PY - 1966 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airplanes KW - Conferences KW - Noise UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/216063 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00073959 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - POLICY STATEMENT OF THE FEDERAL AVIATION AGENCY PY - 1965/04 AB - This statement of policy is intended to serve as a comprehensive and long-term guide for the Federal Aviation Agency in the accomplishment of its missions and in its relations with those it serves. It sets forth the basic principles which will guide the Agency in the conduct of its regulatory responsibilities and as builder and operator of a National Airspace System. With respect to regulatory principles, the policy statement affirms the Agency's obligation to regulate private conduct only to the extent required in the public interest; to recognize the right of the general public to be informed and to be heard; to place the regulatory hand evenly on persons similarly situated, while also recognizing differences in the rights and duties and operational requirements of the various segments of the aviation community; and to manage the airspace as a national resource in a manner which best serves the diverse requirements of military and civil users, and which also recognizes the interests of persons on the ground. With respect to the Agency's responsibility to build and operate a National Airspace System, the policy statement establishes the favorable balancing of benefit vs. cost as the basic test for Agency endeavor. It reiterates the Federal Government's policy of recovering through user charges Agency expenditures for activities which confer special benefits on identifiable individuals over and above benefits accruing to the public at large. Finally, the statement articulates the role of the Agency in promoting the development of civil aviation and providing essential defense services. KW - Government policies KW - National Airspace System KW - Policy KW - U.S. Federal Aviation Administration UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/24578 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00181936 AU - Grom, R V AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - EXPERIMENTAL TESTING OF A SCINTILLATION DEVICE DESIGNED TO DETECT COBALT-60 IN SEEDED DETONATOR CAPS PY - 1965/03 SP - 36 p. AB - Tests were conducted to determine the operating characteristics, capabilities, and limitations of a nuclear scintillation detection system developed by Catholic University of America for use in conjunction with the detection of Cobalt-60 in seeded explosive detonator caps. Results were generally favorable except for the inability of the device to detect rapidly moving sources and the relative ease with which a source might be shielded from the detector. (Author) KW - Attenuation KW - Bombs KW - Cobalt KW - Detectors KW - Detonation KW - Detonators KW - Radioisotopes KW - Scintillation counters KW - Shielding KW - Signals UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/75632 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00074327 AU - Waldo, R K AU - Tilton, P D AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF COMMERCIAL VTOL AND STOL TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT PY - 1965/02 AB - This report presents the results of Stanford Research Institute's economic analysis of commercial VTOL and STOL aircraft suitable for city-center service. In this study, the design and performance requirements of of a commercially successful V/STOL aircraft are identified. These are compared with the characteristics of V/STOL aircraft which may be available for service in 1975. Based on this comparison, separate market estimates are provided for V/STOL aircraft meeting the specified requirements for those aircraft considered technically feasible. An analysis is then made of requirements for V/STOL ground facilities. Finally, an assessment is made of the national interest in commercial V/STOL development. KW - Economic analysis KW - Economic forecasting KW - Market research KW - Short takeoff aircraft KW - STOL aircraft KW - VTOL aircraft UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/24629 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00073093 AU - Federal Aviation Administration AU - McDonnell Aircraft Corporation TI - STOL-V/STOL CITY CENTER TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT STUDY PY - 1964/10/01 AB - The objective of this report is to present the design, performance, weights, and direct operating costs of several STOL and V/STOL transport aircraft which could be made operational for passenger service between city centers in 1975. A number of STOL and V/STOL concepts were considered in the study. From these, four concepts were selected for evaluation. Recurring and non-recurring costs are broken down into major units and assumptions are spelled out for determining the costs. Particular attention is given to adjusting Air Transport Association (ATA) methods of determining crew costs and maintenance to permit comparisons of direct operating costs(DOC) with existing airline operating costs. DOC's are shown versus number of passengers for stage lengths of 50, 100, 200, 500, and 750 statute miles and for airplane buys of 50, 100 and 200 aircraft. Results of estimates of noise levels and noise profiles are shown for the four concepts with corrections in decibels for the various sizes of aircraft. The data contained in this report establish the STOL and V/STOL aircraft performance and direct operating costs necessary for Stanford Research Institute to complete an over-all economic feasibility study of city center-to-city center commercial operation in the 1975 time period. KW - Central business districts KW - Costs KW - Short haul KW - Short takeoff aircraft KW - STOL aircraft KW - VTOL aircraft UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/24461 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00205319 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - AIRPORT PAVING PY - 1964/06/10 AB - THIS CIRCULAR GIVES AIRPORT PAVING GUIDANCE TO THE PUBLIC. THE PRINCIPLES DESCRIBED ARE ACCEPTABLE IN ACCOMPLISHING A PROJECT MEETING THE ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS OF THE FEDERAL- AID AIRPORT PROGRAM. DATA ARE PROVIDED FOR THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF PAVEMENTS AT CIVIL AIRPORTS, INCORPORATING THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN AC 150/5320-8 AND IN AIRPORT PAVING 1956 /AND THE 1962 REPRINT/. THE PRINCIPAL CHANGES LISTED ARE' A/ NEW DESIGN CURVES FOR AIRCRAFT WEIGHING LESS THAN 30,000 POUNDS, B/ THE PORTION DEALING WITH REINFORCED CONCRETE IS EXPANDED, AND C/ A REDUCTION IN PAVEMENT THICK- NESS IS RECOMMENDED WHEN CEMENT TREATED BASE COURSE IS USED. KW - Airport runways KW - Base course (Pavements) KW - Bituminous pavements KW - Cement treated bases KW - Cement treated soils KW - Design KW - Design criteria KW - Flexible pavements KW - Guides KW - Guides to information KW - Pavement design KW - Pavement thickness KW - Pavements KW - Paving KW - Portland cement concrete KW - Reinforced concrete pavements KW - Thickness UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/99331 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00404224 AU - ARAD, B AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - NOTES ON THE MEASUREMENT OF CONTROL LOAD AND SECTOR DESIGN IN THE ENROUTE ENVIRONMENT PY - 1964/06 SP - 162 p. AB - No abstract provided. KW - Air traffic control KW - United States UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/219472 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00073740 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - CLIMATIC STUDIES FOR PROPOSED LANDING SYSTEM FOR JOHN F. KENNEDY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT PY - 1964/06 AB - This report consists of 32 volumes of climatological data for 32 different major airports. Ceiling, visibility, wind and weather information is grouped seasonally and by various periods of the day. Various weather categories are tabulated, in most cases from 10 years of data, to act as an aid in making decisions affecting the landing systems at these 32 air terminals. KW - Ceilings KW - John F. Kennedy International Airport KW - Meteorological data KW - Meteorological phenomena KW - Visibility KW - Weather forecasting KW - Wind UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/24526 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00652760 AU - Catalano, J AU - McKown, C AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - A STUDY OF REQUIREMENTS FOR A PILOT WARNING INSTRUMENT FOR VISUAL AIRBORNE COLLISION AVOIDANCE PY - 1963/12 SP - 113 p. AB - The utility of information which would be provided by operational Pilot Warning Instruments (PWI) was studied experimentally in terms of the effect of PWI upon each stage of pilot activity occurring when a pilot is confronted by and intruder, viz., detection of the intruder, evaluation of the intruder threat, and the resulting avoidance maneuver. It was found that PWI improved the probability of detecting intruder aircraft. The extent of improvement was directly related to the amount of the information it provided. In addition, earlier detection, as would occur from PWI information, resulted in earlier evaluation of intruder threat and in earlier maneuvering, when necessary. KW - Air pilots KW - Cockpit displays KW - Crash avoidance systems KW - Instrumentation KW - Requirements KW - Specifications KW - Warning systems UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/393022 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00554500 AU - PAPROCKI, T H AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - EVALUATION OF SIMPLIFIED APPROACH LIGHTING AIDS PY - 1963/11 SP - 4 p. AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airports KW - Landing aids KW - Landing aids aeronautics KW - Lighting UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/317114 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00073049 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - U. S. SHORT HAUL PASSENGER-CARGO AIRCRAFT PY - 1963/10/11 AB - The short-haul market in aviation has proven to be very difficult from an economical standpoint for both aircraft manufacturers and airline operators; however, the Administration and the Congress have stated that development of local service aviation is in the national interest. Therefore, the FFA continues to study how it may help further local service aviation. The market for short-haul aircraft has been dominated by surplus vehicles so that manufacturers have been reluctant to undertake the development of new aircraft that could better serve this specialized market. The FAA believes that the introduction of new small and economical short-haul aircraft in the local service operation can materially assist in the continuation and expansion of service to small communities by giving them modern aircraft at minimum cost. KW - Local service airlines KW - Market research KW - Short haul UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/24453 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00554499 AU - PAZERA, E E AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - AN ANALYSIS OF REQUIREMENTS FOR DISPLACED THRESHOLD RUNWAY LIGHTING PY - 1963/05 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airport runways KW - Airports KW - Lighting UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/318549 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00911823 AU - Federal Aviation Administration AU - NATIONAL AIRSPACE SYSTEM (U.S.) AU - Federal Aviation Administration AU - Systems Research and Development Service TI - SUMMARY PRESENTATION OF THE SYSTEMS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICE PROGRAM.. PY - 1963 AB - No abstract provided. UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/585440 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00402013 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - REPORTS TO THE SUPERSONIC TRANSPORT STEERING GROUP PY - 1963 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Air transportation KW - Passenger traffic KW - Supersonic transport planes KW - United States UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/216109 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00554517 AU - ALEO, J AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - EVALUATION OF SNOW, ICE, AND SLUSH REMOVAL AND DISPOSAL EQUIPMENT FO WASHINGTON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT PY - 1962/07 SP - 21 p. AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airports KW - Maintenance KW - Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport KW - Slush KW - Snow removal KW - Washington (District of Columbia) UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/317128 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00401904 AU - GEOFFRION, D R AU - KIBARDIN, V M AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - STATISTICAL PRESENTATION OF OPERATIONAL LANDING PARAMETERS FOR TRANSPORT JET AIRPLANES PY - 1962/06 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Jet propelled aircraft KW - Landing UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/216090 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00403067 AU - PHILLIPS, C B AU - TWICHELL, N H AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - INVESTIGATION OF DRILL TESTING FOR PANCAKE LIGHTS : FINAL REPORT PY - 1962/03 SP - 39 p. AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airports KW - Landing aids KW - Landing aids aeronautics KW - Lighting UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/215712 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00402008 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - DIRECT OPERATING COSTS AND OTHER PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT IN AIRLINE SERVICE PY - 1962 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airlines KW - Operating costs KW - Periodicals KW - Statistics KW - Transport aircraft KW - United States UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/216106 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00091281 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - REPORT ON RULE-MAKING AND ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURES: PROJECT TIGHTROPE PY - 1961/10 SP - 30 p. AB - No Abstract. KW - Air traffic control KW - Aviation safety KW - Civil aviation KW - Emergencies KW - Federal government KW - Regulations KW - United States UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/24086 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00402994 AU - OFFUTT, W J AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - STUDY OF MOBILE LOUNGE AND OTHER APRON TRAFFIC DELAYS AT WASHINGTON DULLES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT PY - 1961/01 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airports KW - Intermodal terminals KW - Washington Dulles International Airport KW - Washington Metropolitan Area UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/216284 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00950903 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - TERMINAL BUILDING FACILITIES PLANNED FOR DULLES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.. PY - 1961 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airport terminals KW - Washington Dulles International Airport KW - Washington Metropolitan Area UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/602066 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00403068 AU - EGGERT, W E AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - APPROACH VISIBILITY STUDIES AT NEWARK : FINAL REPORT PY - 1960/09 SP - 112 p. AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airports KW - Lighting UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/215713 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00073814 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - AIRPORT TERMINAL BUILDINGS PY - 1960/09 AB - The Federal Aviation Agency presents this design guide to assist airport developers, architects, and engineers in planning airport terminal buildings and associated facilities to meet current and expanding demands of air users. Planners of airport ground facilities must recognize the aeronautical advances and transportation appetites of these users to match the degree of modernization attained by aircraft builders. Featured in the guide are discussions and recommendations on building space relationships, area requirements, noise control within the building, and building area planning. Information provided is intended to reduce but not eliminate research on the part of the architect, which is necessary to achieve an adequate, economical, and functional building. KW - Airports KW - Aprons KW - Baggage KW - Baggage terminals KW - Hangars KW - Intermodal terminals KW - Noise control KW - Passengers KW - Planning KW - Structural design KW - Terminal design UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/24537 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00074092 AU - Koetsch, J F AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - COMBINED LANDING AND TAKEOFF CAPACITY OF A SINGLE RUNWAY PY - 1960/09 AB - This study presents a theoretical analysis of the landing capacity and the combined landing and take-off capacity of a single runway. Interrelationships of the following factors are studied--the separation between pairs of landing aircraft; the runway occupancy time of landing aircraft; the distance of the gate at the start of the approach path from the end of the runway; the variation in approach speeds and take-off speeds and the distance between the second landing aircraft and the taking-off aircraft. KW - Airport capacity KW - Airport runways KW - Airspace capacity KW - Runway capacity KW - Runway spacing KW - Spacing UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/24606 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00403069 AU - GATES, R F AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - AN INTERIM REPORT ON RUNWAY TOUCHDOWN ZONE LIGHTING FOR DULLES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT PY - 1960/08 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airports KW - Landing aids KW - Landing aids aeronautics KW - Lighting KW - Washington Dulles International Airport UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/216297 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00403061 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - FEASIBILITY TESTS OF AIRCRAFT-MOUNTED ARRESTING HOOK : FINAL REPORT PY - 1960/07 SP - 21 p. AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airport runways KW - Airports KW - Landing aids KW - Landing aids aeronautics UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/215709 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00073829 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - AIRPORT RUNWAY AND TAXIWAY DESIGN PY - 1960/07 AB - Airport operations at numerous civil airports have been observed and measured. The data have been analyzed to identify the elements important to airport capacity and that cause delay to operations, and to identify and evaluate aircraft spacing intervals. KW - Airport capacity KW - Airport operations KW - Airport runways KW - Airports KW - Design KW - Taxiways UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/24543 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00402099 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - OPERATIONAL TEXT OF MARK X DECCA SYSTEM IN C-131 FIXED-WING AIRPLANE : FINAL REPORT, HELICOPTER OPERATIONS PROGRAM, PHASE I PY - 1960 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Aircraft pilotage KW - Helicopters KW - Pilotage UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/216116 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00912240 AU - HINKELMAN, J W AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - METEROLOGICAL ENGINEERING AND AIR SPACE MANAGEMENT. PY - 1959 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Aeronautics KW - Air traffic control KW - Aircraft pilotage KW - Meteorology KW - United States UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/585614 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00825724 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - ANNUAL REPORT OF OPERATIONS UNDER THE FEDERAL AIRPORT ACT - FEDERAL AVIATION AGENCY.. PY - 1959 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airports KW - Periodicals KW - United States UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/515907 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00825723 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - ANNUAL REPORT OF OPERATIONS UNDER THE FEDERAL AIRPORT ACT.. PY - 1959 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airports KW - Periodicals KW - United States UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/515906 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00402892 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - STANDARD SPECIFICATIONS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF AIRPORTS PY - 1959 SP - 588 p. AB - No abstract provided. KW - Airports KW - Contracts KW - Design KW - Specifications UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/215651 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00402098 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - FINAL REPORT : HELICOPTER OPERATIONS PROGRAM, PHASE I PY - 1959 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Aircraft pilotage KW - Helicopters KW - Pilotage UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/216115 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00404025 AU - Graham, F W AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - AIR TRAFFIC SYSTEMS RESEARCH BY SIMULATION PY - 1959 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Air traffic control KW - Simulation UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/221749 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00404054 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - FAA TEAM STUDY OF R-484 & SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ATC PROBLEMS PY - 1959 AB - No abstract provided. KW - Air traffic control KW - California KW - Los Angeles (California) KW - Southern California UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/221766 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01496638 AU - Noel, George AU - Allaire, Doug AU - Jacobson, Stuart AU - Willcox, Karen AU - Cointin, Rebecca TI - Assessment of the Aviation Environmental Design Tool SP - 8p AB - A comprehensive Tools Suite to allow for thorough evaluation of the environmental effects and impacts of aviation is currently being developed by the United States. This suite consists of the Environmental Design Space (EDS), the Aviation Environmental Design Tool (AEDT), and the Aviation environmental Portfolio Management Tool (APMT). A key priority is that environmental analyses are informed with the associated uncertainty from the tools, inputs and assumptions used in the analysis process. As part of the development of the Tools Suite, an assessment of each tool and a system-wide analysis of the entire suite are being undertaken. This assessment includes sensitivity to inputs and fidelity analyses that will provide an indication of uncertainty in analyses performed using the Tools Suite. Completion of the assessment and evaluation effort described herein is a key element of the development process. This paper presents a summary of the Tools Suite assessment and evaluation effort as it pertains to the AEDT component. AEDT takes detailed fleet descriptions and flight schedules and produces estimates of noise, fuel burn and emissions at global, regional and local levels. The AEDT component of the suite will be a publicly available regulatory tool within the U.S. This paper conveys the work completed so far and provides some insight into some of the findings. U1 - Eighth USA/Europe Air Traffic Management Research and Development SeminarFederal Aviation AdministrationEUROCONTROLNapa,California,United States StartDate:20090600 EndDate:20090700 Sponsors:Federal Aviation Administration, EUROCONTROL KW - Aircraft noise KW - Aviation KW - Aviation Environmental Design Tool KW - Environmental impacts KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Fuel consumption KW - Pollutants KW - Sensitivity analysis KW - Uncertainty UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/47000/47900/47949/p_084_EI.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1264123 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01075593 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Branch County Memorial Airport, proposed negative declaration : environmental impact statement KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Michigan UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/834987 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01073532 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - New Austin Airport alternative environmental assessment: environmental impact statement KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Texas UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/832924 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01073528 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Harlingen Industrial Airpark, Harlingen, Texas: Environmental impact statement KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Texas UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/832920 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01073514 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Acquisition of land and relocation of households construction and development of new Clark County Airport, Jeffersonville, Indiana: environmental impact statement KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Indiana UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/832906 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01073502 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - MALS environmental impact study KW - Environmental impact statements UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/832894 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00320702 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - LOCATION IDENTIFIERS PY - AB - Lists location identifiers (3-letter code, suggesting whenever possible, the location name that it represents) for the United States, and its possessions, and indicates, by means of asterisks, the United States international place name abbreviations (4-letter code used in international communications). Each issue supersedes previous edition KW - Air KW - Coding systems KW - Transportation planning UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/158733 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00320100 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - ACCIDENT, INCIDENT, VIOLATION INFORMATION PY - AB - Info in this category describes the conditions surrounding the accident, incident, or violation. This includes the circumstances, causes, malfunction, mechanical failures, deviations from established procecures, injuries, and principals involved (pilots). No statistical incident information is aviilable; single incident report produced when requested. Info is obtained from FAA inspectors, pilots, and other crew members, ground crews, passengers, and witnesses. KW - Air KW - Safety and security KW - Transportation safety UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/158472 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00320654 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - BIBLIOGRAPHY: AIRPORTS, 1977 PY - AB - This bibliography was prepared to illustrate input-output procedures that have been proposed for the implementation of an Air Transportation Research Information Service (ATRIS). The proposed subject scope for ATRIS covers 21 areas that range from aircraft to travel and tourism. The subject of airports was selected as the area for initial input to the ATRIS data base from which this bibliography has been produced. The bibliography has 10 chapters on major aspects of airports, including access, environmental impact, planning and design, safety and security, operations, and management. The bibliography contains nearly 800 references that represent initial input to the machine-readable ATRIS data base. The implementation plan calls for extending the data base to full coverage of all subject areas and to provide both on-line and off-line services to the air transport community. Many of the references were acquired from data bases held by National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Technical Information Service, Engineering Index, and other information services. Other references were prepared from documents held by various libraries and transportation centers. Selections were made by staff of the Flight Transportation Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; final input and output processing was performed by Transportation Research Board information staff. A major purpose for the bibliography is to inform ATRIS users of the services that might be provided and through feedback from recipients of the bibliography to learn more about the needs and wants of users of air transport information. This is prototype product of the Air Transportation Research Information Service (ATRIS). KW - Air KW - Bibliographies UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/158711 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00320101 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - WORLDWIDE CRIMINAL ACTS INVOLVING CIVIL AVIATION, (1974-PRESENT) PY - AB - Annual report on worldwide aircraft hijackings, attack on airports and airline offices, explosive devices found, and related crimes, including geographical area, casualties, and property damage. KW - Air KW - Safety and security KW - Transportation safety UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/158473 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00320583 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - EXPLOSIONS ABOARD AIRCRAFT PY - AB - Semiannual tabulation of data on explosions aboard aircraft, 1949- . Contains an extended list showing date, location, circumstances, number of persons killed and injured, airline involved, type of aircraft, country of registry, and scheduled flight plan, for each incident; and 5 summary tables. KW - Air KW - Safety and security KW - Transportation safety UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/158687 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00320585 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - SEMIANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE CIVIL AVIATION SECURITY PROGRAM (1974- ) PY - AB - Semiannual report to Congress on the Civil Aviation security program and the operation of airport passenger and baggage screening procedures. Procedures were instituted to prevent aircraft hijackings and related crimes, and are administered through FAA Civil Aviation Security Service. Contains narrative report with text statistics on hijackings, passengers screened, weapons and dangerous articles detected, arrests, explosions and bomb threats, and international security measures and 15 charts and tables, as follows: 1-4. Hijackings and hijacking attempts. 5-6. Bomb threats against airports and aircraft. 7-8. Characteristics of weapons detection devices and x-ray screening procedures, and number of units. 9. Airline passenger screening results. 10-14. Survey and training activities. 15. Compliance and enforcement actions. First 2 reports were titled "Report to Congress on the Effectiveness of Passenger Screening Procedures". KW - Air KW - Commodities KW - Freight traffic KW - Safety and security KW - Transportation safety UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/158689 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00320591 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - SURVEY TO DETERMINE THE PERCENT OF PASSENGER AIRCRAFT DEPARTURES CARRYING HAZARDOUS MATERIALS, 1974 PY - AB - Report estimating percent of all U.S. commercial air carrier passenger and cargo flights carrying hazardous and radioactive materials. Contains explanation of methodology and 4 summary tables showing percent of passenger and cargo departures with hazardous and with radioactive materials, by type of carrier (domestic, commercial, supplemental, air taxi, and FAR121 and 135) and for selected airports ranked by percentage of departures. Data are based on a random sample of cargo load manifests of all operators in 50 states and D.C. Jan-April 1974. KW - Air KW - Passenger transportation KW - Safety and security KW - Transportation safety UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/158694 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00320043 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - AIRCRAFT HIJACKING STATISTICS (1961-PRESENT) PY - AB - Summary report on U.S. and worldwide aircraft hijacking attempts and legal disposition of hijackers. Covers circumstances of incident, destination, outcome, casualties and identity of hijackers where known. A chronological listing of worldwide hijacking attempts (1931 - present) and U.S. aircraft hijacking attempts (1961-present). KW - Air KW - International transportation KW - Safety and security KW - Transportation safety UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/158455 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00320559 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - FAA INFORMATION SOURCE GUIDE PY - AB - The guide provides identification of information categories and the designated office of primary interest (OPI) for each, who is responsible for developing, maintaining, and releasing the information. Also points to an organizational element of FAA to obtain assistance. Major information categories are: accident/incident/violation; accounting and audit; air agency; aircraft; airman; airports; airspace; aviation activity, aviation forecast, FAA aircraft management, facilities, medical research, R&D project management. KW - Air KW - Bibliographies UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/158681 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00183881 AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - TIPS ON HOW TO USE THE FLIGHT PLANNER PY - SP - n.p. AB - Instructions are provided on how to prepare a flight plan using a special form (the "Flight Planner") developed by FAA, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, and Ohio State University, with emphasis on what meteorological information obtained from a briefing is necessary in order to make the proper (go - no go) decision. A listing of symbols commonly used in aviation weather forecasting and report is included for use in filling out the form. KW - Flight planning KW - Flight plans KW - General aviation KW - Manuals KW - Meteorological data KW - Meteorological phenomena KW - Training UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/78718 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 00155609 AU - East Central Florida Regional Planning Council TI - METROPOLITAN AIRCRAFT NOISE ABATEMENT POLICY STUDY-CAPE KENNEDY REGIONAL AIRPORT, MELBOURNE, FLORIDA. TECHNICAL REPORT PY - SP - 118 p. AB - This report is an analysis of the relationship between noise generated by aircraft operations and the use of affected land surrounding the John F. Kennedy Regional Airport in Melbourne, Florida. It includes a presentation of current land use information and the prospects for change. Proposals have been developed to encourage and enable the local governments involved to achieve compatible development through cooperative intergovernmental measures: comprehensive planning, capital improvement programming, mapping, zoning, annexation, land acquisition. The ecological impact is considered in a separate section. KW - Aircraft noise KW - Airport noise KW - Cape Canaveral (Florida) KW - Capital KW - Capital improvements KW - Environmental impact analysis KW - Environmental impacts KW - Improvements KW - Intergovernmental relations KW - Land use KW - Local government KW - Mapping KW - Noise control KW - Noise generation KW - Noise reduction KW - Noise sources KW - Policy KW - Zoning UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/49308 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01597252 AU - Samdahl, Donald AU - Swisher, Myron AU - Leidos AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Congestion Pricing - A Primer: Evolution of Second Generation Pricing Projects PY - 2015/09 SP - 52p AB - While pricing of managed lanes has been in place for over 20 years, most of the projects have been conversions of existing high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes into high-occupancy-toll (HOT) lanes. These are the first generation projects. This primer explores the evolution of first-generation pricing strategies into more complex express toll lanes using new or expanded capacity. For purposes of this primer, the second-generation pricing projects refer to variably priced lanes and variable tolls on entire roadways. Pricing changes throughout the day, either on a variable daily schedule or dynamically based on the level of congestion and demand for the managed lanes. The second generation movement also includes the implementation of integrated networks of priced roadways within urban regions. The primer explains these differences and provides insights from case studies around the United States. The primer concludes with guidance for agencies looking to develop second-generation pricing projects. KW - Case studies KW - Congestion pricing KW - Managed lanes KW - Road pricing KW - Second generation KW - United States KW - Variable tolls UR - http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop15036/fhwahop15036.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1401544 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01596736 AU - Middleton, Dan AU - Songchitruksa, Praprut AU - Pratt, Michael P AU - Sunkari, Srinivasa AU - Geedipally, Srinivas AU - Charara, Hassan AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Investigation of New Vehicle Detectors for High-Speed Signalized Intersections PY - 2015/09//Technical Report SP - 190p AB - Early indications from the use of the newest vehicle detectors for high-speed signalized intersections suggested that they perform well as replacements for the Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT’s) legacy systems, but this early conclusion needed verification based on rigorous field testing in a variety of traffic and environmental conditions. This research investigated the performance characteristics of detectors designed for the stop line area and indecision zone detection. In some cases, new detectors involved two technologies to cover both upstream and stop line areas. Increasing use of infrared (IR) cameras with video imaging systems was an attempt to overcome some of the limitations of traditional video detection. While these IR cameras may improve video detection for some lighting and temperature conditions, evidence suggested that they do not improve detection performance under all conditions. The objectives of this research were to: (1) Determine current TxDOT-specific needs for new vehicle detectors; (2) Identify the most promising detectors for both stop line and dilemma zone detection; and (3) Develop guidelines on each new technology and establish recommended controller and detector settings to guide TxDOT on installation and use of each detector and combination of detectors. KW - Dilemma zone KW - Field tests KW - Guidelines KW - Infrared detectors KW - Needs assessment KW - Recommendations KW - Signalized intersections KW - Technological innovations KW - Texas Department of Transportation KW - Vehicle detectors UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6828-1.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/59000/59100/59188/0-6828-1.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/59000/59300/59353/0-6828-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1403381 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01591981 AU - Corven, John AU - Corven Engineering, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Post-Tensioned Box Girder Design Manual PY - 2015/09 SP - 374p AB - This Manual contains information related to the analysis and design of cast-in-place concrete box girder bridges prestressed with post-tensioning tendons. The Manual is targeted at Federal, State and local transportation departments and private company personnel that may be involved in the analysis and design of this type of bridge. The Manual reviews features of the construction of cast-in-place concrete box girder bridges, material characteristics that impact design, fundamentals of prestressed concrete, and losses in prestressing force related to post-tensioned construction. Also presented in this Manual are approaches to the longitudinal and transverse analysis of the box girder superstructure. Both single-cell and multi-cell box girders are discussed. Design examples are presented in Appendices to this Manual. The document is part of the Federal Highway Administration’s national technology deployment program and may serve as a training manual. KW - Box girder bridges KW - Box girders KW - Bridge design KW - Cast in place structures KW - Concrete bridges KW - Manuals KW - Posttensioning KW - Prestressed concrete UR - https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/concrete/hif15016.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1398661 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01590512 AU - Shuler, Scott AU - Colorado State University, Fort Collins AU - Colorado Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Effectiveness of Two Reflection Crack Attenuation Techniques PY - 2015/09//Final Report SP - 23p AB - Asphalt overlays are one of the most common tools for rehabilitating existing asphalt and concrete pavements. However, the performance of new overlays is often jeopardized by the cracking distress in the existing pavement. This existing cracking propagates, or reflects, through the new overlay to the surface of the new overlay. The rate at which this reflection cracking propagates to the surface is a function of overlay thickness, crack severity, traffic loading and subgrade or subbase support. Once reflection cracks appear on the surface of the new pavement, water and debris can enter the subbase and subgrade which can affect pavement strength and reduce the life of the overlay. Therefore, reducing the rate at which these reflection cracks propagate to the surface of the pavement is desirable in order to lengthen the time between rehabilitation projects or crack sealing operations. Various methods have been used in past decades in an attempt to reduce the rate of reflection crack propagation. These include geosynthetic membranes and asphalt stress absorbing interlayers. This study compares performance of a grid reinforcing system, a polymer modified asphalt-rich interlayer system and control pavement test sections. After five years of performance monitoring differences between the attenuation systems and the controls have appeared. KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Attenuation (Engineering) KW - Colorado KW - Fiberglass KW - Overlays (Pavements) KW - Pavement interlayers KW - Pavement performance KW - Reflection cracking KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) UR - https://www.codot.gov/programs/research/pdfs/2015-research-reports/reflection-crack-attenuation/at_download/file UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1396350 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01590484 AU - Merritt, David K AU - Chang, George K AU - Torres, Helga N AU - Mohanraj, Kiran AU - Rasmussen, Robert O AU - Transtec Group, Incorporated AU - Colorado Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluating the Effects of Concrete Pavement Curling and Warping on Ride Quality PY - 2015/09//Final Report SP - 77p AB - Construction of a jointed concrete pavement on US 34 near Greeley, Colorado in 2012 led to an investigation of slab curling and warping that appeared to be contributing to undesirable levels of pavement roughness. Specifically, the westbound lanes that were constructed in July appeared to exhibit significantly higher roughness than the eastbound lanes that were constructed in September. Furthermore, smoothness testing by the contractor at three different times of the day on one of the westbound lanes revealed significant differences in roughness values depending on the time of day. In response, Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) initiated the investigation under this study to determine the effects of slab curling and warping on ride quality for the US 34 project with the expectation that the findings from this study can also be applied to jointed concrete pavement projects in general. The outcomes of this study are recommendations for improvements in construction practices to help minimize the effects of curling and warping on jointed concrete pavement ride quality as well as recommendations for the collection of ride quality data for acceptance. Implementation recommendations include potential modifications to concrete pavement construction practices and/or specifications, particularly for hot weather paving, as well as recommendations for modifications to the collection of pavement smoothness acceptance data for jointed concrete pavements. The recommendations for smoothness acceptance data collection can be implemented on pilot projects or as shadow specifications in the coming construction seasons. After each construction season, the recommended procedures can be further evaluated before being included in the Standard Specifications. Recommendations for construction practices/specifications are less substantial and may only require minor modifications to standard practices and specifications. KW - Concrete pavements KW - Curling KW - Evaluation KW - Greeley (Colorado) KW - Pavement performance KW - Periods of the day KW - Recommendations KW - Roughness KW - Warpage UR - https://www.codot.gov/programs/research/pdfs/2015-research-reports/curling/at_download/file UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1396353 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01590455 AU - Guensler, Randall AU - Grossman, Alice AU - Frackelton, Alexandra AU - Elango, Vetri AU - Xu, Yanzhi AU - Toth, Chris AU - Akanser, Alper AU - Castrillon, Felipe AU - Palinginis, Evangelos AU - Sadana, Ramik AU - Georgia Institute of Technology AU - Georgia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Southeastern Transportation Research, Innovation, Development and Education Center (STRIDE) TI - Automated Sidewalk Quality and Safety Assessment System (Regional University Transportation Center Subproject) PY - 2015/09//Final Report SP - 163p AB - Sidewalks are often unsafe, exposing pedestrians, wheelchair users, travelers with strollers, and persons carrying heavy loads to unnecessary risk. However, prioritizing sidewalk repairs and improvements requires knowledge about the current system state. The Automated Sidewalk Quality and Safety Assessment System developed in this project can help communities evaluate the condition of sidewalks and pathways based on sidewalk existence, condition, and conformance with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards. In consultation with local transportation planners and public interest groups, the team calibrated the system to assess sidewalk characteristics and developed an initial sidewalk quality index (SQI). The team then developed a weighted ranking system to prioritize pedestrian projects by coupling app-derived ADA compliance data with pedestrian safety indicators (crash rates), land use, and demographic data (pedestrian activity). The researchers collected and analyzed sidewalk data for 1,352 miles of sidewalks within the City of Atlanta and used the system to derive block-level pedestrian potential and deficiency indicators to prioritize planning investments within a subarea of Midtown, Atlanta, Georgia. The results of the rank-order prioritization analyses indicate that blocks near rail stations and high-density land uses should be prioritized for investment. The system developed in this project can help communities evaluate sidewalk condition, ADA compatibility, and help agencies use the data in prioritizing pedestrian infrastructure repairs and improvements. Further refinements will extend the application of the methods to larger geographic scales and to incorporate repair costs into the prioritization framework. KW - Americans with Disabilities Act KW - Atlanta (Georgia) KW - Automatic data collection systems KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Pedestrian safety KW - Quality assurance KW - Ranking (Statistics) KW - Sidewalks UR - http://g92018.eos-intl.net/eLibSQL14_G92018_Documents/12-16.pdf UR - http://stride.ce.ufl.edu/uploads/docs/STRIDE_2012-067S_automated_sidewalk_quality_and_safety_assessment_system_final_report_2015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1396128 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01587937 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Fok, Edward AU - Murphy, Ray AU - Phomsavath, Ekaraj AU - Walker, Jonathan TI - Taming Cyber Risks PY - 2015/09 VL - 79 IS - 2 SP - pp 2-7 AB - As advances are made in technology and connectivity, it is necessary for the transportation community to improve cybersecurity. Today’s transportation network involves a great deal of interconnected systems, using common commercial technologies such as Wi-Fi and Ethernet. While these technologies are inexpensive, they are vulnerable, due to being well-known. In recent years, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has established guidelines to secure transportation communication networks. FHWA has worked to increase awareness of cybersecurity issues for state and local departments of transportation. As new technologies develop, it is necessary for cybersecurity efforts to constantly improve as well. KW - Computer security KW - Connectivity KW - Guidelines KW - Technological innovations KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration KW - Wireless communication systems UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/16sepoct/01.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1395731 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01587934 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Filosa, Gina AU - Poe, Carson TI - An Array of Possibilities PY - 2015/09 VL - 79 IS - 2 SP - pp 8-13 AB - Climate change is having an impact on the United States transportation system, and there are many of projects underway to mitigate risks. Transportation agencies are working to develop strategies to adapt infrastructure to the effects of climate change. Strategies include reducing greenhouse gases by using highway rights-of-way (ROW) to install renewable energy technology, such as wind turbines and solar panels. Many agencies are looking to develop innovative and sustainable uses for highway ROW, especially as more than a one-off project. KW - Adaptation (Psychology) KW - Climate change KW - Environmental protection KW - Infrastructure KW - Renewable energy sources KW - Technological innovations KW - United States UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/16sepoct/02.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1395732 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01587927 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Brewer, Marcus A AU - Crowe, Rebecca TI - A Golden Opportunity to Make Travel More Golden PY - 2015/09 VL - 79 IS - 2 SP - pp 16-21 AB - The Federal Highway Administration has released the Handbook for Designing Roadways for the Aging Population in response to a surge in aging road users. It is estimated that by 2030, one-fifth of the United States population will be older adults, and it is necessary for transportation professionals to consider the consequences of the changing demographics. The Handbook includes treatments and countermeasures for specific areas of concern for aging road users. KW - Aged KW - Demographics KW - Handbooks KW - Highway design KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/16sepoct/04.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1395736 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01587912 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Weingroff, Richard F TI - The Pennsylvania Turnpike Turns 75 PY - 2015/09 VL - 79 IS - 2 SP - pp 22-31 AB - On the seventy-fifth anniversary of the opening of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, this article looks at how it began. The Pennsylvania Turnpike led the way for toll highways. Before it opened, it was believed that toll roads could not generate enough revenue. However, it was financially successful and provided a design model for the interstate system. After the success of the turnpike, superhighways began to be developed around the nation. KW - Finance KW - History KW - Interstate highways KW - Pennsylvania Turnpike KW - Revenues KW - Toll roads UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/16sepoct/05.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1395737 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01587899 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Luedders, Charles AU - Green, David TI - Check Out Your Latest FP PY - 2015/09 VL - 79 IS - 2 SP - pp 32-37 AB - The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) updates specifications for building roads and bridges every few years. Practices from all parts of the country are incorporated in order to meet the needs of a wide range of users. The latest edition of the Standard Specifications for Construction of Roads and Bridges on Federal Highway Projects (FP) was released in 2014, known as FP-14. The document covers construction techniques and materials from around the country, supports FHWA-led innovation programs, and provides a single source to promote the consistency of highway construction. KW - Bridge construction KW - Innovation KW - Road construction KW - Specifications KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/16sepoct/06.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1395738 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01587895 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - McCarthy, Leslie Myers AU - Park, Seri AU - Giancola, Anthony R TI - Powering an Energy Revolution PY - 2015/09 VL - 79 IS - 2 SP - pp 38-43 AB - The growth of energy industries in the United States has required an expansion of the transportation of oil by truck and rail. Much of this expansion involves moving heavy equipment and supplies to rural areas, butting pressure on roads and bridges that were not constructed to handle the heavy loads they are now facing. Transportation agencies are rising to the challenge to address the increased demand on the highway infrastructure. KW - Freight transportation KW - Infrastructure KW - Oils KW - Rural areas KW - Rural highways KW - Traffic volume KW - United States UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/16sepoct/07.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1395740 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01587842 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Shelsta, Heather TI - Making Virtual a Reality PY - 2015/09 VL - 79 IS - 2 SP - pp 14-15 AB - The National Highway Institute (NHI), the technical training arm of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), has been testing a virtual, interactive, conference-style training held in real time. Many state departments of transportation face challenges in training their employees, due to issues such as budgets and staff time. The virtual training facility built by NHI is designed to help by providing an online space for training, with lectures, conferences, and exhibits. It is necessary for training delivery methods such as this to continue to meet the needs of limited budgets and travel restrictions. NHI continues to work with FHWA to develop the platform and provide training. KW - Education and training KW - National Highway Institute KW - State departments of transportation KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration KW - Virtual reality UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/16sepoct/03.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1395734 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01583566 AU - Byrd, John D AU - Dixon, Grady AU - Brown, Mike AU - Cooke, Bill AU - Mississippi State University, Mississippi State AU - Mississippi Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of the Watchdog Weather Station to Reduce Drift from MDOT Spray Trucks PY - 2015/09//Final Report SP - 15p AB - Wind speed data collected with the Spectrum Watchdog Sprayer Station were compared to data recorded with a Young 05103-5 anemometer at the Rodney R. Foil Plant Science Research Center on the Mississippi State University campus June and July, 2014 and 2015. The manufacturer’s specifications advertise the Sprayer Station wind speed accuracy for wind speeds less than 12 mph is ±1.1 mph and wind speeds greater than 12 mph is ±2.3 mph. While the wind speed data recorded by the Watchdog Sprayer Station followed the same trend as the data recorded with the Young anemometer, variations in wind speed both above and below that recorded by the Young anemometer indicate the Watchdog precision is not sufficiently reliable of the actual wind speed. Wind speed data recorded by the Young anemometer and Watchdog Sprayer Stations were poorly correlated at 0.61 and 0.49 for collection periods in 2014 and 2015, respectively. These data indicate the Watchdog Sprayer Station does not measure wind speed with sufficient reliability to provide a Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) spray truck driver, a true indication when wind speeds are above or below safe parameters for spray applications to avoid drift. KW - Accuracy KW - Anemometers KW - Data collection KW - Evaluation KW - Herbicides KW - Mississippi KW - Sprayers KW - Wind UR - http://mdot.ms.gov/documents/research/Reports/Interim%20and%20Final%20Reports/State%20Study%20262%20-%20Evaluation%20of%20the%20Watchdog%20Weather%20Station%20to%20Reduce%20Drift%20from%20MDOT%20Spray%20%20Trucks.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/56000/56700/56781/State_Study_262.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1377555 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01583540 AU - Schaefer, Ron AU - Newton, Diane AU - Cassady, Jim AU - Black, Chuckerin AU - Roth, Robert AU - Stock, Dan AU - Leidos AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration TI - Smart Roadside Initiative – Final Report PY - 2015/09//Final Report SP - 88p AB - This is the Final Report for the Smart Roadside Initiative (SRI) prototype system deployment project. The SRI prototype was implemented at weigh stations in Grass Lake, Michigan and West Friendship, Maryland. The prototype was developed to integrate with existing technologies already available at the weigh stations to provide one common system user interface for law enforcement officers to use. The Final Report summarizes what was deployed at each weigh station, in the commercial vehicle via a smartphone, and the ability to view the SRI user interface at any location using a smartphone. The report provides the results of the unit and acceptance testing and the lessons learned for future deployments. KW - Automated highways KW - Commercial drivers KW - Data sharing KW - Grass Lake (Michigan) KW - Implementation KW - Law enforcement KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Prototypes KW - Stakeholders KW - User interfaces (Computer science) KW - Weigh stations KW - West Friendship (Maryland) UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/56000/56200/56201/FHWA-JPO-16-258.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1377219 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01582442 AU - Saito, Mitsuru AU - Chang, David Keali'i AU - Schultz, Grant G AU - Brigham Young University AU - Utah Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Calibration of Automatic Performance Measures – Speed and Volume Data: Volume 1. Evaluation of the Accuracy of Traffic Volume Counts Collected by Microwave Sensors PY - 2015/09//Final Report SP - 103p AB - Over the past few years, the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) has developed a system called the Signal Performance Metrics System (SPMS) to evaluate the performance of signalized intersections. This system currently provides data summaries for several performance measures including: 1) Purdue Coordination Diagram, 2) Speed, 3) Approach Volume, 4) Purdue Phase Termination Charts, 5) Split Monitor, 6) Turning Movement Volume Counts, 7) Arrivals on Red, and 8) Approach Delay. There is a need to know the accuracy of the data that are being collected by the Wavetronix SmartSensor Matrix and displayed in the SPMS. The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) members determined that the following factors would affect the accuracy of radar-based traffic sensors the most: sensor position, number of approach lanes, and volume level. The speed limit factor was added to the study after most of the data collection was completed. The purpose of this research was to collect data at various intersections to determine the accuracy of the data collected by the Wavetronix SmartSensor Matrix. A Mixed Model Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was employed to analyze the effects that each factor had on the accuracy of the traffic volume count. A total of 14 tests were performed to examine the effects of the factors on traffic volume count accuracy. The sensor position factor was not found to be a statistically significant factor affecting the accuracy of traffic volume counts. The effect of speed limit on traffic volume count accuracy was determined to be inconclusive due to the lack of samples to be tested. The remaining, volume level and number of approach lanes, were found to have a statistically significant effect on the accuracy of traffic volume counts. Based on these two factors, a table of accuracy ranges was created to meet the needs of UDOT to present accuracy ranges on the SPMS website. This table includes the mean, 95 percent confidence interval of the mean, standard deviation, number of samples, and the minimum number of samples needed. In general the sensor provides accuracy level that is ready for practical use by traffic engineers. KW - Accuracy KW - Analysis of variance KW - Data collection KW - Data quality KW - Evaluation KW - Microwave detectors KW - Signalized intersections KW - Traffic counts KW - Traffic data KW - Traffic volume KW - Utah UR - http://www.udot.utah.gov/main/uconowner.gf?n=25601705547153370 UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/56000/56700/56730/ut-15.14.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1376027 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01582195 AU - Ma, Jiaqi AU - Lochrane, Taylor AU - Leidos AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - User’s Manual for the Traffic Incident Management Benefit-Cost (TIM-BC) Tool PY - 2015/09//Version 2.0 SP - 28p AB - This document serves as a user’s manual for the Traffic Incident Management Benefit-Cost Tool (TIM-BC) Version 2.0, which is used to assist State and local engineers and decisionmakers with evaluating and comparing a variety of traffic incident management programs. The document describes how to use the tool by providing detailed instructions and screenshots of the tool. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Computer program documentation KW - Evaluation KW - Incident management KW - Traffic incidents KW - Web applications UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/operations/16020/16020.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1375674 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01581023 AU - Howell, Brian AU - Hopwood, Theodore AU - Meade, Bobby W AU - Palle, Sudhir AU - Kentucky Transportation Center AU - Kentucky Transportation Cabinet AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Deterioration of Structural Concrete Due to Chloride Intrusion and Other Damaging Mechanisms PY - 2015/09//Final Report SP - 98p AB - Kentucky's bridges continue to age and experience distress. The intrusion of chlorides into concrete remains the primary mechanism for deterioration. It leads to reinforcing steel corrosion that damages the adjoining concrete structure. This study found problematic chloride concentrations in Kentucky concrete bridge elements (decks, pier caps, abutments). Chloride levels have been found at concentrations sufficient to initiate reinforcing steel corrosion. In some cases, chloride concentrations were sufficient to cause accelerated corrosion and produce major section loss of reinforcing steel. Advanced stages of corrosion such as these typically require costly repairs and maintenance to extend the service life of bridges. Field inspections and laboratory analyses conducted during this study verified the ongoing problem of concrete deterioration across bridges within Kentucky's transportation network. KW - Chlorides KW - Concrete bridges KW - Corrosion KW - Evaluation KW - Inspection KW - Kentucky KW - Laboratory tests KW - Reinforcing steel UR - http://www.ktc.uky.edu/files/2015/09/KTC_14_03_SPR10_406_1F.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373821 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01581004 AU - Ghosn, Michel AU - Fiorillo, Graziano AU - Gayovyy, Volodymyr AU - Getso, Tenzin AU - Ahmed, Sallem AU - Parker, Neville AU - City College of New York AU - New York State Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Effects of Overweight Vehicles on NYSDOT Infrastructure PY - 2015/09//Final Report SP - 192p AB - This report develops a methodology for estimating the effects of different categories of overweight trucks on New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) pavements and bridges. A data mining algorithm is used to categorize truck data collected at several Weigh-In-Motion stations around the state of New York based on the trucks’ adherence to the state’s legal weight limits. The data indicate that about 11% of the trucks traveling on New York highways may be carrying divisible load permits, 1% may be carrying special hauling permits, while about 6% may be illegally overweight. The analysis shows that these overweight trucks are increasing the risk to failure of bridges by causing stresses above those specified in design specifications and by reducing bridge service (fatigue) lives through repetitive overloading. A monetization of the safety margin utilization due to the combined overstress and cyclic fatigue shows that trucks carrying divisible load permits may be responsible for $50M per year in NYS bridge infrastructure cost, trucks with special hauling permits may be responsible for $2M/yr in additional cost while illegally overweight trucks may be responsible for $43M per year for a total of $95M/yr. The cost allocation study performed on the NYS pavement network shows that the cost to NYS pavements due to overweight trucks is about $145M/yr divided into $78M/yr for divisible load permits, $7M/yr for special hauling permits and $60M/yr for illegally overweight trucks. KW - Algorithms KW - Bridges KW - Cost allocation KW - Data mining KW - Fatigue (Mechanics) KW - Methodology KW - New York (State) KW - Overweight loads KW - Pavements KW - Permits KW - Trucks KW - Weigh in motion UR - http://www.utrc2.org/sites/default/files/Final-Report-Effects-of-Overweight-Vehicles-on-NYSDOT-Infrastructure.pdf UR - https://www.dot.ny.gov/divisions/engineering/technical-services/trans-r-and-d-repository/C-08-13%20Final%20Report_Sept%202015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1375435 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580992 AU - Chen, Mei AU - Zhang, Xu AU - Green, Eric AU - University of Kentucky, Lexington AU - Kentucky Transportation Cabinet AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Analysis of Historical Travel Time Data PY - 2015/09 SP - 66p AB - Travel speed is a critical piece of information for many applications. The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) states that calculating travel speeds illuminates the performance of the nation’s highway system. New technologies make the collection of speed data more straightforward than ever. Private vendors collect and sell this data, and the Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) purchased speed data for 2010-2013 from NAVTEQ (now HERE). The main objectives of the research were to: (1) Evaluate private sector speed data and its use in generating travel time based performance measures, (2) Create a mechanism to integrate this speed data with networks maintained by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) and Kentucky Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) to facilitate congestion management and travel model improvement, and (3) Generate performance measures, including travel time index, planning time index, buffer index, annual hours of delay, and percentage travel under congested conditions. This study assessed private sector speed data, its potential as a robust data source, and its limitations. Evaluation of the data indicated that link-referenced Analytical Traffic Pattern (ATP) data offered the best value for a wide range of applications. It offered details on speed distribution and provided critical insights into the dynamics of congestion and the variability of travel times. Among the three types of data, the link-referenced ATP data should be the first choice when future purchases of private sector speed data are made. These data provided critical support to develop the performance measures required by MAP-21. These data need to be linked with traffic volumes to generate the full range of performance measures. Data remain sparse for roads with lower functional classifications, especially collectors and local streets. When sample size is a concern, the research team recommends that data from other sources (such as Bluetooth, radar, and others) be used to supplement the private sector speed data. A range of congestion and reliability performance measures have been generated from these data and were provided to KYTC and MPO stakeholders in the form of geodatabases. Other applications can benefit from these data, including: the calibration and validation of simulation models, travel demand models, and air quality analyses. KW - Analysis KW - Data collection KW - Data quality KW - Information processing KW - Kentucky KW - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) KW - Performance measurement KW - Traffic congestion KW - Traffic volume KW - Travel time UR - http://www.ktc.uky.edu/files/2015/10/KTC_15_12_SPR12_444_1F.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373325 ER - TY - SER AN - 01580971 JO - TechBrief PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Tayabji, Shiraz TI - Precast Concrete Pavement Technology Resources PY - 2015/09 SP - 4p AB - Precast concrete pavement (PCP) technology is gaining wider acceptance in the US for rapid repair and rehabilitation of concrete pavements as well as for reconstruction of heavily trafficked asphalt concrete intersections. While widespread use of PCP technology in the US is of recent origin, with most projects in service less than about 14 years, tens of projects have been constructed and many advances have been made and continue to be made in all aspects of the technology including panel design, fabrication, and installation. The use of both jointed and prestressed PCP systems has advanced during the last decade due to a combination of work sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), projects constructed by highway agencies, and innovations by the construction industry during the last decade. This TechBrief provides a summary of the technical resources readily available to engineers and planners seeking to implement the use of PCP. Weblinks are provided for access to documents covering a wide range of PCP guidelines from panel design, fabrication and installation to project selection, PCP system acceptance, and model specifications. KW - Best practices KW - Bibliographies KW - Fabrication KW - Guidelines KW - Implementation KW - Installation KW - Precast concrete pavements KW - Specifications KW - United States UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement/concrete/pubs/hif15022.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373827 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580968 AU - Stock, Dan AU - Schaefer, Ron AU - Leidos AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Department of Transportation AU - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration TI - User Manual Document for Smart Roadside Initiative PY - 2015/09 SP - 26p AB - This document provides the user instructions for the Smart Roadside Initiative (SRI) applications including mobile and web-based SRI applications. These applications include smartphone-enabled information exchange and notification, and software components that present aggregated information via a system dashboard. SRI supports jurisdiction-specific decision-making about enforcement actions, inspections and reporting. The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Smart Roadside Initiative comprises several different programs that are in various stages of operation and deployment, including: (1) Electronic Screening, (2) Virtual Weigh Stations/Electronic Permitting, (3) Wireless Roadside Inspection Program, and (4) Truck Parking. The SRI Prototype is the focus of this test and user documentation. At the heart of the SRI prototype is the SRI Information Aggregation System (SIAS). This component contains the web services and other communications interfaces which connect to external sensors and systems to collect, verify, and present the gathered information, such as license plate, truck weight, USDOT number, and driver information to the relevant information users, including law enforcement officers and truck drivers. KW - Commercial vehicles KW - Computer program documentation KW - Detection and identification technologies KW - Information dissemination KW - Inspection KW - Intelligent transportation systems programs KW - Parking KW - Permits KW - Smartphones KW - Software KW - Technological innovations KW - Weigh stations UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/56000/56200/56239/FHWA-JPO-16-262.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373245 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580943 AU - Lyon, Craig AU - Persaud, Bhagwant AU - Eccles, Kimberly AU - Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Incorporated AU - Persaud Lyon, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Safety Evaluation of Wet-Reflective Pavement Markings PY - 2015/09 SP - 54p AB - The Federal Highway Administration organized a pooled fund study of 38 States to evaluate low-cost safety strategies as part of its strategic highway safety effort. One of the strategies selected for evaluation was the application of wet-reflective pavement markings. This strategy involves upgrading existing markings from standard marking materials to wet-reflective markings applied as a paint, tape, or thermoplastic material. The purpose was to provide an improved level of retroreflectivity in wet-road conditions. Geometric, traffic, and crash data were obtained for treated freeway sections in Minnesota, North Carolina, and Wisconsin; treated two-lane rural road locations in Minnesota; and treated multilane road sections in Wisconsin. To account for potential selection bias owing to regression-to-the-mean, an Empirical Bayes (EB) before–after analysis was conducted. The analysis also controlled for changes in traffic volumes over time and time trends in crash counts unrelated to the treatment. Intersection-related, snow/slush ice, and animal crashes were excluded from the analysis. For freeways, the combined results for all States indicated reductions in crashes that are statistically significant at the 95-percent confidence level for injury and wet-road crashes, with estimated crash modification factors (CMFs) of 0.881 and 0.861, respectively. For multilane roads, statistically significant reductions were estimated for total crashes (CMF = 0.825), injury crashes (CMF = 0.595), run-off-road crashes (CMF = 0.538), wet-road crashes (CMF = 0.751), and nighttime crashes (CMF = 0.696). For two-lane roads, the sample of crashes was too small to detect an effect with statistical significance for any of the crash types, but there were indications that the treatment had a safety benefit for wet-road crashes. Benefit–cost ratios estimated with conservative cost and service life assumptions were 1.45 for freeways and 5.44 for multilane roads. The results suggest that the treatment—even with conservative assumptions on cost, service life, and value of a statistical life—can be cost effective, especially for multilane roads. KW - Before and after studies KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Crash data KW - Evaluation KW - Freeways KW - Minnesota KW - Multilane highways KW - North Carolina KW - Retroreflectivity KW - Road markings KW - Traffic safety KW - Wet weather KW - Wisconsin UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/15065/15065.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1374339 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580942 AU - Gresham, Smith and Partners AU - GeoSyntec Consultants AU - Ohio Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Storm Water Best Management Practices for Local Roadways PY - 2015/09//Final Report SP - 106p AB - Local communities and the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) are required by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s (Ohio EPA) statewide Construction General Permit for Storm Water Discharges OHC000004 (CGP) to select, design, construct, operate and maintain post-construction storm water best management practices (BMPs) for new and redevelopment roadway projects statewide. Through the research conducted, a BMP selection tool, BMP case studies, and an annotated bibliography were developed to assist Locals with identification and BMP selection. The BMP tool is intended to facilitate the understanding of BMP requirements and considerations so Locals and designers can select, plan, and construct appropriate post-construction storm water BMPs. These research products will help Locals improve implementation of appropriate BMPs by providing resources to understand BMP characteristics with regard to limited space requirements, on-going maintenance, aesthetics, safety considerations, and other potential impacts associated with project delivery. KW - Best practices KW - Case studies KW - Construction projects KW - Decision support systems KW - Literature reviews KW - Ohio KW - Runoff UR - http://cdm16007.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p267401ccp2/id/12921 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373416 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580898 AU - Keathley, Valerie AU - Martin, Andrew AU - Walton, Jennifer AU - Kentucky Transportation Center AU - Kentucky Transportation Cabinet AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Online Driver's License Renewal PY - 2015/09//Final Report SP - 57p AB - The Kentucky Department of Vehicle Regulation is exploring the possibility of developing and implementing online driver’s license renewal. The objective of this project was to: 1) evaluate online driver’s license and REAL ID renewal programs in other states to identify best practices; 2) examine two options to institute online renewal; and 3) identify what legislative changes would be required in Kentucky to authorize an online renewal program. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KTC) surveyed 25 states with online license renewal programs in place, and received responses from 14 states. Survey respondents indicated that online renewal is more efficient, improves customer service, cuts down on foot traffic in branch offices, and promotes cost savings. Respondents reported that development, workflows, and organization structures associated with online renewal have not been particularly disruptive or expensive. KTC researchers examined two options for implementing online renewal: a print farm operated in Frankfort, Kentucky or centralized production and distribution by a third party vendor. Two vendors submitted cost estimates to KTC. Implementation of an online renewal option in the Commonwealth will take 6 to 12 months. To implement either solution, KYTC will require legislative approval from the Kentucky General Assembly to increase fees for each license class. It would have to amend state law as well to authorize the production and distribution of licenses by a third party. KW - Best practices KW - Computer online services KW - Costs KW - Driver licenses KW - Driver licensing KW - Kentucky KW - Legislation KW - Licensing KW - States KW - Surveys UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.13023/KTC.RR.2015.20 UR - http://www.ktc.uky.edu/files/2015/10/KTC_15_20_SPR15_509_1F.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373968 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580247 AU - Steinberg, Eric AU - Ellison, Travis AU - Ohio University, Athens AU - Ohio Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Preliminary Evaluation of Cool-crete PY - 2015/09//Final Report SP - 48p AB - Cracking of concrete bridge decks leads to the penetration of water and road salts that accelerate corrosion of reinforcement in the deck which can further increase cracking and detrimental effects. One of the primary causes of cracking is due to restrained shrinkage resulting from design practices, construction processes, and material properties. If concrete properties could be improved to reduce or possibly eliminate cracking caused by restrained shrinkage, significant savings could be achieved. A new additive for concrete known as Cool-crete reduces the heat of the hydration process and could greatly improve on some of the difficult issues that the curing process of concrete creates. The primary goal of the research was to determine if Cool-crete performed better than conventional concrete in terms of shrinkage cracking in bridge decks. To meet this goal, two slabs, one (the control slab) using a conventional Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) job mix formula (JMF) and the second, using the same JMF modified by including the Cool-crete additive, were placed in the laboratory and monitored for internal temperatures and strains caused by restraint during curing. The control slab had higher internal temperatures relative to the room temperature. In addition, strains were high enough to expect cracking, but visual inspection did not find any surface cracking. The Cool-crete slab had lower temperatures and strains, but minor surface cracking was observed. KW - Additives KW - Admixtures KW - Bridge decks KW - Concrete curing KW - Cracking KW - Evaluation KW - Laboratory studies KW - Ohio KW - Shrinkage UR - http://cdm16007.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p267401ccp2/id/12938 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1372976 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580239 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Synchronizing Environmental Reviews for Transportation and Other Infrastructure Projects: 2015 Red Book PY - 2015/09 SP - 103p AB - The purpose of the Red Book is to function as a “how to” for synchronizing the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and other regulatory reviews. This handbook will be useful to Federal agencies that review permit applications, and Federal, State, and local agencies that fund or develop major transportation and other infrastructure projects. This document discusses the requirements of many statutes and regulations to facilitate the reader’s understanding of how compliance with those requirements can be fulfilled while implementing the synchronization concept discussed in the Red Book. By increasing the use of review synchronization, more effective and efficient regulatory reviews are anticipated that could result in projects with reduced impacts to the environment as well as savings of time and money. This handbook will capture lessons learned from previous review synchronization efforts, and break down the concurrent review procedure into easy to understand components, affording agencies the opportunity to replicate the procedure or portions of the procedure more widely and without having to execute a formal agreement. The Red Book explores the appropriate considerations for conducting a synchronized review, including those topics and areas where challenges may occur. The handbook also includes best practices such as the use of transportation liaisons, innovative mitigation practices, and communication technology. The 2015 Red Book was created by a workgroup comprised of: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Coast Guard, Federal Highway Administration, Federal Railroad Administration, Federal Transit Administration, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. KW - Best practices KW - Construction projects KW - Environmental impact analysis KW - Handbooks KW - National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 KW - Policy, legislation and regulation UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55500/55589/DOT-VNTSC-FHWA-15-19.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373066 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580071 AU - O'Brien, William AU - Zhang, Zhanmin AU - Khwaja, Nabeel AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Strategies for a Comprehensive Inventory and Management of Real Property Assets: White Paper PY - 2015/09 SP - 11p AB - The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) manages a significant amount of right-of-way (ROW) assets—around 1.1 million acres of land that provide ROW for nearly 80,000 centerline miles. Management of these ROW assets is crucial, as ROW issues often create a bottleneck during construction projects. The ROW portfolio also represents a significant revenue-generation opportunity, in terms of excess ROW assets. The challenge is to ensure that TxDOT is using current ROW assets as effectively as possible. Currently, effective ROW administration is hampered by the lack of a comprehensive, reliable inventory of excess parcels. Even if the inventory existed, a robust methodology for valuing those excess parcels is not in place. TxDOT has begun investing in a geographic information systems (GIS)-based system to catalog its ROW assets. This white paper outlines specific steps TxDOT can take to increase the capabilities of its information systems in order to automate ROW asset evaluation and identification of alternative uses, thus maximizing the public benefit. KW - Asset management KW - Geographic information systems KW - Information systems KW - Inventory KW - Right of way (Land) KW - Texas Department of Transportation UR - http://library.ctr.utexas.edu/ctr-publications/0-6827-wp1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1372752 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580070 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Driver Simulators to Test Shared Controls, Limited Autonomy Vehicle Systems PY - 2015/09 SP - 14p AB - This literature review and reference scanning focuses on the use of driver simulators for semiautonomous (or shared control) vehicle systems (2012–present), including related research from other modes of transportation (e.g., rail or aviation). Focus is on the research method and use of driving simulators. KW - Automated vehicle control KW - Autonomous vehicle guidance KW - Driving simulators KW - Literature reviews KW - Research KW - Research projects UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/advancedresearch/pubs/15077/15077.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1372769 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580068 AU - McInnis, Catherine AU - Morton, Tom AU - Volpe National Transportation Systems Center AU - Woodward Communications AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Breakthroughs in Vision and Visibility for Highway Safety: Workshop Summary Report, August 13-14, 2014 PY - 2015/09 SP - 40p AB - On August 13–14, 2014, at the Turner–Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, Virginia, the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA’s) Office of Safety Research and Development and the Office of Safety, with support from the Exploratory Advanced Research Program, convened a 2-day workshop, “Breakthroughs in Vision and Visibility for Highway Safety.” Investigators have previously conducted research in a variety of areas surrounding visibility issues, including efforts exploring retroreflectivity and pavement-marking signs, and legibility of fonts; however, much of this work has been tapering off. The objective of this workshop was to identify gaps in highway visibility research, explore innovative tools and techniques to fill those gaps, and determine the role for FHWA. KW - Highway safety KW - Research KW - Retroreflectivity KW - Road markings KW - Street lighting KW - Technological innovations KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration KW - Vehicle lighting KW - Visibility KW - Workshops UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/advancedresearch/pubs/15067/15067.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1372771 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580065 AU - National Center for Safe Routes to School AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Creating Healthier Generations: A Look at the 10 Years of the Federal Safe Routes to School Program PY - 2015/09//Final Report SP - 56p AB - In August 2005, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) was passed. The law included a new Federal Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Program which had the ambitious goal to improve the ability of primary and middle school students to walk and bicycle to school safely. This report examines the accomplishments of the Federal SRTS Program over the 10-year period since it was enacted. More than 17,400 schools serving kindergarten through eighth grades in all fifty States and the District of Columbia have been a part of SRTS. The program has reached more than 6.8 million students. The National Center for SRTS, the clearinghouse for the program, has collected a rich data set and examined the program’s reach and outcomes. The program has demonstrated safe transportation and the health benefits of active travel for these students. Along with the expected benefits of improved safety and an increased number of students walking and bicycling to school, the report found broader benefits such as reduced transportation costs, more connectivity within communities, and that SRTS could serve as a tool to help combat truancy, improve readiness to learn, and enhance community life. Case studies are included throughout the report. KW - Benefits KW - Bicycling KW - Case studies KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Government funding KW - Pedestrian safety KW - Safe Routes to School (Program) KW - Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users KW - School children KW - School trips KW - United States KW - Walking UR - http://saferoutesinfo.org/sites/default/files/SRTS_10YearReport_Final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1372947 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01579644 AU - Gransberg, Douglas D AU - Tighe, Susan L AU - Miller, Maria Catalina AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Asset Management Program Enhancement Plan: Baseline Assessment Phases I and II PY - 2015/09//Final Report SP - 145p AB - This project resulted in the development of a framework for making asset management decisions on low-volume bridges. The research focused on low-volume bridges located in the agricultural counties of Iowa because recent research has shown that these counties have the greatest percentage of structurally deficient bridges in the nation. Many of the same counties also have the highest crop yields in the state, creating a situation where detours caused by deficient bridges on farm-to-market roads increase the cost to transport the crops. Thus, the research proposed the use of social return on investment (SROI), a tool used by international institutions such as the World Bank, as an asset management metric to gauge the socioeconomic impact of structurally deficient bridges on the state in an effort to provide quantified justification to fund improvements on low-volume assets such as these rural bridges. The study found that combining SROI with current asset management metrics like average daily traffic (ADT) made it possible to prioritize the bridges in such a way that the limited resources available are allocated in a manner that promotes a more equitable distribution and that directly benefits the user, in this case Iowa farmers. The result is a system that more closely aligns itself with the spirit of MAP-21, in that infrastructure investments are used to facilitate economic growth for Iowa’s agricultural economy. KW - Assessments KW - Asset management KW - Bridges KW - Deficiencies KW - Economic impacts KW - Iowa KW - Low volume roads KW - Maintenance management KW - Return on investment KW - Socioeconomic factors UR - http://publications.iowa.gov/id/eprint/20539 UR - http://www.intrans.iastate.edu/research/documents/research-reports/asset_management_baseline_assessment_w_cvr.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1372288 ER - TY - SER AN - 01579251 JO - Civil Engineering Studies, Illinois Center for Transportation Series PB - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Zhou, Huaguo AU - Pour-Rouholamin, Mahdi AU - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Illinois Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Investigation of Contributing Factors Regarding Wrong-Way Driving on Freeways, Phase II PY - 2015/09//Final Report IS - 15-016 SP - 82p AB - In the second phase of this project, two major tasks were completed: (1) organizing a national wrong-way driving (WWD) summit and (2) developing guidelines for reducing WWD on freeways. The first national WWD summit was held in Edwardsville, Illinois, on July 18 and 19, 2013. The conference proceedings were published by the Illinois Center for Transportation in 2014. An executive summary on the findings and survey results from the summit are included in this report. Guidelines for reducing WWD on freeways were published in 2014 as another important outcome of Phase II for this project. The guidelines include four chapters: introduction, traffic control devices, geometric designs, and advanced technologies. A 4-hour training course was then developed based on the guidelines. A pilot training was conducted on March 26, 2015, in Springfield, Illinois. The participants’ comments and evaluation results are summarized in this report. The final training materials, comprising instructor’s notes and a student handbook, are submitted with this final report. In addition, another major task was to identify and develop a methodology to evaluate implemented WWD strategies by the Illinois Department of Transportation. The additional 2- year WWD crash data (2012–2013) were collected to conduct a before-and-after study. The preliminary results showed that the number of WWD crashes declined after implementation of the countermeasures. Because most of the countermeasures were implemented in early 2014, additional after-implementation crash data are recommended for a more comprehensive evaluation of different countermeasures. KW - Before and after studies KW - Conferences KW - Countermeasures KW - Crash data KW - Freeways KW - Geometric design KW - Illinois KW - Implementation KW - Technological innovations KW - Traffic control devices KW - Training KW - Wrong way driving UR - https://apps.ict.illinois.edu/projects/getfile.asp?id=3573 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1371644 ER - TY - SER AN - 01579236 JO - Civil Engineering Studies, Illinois Center for Transportation Series PB - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Hossain, Mohammad Imran AU - Veginati, Varun AU - Krukow, Justin AU - Bradley University AU - Illinois Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Thermodynamics Between RAP/RAS and Virgin Aggregates During Asphalt Concrete Production—A Literature Review PY - 2015/09//Final Report IS - 15-015 SP - 79p AB - In hot-mix asphalt (HMA) plants, virgin aggregates are heated and dried separately before being mixed with reclaimed asphalt pavement/recycled asphalt shingles (RAP/RAS) and virgin asphalt binder. RAP/RAS materials are not heated or dried directly by a burner to avoid burning of aged binder coating on the materials so they are heated and dried indirectly by the hot virgin aggregates. A literature review shows that virgin aggregate temperature has been predicted for drying and heating RAP at batch plants only. In this study, thermodynamics and heat transfer principles are used to predict virgin aggregate temperature for drying and heating RAP/RAS at a drum plant. Among many results, it was shown that virgin aggregates become superheated (more than 1000°F) when both virgin aggregate and RAP moisture content were in the range of 3% to 5% and the material proportions were in the range of 30% to 50%. The size of virgin aggregates and RAP/RAS, the moisture content of virgin aggregates and RAP/RAS, and the mix proportion of virgin aggregates and RAP/RAS were the major contributing parameters in predicting virgin aggregate temperature in the drum plant. The plant’s moisture content data indicate that virgin coarse aggregates hold a lower amount of moisture compared with virgin fine aggregates. However, in comparing same-size virgin aggregates and RAP, RAP contained a higher amount of moisture. The reason might be that the aged binder coating of RAP holds moisture better than virgin aggregates do. Also, RAS contains a higher amount of moisture compared with RAP of the same size. KW - Aggregate gradation KW - Aggregates KW - Asphalt concrete KW - Hot mix asphalt KW - Literature reviews KW - Mix design KW - Moisture content KW - Reclaimed asphalt pavements KW - Recycled materials KW - Thermal analysis UR - https://apps.ict.illinois.edu/projects/getfile.asp?id=3571 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1371208 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01579212 AU - Nair, Harikrishnan AU - McGhee, Kevin K AU - Habib, Affan AU - Shetty, Sameer AU - Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research AU - Virginia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Assessment of an Incentive-Only Ride Specification for Asphalt Pavements PY - 2015/09//Final Report SP - 47p AB - Smoothness specifications are applied by almost all state transportation agencies, including the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), to promote the overall quality and optimum ride quality of pavements. VDOT has a ride specification that provides a pay adjustment (either incentive or disincentive) depending on the smoothness of the final paved surface. VDOT’s ride specification also has a provision to waive the disincentive and apply the incentive part only to projects where project geometry, etc., is perceived to make it difficult for the contractor to achieve the desired ride. When applied, the waiver is intended to encourage the contractor to apply additional efforts to improve the ride for otherwise difficult projects. In late 2011, VDOT’s executive leadership formed an Asphalt Quality Task Force to identify and recommend specific achievable measures to improve the quality of the asphalt paving in Virginia. The task force agreed to consider the proposal to make an incentive-only provision the default for projects that would otherwise not qualify for the regular ride specification application. This study documented and critically reviewed the pilot application of the incentive-only provision for rideability on selected asphalt resurfacing schedules for VDOT’s 2013 construction season. Several lane-miles of control sites were compared with the “incentive-only” sites to determine if the prospects of added incentives led contractors to alter their paving procedures in pursuit of a higher quality ride. There was no statistically reliable distinction between the achieved quality of the incentive-only and control sites. Further, it was found that the originally proposed incentive-only provisions did not provide any meaningful benefit to VDOT or contractors. The study developed a revised incentive-only specification and further recommended that the proposed provision be applied to a wider range of projects in VDOT’s 2015 construction season. KW - Asphalt pavements KW - Contract administration KW - Contractors KW - Incentives KW - Paving KW - Quality assurance KW - Ride quality KW - Smoothness KW - Specifications KW - Virginia Department of Transportation UR - http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/16-r2.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1370756 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01579203 AU - Cai, C S AU - Xia, Miao AU - Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge AU - Louisiana Transportation Research Center AU - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Repairing/Strengthening of Bridges with Post-tensioned FRP Materials and Performance Evaluation PY - 2015/09//Final Report SP - 90p AB - One of the challenges that transportation agencies are facing is to keep bridges in good condition during their service life. Numerous bridges are classified as structurally and/or functionally deficient in the country. In the state of Louisiana, 4,591 bridges, or 34 percent of the total 13,426 bridges, are classified as substandard. Load capacity degradation, increased gross vehicle weight, and increasing traffic demand lead to the deficiencies. One of the most effective ways to solve the problem is to use composite materials to strengthen existing bridges. As rapidly developed over the past several decades, different kinds of composite fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) have been regarded as one of the best solutions to several problems associated with transportation and civil engineering infrastructures. Some of the major benefits of FRP include high strength to weight ratio, high fatigue endurance, excellent corrosion resistance, low thermal expansion, and the ease of fabrication, manufacturing, handling, and installation. The main objective of this research was to develop a flexural resistance designing process using post-tensioning prestressed carbon reinforced polymers (CFRP) laminates adhering to bridge girders to avoid various possible flexural failure modes. It is noted that, in the original plan, a steel bridge and a concrete bridge was to be rehabilitated with prestressed FRP laminates or rods and the bridge performance was to be monitored. However, the sponsor decided not to pursue the field implementation due to cost. This report presents a review of the up-to-date work on bridges strengthened with FRP materials. Mechanical properties of FRP fibers and composites were presented in detail. Investigators presented previous research findings on experiments of FRP composite materials used as various prestressed tendons, and the analyses for different failure modes were introduced. To investigate the effect of rehabilitation with prestressed CFRP laminates, two 3-D finite element analyses were conducted to examine the deflection and bottom fiber stress at the mid-span. A detailed designing process of rehabilitation with prestressed CFRP laminates was presented in this report. A feasible plan to enhance the flexural capability of an existing bridge with externally prestressed CFRP laminates according to American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and American Concrete Institute (ACI) code specifications was also proposed in this report. KW - Carbon fibers KW - Deflection KW - Evaluation KW - Fiber reinforced polymers KW - Finite element method KW - Flexural strength KW - Girders KW - Highway bridges KW - Laminates KW - Louisiana KW - Posttensioning KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) UR - http://www.ltrc.lsu.edu/pdf/2015/FR_488.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1371205 ER - TY - SER AN - 01579197 JO - TechBrief PB - Federal Highway Administration TI - Safety Evaluation of Centerline Plus Shoulder Rumble Strips PY - 2015/09 SP - 8p AB - The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) organized 37 States to participate in the FHWA Evaluation of Low-Cost Safety Improvements Pooled Fund Study as part of its strategic highway safety plan support effort. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the safety effectiveness of several low-cost safety improvement strategies through scientifically rigorous crash-based studies. One of the strategies evaluated for this study is the combination of centerline and shoulder rumble strips. This strategy is intended to reduce the frequency of crashes by alerting drivers that they are about to leave the travelled lane. While research into the performance of shoulder and centerline rumble strips applied separately has been conducted, the combination of shoulder and centerline rumble strips is still relatively rare and has not been studied to the same degree. This study sought to fill this knowledge gap. KW - Center lines KW - Crash rates KW - Evaluation KW - Highway safety KW - Road shoulders KW - Rumble strips KW - States UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/15064/15064.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1371725 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01579157 AU - McMullen, Michael AU - Li, Chengyu AU - Atkins North America AU - Colorado Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Feasibility Study of Developing and Creating a Standardized Subset of Bridge Plans PY - 2015/09//Final Report SP - 120p AB - This study investigated sizes and geometry of existing bridges in Colorado and investigated standard bridge systems used by other entities. The study proposed standard bridge types advancing the goals of the Strategic Highway Research Program 2 (SHRP 2) R19A & B, the rapidest Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) construction, and encompassing a wide range of span and structure lengths and widths, with the capability of a wide range of skews while preserving, to the extent possible, simplicity, low construction cost and a competitive contracting environment, in order to achieve the largest practical benefit to Colorado’s bridges over the coming decades. For Colorado these are pre-decked simple made continuous precast girders, and shaft and precast cap substructures, all made integral with details emulative of Cast-in-place (CIP) construction. These are made practical by an effort to control camber and camber variations by design and by monostrand post-tensioning camber adjustment. Implementation is planned to be progressive, starting from worksheets for standard superstructures and substructures in conjunction with prototype structures, expanding to encompass more acute skews, and finally, additional worksheets incorporating the design information to accommodate the full range of anticipated structure types, spans, span arrangements, and skews without additional detailed structural design or details for each individual bridge element. At this time, a worksheet can be developed to allow simplified presentation of the desired structure. Minor organizational changes are proposed to ensure continuity of the development and maintenance of these worksheets. Rough estimated implementation costs and value of benefits are included. KW - Bridge construction KW - Bridge design KW - Colorado KW - Costs KW - Feasibility analysis KW - Implementation KW - Plans (Drawings) KW - Standardization UR - https://www.codot.gov/programs/research/pdfs/2015-research-reports/feasibility-study-of-developing-and-creating-a-standardized-subset-of-bridge-plans/at_download/file UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1370740 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01577533 AU - Khattak, Mohammad Jamal AU - Baladi, Gilbert Y AU - University of Louisiana, Lafayette AU - Louisiana Transportation Research Center AU - Louisiana Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Development of Cost Effective Treatment Performance and Treatment Selection Models PY - 2015/09//Final Report SP - 503p AB - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) has spent substantial financial resources on various rehabilitation and maintenance treatments to minimize pavement distresses and improve pavement life. Such treatments include, but are not limited to, chipseal, crack seal, micro-surfacing, thin and thick overlays, and structural overlays. Unfortunately, DOTD has not conducted a full scale performance assessment and cost-effectiveness analysis of all the aforementioned treatments. A recent study completed by the Louisiana Transportation Research Center (LTRC) regarding the pavement management system (PMS) and performance modeling emphasized the importance of developing treatment performance and selection models. In this regards, the LTRC initiated a three-phase research study that addresses such needs by developing rigorous treatment performance and selection models that are specific to the mission and management strategies of DOTD. The following are the three phases. Phase I- Review and Project Selection; Phase II- Performance Modeling and Costs and Benefits of Treatments; and Phase III- Model Integration and Training. This final report focuses on the results of Phase I and Phase II of the study. Phase I is related to review of district pavement treatment practices and project selection for the development of pavement treatment performance models. Phase II deals with the performance modeling and costs and benefits of treatments. The data obtained from the Phase I was used to develop cost-effective pavement treatment performance and treatment selection models during Phase II of this study. Trigger values for optimum timing of pavement treatments and an approach to use the performance models cost effectively were established. All these findings will be integrated in the software development and training for DOTD staff to be completed during Phase III of this study. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Decision making KW - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development KW - Pavement maintenance KW - Pavement management systems KW - Performance measurement KW - Surface treating UR - http://www.ltrc.lsu.edu/pdf/2015/FR_518.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1370635 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576210 AU - Kent, Joshua D AU - Mugnier, Clifford AU - Cavell, J Anthony AU - Dunaway, Larry AU - Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge AU - Louisiana Transportation Research Center AU - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - DOTD Standards for GPS Data Collection Accuracy PY - 2015/09//Final Report SP - 293p AB - The Center for GeoInformatics at Louisiana State University conducted a three-part study addressing accurate, precise, and consistent positional control for the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. First, this study focused on Departmental standards of practice when utilizing Global Navigational Satellite Systems technology for mapping-grade applications. Second, the recent enhancements to the nationwide horizontal and vertical spatial reference framework (i.e., datums) is summarized in order to support consistent and accurate access to the National Spatial Reference System. Third, the Center provides quality control information to the Pavement Management System section against which Moving Vehicle Rapid Mapping data may be compared and assessed. KW - Accuracy KW - Data collection KW - Global Positioning System KW - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development KW - Mapping KW - National Spatial Reference System KW - Quality control KW - Standards UR - http://www.ltrc.lsu.edu/pdf/2015/FR_539.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1369968 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576156 AU - Al-Kaisy, Ahmed AU - Veneziano, David AU - Ewan, Levi AU - Hossain, Fahmid AU - Western Transportation Institute AU - Oregon Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Risk Factors Associated with High Potential for Serious Crashes PY - 2015/09//Final Report SP - 157p AB - Crashes are random events and low traffic volumes therefore don’t always make crash hot-spot identification possible. This project has used extensive data collection and analysis for a large sample of Oregon’s low volume roads to develop a risk index that expresses the crash risk for different road geometries and roadside features as well as crash history and traffic exposure. This crash risk index can then be a proactive means of identifying potentially risky locations where safety treatments might be best targeted. The economic analysis completed as part of this effort can be used in conjunction with the risk index when determining which safety treatments may result in the highest return on investment for agency safety improvement funds. This report includes a review of literature related to features effecting crash risk and other past risk index efforts, the data collection and analysis methods used in quantifying risks, the establishment of the crash risk index, an economic feasibility analysis showing which treatments may be the best options for Oregon’s low volume roads, and a few case studies highlighting the use of the crash risk index on three samples of Oregon’s low volume roadways. KW - Case studies KW - Crash risk forecasting KW - Data analysis KW - Data collection KW - Economic analysis KW - High risk locations KW - Highway safety KW - Literature reviews KW - Low volume roads KW - Oregon UR - http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TP_RES/ResearchReports/SPR771_RiskFactors_092115.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1369399 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01579154 AU - Schroeder, Jeremy AU - Klein, Rachel AU - Smith, Theodore AU - Turnbull, Katie AU - Balke, Kevin AU - Burris, Mark AU - Songchitruksa, Praprut AU - Pessaro, Brian AU - Saunoi-Sandgren, Emily AU - Schreffler, Eric AU - Joy, Barbara AU - Battelle AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Transit Administration TI - Los Angeles Congestion Reduction Demonstration ExpressLanes Program: National Evaluation Report PY - 2015/08/31/Final Report SP - 346p AB - This document presents the final report on the national evaluation of the Los Angeles Congestion Reduction Demonstration (LA CRD) ExpressLanes Program under the United States Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) CRD Program. The LA CRD projects focus on reducing congestion by employing strategies consisting of combinations of Tolling, Transit, Telecommuting/Travel Demand Management (TDM), and Technology, also known as the 4Ts. Tolling (pricing) strategies include converting high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on the two freeway corridors to variably-priced high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes, adding a second HOT lane to portions of one corridor, and implementation of a downtown L.A. intelligent parking management system featuring demand-based pricing and real-time parking availability information. Transit improvements include increased bus service, transit station security improvements, expansion of two transit stations, creation of an El Monte Busway/Union Station connector, and the expansion of downtown L.A. transit signal priority. TDM strategies aim to establish 100 new registered vanpools. The national evaluation of the LA CRD projects was guided by the National Evaluation Framework, the LA CRD National Evaluation Plan, and individual test plans for various components. This report provides information on the use of the new LA CRD projects. Changes in travel speeds, travel times, trip-time reliability, and transit ridership are described. The air quality, energy, and safety impacts of the LA CRD projects are examined. Information on changes in unemployment rates and gasoline prices is also summarized. KW - Congestion management systems KW - Evaluation KW - Express lanes KW - High occupancy toll lanes KW - Los Angeles (California) KW - Parking fees KW - Public transit KW - Real time information KW - Ridership KW - Travel demand management KW - Travel time KW - Urban areas KW - Urban Partnership Agreement KW - Vanpools KW - Variable tolls UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55600/55669/FHWA-JPO-14-126-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1371366 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01573239 TI - Evaluation of Safety Practices for Short Duration Work Zones AB - As part of their mission statement the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) has determined that improved safety is a core focus area. The department would like to eliminate fatalities in short duration (less than 24-48 hours) work zones. This research is mostly concerned with safety during a variety of activities requiring maintenance crews to work adjacent to fast moving high volume traffic. The goal of this research is to identify cost effective and safer alternatives to the current procedures used by ODOT maintenance crews during short duration work zone operations. The main objectives of this research are to evaluate the current ODOT safety practices, identify and conduct a preliminary assessment of temporary traffic control alternatives (devices and methods) and recommend temporary traffic control alternatives for further evaluation. The findings from this research will either validate current ODOT practices or result in recommendations for improvements to ensure the safe and efficient flow of traffic in short duration maintenance operations. KW - Highway maintenance KW - Work zone safety KW - Work zone traffic control KW - Work zones UR - http://worldcat.org/arcviewer/9/OHI/2014/10/28/H1414523602145/viewer/file1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366032 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01607653 TI - Quantifying Noise Impacts from ODOT Aggregate Source Operations AB - The potential listing of the sage grouse as “endangered” by United States (U.S.) Fish and Wildlife (expected in 2015) has the potential for significant impact to Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) aggregate source operations. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODF&W) has issued a whitepaper in 2012 that provides interim guidance for mitigation for sage grouse habitat from activities associated with industrial commercial developments. Such developments include rock quarries. The interim guidance provides requirements for decibel thresholds, use of propagation models with output binned in 5- decibel contours, and recommended mitigation. It is unknown if activities from ODOT aggregate source sites comply with these very low noise thresholds. This uncertainty has potential impacts to development and delivery of projects in Regions 4 and 5 that depend heavily on material from ODOT quarries. Data are needed to determine compliance with the decibel thresholds and identify potential mitigation. There is also a great need to collect data for development of a methodology that can be applied throughout the state for determining noise impacts to sage grouse habitat and habitat for other noise sensitive species as well as other noise sensitive uses from rock quarries. KW - Aggregates by source KW - Endangered species KW - Habitat (Ecology) KW - Noise KW - Oregon Department of Transportation KW - Project delivery KW - Quarries KW - Wildlife UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1420160 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01584090 AU - Ahn, Kyoungho AU - Rakha, Hesham AU - Hale, David K AU - Virginia Tech Transportation Institute AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Multi-Modal Intelligent Traffic Signal Systems (MMITSS) Impacts Assessment PY - 2015/08/19/Final Report SP - 82p AB - The study evaluates the potential network-wide impacts of the Multi-Modal Intelligent Transportation Signal System (MMITSS) based on a field data analysis utilizing data collected from a MMITSS prototype and a simulation analysis. The Intelligent Traffic Signal System (I-SIG), Transit Signal Priority (TSP), Freight Signal Priority (FSP), and the combination of TSP and FSP applications were evaluated. MMITSS seeks to improve mobility through signalized corridors using advanced communications and data to facilitate the efficient travel of passenger vehicles, pedestrians, transit, freight, and emergency vehicles through the system. The field data analysis demonstrated that MMITSS applications effectively improved the travel time and the delay of the equipped vehicles. In particular, FSP reduced the delay of connected trucks by up to 20% and I-SIG improved travel time reliability by up to 56%, compared to the base case. The simulation study found that I-SIG achieved vehicle delay reductions up to 35% and TSP effectively saved travel time for both transit and passenger vehicles on the corridor where TSP was operated; but occasionally increased the system-wide delay, due to reduced green times on the side streets. FSP simulation results indicated that FSP successfully reduced travel times for connected trucks, but also increased system-wide delay, due to increased delays on side streets. The simulation study found that the combination of TSP and FSP applications was effective in assigning priority to trucks based on a pre-defined hierarchy of control. The study concludes that the MMITSS I-SIG, TSP, FSP, and the combination of TSP and FSP applications improve vehicle travel time, delay, and travel time reliability for equipped passenger cars, trucks, and transit vehicles on the test facility, but the tradeoff is that it may produce overall system-wide negative impacts. KW - Data analysis KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Intelligent transportation systems KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Mobility KW - Multimodal transportation KW - Simulation KW - Traffic delays KW - Traffic signal control systems KW - Traffic signal priority KW - Travel time UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55700/55710/MMITSS_IA_REPORT_0811_v1.4.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1377653 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01607655 TI - Improved Safety and Efficiency of Protected/Permitted Right Turns in Oregon AB - The goal of the research is to develop an understanding of the safety and operational implications of using the Flashing Yellow Arrow (FYA) to indicate a permitted right turn, and to provide general guidance as to when Protected/Permitted Right Turns (PPRT) phasing should be used to maximize the safety of non-motorized road users and the overall efficiency of Oregon Department's of Transportation (ODOT’s) signalized intersections. KW - Arrows (Signals) KW - Flashing traffic signals KW - Oregon KW - Pedestrian movement KW - Right turns KW - Signalized intersections KW - Traffic safety KW - Yellow UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1420162 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01616959 AU - Macfarlane, Kate AU - Volpe National Transportation Systems Center AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - New Orleans Regional Planning Commission Scenario Planning Workshop PY - 2015/08/12 SP - 40p AB - This report summarizes noteworthy practices and key recommendations shared during a scenario planning workshop, hosted by the New Orleans Regional Planning Commission (NORPC), on August 12-13, 2015, in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) sponsored this event as part of its Scenario Planning Program and in connection with the Transportation Planning Capacity Building Program jointly run by FHWA and the Federal Transit Administration. The workshop introduced the topic of scenario planning to NORPC staff and representatives of Louisiana’s seven other metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs). Peer experts from the Baltimore Metropolitan Council and Hillsborough Metropolitan Planning Organization for Transportation participated in the workshop to share their agencies’ experiences and perspectives in using scenario planning. KW - Baltimore Metropolitan Council KW - Best practices KW - Forecasting KW - Hillsborough Metropolitan Planning Organization for Transportation KW - Louisiana KW - Metropolitan planning organizations KW - New Orleans Regional Planning Commission KW - Recommendations KW - Regional planning KW - Transportation planning KW - Workshops UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/60000/60100/60129/NOLA_scenario_workshop.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1428261 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01612628 TI - Strategic Plan Implementation Support Services for SCOTSEM AB - The objective of this research is to provide support services to assist the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Special Committee on Transportation Security and Emergency Management (SCOTSEM) to accomplish the new Mission as articulated in the 4th Generation Strategic Directions (2014-2018) Plan. The scope of these services encompasses the following three (3) tasks, plus monthly, quarterly, and annual reporting: Task 1: 4th Generation Strategic Directions Implementation. The research team will work with and provide technical and strategic support to AASHTO as it pertains to the SCOTSEM transition. The research team will provide advice and support to the SCOTSEM Leadership Team and will coordinate with the other AASHTO and Transportation Research Board (TRB) initiatives that may influence or be influenced by SCOTSEM. The research team will assist AASHTO staff in developing committee and subcommittee meeting agendas and will coordinate communication from subcontractors. Key support services carried out under this Task may include but are not limited to: (1) developing draft and final Work Plans for the SCOTSEM Leadership Team; (2) assisting in developing Technical Working Group Work Plans; (3) drafting Performance Measures for consideration by the Special Committee; and (4) drafting necessary Annual Reports and Performance Reports. Task 2: Facilitating Research Deployment/Dissemination. The research team will assist with the development of documents outlining activities for dissemination of research results into activity practice and AASHTO policy. Support services provided for in this Task may include but are not limited to: (1) designing peer to peer exchange events; (2) trend identification leading to research directions and needs; (3) dissemination planning of previous research results; (4) trend monitoring and reporting to AASHTO staff and SCOTSEM leadership; and (5) classification and recommendations of which research products should be considered for adoption and/or balloting by the AASHTO community. Task 3: Coordinate/Integrate Outreach and Stakeholder Engagement. The research team will assist with various stakeholder outreach activities in order to raise the visibility of SCOTSEM within AASHTO and the Department of Transportation (DOT) community. Support services provided for in this task may include but are not limited to: (1) assisting the SCOTSEM Leadership Team and AASHTO staff in support of their activities through committee meetings, conference calls, and webinars; (2) develop SCOTSEM informational material; (3) provide support for 2015 annual meeting planning activities; (4) provide support for 2016 annual meeting planning activities; and (5) develop SCOTSEM briefing materials for use by the SCOTSEM Leadership Team. KW - American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials KW - Coordination KW - Emergency management KW - Information dissemination KW - Leadership KW - Security KW - Special Committee on Transportation Security and Emergency Management (SCOTSEM) KW - Strategic planning KW - Technical assistance UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4262 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1424951 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572660 TI - Update of Security 101: A Physical Security Primer for Transportation Agencies AB - In 2012, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Special Committee on Transportation Security and Emergency Management (SCOTSEM) adopted Transportation Research Board's (TRB's) National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 525, Vol. 14: Security 101: A Physical Security Primer for Transportation Agencies (available at http://www.trb.org/Publications/Blurbs/162394.aspx). As stated in NCHRP Report 525, Vol. 14, Security 101 "provides transportation managers and employees with an introductory-level reference document to enhance their working knowledge of security concepts, guidelines, definitions, and standards. This is a document for use primarily by those who are neither security professionals nor well versed in security language. There are many types of security: personal, cyber, document, information, operations, personnel, infrastructure, etc. The document adopted in 2012 focuses on physical security, the part of security concerned with measures and concepts designed to (1) safeguard personnel; (2) prevent unauthorized access to equipment, installations, material, and documents; and (3) safeguard equipment, installations, material, and documents against espionage, sabotage, damage, and theft. "Physical security is integral to an all-hazards approach to preparedness. As such, the report adopted in 2012 covers the major components of an effective security program at the conceptual level, including risk management and risk assessment, plans and strategies, physical security countermeasures, security personnel and other personnel, infrastructure protection, and homeland security. The primer can be used as an introduction to the extensive literature and additional sources of information identified in the appendixes; however, readers are reminded that plans need to be tested through exercises to ensure adequacy and to reinforce roles and responsibilities." Since publication of Security 101, there have been both significant changes and a substantial increase in knowledge about surface transportation security. The decade-long effort to improve the state of security and emergency management practice in the transportation industry has produced new strategies, programs, and ways of doing business that have increased the security of our transportation systems as well as ensured their resiliency. Research is needed to update Security 101 to reflect the changed circumstances and to include cyber-related information. The objective of this research is to develop a recommended second edition of Security 101 for use by transportation personnel without a security background whose work requires them to address, perform, or supervise security or infrastructure protection activities as a part of their overall job responsibilities. The updated Security 101 should be suitable for adoption by the AASHTO Special Committee on Transportation Security and Emergency Management (SCOTSEM). The updated Security 101 should reference the latest practice and guidance in infrastructure protection encompassing cyber and physical security. This update would include guidance from United States Department of Transportation (USDOT), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), AASHTO, American Public Transportation Association (APTA), Federal Transit Administration (FTA), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and TRB. The work will update fundamental definitions for: (1) surface transportation physical and cyber security; (2) all-hazards planning; and (3) resilience of transportation operations in the post 9-11 environment. Emphasis will be placed upon expanding the Security 101 products to capture the current practice and guidance in relation to recently developed: (a) risk management and assessment processes; (b) standards, guidance, and tools; (c) technologies for transportation infrastructure protection; (d) staffing models and deployment methods; (e) design build and structural improvement criteria; (f) all-hazards resource acquisition, budgeting, and allocation; (g) security and emergency management implementation methods and procedures; (h) legal issues associated with security management; and (i)employee training requirements. KW - American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials KW - Cybernetics KW - Disaster preparedness KW - Emergency management KW - Guidelines KW - Resource allocation KW - Risk management KW - Security KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4070 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364746 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572659 TI - A Guide to Emergency Response Planning at State Transportation Agencies, Second Edition AB - In 2012, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Special Committee on Transportation Security and Emergency Management (SCOTSEM) adopted Transportation Research Board's (TRB's) National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 525, Vol. 16: A Guide to Emergency Response Planning at State Transportation Agencies (the 2010 Guide, available at http://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/164691.aspx). The 2010 Guide is designed to help executive management and emergency response planners at state transportation agencies as they and their local and regional counterparts assess their respective emergency response plans and identify areas needing improvement. The 2010 Guide reflects accepted practices in emergency response planning and incorporates advances made over the previous decade in Traffic Incident Management (TIM), Emergency Transportation Operations (ETO), and supporting programs. The 2010 Guide replaces a 2002 document, A Guide to Updating Highway Emergency Response Plans for Terrorist Incidents (available on the AASHTO website at http://scotsem.transportation.org/Documents/guide-ResponsePlans.pdf), which was released following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent anthrax attacks. The objective of this research is to develop a recommended Second Edition Guide for use by state transportation agencies in planning and developing their organizational functions, roles, and responsibilities for emergency response within the all-hazards context of the National Incident Management System (NIMS). The Second Edition Guide should be suitable for adoption by the AASHTO Special Committee on Transportation Security and Emergency Management (SCOTSEM). The updated Guide should reference the latest state of the practice and guidance in emergency management. This effort would include guidance from United States Department of Transportation (USDOT), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), AASHTO, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and TRB on emergency management from a state-level department of transportation (DOT) perspective. For example, information such as found in the National Disaster Response Framework; how response impacts short- to long-term recovery; pre-disaster planning for post disaster recovery; and efforts to include resilience and sustainability should all be looked at and addressed in the document. KW - Anthrax KW - Disaster preparedness KW - Emergency management KW - Emergency response time KW - Incident management KW - Security KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4071 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364745 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01582430 AU - Rodgers, Michael O AU - Wilson, Alana M AU - Shaw, Atiyya AU - Barton, Matthew T AU - Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta AU - Georgia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Applying the Highway Safety Manual to Georgia PY - 2015/08/07/Final Report SP - 169p AB - This report examines the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) from the perspective of applying its methods and approaches within the state of Georgia. The work presented here focuses specifically on data requirements and methods that may be of particular focus in the implementation of HSM methods by Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT).The report reviews the current status of implementation of HSM methods by other states, based on both extended interviews with selected states as well as a brief survey that targeted all states. Excluding Georgia, forty-three states provided either complete or partial responses to the survey. Selected reports regarding HSM implementation are also briefly reviewed. An example case study of an HSM application from Georgia (special freeway pavement markings) is provided to illustrate safety effectiveness evaluation and the application of crash modification factors. The report concludes with short- and intermediate term recommendations for Georgia DOT regarding implementation of HSM methods to improve road safety in Georgia. KW - Case studies KW - Data collection KW - Georgia KW - Highway safety KW - Highway Safety Manual KW - Implementation KW - Recommendations KW - States KW - Surveys UR - http://g92018.eos-intl.net/eLibSQL14_G92018_Documents/12-15.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/56000/56600/56661/12-15.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1375966 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572393 TI - Development of Live Load Distribution and Impact Factors for the Analysis of Implements of Husbandry Vehicles on Bridges AB - The size, geometry, and weight of farm equipment known as implements of husbandry (IoH) have increased and changed significantly to meet the needs of the modern agricultural industry. While intended primarily for use on the farm or in the field, there are inevitably occasions where IoH will travel on public roads and over public bridges. Through a review of the history of bridge design vehicles as well as the evolution of truck size and weight legislation, it is clear that the growth of IoH has far out-paced typical commercial vehicles. The result is that a portion of the IoH now in existence creates force effects on roads and bridges that exceed original design capacities. State departments of transportation (DOTs) and other bridge owners are faced with ensuring public safety and preservation of their bridge assets. Therefore, an envelope vehicle or vehicles is needed to represent the practical physical aspects and limits of a series of IoH vehicles. The envelop vehicle would allow a systematic and system-wide analysis to evaluate infrastructure inventory in a proactive, consistent, and effective manner. Also, the nature of the load transfer between the IoH vehicles and the supporting driving surface and structural members lacks definition for the purpose of structural analysis. Further, dynamic load impact factors that are specific to IoH vehicles are a critical research need. The objectives of this research are to define (1) a manageable set of "envelope" or "notional" vehicles that represent the fleet of husbandry-type vehicles and (2) live load and dynamic impact analysis factors for the distribution IoH-type vehicles to bridges and structures. KW - Bearing capacity KW - Bridge design KW - Dynamic loads KW - Farm vehicles KW - Live loads KW - Structural analysis UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4042 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364353 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572392 TI - Incorporating Use of Effective Vibration Mitigation Devices for Traffic, Sign, and Lighting Structures in the Existing AASHTO Specifications AB - Traffic, sign, and lighting structures are typically characterized by high flexibility and extremely low damping, which makes them prone to wind-induced vibration and susceptible to fatigue and structural failure. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Standard Specifications for Structural Supports for Highway Signs, Luminaires, and Traffic Signals suggests the use of effective vibration mitigation devices for both new and existing traffic signal structures. The specification does not cover vibration mitigation devices for lighting and sign structures, even though such devices are available. The application of vibration mitigation devices for these structures for both design and retrofit is not explicitly identified in the specifications, and as a result mitigation devices are often not considered. An effective quantified vibration mitigation device would reduce the daily vibration stress range and thus would increase the fatigue life of the structure. The appropriate use of vibration mitigation devices will improve safety to the traveling public, reduce the costs of new structures, extend the life of new and existing structures, and lower maintenance, inspection, and repair cost, which results in more efficient traffic, sign, and lighting structures that use fewer resources. Traffic, sign, and lighting structures are present in various forms throughout the United States. These structures are typically characterized by their high flexibility and extremely low damping which make them particularly susceptible to wind induced vibration (NCHRP Report 469). Various types of wind loading, including galloping, vortex shedding, natural wind gusts, and truck-induced gusts, can result in vibration of these structures. The large amplitude and cyclical response from the various wind-induced vibration result in repeated live load stress variations, which can significantly reduce the fatigue life of these structures. Reducing the effective stress range, the difference between the maximum and minimum stress in a cycle, by reducing the amplitude of the vibration, as an effective vibration mitigation device would, can significantly increase the fatigue life of that structure. There are two approaches to reduce vibrations: reduce the exciting load on the structure or modify the dynamic properties of the structure. Reducing the excitation on the structure has primarily focused on modifying the aerodynamic properties of attachments to the structure (i.e., mast arm). This approach, while effective, may limit performance to one type of wind excitation. For example, the proposed airfoil approach, whereby a sign blank is mounted horizontally near the tip of the mast arm to serve as an aerodynamic damper, can potentially provide an effective energy dissipating mechanism for galloping but may not provide any benefit for truck-induced gusts (NCHRP Report 412). As a second approach, changing the mass, stiffness, or damping of the structure can be considered. At the design stage, signal support vibration is commonly addressed by increasing the strength and stiffness of the structure. This results in larger poles and mast arms as well as overbuilt connection details. An alternative is the application of dampers to effectively modify the dynamic characteristics of the structure. Both modifying aerodynamic properties and applying dampers fall under the general classification of vibration mitigation devices. According to the AASHTO Standard Specifications for Structural Supports for Highway Signs, Luminaires, and Traffic Signals (Fifth Edition, 2009, Chapter 13), various traffic structures should be designed for fatigue, considering galloping, vortex shedding, natural wind gust, and truck-induced gust loading. Further, when a structure exhibits vibration in the field, a vibration mitigation device can be considered. For some traffic structures, the AASHTO specifications specify that in lieu of designing for galloping and vortex shedding forces, an effective vibration mitigation device may be used to reduce vertical deflections when approved by the owner. A number of mitigation devices have been proposed for traffic, sign, and lighting structures with varying degrees of complexity and performance. Various methods of testing, from free vibration tests to eccentric mass shakers to actual wind conditions, and various measures of effectiveness, from reduced displacements and accelerations to increased effective damping, have been reported. While many different mitigation devices have been proposed, few have been adopted by traffic, sign, and lighting structure owners. This is mainly due to the difficulty for owners to reliably define if a particular mitigation device is effective and an absence in the specifications for how exactly effective vibration mitigation devices can be used in the design. Proposed is a study to provide methods and measures to quantify the performance of vibration mitigation devices, criteria to identify which mitigation devices are effective for specific structures, and explicit methods to incorporate the vibration mitigation device performance into the structural design of traffic, sign, and lighting structures. KW - AASHTO Standard Specifications for Structural Supports for Highway Signs, Luminaires, and Traffic Signals KW - Damping (Physics) KW - Lighting columns KW - Structural supports KW - Traffic signs KW - Vibration UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4043 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364352 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572391 TI - Guide Construction Specifications for Pavement Preservation Treatments: Chip Seal and Microsurfacing AB - Pavement preservation is becoming an important activity for departments of transportation (DOTs) in maintaining and enhancing the conditions of their highways. With the enactment of Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) wherein DOTs have to show improved performance in the conditions of their highways, the use of pavement preservation treatments will be crucial to meet the performance goals. Pavement preservation treatments are treatments that do not improve the structural capacity of a pavement, but delay pavement deterioration by sealing cracks, preventing pavement oxidation, or rejuvenating the existing pavement surface layers. Preservation treatments that utilize asphalt emulsions as the binder have almost always been considered secondary to the hot mix asphalt (HMA) technologies and as such are not well understood. Furthermore, these technologies have not been upgraded or researched as much as HMA. However, over the last 5 years the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Pavement Preservation Expert Task Group has made a concerted effort to (1) improve the state of the science in emulsion technology and (2) create consistent performance-based standards (specifications, test methods, design practices, etc.) that are sponsored by FHWA and/or American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and not vendor specific. The Emulsion Task Force has also drafted several standards for consideration by the AASHTO Highway Subcommittee on Materials. The rationale for creating AASHTO standards for the pavement preservation treatments was to provide credence and more importantly buy-in by the DOTs. In order to implement any of these treatments, material and construction standards have to be created. Material standards (design specs and design practices) have already been created for chip seals and microsurfacing. However, construction specifications (or a guide) for these treatments are not available and need to be developed. The objective of this project is to produce a recommended AASHTO Construction Guide Specifications for the application of chip seals and microsurfacing to assist highway agencies in tailoring their own specifications to the local conditions and environments and implement these treatments for their pavement preservation programs. The research to produce the recommended guide specifications should include a review of previous work in this area. KW - Asphalt emulsions KW - Chip seals KW - Deterioration KW - Hot mix asphalt KW - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) KW - Pavement performance KW - Preservation KW - Specifications UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4044 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364351 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572390 TI - Triggers and Timings for the Placement of Pavement Preservation Treatments for Asphalt Pavements AB - Pavement preservation is an increasingly widespread practice among agencies interested in extending the lives of their pavements in a cost-effective manner. Commonly stated challenges to the success of this practice include identifying good candidate pavements, selecting the best preservation treatments for those pavements, and the related challenge of placing the treatments at the best time. This proposed research specifically addresses the last challenge--treatment triggers and timings--although its successful completion will also provide insights into improved project selection and treatment selection practices. It is acknowledged that there are a number of different approaches that are followed to identifying when to apply preservation treatments to asphalt pavements. These include (1) condition-based, in which one or more distresses trigger a treatment; (2) rating-based, in which an overall rating or rating range (such as a rating between 70 and 85) triggers a preservation action (but not a specific treatment); and (3) timing-based, in which treatments are applied according to a predetermined cycle, such as every 2, 5, or 10 years. There is clearly an opportunity to improve pavement preservation practices on asphalt pavements by collecting information and documenting practices that will strengthen the link between various triggers that identify a pavement as a good candidate for preservation and the placement of appropriate treatments. It is believed that this will contribute to the improved performance of preservation treatments. As such, the objective of this study is to document the range of triggers that are used to successfully identify when an asphalt pavement is a good candidate for pavement preservation. A secondary objective is to demonstrate various uses of these triggers in pavement preservation programs. The objective of this research is to develop a manual that identifies pavement condition based and non-condition based triggers for pavement preservation treatments. The study is envisioned to be conducted in two phases comprising seven tasks. Phase I: (1) Literature review, (2) Assessment of agency practices, (3) Draft and final report. Phase II: (4) Recommendations for case study agencies, (5) Conduct case studies, (6) Draft guidelines, (7) Draft and revised final report. KW - Asphalt pavements KW - Condition surveys KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Pavement maintenance KW - Preservation KW - Service life KW - Surface treating KW - Trigger mechanism UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4045 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364350 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572389 TI - Applying and Adapting Climate Models to Hydraulic Design Procedures AB - Hydraulic engineers are being asked to account for global climate change within hydraulic design procedures. To provide hydraulics engineers with the tools needed to amend practice to account for climate change, output from climate models must be downscaled and modified to provide recommended changes to regional precipitation data for design events used by hydraulics engineers. Collaborative efforts between climate scientists, hydrologists, hydraulic engineers, and coastal engineers are essential to producing these design inputs that are needed to amend hydraulic designs. Incorporating the results of climate models will have very large cost implications for future infrastructure. Overestimating the magnitude of peak flows suggested by climate models can result in costly over sizing of drainage infrastructure, while underestimating may leave infrastructure vulnerable and their resultant flooding impacts on surrounding lands and structures inadequately addressed. The objectives of this research are to: (1) identify the needed levels of precision, accuracy, and confidence for climate models to be compatible with that of the data used in current hydrologic/hydraulic analysis and design techniques, identify downscaling strategies to move climate models closer towards these levels of precision, accuracy, and confidence, and develop science-based strategies and methodologies to advance engineering in extending climate predictions when the limits of downscaling of climate models are reached; (2) identify and quantify resiliency in existing hydraulic design practices due to current safety factors and conservative assumptions/techniques; and (3) identify cost-effective adaptation solutions that extend existing infrastructure to continue to function to the end of its service life despite not having been designed for climate change. An outcome of this research will be a guidance document with a list of available and achievable hydraulic resiliency in design for retrofits. KW - Climate change KW - Cooperation KW - Design practices KW - Engineering KW - Environmental impacts KW - Hydraulics KW - Infrastructure KW - Service life UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4046 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364349 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572388 TI - Access Management and Design Guidelines for Truck Routes AB - Little or no research has been conducted on access management and design considerations for freight routes and sites that serve large trucks. Guidelines are lacking on the design and operation of truck routes through developed areas, as well as intersection and driveway design guidelines specific to larger trucks, such as the WB 67. In addition, agency design guidelines and warrants for turn lanes typically do not consider high volumes of large trucks. Driveway and site circulation issues that impact trucks include inadequate throat length and other on-site conflicts that cause spillback into the roadway and impede efficient truck operations. Different safety and operational problems may occur in relation to ingress versus egress, requiring different solutions. From an operational perspective, there seems to be a critical point at which a small increase in trucks can create a major failure in operations. Research is needed to provide state transportation agencies and local governments with state-of-the-art access management and design strategies for freight routes and such issues as turn-lane design, access location, access spacing, and driveway and site circulation design. The objective of this research is to provide state transportation agencies and local governments with model access management guidelines, policies, and strategies for truck routes, including guidance relative to the local designation of freight routes and the design of access and circulation for sites that serve high volumes of trucks and other large vehicles. The following tasks are expected: (1) document and compare typical methods and criteria used by local governments to designate truck routes in local plans; (2) identify access-related issues and problems encountered by drivers of large trucks through surveys and interviews, and conduct field observations of traffic operations at interchanges and other sites where there is a substantial volume of large trucks to identify and evaluate the nature and frequency of traffic conflicts; (3) identify and obtain photographs and sketches of examples of good practices and problem situations, including site plans and photographs of good and poor location and design of access to truck stops and other major traffic generators of large trucks; (4) identify and evaluate techniques that might be applied to improve traffic operations and safety on truck routes; (5) prepare model network designation/classification, access management, and design guidelines for truck routes, including suggested criteria for the items noted above and case studies illustrating the potential application of these strategies and retrofit opportunities, and explore land use planning best practices to support the proposed strategies and reduce adverse impacts of freight movement on urban centers; (6) and recommend enhancements to state access management regulations and/or design standards, as appropriate, with regard to truck routes and site access and circulation. KW - Access control (Transportation) KW - Best practices KW - Guidelines KW - Traffic conflicts KW - Truck routes KW - Trucks KW - Warrants (Traffic control devices) UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4047 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364348 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572387 TI - Design Options to Reduce Turning Motor Vehicle Conflicts with Bicyclists and Pedestrians at Intersections AB - More than 4,000 pedestrians and 700 bicyclists were killed in collisions with motor vehicles in the United States in 2012. Each year, many more pedestrians and bicyclists have their jobs, financial security, and physical capabilities changed permanently as a result of non-fatal crashes. The most common location for these collisions is at intersections. By way of example, a nine-year analysis of bicycle crash types in Cambridge, MA showed that over 60% of bicycle/motor vehicle crashes occurred at intersections. In addition, 56% of pedestrian crashes in Alameda County, CA occurred at or within 50 feet of an intersection. Signalized intersections are particularly important locations for safety improvements: an extensive pedestrian safety analysis in New York City found that nearly half (47%) of pedestrian fatalities and severe injuries occurred at signalized intersections. Improving bicycle facilities at intersections is clearly a critical safety topic, and several common types of bicycle crashes have been identified in previous studies. Of particular concern for bicyclist safety at intersections is the conflict between bicyclists traveling straight and automobiles from the opposite direction turning left across the path of bicyclists. In addition, there are often conflicts between bicyclists traveling straight and automobiles from the same direction turning right across the path of bicyclists. A third common type of bicycle crash involves motorists emerging from side streets and driveways (which are a kind of minor intersection) and not yielding to through-moving cyclists. There are also several common types of pedestrian crashes. These often occur at intersections that involve automobiles turning left and striking pedestrians in the far crosswalk and automobiles turning right and striking pedestrians in the near or far crosswalk. This includes situations where drivers are allowed to make a right turn on red. Despite the widespread acknowledgment of these problems, transportation engineers and planners still lack definitive guidance on which types of designs have the greatest safety benefits. For example, current design practices commonly drop bicycle pavement markings and signs at intersections, providing little or no positioning guidance for motorists or bicyclists. Meanwhile, some more recent guidance suggests options such as dashing or coloring through the intersection. Some intersections fail to provide crosswalks or pedestrian signals, leaving motorists and pedestrians to rely on their best guess as to what the other user will do. In addition to these ambiguous situations, there are a number of design choices that may directly impact pedestrian or bicycle safety: pedestrian signal phases may be shortened to their minimum required length, turning radii may be increased, or right-turn-on-red may be allowed in order to allow more automobiles to pass through the intersection, making it more difficult to cross the street as a pedestrian. These changes are often made without the most effective consideration of pedestrian safety. There is no comprehensive approach to indicate what designs provide the most effective approach or the most appropriate situation in which each should be applied. The primary guidance documents for practitioners, including the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities (2012), AASHTO Guide for the Planning, Design, and Operation of Pedestrian Facilities (2004), NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide (2011), Highway Capacity Manual (2010), Highway Safety Manual (2010), and Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (2009), do not provide sufficient information about the strategies that are most effective in specific circumstances. Engineering judgment will still be needed in many cases, but better guidance for applying typical and innovative intersection design treatments will help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety. The objective of this research is to develop guidance for intersection design that minimizes the risk of motor-vehicle turning conflicts with pedestrians and bicyclists. The following tasks are expected: (1) identify typical and innovative design treatments to improve the safety of bicyclists and pedestrians at signalized intersections; (2) identify prevalent motor vehicle/bicycle and motor vehicle/pedestrian crash types at signalized intersections and identify specific differences in different settings (urban, suburban, rural); (3) conduct conflict studies at intersection approaches with and without the following design elements: for bicycles, standard bicycle lanes; marked/dashed bike lane/bike travel path through intersections; colored pavement for bike travel paths through intersections; bike boxes; bicycle signal-heads with accompanying bicycle-specific signal phasing; physical separation of bicycle facilities; and exclusive right-turn lanes for automobiles; for pedestrians, pedestrian signals with and without leading pedestrian intervals; curb extensions; reduced curb radius; prohibit right-turn-on-red; and pedestrian crossing islands; (4) document safety impacts of various design treatments observed; and (5) a practitioner's reference for effective accommodation of bicycles and pedestrians at intersections. This reference will synthesize existing information in the common manuals mentioned above and add relevant results from research providing practitioners with documentation to improve designs of intersections for multiple users. A key outcome of this research is the ability to determine those intersection designs that provide the most effective means of improving bicycle safety for specific situations and environments. Note that the conflict studies will not be expected to produce crash modification factors (CMFs) since it is unlikely that there will be sufficient data to draw strong conclusions. However, the conflict studies will provide a basis for future data collection and more rigorous studies that produce CMFs. KW - Alameda County (California) KW - Bicycle crashes KW - Cambridge (Massachusetts) KW - Crash avoidance systems KW - Crosswalks KW - Fatalities KW - New York (New York) KW - Pedestrian-vehicle crashes KW - Traffic conflicts KW - Turning traffic UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4048 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364347 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572386 TI - Unsignalized Median Openings in Close Proximity to Signalized Intersections AB - Closely spaced full median openings result in a complex pattern of overlapping conflicts. Provision of full access intersections is often provided yet unjustified--leading to high crash rates and reduced mainline capacity--each resulting in poor traffic operations. Restricting access in most cases is the best solution; however, there is little guidance on what parameters for full versus restricted access should be considered. There are obvious safety and operational benefits to restricting access. For instance, closing a full median opening and making an intersection right-in/right-out eliminates all left-turn and crossing maneuvers. This reduces the number of conflict points from thirty-two to four. Converting a full median opening to a directional opening for left turns from the major roadway eliminates left turns from the intersecting connection onto the major roadway and crossing maneuvers. Conflict points are reduced from thirty-two to eight (ten if u-turns from both directions are permitted) in this scenario. In some cases an unsignalized median opening may improve operations of a signalized intersection, but only if designed correctly. Based on current research, the operational and safety problems resulting from unsignalized full median openings--as compared to unsignalized directional median openings--need further investigation. For example, Florida Department of Transportation has a policy of closing or converting unsignalized full median openings to directional openings whenever possible (left turn from the main roadway only). Other examples also exist that need to be analyzed. The objective of the research will be to develop guidelines for closing an existing median opening or converting an existing full median opening to a directional opening. The proposed research should answer the following questions: (1) Using a before-after crash analysis, what are the differences in crash rates at unsignalized full median openings compared to the crash rates at unsignalized directional median openings; (2) Using supplemental conflict analysis methods, what are the frequency and severity of conflicts at unsignalized full median openings compared to unsignalized directional openings as a function of speed, traffic volume, or other attributes; and (3) What is the effect of full median and directional median openings on capacity as a function of the movements at a median opening and volume of these movements, the number of traffic lanes, roadway volume, and the speed at which the vehicle(s) on the roadway was traveling when the conflict occurred, etc. The above data collection and analysis will include the distance from signalized intersection to the unsignalized median opening and the design of the left-turn bay where one is present. Many state and local agencies are reconstructing undivided roadways with a nontraversable median or replacing a continuous two-way left-turn lane with a nontraversable median. These reconstruction actions frequently result in opposition by owners of abutting businesses and request for unsignalized median openings. Rationale based on safety, traffic operations, and effect on business as to when and where an unsignalized median opening may be advantageous (as well as where one should be avoided) will assist state departments of transportation (DOTs) and local governments in gaining acceptance of limiting unsignalized median openings near a signalized intersection. Guidelines for evaluating the safety and operational effects of the proposed location and design of an unsignalized median opening will assist in implementation by state and local agencies. KW - Before and after studies KW - Crash rates KW - Highway operations KW - Left turn lanes KW - Median openings KW - Signalized intersections KW - Traffic conflicts KW - Traffic volume KW - Unsignalized intersections UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4049 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364346 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572385 TI - Leveraging Big Data to Improve Traffic Incident Management AB - Recent advancements in transportation data collection technology have significantly increased data quantity and improved data quality; however, traffic incident management (TIM) professionals have not yet harnessed the full potential of the data. As we enter the era of "Big Data" there are even more data sources to draw from to evaluate and improve TIM programs. Big Data is not just "a lot of data," it is a fundamental change in how to collect, analyze and use data to uncover trends and relationships that can significantly change how TIM programs are managed and evaluated. Big Data offers opportunities to bring multiple, comprehensive datasets together to derive information and relationships that can be used to improve TIM programs and protocols. The ability to mine information on unanticipated or unrealized trends can provide significant opportunities for improving protocols, resource management, scene management, and real-time data sharing. Current and future sources of data include traffic operations centers, responder dispatch centers, weather stations, connected vehicles, connected infrastructure, crowd sourcing, private providers, and other emerging technologies. The opportunity and challenge is how to bring datasets together to uncover relationships and trends that may occur outside the more traditional evaluation processes, and to create platforms for developing Big Data analyses of traffic and response-related data. Investments in TIM programs have been on the rise due to the potential for improved safety, reduced congestion, and improved environmental considerations. Many agencies have conducted formal evaluations of their TIM programs and are looking at TIM performance measures to track their success. Big Data provides a powerful new tool for leveraging the greatest return on investment in TIM resources. The objective of this study is to determine current and emerging sources of data that can be accessed and mined in support of TIM program planning and operations, and to develop guidance on applications and analyses of the datasets to identify embedded and previously unseen relationships and trends. This project will create initial platforms for analyzing Big Data to provide enhanced insights into the relationships between traffic, response, resource, and existing conditions data. It will consider trends, relationships, and dependencies associated with both TIM program planning and real-time operations and response. It will also address the challenges faced with multi-agency data sharing, including security, propriety, interoperability, and other institutional challenges. The final report will describe and address the challenges of accessing and analyzing large datasets from multiple sources. This effort may require collaboration with multidisciplinary stakeholders experienced in TIM program evaluation. KW - Big data KW - Data mining KW - Data quality KW - Incident management KW - Real time information KW - Technological innovations KW - Traffic incidents KW - Traffic safety UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4051 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364345 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572384 TI - Understanding the Relationship between Operating, Posted, and Design Speeds and Safety in the Setting of Speed Limits AB - Studies have shown that speed is among the major causes of crashes. Inappropriate speed limits are more likely to cause larger speed variability and larger mean difference from the posted speed based on the observed population of drivers. It is desirable to achieve balance for safety between the three types of speed: operating, posted, and design. Ideally, the design speed will exceed or match the posted speed and operating speed, but that is not always the case. While the design speed for an existing roadway is based on geometric features, the posted speed limits have historically been established based on state statute or an engineering study. Engineering studies often consider the 85th percentile speed during free-flow conditions when determining the posted speed. These studies often result in 85th percentile speeds above the design speed. In these situations the engineer is faced with the dilemma of setting a posted speed above the design speed without fully knowing the safety risk. For highly-congested urban highways free-flow conditions rarely occur. For this situation the question raised is should the posted speed limit be based on operating speeds for conditions that occur for the majority of a time period. National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 504 identifies general relationships between design speed, operating speed, and posted speed limit. Setting safer speed limit requires a clear understanding of specific relationships between posted speed limit and operating speeds for the local driving population. However, the posted speed limit also needs to be related to design speed in order to minimize safety risk. It is important to identify the relationship between the three types of speed for different roadway sections and their influence on safety in terms of crashes when setting speed limits. The objective of the research will (a) identify roadway inventory data such as geometric, cross-sectional, and access density, as well as traffic volume characteristics that may impact operating speed; (b) collect nationwide data sources for roadway inventory data, particularly the geometric, cross-sectional, and access density, as well as traffic volume characteristics; (c) develop prediction models for determining crash type, crash severity with respect to operating speed, roadway characteristics (roadway inventory data, and traffic volume characteristics); and (d) develop prediction models for operating speed that may be utilized by departments of transportation (DOTs) to determine the appropriate speed limit for a roadway or effective roadway design features for managing operating speeds with minimal safety risk. This research will assist roadway agencies with making informed decisions related to establishing speed limits on their roadways. The development of prediction models for operating speed in relation to posted and design speeds will assist roadway agencies with setting speed limits based on risk and will provide knowledge on the impact that various roadway design features have on operating speeds. The research will focus on urban and rural freeways and rural non-freeways with posted speeds of 55 mph or higher. KW - Crash causes KW - Crash severity KW - Design speed KW - Highway safety KW - Operating speed KW - Speed KW - Traffic volume UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4052 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364344 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572383 TI - Quantitative Approaches to Systemic Safety Analysis AB - The systemic approach to safety is a method of safety management that involves typically lower (unit) cost safety improvements that are widely implemented based on high-risk roadway features. This approach has been gaining favor with practitioners in recent years, whereas the more traditional approach has focused on identifying high crash locations and constructing larger projects to address predominant concerns at each site. The systemic approach is not meant to replace other analysis methods, but has shown to be more efficient than traditional spot improvements for reducing system-wide targeted crash types and meeting safety performance targets. However, the systemic approach is not presented in the first edition of the Highway Safety Manual (HSM), and there are limited tools available to agencies implementing these types of projects that seek to use quantitative safety analysis to drive management decisions. The three most widely referenced tools capable of assisting agencies with planning and implementing systemic projects are the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Systemic Safety Project Selection Tool (FHWA Tool), United States Road Assessment Program (usRAP Tools), and AASHTOWare Safety Analyst™. Recent research has presented a comparison of the FHWA Tool and usRAP Tools, while the Safety Analyst software has not yet been evaluated in the same context. A notable conclusion of this previous research is that the methodologies used in the FHWA Tool and usRAP Tools presume that crash data may not be available or is of poor quality. Furthermore there is a need for efficient methods to perform effectiveness evaluation of large systemic projects. This proposed research is intended to address the urgent need for guidance and recommendations for agencies seeking to integrate quantitative analysis methodologies into existing safety management processes with respect to systemic safety. The proposed research results support the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Standing Committee on Highway Traffic Safetys' (AASHTO SCOHTS') Strategic Plan (June 2011) by addressing Goal 2, related to institutionalization and further development of the HSM, and Goal 4, Strategy 4, by developing tools that can better quantify changes in safety performance. The value of the systemic approach to safety is well documented in literature, and the approach is being widely adopted because it is relatively easy to administer, effective, and flexible. However, research to date has primarily consisted of studies regarding the impacts of systemic projects and expanded implementation of the most widely used methods to specific roadway and crash types. In contrast, this proposed research will promote the use of science-based methods in systemic safety analysis by exploring quantitative approaches consistent with other state-of-the-art methodologies such as those in the HSM that are capable of adequately considering safety performance and other highly influential risk factors, such as crash frequency and exposure. This could include adapting existing quantitative analysis methods for use in the systemic approach and/or development of new methodologies. The proposed research will build on tools and methods currently available to agencies by focusing on quantitative approaches that can improve safety management processes, promote better decision making, support policy changes, and enhance agencies' ability to measure safety performance. There are a number of other projects that are beginning or ongoing at this time related to systemic safety analysis, including National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Projects 17-71 and 17-73. The FHWA Office of Safety is undertaking a project that will provide guidance on which risk factors should be used in the FHWA Tool when certain focus crash and roadway types are selected. While this research problem statement is of a different nature and addresses more broadly the need for improvement of quantitative analysis approaches, it will be important that this research be cognizant of the progress in these related research projects. The primary objective of this research is to develop means for state departments of transportation (DOTs), metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), and local agencies to effectively plan, implement, and evaluate systemic safety improvement projects using quantitative analysis approaches. The research should present recommended methodologies that agencies may implement with software tools using available databases and analysis tools, such as safety performance functions. KW - Decision making KW - High risk locations KW - Highway safety KW - Highway Safety Manual KW - Quantitative analysis KW - Safety Analyst KW - State of the art UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4053 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364343 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572382 TI - Understanding and Communicating Reliability of Crash Prediction Models AB - Credibility is essential to any form of analysis being performed for the public welfare. During initial implementation of the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) model, results have been generated and utilized to make major capital improvement decisions without understanding the accuracy of the model results, which can erode the credibility of this new and rapidly growing field. The state of the art of safety analysis has progressed and more has been learned about the impact on accuracy of assumptions made during the development of crash prediction models using HSM procedures. It also appears that practitioners are struggling to understand and communicate the reliability of crash prediction models. This reliability includes the general model accuracy in addition to when models are executed at or outside the appropriate thresholds (i.e., e = 8%, very low annual average daily traffic [AADT] values, etc.). Case studies presented at various conferences, including the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting, and through other initiatives demonstrate that practitioners are utilizing the models in ways not recommended and also displaying crash prediction results without properly understanding the model reliability. Understanding and communicating consistently reliable crash prediction results is critical to credible analysis and a barrier for some transportation authorities to utilizing these models. This topic was among the top ranked research needs identified at the 2013 Safety Effects of Geometric Design Decision Workshop, which was a joint meeting of TRB committees that focus on design, operational effects of design, safety performance, safety data, asset management (AHB65, AFB10, ANB25, AHB70 and ANB20), and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Technical Committee on Geometric Design. In addition to being of interest to both practitioners and researchers, a better understanding of the reliability of individual models and the general concepts of crash prediction reliability will support the AASHTO Standing Committee on Highway Traffic Safety (SCOHTS') Strategic Plan (June 2011) by addressing Goal 2, related to the institutionalization and further development of the HSM, and Goal 4, Strategy 4 by developing tools that can better quantify changes in safety performance. The objective of the research is to develop guidelines for estimating, calculating, and reporting reliability of crash prediction models including crash modification factors/functions, safety performance functions, calibrations, and combinations thereof. In development of the guidelines, consideration will be given to the balance between improved model reliability and user friendliness. The guidelines developed with this research will be able to be applied to existing crash prediction models and will serve to improve all future models and model elements. This could impact a range of documents including the HSM and all supporting documents that provide guidance on model development. KW - Annual average daily traffic KW - Crash modification factors KW - Crash prediction models KW - Guidelines KW - High risk locations KW - Highway safety KW - Highway Safety Manual KW - Strategic planning UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4054 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364342 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572380 TI - Expansion of Human Factors Guidelines for Road Systems, Second Edition AB - The first complete release of National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 600: Human Factors Guidelines for Road Systems, Second Edition (HFG) was published in 2012. It has 21 guideline chapters with a total of 90 guidelines. The HFG assists safety practitioners and designers in developing a greater understanding of road users' capabilities and limitations and how these issues could be incorporated into day-to-day safety decision making. About 25 percent of highway fatalities are associated with a combination of road and road user factors, and this proposed research would further assist practitioners in addressing these crashes. At inception, it was envisioned that the HFG would be a living document where new guidelines would be developed as new human factors needs are identified for enhancing road users' safety and as new research studies and data become available to serve as the source of guideline materials. It was recognized that some topics could not be developed in the initial HFG publication. For example, NCHRP Report 600 does not have chapters for bicycle, motorcycles, roundabouts, or incorporation of user constraints into road safety audits, and only some limited guidelines for pedestrians. This material is frequently requested by practitioners using the HFG, however. The Transportation Research Board Joint Subcommittee on Human Factors Road Design Guides, AND10(2), with the assistance of numerous other Transportation Research Board (TRB) Committees, has compiled a list of about 20 suggested additional guidelines that are being assessed for development. Since the development of the 90 guidelines in the current HFG, additional research has been completed that will permit the addition of guidelines that could not be included initially because of the lack of reliable published research. Pilot tests were performed by the state departments of transportation in Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Wisconsin, and Delaware. The tests were well received and were used in areas such as road safety audits, design, and diagnostic assessment of safety concerns. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) initiated a contract to develop an HFG training course to be delivered by the National Highway Institute to state and local transportation departments and other organizations. NCHRP is also planning to develop a primer for using the HFG and the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) together. Both the HFG and HSM when used together greatly enhance the efforts of highway engineers, traffic engineers and planners to account for the road users' needs in the design, operation, and control roadways. The objective of this research is to review existing published highway-related human factor road-users research literature, update as needed existing guidelines in HFG, Second Edition, and develop new technical chapters with guidelines for inclusion in HFG, Third Edition. All new guidelines will use the format as published in NCHRP Report 600: Human Factors Guidelines for Road Systems, Second Edition. The HFG is a living document for use by highway designers, planners, and traffic and safety engineers. KW - Arizona KW - Decision making KW - Delaware KW - Fatalities KW - Guidelines KW - Highway design KW - Highway safety KW - Human factors in crashes KW - Idaho KW - Nevada KW - Safety audits KW - Traffic crashes KW - Wisconsin UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4056 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364340 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572379 TI - Development of Financial Plans and Performance Measures for Transportation Asset Management AB - Transportation agencies face significant and continuing challenges in securing resources needed for preserving and improving the nation's transportation network, and in planning future expenditures considering investment needs, public expectations, asset deterioration, expected revenue streams, risk, uncertainty, and other factors. In addition, federal transportation legislation--Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21)--requires states to develop financial plans for managing their National Highway System assets. Transportation asset management provides a framework for making resource allocation decisions about how best to preserve infrastructure assets, such as roads, bridges, and traffic and safety assets, and well as other asset types. Asset management emphasizes optimizing investment decisions to be cost-effective, improve performance, and control asset lifecycle costs. Much work has been performed nationally and internationally over time to develop asset management concepts and tools, such as those detailed in Volumes I and II of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Transportation Asset Management Guide. However, available asset management guidance lacks details on how to develop financial plans for transportation assets, and what specific financial measures to use in characterizing asset performance. The Government Accounting Standards Board has provided guidance for development of asset valuation estimates though its Statement Number 34 (GASB 34), but in practice the existing measures of asset valuation, though important for accounting, have proven to be of limited value for developing future plans and characterizing performance over time. Research is needed to strengthen the financial management aspects of transportation asset management and to develop guidance for how to prepare financial plans for transportation assets and networks that comprise those assets. The research should draw on previous work in the United States and other countries to supplement existing AASHTO and GASB documents with step-by-step details for preparing financial plans as elements of transportation asset management plans. The research should address issues such as projecting available expenditures given uncertain revenue streams, reporting projected investment levels, inflation, selecting maintenance activities based on net present value analysis, understanding opportunity costs, and comparing projects for different assets using comparable financial metrics. The research should also describe specific measures for characterizing financial performance of transportation system assets and asset portfolios. The research should produce guidance for transportation agencies to use as they develop their asset management plans and will help foster increased emphasis on making investment decisions supported by consideration of financial concerns. Research tasks might include review of the current literature and ongoing research, characterization of the state of practice in financial planning for infrastructure in public and private sectors, review of federal and state regulations influencing financial management of transportation system assets, and analysis of what particular guidance materials would be most helpful to state transportation agencies for financial planning as an element of transportation asset management planning. Guidance materials to be developed might be tested and refined to ensure they are responsive to the needs and interests of agency officials and other potential users. The research may also include development of plans for further work to extend the performance measures and financial planning guidance developed in this research effort. KW - Asset management KW - Finance KW - Financial management KW - Financial planning KW - Investments KW - Performance measurement KW - Resource allocation KW - Transportation departments UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4057 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364339 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572378 TI - Value Capture Toolkit for State Transportation Agencies AB - Value capture (VC) is a mechanism for generating revenue to pay for transportation infrastructure by collecting fees or taxes on the value of land served by that infrastructure. Investments in new or enhanced facilities such as highway interchanges and transit stations improve access and generate commercial traffic that boosts property values; capturing a portion of that increased value can be an instrumental component of the financing needed to undertake the project. As a public-sector financing tool, VC mechanisms accelerate project delivery. Many local and regional agencies use VC mechanisms regularly, but for state departments of transportation (DOTs) the practice has been relatively rare. National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 459: Using the Economic Value Created by Transportation to Fund Transportation described nine VC mechanisms being used to fund transportation by agencies across the United States. The synthesis highlighted the need for decision tools to aid implementation. A considerable body of literature has developed describing VC and analyzing specific applications in transportation. Implementing VC mechanisms equitably and legally depends on agency preparation to determine the area of benefit, the magnitude of the benefits, and the timing of the benefits. A VC toolkit could assist DOTs in (a) choosing appropriate VC mechanisms, (b) estimating stakeholder involvement costs and administrative costs, and (c) identifying VC practices that may be effective in a particular situation. Research is needed to expand DOTs' understanding of VC concepts, practical applications of those concepts, examples of VC usage in situations typical of DOT practice; and provide practical guidance for how to identify opportunities for VC and take advantage of those opportunities. The objective of this research would be to develop guidance for DOTs on use of VC in project development and a toolkit for VC analysis and applications. KW - Financing KW - Project development KW - Revenues KW - State departments of transportation KW - Toolkits KW - Value capture UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4058 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364338 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572377 TI - Construction Project Staffing Strategies for Effective Program Oversight AB - State departments of transportation (DOTs) continue to struggle with constrained resources resulting from staff reductions. These same departments are challenged to ensure that legal, environmental, and federal requirements are met and documented for all federal and state funded construction projects. As such, many agencies have decided to hire full or part time consultants, create limited term positions, and recruit co-ops or similar staff to supplement their work force. Currently, a national need exists to analyze DOT staffing practices, their use of supplemental resources, and review of the state-of-the-practice of the types of work being outsourced. Such an analysis will help to determine the optimal staffing levels to ensure proper inspection and documentation of federal aid contract work. The results are needed by DOTs to help guide central office, regional, district, and local construction field offices in optimal staffing levels for construction projects. This research is vitally important to all DOTs to help guide them as they balance the requirements for construction inspection and oversight with new technologies and efficiencies. All agencies will benefit with more unified and efficient use of resources. Research is needed to determine the optimal types of projects for consultant oversight for better utilization of staff as well as developing procedures, protocols, and tools for resource acquisition and allocation. The objective of this research is to develop guidance to help DOTs determine how to effectively and efficiently balance program oversight responsibilities using agency staff and outsourced contractors. The guidance should identify best practices as determined by state DOT agencies, and include a workforce planning toolkit with various optional inputs for project size/cost, geography, available staffing, complexity, and technologies. KW - Best practices KW - Construction projects KW - Contracting out KW - Oversight KW - Selection and appointment KW - State departments of transportation KW - State of the practice UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4059 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364337 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572376 TI - Effective Practices for Creating and Maintaining an Innovation-Delivery Culture within Departments of Transportation AB - Innovation can be defined as developing ways to improve existing products, processes, or services to better serve customers. Industry and government organizations, in the US and worldwide, increasingly consider innovation to be the key to maintaining competitiveness, achieving business success, and socioeconomic advance. Leaders of state departments of transportation (DOTs) are recognizing that it is no longer adequate or acceptable for the DOT to focus only on solving problems. DOTs need to become highly innovative, to be on the leading edge in technology and management to meet the demands of a sophisticated customer base. There has been much research and advice published on innovation in transportation, but much of the work has focused on innovating in specific domains, applications, or technologies (for example, transit, pavement materials, or structures). Some work has primarily considered a single phase of the work that DOTs conduct to deliver a safe, effective, and environmentally responsible transportation system (for example, planning, design, or asset management). Some work presents case studies describing how introduction of particular process or product improvements were introduced, received in the marketplace, and judged to have succeeded or failed (for example, outsourcing, electronic design and bid documents, or fiber-reinforced bridge components). Relatively little work has been done to address comprehensively the practices of innovation within a DOT or among DOTs, the factors influencing success or failure, and the ways that DOT leaders can enhance their organization's readiness to accept innovation. Some work has sought to take a broader view of innovation at the organizational level. For example, National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 768: Guide to Accelerating New Technology Adoption through Directed Technology Transfer presents a framework and guidance on how to use technology transfer to accelerate innovation within a DOT or other such agency, but is focused on one particular mechanism for encouraging innovation. To be successful, an organization's strategic objectives and business models should align with and support innovation delivery generally, and generate quantifiable benefits to the organization. Research is needed to identify organizational and management practices that create and foster an innovation-delivery corporate culture and to analyze their use and efficacy for DOTs--the challenges, opportunities, incentives, and roadblocks to their effective implementation. Research is needed also to identify performance measures for evaluating how effectively innovation is adopted and delivered by the DOT for the benefit of the agency's stakeholders. The research may include activities such as describing precisely what is meant by a "culture of innovation" and the value of having such a culture, identifying organizations widely recognized as having a culture of innovation that could be models for DOTs and characterizing the features critical to their maintenance of the culture, describing the characteristics of DOTs and their business environment that discourage or encourage a culture of innovation, describing DOTs that have been more successful in benefiting from having a culture of innovation, and describing a framework and process for developing a culture of innovation delivery within a particular DOT. The objective of this research will be to develop a guide for DOT leaders presenting a clear explanation of what is an organizational culture of innovation delivery, the value of having such a culture, the ways to measure an organization's culture of innovation delivery, and ways that leaders can create and foster such a culture. The guide should include description of effective practices from DOTs and other organizations that leaders may be able to adapt to their own situation. KW - Best practices KW - Business administration KW - Innovation KW - Leadership KW - Organizational effectiveness KW - Performance measurement KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4060 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364336 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572375 TI - Improvements to the Transportation Research Thesaurus AB - In 2001 the Transportation Research Board (TRB) published National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 450: Transportation Research Thesaurus and User's Guide. The primary purpose of the Transportation Research Thesaurus (TRT) is to provide a common vocabulary for producers and users of TRB's TRIS database. Indexers can describe documents in a consistent way, and TRIS users can successfully retrieve TRIS records in their areas of interest by searching the thesaurus terms. In FY2006 NCHRP Project 20-70 funded the development of web access to the TRT on the TRB website as well as improvements to the technology that supports use of the TRT by TRIS indexers. Both tasks were successfully completed and implemented. In FY 2008 NCHRP Project 20-79 funded the addition of a limited number of definitions to the TRT. Although the progress made under previous projects has been significant, additional upgrades will allow for improved functionality. A more robust search engine on both the public and data entry sites would suggest and provide links to preferred terms, based on a partial word. A new taxonomy management system could support a number of tasks. More definitions would be useful to indexers and searchers alike. Thesauri, in the limited sense, do not include definitions, just scope notes to allow the user to distinguish between terms that have more than one definition, for example cranes (birds) and cranes (equipment). Providing more information to those who assign terms to reports would promote more consistent use of vocabulary across repositories and thus improved access to like information. Additional definitions in the TRT on the web would support the searcher who is working outside his or her specialization, allowing him or her to improve the search strategy. Research is needed to accomplish a number of tasks, including deprecation of terms that have never been used, review of "uncontrolled terms" to merge similar terms or recommend terms for addition to the TRT, structural changes in the thesaurus to enhance its utility, fixing a structural problem in one facet, preparing additional definitions and analyses to support migrating to a new software platform, and others. The objective of this research will be generally to enhance the TRT's functionality through accomplishing such tasks as consultation with TRIS indexers, the TRB Subcommittee for the TRT, and the others in the research community; review of the facet structure; recommendation of new terms (for example in areas of information management and technology) and terms for deprecation or deletion; recommendation of maintenance processes for accommodating future additions, deprecations, and deletions; review of metadata standards; and recommendation of a taxonomy management system for TRB and steps for the system's adoption. Note: Funds may be reserved from the research budget for purchase of software and migration of the TRT to a new platform. KW - Databases KW - Definitions KW - Indexes (Information management) KW - Information dissemination KW - Research KW - Taxonomy KW - Thesauri KW - Transportation Research Board UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4061 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364335 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576145 AU - Hopper, Travis AU - Manafpour, Amir AU - Radlińska, Aleksandra AU - Warn, Gordon AU - Rajabipour, Farshad AU - Morian, Dennis AU - Jahangirnejad, Shervin AU - Pennsylvania State University, University Park AU - Pennsylvania Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Bridge Deck Cracking: Effects on In-Service Performance, Prevention, and Remediation PY - 2015/08/05/Final Report SP - 267p AB - The main objectives of this project were: (a) to identify the causes of early-age cracking in concrete bridge decks, (b) to provide recommendations for effective mitigation of early-age cracking, (c) to assess the effect of cracks on the long-term durability and performance of concrete bridge decks, and (d) to identify the best and most cost-effective (on a life-cycle cost basis) remediation practices and optimum time to remediate to extend the life of bridge decks. The project was completed in 6 tasks and this document reports details of the methods of data collection, analysis, and conclusions for each task. KW - Best practices KW - Bridge decks KW - Concrete bridges KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Cracking KW - Data collection KW - Deterioration KW - Durability KW - Preventive maintenance KW - Recommendations KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) UR - http://www.dot7.state.pa.us/BPR_PDF_FILES/Documents/Research/Complete%20Projects/Construction/Bridge%20Deck%20Cracking.pdf UR - http://www.mautc.psu.edu/docs/PSU-2013-07.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1368540 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572356 TI - Transit, Freight, and Emergency Services Integration in Integrated Corridor Management Using SHRP2 Business Process Tools AB - Integrated corridor management (ICM) is a relatively new congestion management approach that has been gaining interest for its potential to mitigate congestion with few changes to the existing transportation infrastructure. The primary objective of any ICM system is to coordinate the assets and expertise of multiple transportation agencies rather than have each agency respond to related issues independently. By integrating the management and operations of the transportation system, the complete transportation infrastructure may be better utilized, thus resulting in improved travel conditions in the target network. The goal is to maximize infrastructure investment. Available capacity and utilization of the transportation network space is critical. Each mode, transit, highway and freight networks may or may not have available capacity. ICM techniques support efficient utilization to maximize the supply of available capacity as well as reduce the demand on that supply in time. In an effort to support the development of ICM strategies the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) sponsored a multi-phase ICM research initiative. Phase I resulted in development of ICM Concept of Operations (such as MCPST, 2008A) and System Requirements (such as MCPST, 2008B) at eight pioneer sites. Of these sites, three (Dallas, TX, San Diego, CA and Minneapolis, MN) were selected for ICM Analysis, Modeling, and Simulation (AMS) tests of potential ICM methods under several traffic scenarios. Finally, the results from the ICM AMS efforts were used in a demonstration phase in Dallas and San Diego. The results from these demonstration sites lead to several publications such as the use and response to travel time information study by Petrella et al. (2014) and study by Marcuson (2013) that investigated the integration of ICM with active traffic management. In additional to pilot sites in Dallas and San Diego, states such as Virginia and Florida have pursued the development of ICM programs. In addition, under the Strategic Highway Research Program 2 (SHRP2) Reliability Area, Projects L01 and L06, much research has been done to develop and advance the need to address and develop business processes for improved reliability and operational efficiency of the transportation systems. The research showed that improved reliability and operational efficiency is associated with good business processes rather than just the introduction of a technology project. The key aspects of the business processes that are addressed in the research include Planning and Budgeting, Systems and Technology development, Performance Management, Institutional Culture, Organization and Workforce Development, and Collaboration. The objective of this research is to develop business process guidance for the key stakeholder communities engaged in an ICM program in order to accomplish improved operational efficiency and reliability in a corridor. To do so, this research will make use of the existing FHWA work and the SHRP2 work--blending both as needed. The research will investigate business processes of the stakeholder communities for ICM projects in Dallas and San Diego, freight projects in Dallas, Kansas City, Los Angeles, and Miami, as well as other related projects to identify effects and lessons learned. Based upon this investigation, and results of the SHRP2 L01 and L06 Reliability Projects, an expanded ICM Operational concept will be developed using the unique operational objectives, needs, and requirements. It is expected that this research will also develop model performance measures as well as model standard operational procedures and/or agreements that the ICM stakeholder communities can use to collect and share real-time data. Ultimately, this work will contribute to the development of a desk reference that will provide the ICM stakeholder communities (freeway, arterial, transit, freight, and emergency services) with guidance on how to improve their business processes to realize and sustain integrated corridor management. KW - Congestion management systems KW - Dallas (Texas) KW - Florida KW - Highway capacity KW - Highway operations KW - Highway traffic control KW - Integrated corridor management KW - Minneapolis (Minnesota) KW - San Diego (California) KW - Travel time KW - Virginia UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4030 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364295 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572355 TI - Test and Demonstrate the Implementation of NCHRP Project 08-91, Cross-Asset Allocation AB - Performance management is being increasingly applied in the transportation industry as state departments of transportation (DOTs), metropolitan planning organizations, transit agencies, and other local/regional transportation planning and service providers strive to invest in projects that achieve performance targets across the multimodal transportation system. While the concepts of performance management and performance measures are generally understood, deciding how to best allocate inevitably limited resources across various types of investments to provide acceptable transportation system performance poses a persistent and difficult challenge for agency managers, elected officials, and the public. National Cooperative Highway Research Project (NCHRP) Project 08-91 provides a Framework and Tool Prototype for cross-asset resource allocation and demonstrates that a performance-based cross-asset investment approach can be achieved. The 08-91 Framework and Tool Prototype testing demonstrates that senior DOT managers can use a cross-allocation approach to analyze and communicate the likely system performance impact of investment decisions across multiple types of transportation assets. The research also provides recommendations for implementation and full deployment of a cross-investment approach within an agency. While 08-91 research provides an implementable methodology that was tested for the research, it does not include a full deployment of the cross-asset resource allocation approach within a transportation agency. A full test deployment of a capital cross-asset investment approach is needed. The objective of this research is to evaluate the practicality of implementing the NCHRP Project 08-91 research, by testing the process within one or more transportation agencies. To complete this work, the 08-91 Framework will be implemented in a fully functioning tool that can be applied within an agency to: (1) set strategic and long-range goals; (2) select performance measures; (3) analyze project-level data to support predictive analyses needed for the 08-91 Framework (to include both quantitative and qualitative data); (4) conduct multi-objective decision-making and tradeoff analysis; and (5) develop/optimize a capital transportation program at both the programmatic ("top down") and project ("bottom up") levels. The deployment should provide a fully functioning solution that can be utilized in agency strategic planning, long-range planning, asset management planning, and project selection using these five Framework steps. Implementation will require the ability to take post-processed outputs from existing data management systems, whether from quantitative or qualitative sources, to ensure a comprehensive set of measures to include in the decision making. It is important to note that the 08-91 research identified the availability and validity of data to support a cross-asset allocation approach as an implementation challenge. The selected team should be prepared to identify and assess current management systems and predictive models and apply outputs for a cross-asset investment approach and make recommendations for any additional data needed (both quantitative and qualitative, because the 08-91 research recommends the incorporation of qualitative data to support decision making to meet stakeholder priorities). Where qualitative data are recommended, the selected research team should make recommendations regarding how and where these data may be collected, the organization of the data set (binary "yes/no" or other), and the methodology for vetting qualitative data. Additionally, the selected research team should be prepared to address risk in all components of the 08-91 Framework and show how implementation supports Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Centrury Act (MAP-21) requirements. KW - Asset management KW - Decision making KW - Metropolitan planning organizations KW - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) KW - Multimodal transportation KW - Performance measurement KW - State departments of transportation KW - Strategic planning UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4031 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364294 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572354 TI - A Guidebook for Post-award Contract Administration for Highway Projects Delivered Using Alternative Contracting Methods AB - There has been much research and writing completed in the past decade regarding project delivery using alternative contracting methods (ACM) such as design-build (DB), construction manager-at-risk (CMR), construction manager as general contractor (CM/GC), alternative technical concepts (ATC) and other nontraditional delivery methods. However, the bulk of the work has been accomplished with a keen focus on the pre-award procurement and project delivery method decision process. The literature is fundamentally devoid of research focused on best practices for administering ACM contracts after they have been awarded. The Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA's) Every Day Counts (EDC) Program has increased the need for guidance on administering ACM contracts by increasing the visibility of DB, CMGC, and ATCs specifically in a series of nationwide summits in 2010 and 2012. Additionally, Section 1304 of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP 21) legislation provides an increased federal share for innovative techniques to help deliver projects more efficiently. The combined effect of the two programs has been a large increase in the use of ACMs by departments of transportation (DOTs) which have not used them before. Therefore the timeliness of this research is high to fulfill an urgent need for guidance on how to execute ACM contracts after award. The proposed research should address the following questions: (1) What are the best practices for post-award contract administration for ACM projects? (2) How do the roles and responsibilities of ACM project personnel vary during post-award administration in comparison to traditional project delivery methods? (3) What should be contained in ACM preconstruction services contract? (4) How should the design contract be modified to support ACM project delivery? (5) What are the advantages and disadvantages of current post-award ACM contract administration approaches? (6) What training do in-house design and construction assets need to effectively administer ACM design and construction project delivery? The objective of this research is to benchmark the state-of-the-practice in ACM contract administration practices, critically analyze DOT experiences including the costs and benefits associated with various contract administration approaches, and produce a guidebook which contains the information necessary to fill the current void in the body of knowledge on ACM contracting. Specific tasks to accomplish the objective include: (1) Define the state-of-the-practice in ACM contract administration through a comprehensive literature review, the collection and analysis of relevant procurement documents, ACM design and construction contracts, review of enabling legislation and barriers to ACM contract administration implementation; (2) Select a representative set of case study projects from public transportation agencies with ACM contracting experience that can be studied in depth to identify both best practices and lessons learned; (3) prepare a research work plan that describes the details of the research methodology and methods for identifying ACM contract administration best practices and developing conclusions; (4) Execute the research work plan and prepare an interim research report that articulates the data collection and analysis as well as emerging conclusions, best practices, lessons learned, and a proposed outline for the guidebook; (5) prepare the draft guidebook for ACM contract administration, incorporate review comments as required, and validate the guidebook's efficacy on actual ACM projects; (6) submit the final guidebook and a final research report that details the full results of the research; and (7) develop training and workshop packages to support adoption or exploration of ACM contract administration by interested DOTs. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Best practices KW - Contract administration KW - Design build KW - Project delivery KW - Road construction KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4032 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364293 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572353 TI - Measuring the Effectiveness of Public Involvement in Transportation AB - Public involvement is fundamental to the development of most transportation projects. Information derived from outreach efforts provides the perspective of those who are impacted by, use, and pay for highway improvements--the public. Transportation professionals have yet to define successful public involvement or develop commonly accepted methods for evaluating the effectiveness of public involvement. Practitioners are frequently in the position of not being able to sufficiently explain or quantify the benefits of their public involvement efforts, especially to those who question the financial investment typically needed for "good" public involvement. A survey conducted by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Committee on Public Involvement in 2012 revealed that 70% of respondents, which comprised public involvement specialists, planners, and transportation executives, believe the development of performance measures for public involvement is a pressing need. This need was also reported by respondents in a similar survey distributed by the committee in 2009 to transit agency professionals. The emphasis on performance measurement has grown in tandem with demand by the public and elected officials for increased accountability in the decision-making process. Performance measures are now a familiar concept to transportation agencies--in particular, state departments of transportation and metropolitan planning organizations--as Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) mandates them to implement measures to assess the performance of their highway and transit systems. While public involvement has not yet been included among the required measures, which presently focus on safety, system condition, and congestion, agencies will benefit from clear guidance to inform the best allocation of resources for public involvement. This research project will provide transportation agencies and public involvement professionals with examples of successful practices/case studies from transportation and other fields, a menu of tested measures for assessing the effectiveness of their public involvement efforts, and methods for establishing such targets (i.e., defining success). The major tasks of this study are: (1) Through an evidence-based literature review, survey, interviews, and/or other appropriate methods, identify and document practices used within and outside the transportation industry to define and measure public involvement effectiveness. Fields outside of transportation may include utilities, health, and education, both domestic and international. Analyze findings to identify successful practices, as well as gaps to be addressed. (2) Develop a framework for assessing the effectiveness of public involvement tools, techniques, and strategies. (3) Develop a draft set of measures that consider not only agency effort (e.g., budget, number of meetings, variety of techniques, compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act), but immediate effects (e.g., number of public meeting attendees, number of comments received) and the outcomes of such efforts (e.g., the public's satisfaction with the process, how well the influence of public input was communicated to them, the degree to which input influenced decisions). Both quantitative and qualitative measures should be considered. (4) Identify appropriate urban and rural locations, and conduct a pilot test of measures at various stages of the project development process. (5) Develop a menu of measures, with recommendations on the application of measures for specific purposes and under varying scenarios. (6) Include techniques for determining target levels for each recommended measure of effectiveness. KW - Decision making KW - Metropolitan planning organizations KW - Performance measurement KW - Public participation KW - Resource allocation KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4033 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364292 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572352 TI - Getting Innovations in Metropolitan Freight Implemented AB - Recent U.S. Census and commodity flow data indicate that more than 80% of people in the U.S. live or work in metropolitan areas, and 65 percent of American goods originate or terminate in such areas. As a result, how well goods move in metropolitan areas--of whatever sizes--has significant economic and social implications. To meet this challenge, freight professionals frequently scan for innovative practices or technologies developed elsewhere that could address top priority freight issues in their home areas. Except for a small minority of "early adopters," most freight professionals want assurance that implementing these innovative practices and technologies will likely get the intended results and not waste scarce resources. When addressing complex metropolitan transportation problems (e.g., safety, capacity, economic development), freight professionals from state departments of transportation (DOTs), regional authorities (e.g., MPOs, COGs, ports), and cities not only grapple with scarce resources, they also often need to orchestrate an exceptionally diverse community of stakeholders (e.g., private-sector shippers and carriers, public policy makers, residents, academics, planners, and engineers at other levels of government) to identify and get traction for workable innovative solutions. Each type of stakeholder has different reward systems, views of the world, and goals that can block coalitions from forming and getting the job done. While resistance to innovation or any new ways of doing business is normal and expected, it can also derail an otherwise well-designed plan. Although information about innovations or "best practices" in metropolitan freight is now widely available, research has not sufficiently addressed the question of why some of these succeed and others do not. Armed with such research results, freight professionals could much better tailor innovations to the specific circumstances they find in their home areas. Such tailoring not only increases the chances that genuinely new approaches and technologies applied to metropolitan freight issues will actually be implemented, but it will also result in significantly greater tangible benefits (e.g., improved reliability, travel time, safety, or lower costs as well as community and environmental impact) sooner than would otherwise have happened. Because web-accessible catalogs of metropolitan freight-related best practices are relatively new, it is also not yet clear the roles these play when freight professionals evaluate the use of innovations or implement them once commitments are made. Sample questions requiring research for practical implementation include: (1) How does particular content or ways of delivering catalogs of innovative ideas make a difference in getting freight-related innovations from one area repeated in another? (2) How do other mechanisms (e.g., peer support, pilot studies, forums for information exchange and problem solving) build confidence and resolve to try something new in a metropolitan area? (3) How can government agencies at the federal, state, and metropolitan levels best help accelerate the adoption of innovative freight-related practices? (4) What types of federal, state, and local technical assistance most effectively support successful implementation of freight innovations at the metropolitan scale? What modes of delivery have the greatest chances of moving such innovations from concept to reality? Concern with effective translation of innovations in freight from one place to another is obviously not limited to metropolitan areas. As a result, lessons learned in designing and conducting this research could provide a starting place for exploring at other scales of freight issues (e.g., interstate commerce, international trade) in later, separate studies. The objectives of this research are to (1) identify critical success factors that appear important to getting innovative ideas in metropolitan freight fully implemented; and (2) identify methods, models, and environments that accelerate the adoption of innovative practices and technologies in metropolitan freight. KW - Best practices KW - Commodity flow KW - Economic development KW - Freight traffic KW - Metropolitan areas KW - Technological innovations KW - Travel time UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4034 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364291 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572351 TI - A Guidebook for Emergency Contracting Procedures for Administration of a Regional Emergency AB - Many state highway agencies (SHAs) have established procedures related to how to address an emergency project. Recent events in Colorado, involving multiple emergency projects across several geographic areas have identified the need for SHA's to have a plan for prioritizing and managing several concurrent emergency projects across multiple routes. The National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Legal Research Digest 49 provided a good legal analysis for emergency contracting utilizing federal funds. However, many SHAs emergency contracting procedures are centered on a single emergency. When multiple infrastructure assets are compromised, SHAs do not have a consistent best-practice guideline related to how to bring an overall system back online. The domestic scan on Best Practices in Accelerated Construction Techniques, NCHRP Project 20-68A (07-02), developed case studies on seven emergency projects. It summarized operational techniques and made recommendations at the project level. However, it did not provide recommendations for a programmatic approach to facilitate the emergency contracting process. NCHRP Synthesis 438: Expedited Procurement Procedures for Emergency Construction Services identified this issue as a gap in the body of knowledge and recommended that research be undertaken to provide the necessary guidance to SHAs. The synthesis also identified the need to coordinate SHA plans with the plans in place with other state, federal, and local agencies in advance of a series of emergencies. Lastly it recommended that the research investigate alternative contracting methods like indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts as potential sources for on-call emergency design and construction services as is done in New York and Florida. There is an emerging need for a guidebook that focuses on both the current available emergency procedures and also on how a SHA should react to and recover from a regional emergency. KW - Best practices KW - Contracting KW - Handbooks KW - Public participation KW - State highway departments KW - Strategic planning UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4035 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364290 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572350 TI - The Impacts on Pavement Performance from Changes in Asphalt Production AB - Since implementation of the Performance-Graded Asphalt Binder specification developed by the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP), petroleum refining processes have changed considerably. Increased global demand for fuels and plastics has led refiners to develop improved refining techniques which allow them to extract increased amounts of the higher value light products from crude oil. Additionally, a wider variety of crude oil sources are being used to produce asphalt than was the case when the performance-graded (PG) grading system was first developed. Other changes include processes required for production of low sulfur fuel, expanded use of polyphosphoric acid and petroleum distillates, and addition of recycled materials such as re-refined engine oil bottoms (REOB), paraffinic base oils, bio binders, and ground tire rubber. Expanded use of recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) and recycled asphalt shingles (RAS) is also driving the use of softer binder grades, which are often produced by modification of stiff binders with various additives. Although today's asphalt binders typically continue to meet the requirements of the PG specification, several highway agencies in the United States and Canada are experiencing early failures of newly constructed pavements despite general compliance with the existing and proven pavement and mix design standards, construction methods, and materials specifications. These early failures are being described as atypical raveling whereby the surface exhibits asphalt matrix loss, aggregate loss, low-temperature cracking, and instances of total surface course loss within five years. One explanation that could be contributing to these early failures is the observed decrease in quality of asphalts. Anecdotal evidence from agency and contractor personnel suggests the asphalt does not adhere to the equipment as it did in the past. Simply put, the asphalts are not as sticky as they used to be. Given that there has been and continues to be significant change in the production and formulation of asphalt binders, it is a challenge for materials specifications to remain current. Accepted terms such as "neat" asphalt and "modifier" apparently have evolved as well with little understanding by the departments of transportation (DOTs) as to the implications. Initial success with the SHRP model and the overall evolution of asphalt binder suggests that current asphalt binder properties and binder specifications are worthy of comprehensive review. The nationwide investment in pavements is in the billions of dollars. Some agencies are experiencing reductions in expected pavement life of fifty percent or more, requiring earlier application of pavement preservation or rehabilitation treatments. Considering the reduced funding levels for highway agencies, coupled with increased costs of asphalt pavements, these reductions in pavement life will make it extremely challenging to meet the performance measures required under Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21). Current research efforts are focused on binder testing and mix designs, with a view towards complementing the original SHRP model with its iterative improvements. Binder tests such as the bending beam rheometer with extended conditioning and notched tension testing are being evaluated as potential tools to evaluate binder performance. This research is focused on the risk assessment of the existing PG binder specification to fully assess performance characteristics of new asphalt binders prior to use in pavement construction. The results of this study will have an immediate impact on the ability of highway agencies to achieve expected pavement life. The objective of this research is to identify potential shortcomings in the current PG asphalt binder specifications that are leading to incidents of premature failure of asphalt pavements and propose changes to improve those specifications. Specific tasks to accomplish this objective include: (1) identify changes in crude oil refining related to asphalt binder production that have occurred since 1996, including the use of additives such as REOB and paraffinic base oils; (2) investigate incidents of premature asphalt pavement failure occurring in several states and provinces since the mid-2000s and identify the principal failure mechanisms; (3) evaluate the correlation between major changes in oil refining and energy market demands and occurrences of premature pavement failure; (4) compare the physical and chemical properties of current asphalt binders with binders from different periods, such as samples analyzed by the Asphalt Research Consortium, or through recovery from field samples or from stockpiled reference samples such as those collected by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Materials Reference Library or Long Term Pavement Performance program; (5) identify gaps in the existing PG binder specification that may be leading to use of binders that contribute to early pavement failure; (6) evaluate current and proposed asphalt binder tests to determine how well their results correlate with actual pavement performance and develop proposed changes to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) PG binder specification and test methods, with emphasis on tests for low-temperature performance and asphalt adhesion quality. KW - Bituminous binders KW - Canada KW - Mix design KW - Pavement cracking KW - Pavement performance KW - Recycled materials KW - Service life KW - Specifications KW - United States UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4036 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364289 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572349 TI - Development of Standards and Quality Assurance Procedures for the Collection of Network Level Macro-Texture Measures AB - Adequate macro-texture of a pavement surface is essential for preventing wet weather accidents. The sand patch test (ASTM Standard E 965) has been historically used to determine the mean texture depth (MTD) on a pavement surface. Quality of the results of this test procedure is dependent on the skill of the technician. The Circular Track Meter (CT Meter) (ASTM E 2157) can be used to determine the mean profile depth (MPD) and the root mean square (RMS) values of the macro-texture. The MPD is useful in predicting the speed constant (gradient) of wet pavement friction. Measurement of surface macro-texture using the sand patch test or the CT Meter is time consuming and requires lane closures to collect data that disrupt traffic and expose personnel to risk. In addition, the sand patch test or the CT Meter provides macro-texture properties at a single location, and many tests have to be done to evaluate variations in macro-texture properties along a roadway. High frequency single point lasers mounted on vehicles are currently being used to collect macro-texture data at highway speeds. ASTM Standard E 1845 describes the method to compute the MPD from data collected by a single point laser along a longitudinal path. This standard also provides a theoretical formula to convert MPD to MTD. Procedures for computing the MTD by simulating a digital sand patch test on three-dimensional data (3D data) collected on a pavement surface by vehicles travelling at highway speeds have also been developed recently. Correlations to estimate the MTD from MPD have been developed. In the United States, the MTD and/or the MPD is used to characterize pavement macro-texture. Other countries have used RMS of texture data to characterize macro-texture. With increased emphasis being placed on providing adequate macro-texture on pavements to reduce/eliminate crashes, there is increased interest in measuring pavement macro-texture at highway speeds and for using that data to compute macro-texture indices. However, a standard procedure for verifying the accuracy of data collected by equipment that collect macro-texture data at highway speeds is not currently available in the United States. In order to check the accuracy of equipment that collects macro-texture data, a method to compare ground truth measurements with data collected by such equipment needs to be developed. The objective of this research is to develop a recommended American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) standard for network level macro-texture measurement, including the necessary quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) protocol and equipment specifications, for use by both states and/or vendors. The tasks identified to address the objectives stated are: (1) Perform a literature review to identify macrotexture parameters, collection equipment, and review studies on the correlation between macrotexture indices with pavement surface characteristics. (2) Perform a survey of both domestic and international highway agencies to identify agencies that currently collect automated network-level macro-texture data. Identify the macro-texture parameter(s) computed from the macro-texture data. Identify how macro-texture parameters are applied to agency standard operating procedures, polices, or practices. (3) Identify factors that can affect the quality of the macro-texture data. Consideration should be given to both stationary and high speed devices. Develop procedures and guidelines that can be used for collection. (4) Identify and develop procedures to verify the accuracy of the collected data. Perform a field evaluation to evaluate the accuracy of network-level macro-texture data compared to ground truth measurements. (5) Recommend the best macro-texture parameters that can be used for pavements in the United States. Identify improvements to existing standards and provide recommendations for the development of new standards. Provide draft revisions and proposed new standards to AASHTO Subcommittee on Materials. (6) Prepare a final report documenting the entire research effort. KW - Data collection KW - Literature reviews KW - Macrotexture KW - Measurement KW - Pavements KW - Quality assurance KW - Traffic crashes KW - United States KW - Wet weather UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4037 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364288 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572348 TI - Development of Guidelines for Performance-Based Seismic Design AB - Currently, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Guide Specifications for Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) Seismic Bridge Design do not address performance-based seismic design (PBSD) nor do they provide guidance for bridges that are deemed Critical or Essential. Furthermore, there is essentially no guidance in the specifications to assist owners and designers who wish to consider seismic risk mitigation beyond the single, minimum level provided by the current specifications. Yet, it is clear that transportation facilities have different operational requirements, depending on the post-earthquake functions expected of such facilities by local emergency responders, and in the longer-term, by the regional economy. National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 440: Performance-Based Seismic Bridge Design serves as the literature review for this research problem statement. In fact, this problem statement will address some of the knowledge gaps that were identified in this synthesis. The objective of this research is to provide clear, consistent, and nationally accepted guidance for the use of PBSD concepts. The work proposed herein would significantly enhance current practice and provide consistency that is lacking today. The work directly addresses a gap in the Guide Specifications for LRFD Seismic Bridge Design whereby Critical and Essential bridge criteria are not included. Inclusion of PBSD and addressing Critical and Essential bridges in that document would bridge an existing gap in criteria. The seismic guide specifications are a desirable place to address these topics, because the displacement-based methodology in that document can clearly and directly accommodate the PBSD concept. The LRFD Bridge Design Specifications, with their "R-Factor" approach to seismic design, on the other hand, are not as well suited for this purpose because expected performance is not directly checked. Additionally, all the building industries are moving toward more rational seismic design methods such as PBSD. This work will keep the AASHTO seismic design provisions in step with advancement in other building and infrastructure industries. KW - Bridge design KW - Earthquake resistant design KW - Guidelines KW - Load and resistance factor design KW - Performance based specifications UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4038 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364287 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572347 TI - Development of Guidelines for Full and Hybrid Use of Stainless Steel for Bridge Girders AB - Whether to use corrosion protection of steel bridges is one of the largest decisions that can be made during design because it will ultimately affect the life-cycle cost due to various maintenance actions throughout the life of the bridge. However, the various protection schemes of zinc coatings (i.e., galvanizing, metalizing, and zinc primers) all have variable lives, which are challenging to predict, based on the macro- and micro-environments of a bridge. In marine and heavy industrial locations, even the best 3-coat, zinc-rich paint, or galvanizing can break down and require maintenance every 25 to 30 years. With a push to increase service lives of bridges out to 100 years and beyond, in severe environments, between two and five substantial maintenance actions could be required to attain the design lives. Many attempts have been made through research to develop more corrosion resistant alloys (i.e., weathering steels) or coatings for bridge applications. However, historical performance has shown that despite these attempts, areas beneath joints and/or in severe environments still result in corrosion of the steel and require continual maintenance. The only steel alloys that will actually remain corrosion-free for a 100-year service life in any macro- and micro-environment are stainless steels. While these alloys are typically four to six times the cost of A709 Grade 50W, the ability to remain truly maintenance-free for a lifetime makes the alloy competitive in a life-cycle cost analysis. In less severe environments, there may be an advantage to using just stainless alloys in targeted locations (i.e., near joints and abutments) and creating a hybrid girder of A709 and stainless steel. Besides the issue of first cost, the other major obstacle to using stainless steel for bridges is a general unfamiliarity with the material in design, fabrication, and construction that is not addressed in any American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) specification. The objective of the research project is to develop guidelines and/or specifications to help designers and fabricators use stainless steel in the superstructure of highway bridges. This would be considered a supplemental document to work alongside the AASHTO Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) Bridge Design Specifications and the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Construction Specifications. This needs statement satisfies the objectives of the 2013 AASHTO Highway Subcommittee on Bridges and Structures in the areas of Extending Bridge Service Life and Maintain and Enhance the AASHTO Specifications. KW - AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications KW - Bridge design KW - Bridge superstructures KW - Corrosion protection KW - Girders KW - Life cycle analysis KW - Service life KW - Stainless steel KW - Zinc coatings UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4039 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364286 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572346 TI - Development of Guidelines for Uniform Service Life Design for Bridges AB - There is limited experience in the state departments of transportation (DOTs) with rational design for service life. A few notable large signature bridges have been designed for specific service life criteria. But, most agencies rely on subjective evaluation of perceived successful practices for identification and assessment of design alternatives to improve service life. The Strategic Highway Research Program 2 (SHRP2) has developed a Guide for Service Life under the project "Bridges for 100 Year Service." The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Highway Subcommittee on Bridges and Structures maintains the Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) Specifications for Bridges as part of its responsibility to design and manage the nation's highway infrastructure. The LRFD Specifications contain requirements for strength design and some serviceability checks. However, there are no comprehensive guidelines for design for service life. A research project has just been completed by SHRP2 titled, R-19A, or "Bridges for 100 Year Service Life." That effort lays the groundwork for establishing recommendations for extending service life and could be useful in developing a process for assuring uniform service life of various bridge components and elements. However, there are some elements of a comprehensive process for service life design that were not included in the SHRP2 project, such as a computerized tool for comparing life-cycle costs of life-extending materials and detailing practices, life-extension technologies for post-tensioned concrete structures, and nationally recognized life-cycle cost parameters for the three major environmental categories: severely corrosive (coastal), moderately corrosive (deicing applications), or mild (dry areas). The research objective is to develop draft guidelines in AASHTO format for Uniform Service Life Design for bridges. There is an urgent need to develop and improve the current methods of bridge service life design. These improved methodologies will increase the reliability and effectiveness of highway bridges, leading to improved durability, safety, and more effective management of bridges in state and local inventories. The results of this research will provide guidelines suitable for implementation by state DOTs. KW - Bridge design KW - Bridge management systems KW - Corrosion KW - Guidelines KW - Life cycle costing KW - Load and resistance factor design KW - Service life KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4040 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364285 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572345 TI - Design, Fabrication, and Construction of Long-Span Precast Pretensioned Girders Made with 0.7" Diameter Strands AB - Long-span bridges are often used in environmentally sensitive terrains, water crossings, and in locations with traffic and geometrical restrictions. Bridges with long-span precast pretensioned girders are advantageous due to their ease and speed of construction, lower cost, and long-term durability. The applicability of current bridge design and construction specifications for longer span prestressed girders is uncertain. Introducing the 0.7&#8243; strands will help bridge designers extend the spans of the current beam shapes as well as any future development. This larger strand helps by increasing the possible area of prestressing steel and by lowering the centroid of the prestressing force, which enhances the eccentricity of the force and effectiveness of the prestressing steel. Research is needed to examine the applicability of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Load and Resistance Design Factor (LRFD) Bridge Design and Construction Specifications for long-span precast pretensioned girders. This research shall thoroughly address design issues, fabrication, shipping, and handling of long-span precast pretensioned girders. To incorporate the 0.7&#8243; strand in the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications, research is needed to determine the transfer length, the development length, the strands spacing, and the minimum concrete release strength. The objective of this research is to summarize the current practice and augment the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications (BDS) on the use of long-span precast pretensioned girders. The objective also includes developing specifications to incorporate the 0.7&#8243; strands in the BDS. This research should include instrumenting long-span precast pretensioned girders during all phases of fabrication and construction and comparing the measured strain at the end zones, prestress losses, deflections, and cambers with the calculated values. This research addresses issues in several of the areas identified as program objectives in the 2013 Strategic Plan for Bridges and Structures developed by the AASHTO Highway Subcommittee on Bridges and Structures. The objectives addressed in this research are: Accelerate Bridge Delivery, Optimizing Structural Systems, and Maintaining and Advancing the AASHTO Specifications. Increasing the spanning capabilities of precast girders is expected to have a large impact on reducing the bidding cost of current superstructure options for long-span bridges as it will provide a competitive alternative to steel solutions. KW - Bridge construction KW - Bridge design KW - Bridge superstructures KW - Fabrication KW - Girders KW - Long span bridges KW - Optimization KW - Precast concrete KW - Pretensioning UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4041 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364284 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572343 TI - Best Practices for Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research AB - In February, 2013, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released a memo titled, "Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research." The goal of the new policy is to ensure that, as stated in the memo, "to the greatest extent and with the fewest constraints possible and consistent with law and the objectives set out below, the direct results of federally funded scientific research are made available to and useful for the public, industry, and the scientific community. Such results include peer-reviewed publications and digital data." The memo goes on to require that any research project utilizing federal funds, done by either intramural or extramural researchers, must include open access research data management and publication plans. Further, agencies and organizations receiving federal research monies must provide for the long-term preservation and access of digital research data and resulting publications. While the transportation sector has only recently begun to look at issues of long-term research data preservation and open access, there are a handful of transportation agencies and organizations that have experience with quite large research data sets. Further, other federal agencies and federally-funded organizations, especially in the hard sciences and medicine, have had data management requirements in place for several years, creating a pool of knowledge and experience the transportation research community can draw from. This research should produce 1. A survey of current practice in providing open access to federally-funded research data; 2. Information and training materials designed to guide agencies and organizations towards compliance; and 3. A manual of best practices, case studies, sample policies, and potential state and federal synergies. The outputs of this project are expected to assist state departments of transportation (DOTs) and transportation research organizations to efficiently come into compliance with OSTP directives around "Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research." Note: Implications of federal and state laws should be examined and emerging practices documented and evaluated. Consideration should be given to producing a research roadmap covering the important issues. KW - Access KW - Best practices KW - Data files KW - Data management KW - Government funding KW - Research management KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4062 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364282 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572341 TI - Development of an Implementation Manual for Geotechnical Asset Management for Transportation Agencies AB - In the past decade considerable advancement has been made in Transportation Asset Management (TAM) to allow agencies to focus strategically on the long-term management of government-owned assets. Minimal guidance is available for developing TAM plans, but more detailed guidelines will soon be available for plan development. In the past few years, the application of asset management principles to geotechnical assets has followed the general TAM development pattern and has been tried by a few state departments of transportation and other agencies. However the results to date are mixed, with considerable differences in approaches and results. Early efforts have often focused on inventory and condition surveys, without continuing along the full TAM spectrum. As a result, the benefits of asset management have not been realized for geotechnical assets so far. Recent efforts such as those by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Central Federal Lands Highway Division, Colorado Department of Transportation, and the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities to develop asset management plans for geotechnical assets have increased the awareness of the valuable contributions possible by geotechnical asset management (GAM). Various management practices that fall within the scope of GAM are also implemented in many other states, including Washington, Oregon, and Nevada. In fact, a recent informal survey of states found at least 38 are practicing or starting some type of geotechnical asset management (inventory, assessment, and/or programming decision making) though many didn't realize it as such. The federal surface transportation bill, Moving Ahead with Progress for the 21st Century (MAP-21), specifies risk- and performance-based asset management for bridges and pavement and encourages state transportation agencies to develop and implement transportation asset management strategies for all assets within the right-of-way. It is time to move beyond the initial steps of GAM and focus on the development and incorporation of geotechnical assets into the transportation asset management arena. The primary objectives of this research are as follows: (1) To define what geotechnical assets are and to provide a taxonomy of geotechnical assets; (2) To identify performance expectations, targets, and means of measurement; (3) To identify how to incorporate risk analysis principles and processes into asset management for geotechnical assets; and (4) To develop a manual for creating and implementing geotechnical asset management plans. This research provides an opportunity for a national coordination effort that can lead to consistent application of geotechnical asset management. Without the research, there is potential of a fragmented implementation approach that will vary from agency to agency. Similar to existing pavement and bridge management systems, a coordinated research effort is key to developing a system that can be used by many agencies and also can be used to efficiently recognize the benefits of more complete asset management throughout the country. KW - Asset management KW - Coordination KW - Geotechnical engineering KW - Performance measurement KW - Risk analysis KW - State departments of transportation KW - Strategic planning UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4065 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364280 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572340 TI - Clear-Water and Live-Bed Scour in Long Contractions AB - Current guidance in Hydraulic Engineering Circular No. 18 (HEC-18), "Evaluating Scour at Bridges," (Arneson et al. 2012) provides equations for estimating contraction scour. Existing equations are based on sediment transport theory using approaches developed by Laursen (1960) (live-bed contraction scour) and Laursen (1963) (clear-water contraction scour). Both equations assume that the scour is due solely to the contraction effect and that local effects are negligible (i.e., that the contraction is hydraulically "long"), and both solve for the depth of flow, y&#8322;, in the contracted section after scour has occurred. The depth of scour of the bed material, ys, is then calculated as Equation 1: ys = y&#8322; - y0, where y0 is the depth of flow in the contracted section before scour occurs. Depending on the ratio of the length of contraction, L,to the approach channel width, b1, channel contractions are designated as long or short. According to Komura (1966), a contraction becomes long when L/b&#8321; > 1, whereas Webby (1984) considered it as L/b&#8321; > 2. In a short contraction, local scour also occurs throughout the contracted section as a result of large-scale turbulent flow structures created at the entrance to the contraction, and the total scour is the result of both the contraction and local effects. Analysis of existing laboratory data sets conducted under National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Project 24-34, "Risk-Based Approach for Bridge Scour Prediction" revealed that the clear-water contraction scour equation does not envelope the observed data as a design equation. Rather, it is a predictive equation that is seen to under predict observed scour relatively frequently compared to pier and abutment scour equations. No laboratory data sets of live-bed contraction scour were identified during the NCHRP 24-34 study; therefore, the live-bed contraction scour equation could not be assessed against observed data. In addition, the NCHRP 24-34 study found that all of the previous studies suffered from a flaw in the experimental design, as none actually measured the depth of flow, y&#8320;, in the contracted section before scour began to occur. Therefore, this value had to be estimated in order to determine the depth of scour using Equation 1. In addition, a number of laboratory studies did not directly measure the depth of scour using bed elevation measurements. Instead, the assumption was made that y&#8320; was equal to y&#8321; (the depth of flow in the approach section upstream of the contraction). This assumption ignores the hydraulic drawdown effect in the contraction that occurs during subcritical flow (particularly in a bridge reach). Lastly, most of the existing laboratory data points were obtained from tests where the contraction ratio W&#8322;/W&#8321; created a "choked" condition at the entrance to the contraction (Wu and Molinas, 2004). This condition leads to energy losses between the approach and contracted sections, further compounding the difficulty in estimating y&#8320;. The objectives of this research are to 1) Develop a reliable data base of scour in long contractions under both clear-water and live-bed conditions, and 2) Develop live-bed and clear-water contraction scour equations suitable for use in bridge design, not simply a best-fit prediction. This research would identify, compile, and assess existing laboratory data sets to supplement the NCHRP 24-34 analyses. In addition, laboratory studies should be conducted under both live-bed and clear-water conditions where the physical model setup can be adjusted to examine contraction scour under a range of hydraulic conditions, contraction ratios, and bed material types. Scour estimates at bridge foundations have been roundly criticized for decades as being overly conservative. The perception is that the equations almost always result in more costly bridge designs, at major expense to taxpayers. A long and ongoing concern has been expressed by bridge engineers regarding the perceived excessive conservatism in predicting bridge scour. This indicates that there is an urgent need to determine the most appropriate and reliable way to estimate the various components of bridge scour in order to estimate total scour for 1) assessing scour vulnerability of existing bridges, and 2) designing foundations for new bridges. Research conducted under NCHRP Project 24-34 clearly indicates that of the three primary scour components (pier, contraction, and abutment), the contraction scour equations exhibit, by far, the least amount of reliability in terms of 1) the conditional probability that the contraction scour estimate will be exceeded during the design event, and 2) the unconditional probability that the contraction scour estimate will be exceeded during the life of the bridge. Thus there is a demonstrated and urgent need to decrease the uncertainty of contraction scour estimates so that greater reliability can be achieved. The payoff potential to bridge owners is significant if bridges currently considered to be scour critical can be reclassified to a lower-risk status, or if foundations for new bridges can be designed for a lesser amount of total scour. Implementation of new guidance would be primarily oriented toward revisions of HEC-18 and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Highway Drainage Guidelines. KW - Bridge abutments KW - Bridge design KW - Bridge foundations KW - Contraction KW - Databases KW - Scour KW - Water quality UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4066 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364279 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572339 TI - The Efficacy of Treating Highway Runoff to Meet Watershed TMDL Goals AB - A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) is a calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant (the "load") that a water body can receive while still meeting water quality standards and an allocation of that load among the various sources of that pollutant. TMDLs are developed for water quality-impaired bodies pursuant to Section 303(d) of the federal Clean Water Act. State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) are being named as Designated Management Agencies in TMDL management plans. Such a designation often requires state DOTs to commit a substantial amount of staff time, conduct compliance reporting, and construct capital facilities for stormwater treatment at a high whole-life cost. The requirements outlined in TMDL reports are applied broadly to a number of land uses, are often based on assumption--rather than actual constituent load data on DOT stormwater discharges--and consider neither the relative nor the absolute contribution to the water quality problem. Some TMDL implementation actions have been adopted as regulations, as is the case with requirements in the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System's municipal and construction stormwater permits, increasing the risk of third-party legal challenges for DOTs through these permits. The impacts related to transportation have been considered equal to those impacts from municipal, commercial, and industrial uses in some cases. While highways are a significant source of some pollutants, for others, highways may be only a minor contributor, or the pollutant of concern may have its origins outside the highway right-of-way, unrelated to the operation or maintenance of the roadway. For example, while highway runoff may have high bacteria concentrations, water body impairments are usually associated with inadequate on-site sewage treatment systems and agricultural livestock operations. Consequently, under certain scenarios, it is likely more economical for entities other than the state DOT to control the pollutant at its source. The portion of the total pollutant load attributable to the DOT may be small compared to the total load reduction needed, resulting in only nominal improvement in the receiving water at a relatively higher cost than addressing the primary pollutant source. Treating all stakeholders equally for all pollutants does not result in the highest benefit for the environment, but does misallocate resources. As outlined in EPA's Clean Water Act 303(d) Vision and Goal Statement (2013), effective integration of responsible parties and sources increases the likelihood of successful TMDL implementation, especially for TMDLs that include nonpoint source pollution. A U.S. Government Accounting Office publication states that "experts also reported that the TMDLs that do not diagnose and aim to treat the true causes of water body impairment are unlikely to lead to attainment of designated uses." Previous research has focused on how DOTs can respond to and meet TMDLs, and substantial effort has been put into characterizing highway runoff and identifying the sources of pollutants. This project will integrate existing information and develop strategies for determining appropriate and cost-effective TMDL requirements for DOTs. Also, this research would directly support the SCOE strategic plan mission to "provide policy and technical support to the AASHTO member departments to integrate environmental stewardship goals into all transportation decisions and activities;" the goal to "develop policy alternatives for integrating environmental considerations into all transportation decisions;" and the Natural Resources Subcommittee goals to "actively participate at the federal level in implementation of the Clean Water Act" and "target…the committee's efforts to…operating activities and technologies…such as Storm Water Runoff and nonpoint source pollution." The first phase of this project will focus on conducting a general evaluation of the importance of the various highway runoff pollutant contributions in a TMDL context. This analysis will be based on the concentrations of pollutants in highway runoff, the sources of the pollutants in the runoff, and the relative and absolute contribution of the highway runoff pollutant to receiving waters (taking geographic and traffic variations into account). The objective is to provide watershed managers and regulatory agencies with guidance to determine if it is appropriate to name the DOT as a stakeholder in a TMDL, and provide factual data to assist in screening DOTs as potential TMDL stakeholders. Such guidance could ultimately result in a more clearly defined and appropriate set of requirements for highways. In the second phase, the project will reference other National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) projects to develop a protocol for evaluating the cost effectiveness of implementing highway runoff treatment requirements to meet TMDL pollutant reduction goals. There are many excellent references available for computing a unit cost by best management practice (BMP) and by constituent. More efficient control strategies could be realized by both DOTs and regulatory agencies if unit costs by BMP and by constituent were considered when determining requirements within the highway environment. This phase two research has two intended outcomes. The first is that TMDL load allocations and implementation plans be based on appropriate information and accurately reflect DOT impacts and water quality mitigation capabilities. The second is to ensure that the responsibility placed on DOTs is commensurate with DOT contributions to the receiving water body impairments and actual watershed loads. Also, innovative compliance strategies and alternatives to TMDLs, which have been utilized by some state DOTs will be compiled and summarized. Results from this investigation can be used by both DOTs and regulatory agencies in the development of TMDL management plans and/or alternative compliance strategies. Better guidance and data-based decisions will ensure that responsibilities and resources are allocated to maximally benefit the receiving waters and that the costs of compliance for the designated management agencies do not outweigh the benefit to the watershed. It is expected that the research will include the following tasks: Task 1 - Literature Review, Compilation of Data, and Survey of State Practices and Experience: Literature review and data compilation will focus on the following areas: highway runoff characterization data selected from a broad range of geographic conditions and traffic levels; source studies for the most common TMDL pollutants, both in highway runoff and watersheds as a whole; effectiveness of stormwater BMPs at removal of the most common TMDL pollutants; costs associated with the stormwater BMPs constructed in the highway environment; a specific evaluation NCHRP Synthesis 20-05/Topic 43-06 that has information useful for this work, and NCHRP Projects 25-37 and 25-40; innovative compliance strategies (e.g., Caltrans, DelDOT, MnDOT) including alternative implementation approaches to numeric waste load allocations; and alternative approaches to TMDLs (e.g., NCDOT). Task 2 - Evaluating Highway Runoff Contribution to TMDL Pollutant Loads: Using the information collected in Task 1, the project will evaluate when and under what circumstances TMDL pollutants are in highway runoff, and, if so, is runoff a substantial or primary source of the regionally significant TMDL pollutants. This evaluation would include the geographic variables such as land use, local soils and geology; traffic volumes; relative and absolute size of receiving waters compared to highway drainage area; and ultimate sources of the pollutants. A decision tree would be developed to help the DOT practitioner and regulatory agency assess if the DOT should participate as a stakeholder in a TMDL. The information from Tasks 1 and 2 can be used to help inform the DOTs if alter KW - Best practices KW - Clean Water Act KW - Compliance KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Highways KW - Runoff KW - State departments of transportation KW - Total maximum daily loads KW - Water quality KW - Water treatment KW - Watersheds UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4067 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364278 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572338 TI - Field Trials of BMP to Remove Dissolved Metals in Highway Runoff AB - The recently published National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 767: Measuring and Removing Dissolved Metals from Stormwater in Highly Urbanized Areas (NCHRP Project 25-32) developed a number of designs of facilities for the removal of dissolved metals in highway runoff in ultra-urban areas, as well as a laboratory protocol to evaluate the potential of various media to remove dissolved metals. That research did not include a field testing component to evaluate either the functionality of the designs or validate the laboratory protocol. The objectives of this project are to achieve both of those goals, so that departments of transportation (DOTs) can implement the designs with the sure knowledge of their cost effectiveness. The purpose of the proposed field trials is to evaluate dissolved metal removal rates, assess operational functioning under actual highway conditions, and develop actual cost information, so that DOTs have reliable data to support implementation decisions. Potential tasks include (1) selection of installation location, (2) construction of the treatment facility, (3) water quality monitoring for up to a year, (4) whole-life cost assessment and, (6) final report development. Dissolved metals in highway runoff frequently exceed water quality standards; consequently, DOTs are under regulatory pressure in many areas to reduce the concentrations of these constituents. Without field testing the recommendations contained in NCHRP Report 767, the money and effort that went into that project will be largely lost. Consequently, the proposed work is a necessary follow up to that previous work. Note: The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Standing Committee on Research suggests that the emphasis of this research be placed on deployment. KW - Best practices KW - Costs KW - Deployment KW - Dissolution KW - Field tests KW - Metals KW - Runoff KW - Urban highways KW - Water quality UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4068 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364277 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01608016 TI - Effect on Asphalt Quality Due to Nighttime Construction AB - The main objectives of this project are to identify and analyze the nighttime paving traffic control standards in other states and compare the effects of daytime versus nighttime paving on quality, safety, costs, and construction time. KW - Asphalt KW - Cost control KW - Night KW - Paving KW - Quality control KW - Road construction KW - Safety KW - Traffic control KW - Work zone traffic control UR - http://www.scdot.scltap.org/projects/current/ UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1420917 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01582848 TI - SHRP2 L38 Reliability Data and Analysis Tools Implementation Assistance Program Proof of Concept Pilot Study AB - At the conclusion of the Second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP2) research phase, the SHRP2 Implementation Assistance Program (IAP) was established by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to “help State departments of transportation (DOTs), metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), and other interested organizations deploy SHRP2 Solutions.” The “SHRP2 Solutions” mentioned in this program mission statement consist of implementable tools in each of the SHRP2 focus areas, namely Reliability, Capacity, Safety, and Renewal. As is clear from the project title, the pilot study detailed in this project authorization document involves reliability data and analysis tools. Prior to and concurrent with the SHRP2 research phase, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) has been actively and continually engaged in direct support for complementary research in the domain of mobility and reliability. Key NCDOT-sponsored research projects in this effort include completed projects RP 2006-13 Effectiveness of Traveler Information Tools; HWY 2009-05 Assessing Operational, Pricing, and Intelligent Transportation System Strategies for the I-40 Corridor Using DYNASMART-P; and RP 2011-07 Mobility and Reliability Performance Measurement and the ongoing project RP 2013-08 Smartlink – Baseline for Measurement of Benefits. Engagement in these research efforts has put NCDOT in a strong position to lead the way in implementing. Bolstered by this strong position, the NCDOT submitted a proof of concept pilot study application under round 4 of the IAP in the summer of 2014. NCDOT’s application was approved for FHWA implementation assistance funding, and the statement of work included in this project authorization document outlines the research tasks defined in the IAP application. The proof of concept pilot study envisioned by the application covers all the tools in the Reliability Data and Analysis Tools bundle, namely the implementable research products from the following SHRP2 research projects: L02 Establishing Monitoring Programs for Mobility and Travel Time Reliability; L05 Incorporating Reliability Performance Measures into the Transportation Planning and Programming Processes; L07 Evaluation of Cost-Effectiveness of Highway Design Features; L08 Incorporation of Travel Time Reliability into the Highway Capacity Manual; and C11 Development of Improved Economic Analysis Tools Based on Recommendations from Project C03 [Interactions between Transportation Capacity, Economic Systems, and Land Use merged with Integrating Economic Considerations Project Development]. The SHRP2 data and analysis tools implementation supported by this IAP proof of concept pilot study is fully consistent with NCDOT initiatives aimed at providing enhanced system performance monitoring and measurement. These monitoring and measurement capabilities are essential to enabling performance-based decision support and the assessment of the impact of strategic transportation investments. The results, findings, and recommendations arising from this pilot study will help refine that application of the SHRP2 reliability data and analysis tools, solidify NCDOT’s leadership position in this emerging area, and disseminate lessons learned to the national transportation management community. KW - Data analysis KW - Highway capacity KW - Highway safety KW - Metropolitan planning organizations KW - Mobility KW - North Carolina KW - Performance measurement KW - Reliability KW - Strategic Highway Research Program 2 KW - Travel time UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1377070 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01582751 TI - Prep-ME Software Implementation and Enhancement AB - The objective of this research is to assist participating state departments of transportation (DOT’s) on the full implementation of Prep-ME software for traffic data collection and Pavement Mechanistic-Empirical Design and to deliver new generation of Prep-ME software with enhanced and customized features for each individual state. KW - Data collection KW - Implementation KW - Mechanistic-empirical pavement design KW - Pavement design KW - Software KW - State departments of transportation KW - Traffic data UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1376867 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01608705 AU - Agent, Kenneth R AU - Green, Eric R AU - Fields, Michael A AU - Kentucky Transportation Center AU - Kentucky Transportation Cabinet AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - 2015 Safety Belt Usage Survey in Kentucky PY - 2015/08 SP - 57p AB - There have been various methods used in efforts to increase safety belt and safety seat usage. Past efforts have included public information campaigns, local and statewide legislation, and enforcement of the legislation. Most recently, Kentucky changed the statewide legislation requiring the use of safety belts for all vehicle occupants from secondary to primary enforcement. A statewide law providing secondary enforcement was passed in 1994, with the primary enforcement law passed in 2006. The objective of the survey summarized in this report was to establish a statewide safety belt usage rate in Kentucky for 2015. This rate can be compared to those determined from previous surveys. The data show that the level of safety belt usage in 2015 (86.7 percent) was the highest since surveys began in 1982. The usage rate increased 0.6 percent in 2015. Progressive increases in usage rates observed since 1982 can be related to the enactment and enforcement of safety belt laws along with increased education. KW - Kentucky KW - Seat belt use KW - State laws KW - Surveys KW - Trend (Statistics) UR - http://www.ktc.uky.edu/files/2016/06/2015-Seat-Belt-Usage-Survey.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1416947 ER - TY - SER AN - 01608544 JO - Asset Management Financial Report Series PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Saadatmand, Nastaran AU - Gaj, Stephen AU - Proctor, Gordon AU - Varma, Shobna TI - Managing Risks and Using Metrics in Transportation Asset Management Financial Plans PY - 2015/08 IS - Report 3 SP - 60p AB - This third installment of a five-part financial report series addresses two related components of financial plans. The first is how to identify, communicate, manage and perhaps capitalize upon the risks inherent in long-term strategies for financing complex and aging infrastructure assets. The second is how to use financial performance measures to illustrate the adequacy of investment levels and the magnitude of accumulating backlogs. These two topics are closely related. How well risks are managed can influence how well the assets perform. In this report, two tools are explained that can help explain the potential risks and rewards inherent in an agency’s asset management and financial plan. A risk register is a simple matrix-like document that summarizes the risks, their consequences, likelihood and impact surrounding the financial plan. The risk register provides an at-a-glance summation of the risks that will determine the success of the financial plan. Also, this report presents a series of financial metrics to accompany the plans. These metrics provide “shorthand” ratios that illustrate the degree of adequacy of the financial plan to sustain asset conditions. The metrics are like heuristics or rules of thumb that allow the “body politic” to understand benchmarks of whether the financial plan is adequate to sustain assets, and if not, by how much. KW - Asset management KW - Financing KW - Metrics (Quantitative assessment) KW - Performance measurement KW - Risk management KW - Transportation planning UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/asset/plans/financial/hif15020.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1416912 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01603674 AU - Nowak, Christopher A AU - State University of New York, Syracuse AU - New York State Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Integrated Vegetation Management Program Enhancements: Final Report PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 38p AB - From 2010-2015, the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry conducted a series of research and development projects to enhance New York State Department of Transportation’s vegetation management program. New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) has committed to using an Integrated Vegetation Management (IVM) approach to meeting roadside right-of-way objectives and was looking to strengthen capacity in that regard. The primary focus of the research was to develop vegetation management procedures and planning specific to New York State Department of Transportation. Roadside vegetation management is of high interest to transportation and resource agencies nationally. Such agencies are struggling to balance the need for clear sight distances and obstacle-free roadside; control the spread of invasive species through the right-of-way corridor; and minimize the potential environmental impacts from vegetation control. Five research tasks related to roadside right-of-way (ROW) vegetation management were conducted, including two on developing strategic plans, one on updating an existing IVM procedure document, two on field testing natural herbicides, and another on field testing cut stump herbicide methods for controlling oriental bittersweet. These research and development studies were accompanied by technology transfer, including the development of workshops and factsheets. New York State Department of Transportation has already incorporated results from the field studies in terms of changing vegetation management practices. Elevated efforts in planning are expected over the next few years. KW - Field tests KW - Herbicides KW - New York (State) KW - New York State Department of Transportation KW - Right of way (Land) KW - Roadside flora KW - Strategic planning KW - Vegetation KW - Vegetation control UR - https://www.dot.ny.gov/divisions/engineering/technical-services/trans-r-and-d-repository/C-06-24%20Final%20Report_August%202015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1411101 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01597962 AU - Antico, Frederico C AU - Esmaeeli, Hadi S AU - De la Varga, Igor AU - Jones, Wesley AU - Barrett, Timothy AU - Zavattieri, Pablo AU - Weiss, W Jason AU - Purdue University AU - Indiana Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Removing Obstacles for Pavement Cost Reduction by Examining Early Age Opening Requirements: Material Properties PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 48p AB - The risk of cracking in a concrete pavement that is opened to traffic at early ages is related to the maximum tensile stress that develops in the pavement and its relationship to the measured, age dependent, flexural strength of a beam. The stress that develops in the pavement is due to several factors including traffic loading and restrained volume change caused by thermal or hygral variations. The stress that develops is also dependent on the time-dependent mechanical properties, pavement thickness, and subgrade stiffness. There is a strong incentive to open many pavements to traffic as early as possible to allow construction traffic or traffic from the traveling public to use the pavement. However, if the pavement is opened to traffic too early, cracking may occur that may compromise the service life of the pavement. The purpose of this report is two-fold: 1) to examine the current opening strength requirements for concrete pavements (typically a flexural strength from beams, and 2) to propose a criterion based on the time-dependent changes of ratio of the tensile stress to the flexural strength, which accounts for pavement thickness and subgrade stiffness without adding unnecessary risk for premature cracking. An Accelerated Pavement Testing, APT, facility was used to test concrete pavements that are opened to traffic at an early age to provide data that can be compared with an analytical model to determine the effective ratio of the tensile stress to the flexural strength based on the relevant features of the concrete pavement, the subgrade, and the traffic load. It is anticipated that this type of opening criteria can help the decision makers in two ways: 1) it can open pavement sections earlier thereby reducing construction time and 2) it may help to minimize the use of materials with overly accelerated strength gain that are suspected to be more susceptible to develop damage at early ages than materials that gain strength more slowly. KW - Accelerated tests KW - Concrete curing KW - Concrete pavements KW - Flexural strength KW - Pavement cracking KW - Tension KW - Traffic loads UR - http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3095&context=jtrp UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1403078 ER - TY - SER AN - 01597293 JO - TechBrief PB - Federal Highway Administration TI - Determination of In-Place Elastic Layer Modulus: LTPP Backcalculation Methodology and Procedures PY - 2015/08 SP - 16p AB - This document is a technical summary of the Federal Highway Administration report Long-Term Pavement Performance Program Determination of In-Place Elastic Layer Modulus: Backcalculation Methodology and Procedures (FHWA-HRT-15-036). This TechBrief provides an overview of the methodology and procedures used to backcalculate the elastic layer modulus from deflection basins for all test sections included in the Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) database. KW - Backcalculation KW - Deflection KW - Falling weight deflectometers KW - Long Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) Program KW - Methodology KW - Modulus of elasticity KW - Pavement performance KW - Test sections UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/pavements/ltpp/15037/15037.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1403995 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01597245 AU - Margiotta, Richard AU - Eisele, Bill AU - Short, Jeffrey AU - Cambridge Systematics, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Freight Performance Measure Approaches for Bottlenecks, Arterials, and Linking Volumes to Congestion Report PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 104p AB - Section 1115 of MAP-21 (“National Freight Policy”) specifically requires the development of new tools and improvement to existing tools to support the analysis and evaluation of freight transportation projects in order to more strategically target investments and improve performance of the transportation system. This report deals with three aspects of this directive: 1. Comprehensive analysis of freight bottlenecks—research and evaluation of national and state level approaches to identifying freight bottlenecks and methodologies for measuring the performance of truck freight bottlenecks; 2. Arterial mobility performance—development of methods that produce valid and reliable performance measures from truck-based probe data, speed and travel times; and 3. Linkage of truck volumes to congestion methodologies—development of methods for integrating travel times from truck probe data with truck volumes, flows, and demands. The National Performance Management Research Data Set (NPMRDS) is being used to develop examples of the recommended analysis. KW - Arterial highways KW - Bottlenecks KW - Freight transportation KW - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) KW - National Performance Management Research Data Set (NPMRDS) KW - Performance measurement KW - Strategic planning KW - Traffic congestion KW - Truck volumes KW - Trucking UR - http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop15033/fhwahop15033.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1401542 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01594514 AU - Weise, Andrew AU - Farnam, Yaghoob AU - Jones, Wesley AU - Imbrock, Paul AU - Tao, Bernie AU - Weiss, W Jason AU - Purdue University AU - Indiana Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Sealers and Waterproofers for Extending the Life Cycle of Concrete PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 39p AB - Concrete pavements represent a large portion of the transportation infrastructure. While the vast majority of concrete pavements provide excellent long‐term performance, a portion of these pavements have recently shown premature joint deterioration. Substantial interest has developed in understanding why premature joint deterioration is being observed in jointed portland cement concrete pavements (PCCP). While some have attributed this damage to insufficient air void systems, poor mixture design, or chemical reaction between the salt and the paste, it is the hypothesis of this work that a component of this damage can be attributed to fluid absorption at the joints and chemical reactions between the salt and chemistry of the matrix. This paper discusses the role of soy methyl ester‐polystyrene blends (SME‐PS) as a potential method to extend the service life of concrete pavements by limiting the ingress of salt solutions. The report discusses field application of the SME‐PS blends for field investigation in Lafayette and Fishers. Low temperature‐differential scanning calorimetry (LT‐DSC) techniques identified noticeable differences between plain mortar samples and mortar treated with SME‐PS. The report also discusses the development of a test to assess chloride solution ingress during temperature cycling. The aim of this work is to provide background on some aspects that can lead to joint deterioration and provide early documentation showing that sealers may help to reduce the impact of deicers on joint damage, thereby extending the life of the concrete pavement. It should be noted that these sites as well as others are still ongoing and should be monitored for long term performance. Application procedure for SME‐PS should follow manufacturer’s recommendation. KW - Concrete pavements KW - Deicers (Equipment) KW - Pavement joints KW - Pavement maintenance KW - Polystyrene KW - Portland cement concrete KW - Seal coats KW - Sealing compounds UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.5703/1288284316002 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1401059 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01594509 AU - Saksena, Siddharth AU - Merwade, Venkatesh AU - Purdue University AU - Indiana Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Relating Design Storm Events to Ordinary High Water Marks in Indiana PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 18p AB - Hydraulic design and environmental permitting are heavily dependent upon Ordinary High Water Marks (OHWM) because they define the active river channel. The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) use OHWM for regulation of the “Waters of the United States” as well as for flood and draught management. Current methods to determine OHWM are based on detailed on‐site surveys to identify physical characteristics like scouring, deposition around the banks, absence of vegetation and water staining. These characteristics are site specific so there are fluctuations in measurements based on the water body, weather conditions, channel morphology, slope, fluvial patterns and size of the channel. A more reliable way to estimate this variable for hydraulic design is required that is based on storm recurrence intervals. Hydrologic and hydraulic modeling is used to relate OHWM to storm recurrence intervals by analyzing hydraulic and hydrologic parameters corresponding to design streamflow events for 26 watersheds (drainage area less than 200 square miles) in Indiana. The results show that the recurrence intervals of OHWM are actually smaller (less than 1 year) than the bank‐full discharge intervals of 1.5‐2 years which suggests that OHWM correspond to channel flows much smaller than bank‐full discharge. Further analysis using the discharge‐return period flow duration curves shows that the OHWM recurrence intervals have a fairly distributed range (0.73‐1.12 years) and do not have a fixed recurrence interval. Trend analysis using Mann‐Kendall test suggested that five hydrologic/hydraulic variables have a significant trend with OHWM discharges with drainage area, watershed slope and 2‐year flow being the most significant. Regional equations are developed for Northern, Central and Southern Indiana to estimate OHWM discharges based on hydrologic/hydraulic parameter estimation using multiple and step‐wise liner regression. Using these equations, it is possible to estimate OHWM occurrence discharges fairly accurately. KW - Discharge (Flood) KW - Indiana KW - Methodology KW - Storms KW - Time intervals KW - Trend (Statistics) UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.5703/1288284316004 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1401058 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01581085 AU - Shuman, Valerie AU - Waisley, Michael AU - Schroeder, Jeremy AU - Brydia, Robert AU - Battelle AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Next Generation Traveler Information System: A Five Year Outlook, Final Report PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 76p AB - Traveler information is in a state of significant growth and evolution. User expectations, technologies, and the roles of the major public and private participants in the transportation ecosystem are all in motion. Traditional approaches to planning for stable, long term solutions do not work well in the face of constant consumer and technology change. This report is intended to help agencies plan the next generation traveler information system so that they stay in step with their customers and with transportation network management needs. It provides a current snapshot of status in key areas such as traveler needs, technology trends, and business models. Against this backdrop, the report provides guidance on operational and technical best practices that can be used by public agencies as they develop next generation traveler information systems (NGTIS). These best practices are designed to help agencies optimize their operational approaches to provide travelers with improved functionality and generate desired transportation outcomes. KW - Best practices KW - Strategic planning KW - Technological innovations KW - Transportation departments KW - Transportation planning KW - Traveler information and communication systems UR - http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop15029/fhwahop15029.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1375498 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580947 AU - Jacobs Engineering Group AU - Arizona Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - ADOT Statewide Shoulders Study Final Report PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 216p AB - Located adjacent to a roadway's travel lanes, highway shoulders are essential components on any road section. This study was initiated to develop a prioritized list of candidate locations for shoulder improvements in Arizona. The need for this study stems directly from Arizona Department of Transportation's (ADOT’s) desire to increase safety and mobility along the Arizona State Highway System. Currently, there is no statewide or ADOT Engineering District-wide listing of prioritized locations for shoulder improvement projects. As the first statewide, shoulder improvement prioritization project conducted in Arizona, a methodology needed to be developed that utilized available data to accurately identify deficiencies. This document serves as guidance for determining priority roadway segments within each ADOT District and throughout the State that require funding. A list of shoulder improvement locations was developed and evaluated for feasibility and cost-effectiveness. KW - Arizona KW - Construction projects KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Feasibility analysis KW - Highway safety KW - Improvements KW - Methodology KW - Road shoulders KW - Transportation planning UR - http://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/cdm/ref/collection/statepubs/id/28230 UR - https://apps.azdot.gov/ADOTLibrary/Multimodal_Planning_Division/Studies/Statewide_Shoulders_Study-FR-1508.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/56000/56100/56198/Statewide_Shoulders_Study-FR-1508-Part1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1367956 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580945 AU - Schneider, William AU - Crow, Mallory AU - Holik, William A AU - University of Akron AU - Ohio Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Investigate Plow Blade Optimization PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 149p AB - The main technique for removing accumulated snow from roadways is through the use of snow plows and snow plow blades (blades), or cutting edges. The blade is bolted to the snow plow, and it is the component of the plowing system that makes contact with the roadway surface. Multiple blades are currently on the market that may last longer than the standard Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) steel blades, which encouraged ODOT to pursue further research to compare the cost-effectiveness of using the specialty blades compared to the costs for using ODOT’s current flame-hardened steel blade (standard blade) and procedures for replacing these standard blades. As with any new equipment, a thorough assessment of the various specialty blades is needed in order to determine which, if any, are prudent to implement. The blades tested during this study included standard flame hardened steel in various configurations, carbide tipped, JOMA, PolarFlex, and BlockBuster XL Classic. During field research activities, data must be collected at multiple locations throughout the entire winter season, at any time of day, and for any length of time. The optimal way to collect such a large amount of data is through video recording. For this purpose, the research team acquired a digital video recorder (DVR) equipped with a global positioning system (GPS) and an infrared vision camera for each truck in the study. Blade measurements are taken periodically to track the wear of each blade. When analyzing the data from first year, the results indicated implementing the carbide and XL Classic blades will result in a cost savings. The remaining blades would cost more to utilize than the equivalent number of standard blades. The second year data results in a savings from the all blades test except the single stacked carbide tipped blade and the truck with a standard blade but no counterbalance. When reviewing two years of data an average savings of $778 per PolarFlex blade and $426 per XL Classic blade implemented in place of a standard blade. KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Blades (Machinery) KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Field studies KW - Ohio KW - Optimization KW - Snowplows KW - Video KW - Winter maintenance UR - http://cdm16007.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p267401ccp2/id/12839 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373418 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580944 AU - Akar, Gulsah AU - Gordon, Steven I AU - Zhang, Yuan AU - Chen, Na AU - Park, Mi Young AU - Ohio State University, Columbus AU - Ohio Supercomputer Center AU - Ohio Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Linking Land Use and Travel in Ohio: Vehicle Choice and Decline Components PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 134p AB - This study adds two new components to the Regional Land Use Allocation Decision Analysis Tool, which was developed for Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) in 2013. This tool uses information on infrastructure availability (accessibility, sewer, water services), current land-use policies where available, and environmental constraints to allocate regional and county forecasts of population and employment to 40 acre cells in each metropolitan region of Ohio. This information is then used in subsequent transportation models to estimate the number of auto trips, trip distances and the resulting vehicle miles travelled (VMT). This study adds two critical components to this model: vehicle choice and a better understanding of the impacts of declines in population and employment. The outputs of the revised land-allocation tool provide population and employment distribution to forecast auto trips, vehicle type distribution and trip distances at the traffic analysis zone (TAZ) level for each future scenario. KW - Employment KW - Forecasting KW - Infrastructure KW - Land use planning KW - Ohio KW - Population KW - Travel demand KW - Trip generation KW - Trip length KW - Vehicle miles of travel UR - http://cdm16007.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p267401ccp2/id/12899 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373417 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580347 AU - Raghunathan, Deepak AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Vermont Demonstration Project: Stockbridge-Bethel Roadway Reclamation Project PY - 2015/08//Final Technical Brief SP - 22p AB - As a part of the HIghways for LIFE (HfL) initiative, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provided a $1,900,000 grant to the Vermont Agency of Transportation for the Stockbridge-Bethel roadway reclamation project. The Stockbridge-Bethel project involved reclaiming the roadway that spanned 9.7 miles over VT RT-107 from the new through-truss bridge in the town of Bethel to Stockbridge, where RT-107 intersects VT Route 100. The work performed on this project included cold planing, reclamation of the existing roadway, base stabilization, superelevation and other minor geometric improvements, resurfacing with new base, intermediate, and wearing surfaces, new pavement markings, guardrail improvements, drainage improvements, and other incidental items. The project scope also included the construction of a new park and ride facility. The Stockbridge-Bethel roadway reclamation project included the use of the following technologies: Global positioning system (GPS) surveying equipment; GPS-equipped machine graders; Intelligent compaction (IC) equipment mounted on both dirt and pavement rollers; and Infrared thermal imaging equipment mounted on the back of the paver. These technologies helped with the real-time monitoring of roadway construction and served as important quality assurance tools to both the contractor and the resident engineer over the duration of the project. KW - Demonstration projects KW - Full-depth reclamation KW - Global Positioning System KW - Graders KW - Highways for LIFE KW - Intelligent compaction KW - Monitoring KW - Quality assurance KW - Road construction KW - Surveying KW - Technological innovations KW - Thermal imaging KW - Vermont UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/vermont-rt107-report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373006 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580345 AU - Bhajandas, Amar AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Pennsylvania Demonstration Project: Rehabilitation of SR 3011, Keyser Avenue, Lackawanna County PY - 2015/08//Final Technical Brief SP - 32p AB - As a part of the Highways for LIFE (HfL) initiative, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provided a $1 million grant to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) to rehabilitate a 3.815-mile-long section of SR 3011 in Lackawanna County. The overall intent of the project is to demonstrate and encourage PennDOT district representatives and construction industry leaders to implement innovations such as road safety audits (RSAs), warm mix asphalt (WMA), intelligent compaction, Safety Edge, and longitudinal joint best practices. This multi-year project is scheduled for completion in October 2015. This report documents project progress until the end of February 2015 and primarily details the RSA that was completed. The remaining innovations are targeted for completion during the 2015 construction season. Mainline paving is scheduled to start in July 2015. KW - Demonstration projects KW - Highways for LIFE KW - Lackawanna County (Pennsylvania) KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) KW - Road safety audits KW - Technological innovations UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/pa-keyser-ave-report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1372964 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580340 AU - Bhajandas, Amar AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Rhode Island Demonstration Project: Replacement of East Shore Expressway Bridge No. 475 over Warren Ave. PY - 2015/08//Final Technical Brief SP - 16p AB - As a part of the Highways for LIFE (HfL) initiative, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provided a waiver to the State match requirement to the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) to replace Bridge No. 475, East Shore Expressway over Warren Avenue, East Providence. The project’s innovative aspects include the use of a self-propelled modular transporter (SPMT), which is a computer-controlled platform vehicle capable of moving objects weighing up to several thousand tons. Other innovations on the project include geosynthetic reinforced soil (GRS) and precast bridge elements. Using these innovations will accelerate construction, minimize traffic impacts, reduce congestion, and improve quality. The project will provide RIDOT personnel with valuable experience in these technologies. The project is anticipated to be advertised for construction in fall 2015. KW - Bridge construction KW - Demonstration projects KW - East Providence (Rhode Island) KW - Geosynthetics KW - Highways for LIFE KW - Mechanically stabilized earth KW - Prefabricated bridges KW - Self-propelled modular transporters KW - Technological innovations UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/rhode-island-rt114-report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1372965 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580336 AU - Raghunathan, Deepak AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Utah Demonstration Project: Route 6 Spanish Fork Bridge Deck Replacement PY - 2015/08//Final Technical Brief SP - 28p AB - As a part of the HIghways for LIFE (HfL) initiative, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provided a $500,000 grant to the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) to replace a structurally deficient deck of bridge C-679 that carries US-6 over the D&RGW railroad line near the US-6 and I-15 interchange south of the Provo area. The railroad carried approximately 8 to 25 trains every day. The existing US-6 bridge is located just west of the US-6/US-89 intersection (Moark Junction) at approximately milepost (MP) 177.88. This portion of US-6 serves as a gateway between the Wasatch Front, recreational areas, and transportation corridors like I-70. The C-679 bridge, located at the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon and spanning two sets of Union Pacific railroad tracks, provided connectivity to I‐15 for recreational vehicles, commuters, and commerce. Ultra-high-performance fiber-reinforced concrete (UHPC) was the primary innovation on this project, which faced some design challenges that resulted from the bridge skew of approximately 46 degrees and the bridge reverse superelevation because of its location at the intersection of two reverse horizontal curves. The large skew, varying superelevation, and three-span configuration made this bridge a good candidate for the use of UHPC at the joints and closure pours between precast deck panels to provide a new deck for the bridge. The project involved 2 construction phases, Phase I and Phase II, wherein existing bridge decks, asphalt overlay, and parapets were removed, and new precast concrete parapet and deck panels placed. There were no worker injuries reported during the construction period. Thus, the contractor exceeded the HfL goal for worker safety (incident rate of less than 4.0 based on the OSHA 300 rate). There was one work zone related crash/motorist injury during construction. However, the crash was unrelated to the work zone features or the work done during construction. The total funding on this project was $3,059,468, and project expenditures totaled $2,891,688. KW - Bridge deck replacement KW - Bridge decks KW - Construction costs KW - Demonstration projects KW - Fiber reinforced concrete KW - Highways for LIFE KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) KW - Skew bridges KW - Superelevation KW - Technological innovations KW - Ultra high performance concrete KW - Utah KW - Work zone safety UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/utah-rt%206-report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373003 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01579883 AU - Gorham, John AU - Black, Beran AU - Real, William AU - Niewola, Carol AU - Bothner, Wallace A AU - Gress, David AU - Jacobs Engineering Group Incorporated AU - New Hampshire Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Improve the Quality and Service Life of Water-based Pavement Marking Paints on Pavements with High-Iron Aggregates PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 244p AB - White pavement paint marking on airport runways was being discolored by rust-like staining. Discoloration is a critical safety problem because white paint indicates runways and yellow paint is used for taxiways and aircraft parking. When the white paint is stained it becomes more difficult to distinguish from the yellow paint. This study determined the cause of the discoloration was from the ferrous minerals found in the pavement aggregates. The study included contacting the industry for methods to extend the service life of pavement paint markings. Water blasting the paint to remove the rust and/or using a modified Federal Specification TT-P-1952E water-borne paint has proven to mitigate the staining. In addition, staining can be reduced by applying a protective coating over the paint; pretreating the asphalt; or using alternative pavement marking materials. Life-cycle cost analyses identified the modified Type III water-borne paint with Type III beads to be the least costly of the proven and potential methods presented. KW - Aggregates KW - Airport runways KW - Airport surface traffic control KW - Aviation safety KW - Iron oxides KW - Life cycle costing KW - Paint KW - Road marking materials KW - Service life UR - http://www.nh.gov/dot/org/projectdevelopment/materials/research/projects/documents/15680J-FINALREPORT.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1370812 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01579666 JO - Transportation Research E-Circular PB - Transportation Research Board TI - Transportation Asset Management from Plans to Practice: A Workshop for State Practitioners, May 31, 2015, Denver, Colorado PY - 2015/08 IS - E-C200 SP - 52p AB - This publication summarizes the presentations from a May 31, 2015 workshop held in conjunction with the 5th International Transportation Systems Performance Measurement and Data Conference, June 1–2, 2015, in Denver, Colorado. This circular summarizes ideas, experiences, and practices involving transportation asset management plans, risk management, and organizational alignment. Transportation asset management (TAM) refers to a strategic and systematic process of operating, maintaining, and improving physical assets, with a focus on both engineering and economic analyses based on quality information. The goal of TAM is to identify a structured sequence of maintenance, preservation, repair, rehabilitation, and replacement actions that will achieve and sustain a desired state of good repair—at minimum practicable cost over the life of the assets. U1 - 5th International Transportation Systems Performance Measurement and Data ConferenceTransportation Research BoardFederal Highway AdministrationFederal Transit AdministrationPerformance Measures Technical Transfer Pooled FundAmerican Association of State Highway & Transportation OfficialsDenver,Colorado,United States StartDate:20150601 EndDate:20150602 Sponsors:Transportation Research Board, Federal Highway Administration, Federal Transit Administration, Performance Measures Technical Transfer Pooled Fund, American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials KW - Asset management KW - Maintenance KW - Organizational factors KW - Performance measurement KW - Risk management UR - http://www.trb.org/Publications/Blurbs/173050.aspx UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1372701 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01579613 AU - Copperman, Rachel AU - Cambridge Systematics, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Southeast Florida Transportation Council (SEFTC) Peer Review PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 31p AB - This report details the proceedings of a peer review of the Southeast Florida Transportation Council’s (SEFTC) transportation model. The peer review was intended to aid SEFTC in calibration and validation of its new regional travel model and to help guide the data collection activities SEFTC pursues. KW - Calibration KW - Data collection KW - Peer review KW - Southeast Florida KW - Travel demand KW - Travel Model Improvement Program KW - Validation UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/tmip/resources/peer_review_program/seftc/fhwahep15060.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1372279 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01579611 AU - Blandford, Benjamin AU - Shouse, Michael AU - Ripy, John AU - Kentucky Transportation Center AU - Kentucky Transportation Cabinet AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - A GIS-Based Expert Systems Predictive Habitat Model for Threatened and Endangered Species: Case Study Using Kentucky Arrow Darter PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 29p AB - This study presents a Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-based predictive habitat suitability model for the Kentucky arrow darter (Etheostoma spilotum), a fish species of the upper Kentucky River basin that is a candidate for federal listing by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The model is based on previous work: the development of a similar predictive model for identifying the habitat of the blackside dace, a threatened minnow species of the upper Cumberland River basin in Southeastern Kentucky. The research describes a weighted, rules-based system which incorporates expert knowledge about habitat preferences for the arrow darter. For this model, five habitat factors were identified by experts as essential to modeling the habitat: stream gradient, canopy coverage, land cover, riparian zone width, and stream order. Using a GIS, the five habitat factors were parameterized and combined across the entire Kentucky River basin stream network. Experts evaluated combinations of habitat factors to determine habitat suitability. Using locational modeling statistics, the resulting model was tested against known Kentucky arrow darter occurrences. The analysis demonstrated successful identification of streams where the arrow darter was likely — and unlikely — to exist. Model results could be useful to transportation planners, particularly when determining sensitive landscape that could be impacted by transportation planning processes. This model may help planners save money on habitat mitigation when transportation initiatives take place in known unsuitable arrow darter habitats. A GIS model similar to the one developed in this study may be applicable to other endangered species. KW - Case studies KW - Endangered species KW - Expert systems KW - Fishes KW - Geographic information systems KW - Habitat (Ecology) KW - Kentucky KW - Streams KW - Transportation planning UR - http://www.ktc.uky.edu/files/2015/09/KTC_15_10_SPR14_483_1F.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1372284 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01579260 AU - Martin, Andrew AU - Gibson, Bryan AU - Walton, Jennifer AU - Bell, Mark AU - Kentucky Transportation Center AU - Ohio Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Assessment of IRP Truck Licensing for Ohio Counties PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 150p AB - Ohio officials are concerned with the disconnect causing an International Registration Plan (IRP) revenue shortfall. County governments and taxing districts are not given enough IRP revenue to correct the amount of pavement damage caused by commercial vehicles on local roads. Researchers determined the disconnect stems from a combination of Ohio’s IRP distribution process and the growing phenomenon of “jurisdiction shopping”, which is where companies register trucks in an IRP jurisdiction that is not the vehicle’s primary domicile location. Doing this saves the company money on non-IRP taxes and fees. Although IRP fees are still apportioned based on miles traveled, the money is distributed to counties and taxing districts differently than if the vehicle was registered in Ohio. Currently, there are more than 20,000 vehicles belonging to a company with a primary address in Ohio, but registered in another jurisdiction. The result is significant revenue impacts on Ohio counties, municipalities, and townships. In 2015, the authors predict the direct and indirect impacts will be $10.13 million for counties, $2.89 million for municipalities, and $684,997 for townships. The cumulative effect for all counties and taxing districts is as much as $13.7 million, although the true impact is potentially higher when additional factors are taken into account. KW - Counties KW - International Registration Plan KW - Ohio KW - Registration KW - Revenues KW - Taxes KW - Trucks KW - Vehicle fleets UR - http://cdm16007.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p267401ccp2/id/12898 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1371207 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01579235 AU - Tao, Junliang AU - Liang, Robert AU - University of Akron AU - Ohio Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Stabilization of Peat Deposits for Roadway Construction and Remediation PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 85p AB - Peat, a soil with very high organic content, is often encountered in roadway construction in Ohio, especially in Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) Districts 1, 2, 4, 6 and 12. Roadways constructed on peat often experience premature distress in the form of rutting, cracking and differential settlement. There is a pressing need for ODOT to identify cost effective remedial methods that would provide a permanent solution for existing pavements on peat. The outcome of Phase I is expected to provide ODOT a selection toolbox for peat treatment in roadway construction and maintenance. Based on comprehensive literature review, a total of 24 technically sound ground improvement technologies were identified. 13 most promising technologies were selected for detailed review. These 13 technologies are rated considering the mature level of the technology, the project requirements, the improvement performance. A decision tree was also developed considering technologies’ applicability and limitations. To perform cost analysis, the cost information for each technology is first collected from a variety of reliable sources. The cost estimation formulae including construction cost and user cost were established considering design requirements of each technology. The sensitivity of the cost on project scale was studied and recommendations were made on technology selection based on project scale and subsurface ground conditions. It was found that the proposed Geosynthetics Encased Foam Column method is most cost effective for projects with shallow treatment depth. Efforts were also made to collect and synthesize historical subsurface ground exploration data at problematic roadway sections in ODOT District 4. It is recommended to conduct a small scale field trial to further evaluate the performance of the proposed ground improvement method. KW - Costs KW - Decision trees KW - Literature reviews KW - Ohio KW - Pavement distress KW - Peat soils KW - Recommendations KW - Soil stabilization KW - Subsoil KW - Technological innovations UR - http://cdm16007.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p267401ccp2/id/12897 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1371637 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01579189 AU - Zimmerman, Carol AU - Klein, Rachel AU - Schroeder, Jeremy AU - Pessaro, Brian AU - Burris, Mark AU - Turnbull, Katie AU - Joy, Barbara AU - Schreffler, Eric AU - Battelle AU - Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Transit Administration TI - Contemporary Approaches to Congestion Pricing: Lessons Learned from the National Evaluation of Congestion Pricing Strategies at Six Sites PY - 2015/08 SP - 64p AB - This document represents the final report of the national evaluation of congestion reduction strategies at six sites that received federal funding under the Urban Partnership Agreement (UPA) and Congestion Reduction Demonstration (CRD) programs. The six sites, or “urban partners,” were Atlanta, Georgia; Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; Minneapolis, Minnesota; San Francisco, California; and Seattle, Washington. Each site implemented a comprehensive policy response to urban congestion that included four essential components known as the “4 Ts”: 1) tolling (or congestion pricing), 2) enhanced transit services, 3) telecommuting and other transportation demand management (TDM) strategies, and 4) advanced technology. The U.S. Department of Transportation sponsored an independent national evaluation of the multi-year, multi-site demonstration of congestion pricing and other supporting strategies. The contents of this “lessons learned” report are derived from the national evaluation and represent a cross-cutting review and assessment of the impacts of the six projects. The findings will be useful to state and regional agencies interested in advancing new congestion pricing programs or expanding programs already in place. The report notes the strategies that worked well across sites and those that did not. The findings are presented in the following sections: Growth and Change in Usage, Congestion Performance, Transit Performance, Telecommuting and TDM Performance, Environmental Impacts, Benefit-Cost Analysis, Equity and Congestion Pricing, Technology Performance, The Deployment Experience, Operational Impacts, and the Long-Term Effects of the UPA/CRD Projects at the Six Sites. KW - Atlanta (Georgia) KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Congestion management systems KW - Congestion pricing KW - Environmental impacts KW - Equity (Justice) KW - Evaluation KW - Los Angeles (California) KW - Miami (Florida) KW - Minneapolis (Minnesota) KW - Public transit KW - San Francisco (California) KW - Seattle (Washington) KW - Telecommuting KW - Travel demand management KW - Urban areas KW - Urban Partnership Agreement UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55600/55668/UPA_2015_Final_9-17-15.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1371365 ER - TY - SER AN - 01577511 JO - TechBrief PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Muench, Steve AU - Van Dam, Tom TI - Climate Change Adaptation for Pavements PY - 2015/08 SP - 12p AB - Climate change can and is producing a wide array of impacts that affect infrastructure on a broad scale. An infrastructure asset’s vulnerability to climate change is highly context sensitive, with its location and the adaptive capacity of local businesses, governments, and communities all being influential. Much has been written generally about climate change and its impacts on transportation systems, and literature is now emerging on how climate change specifically affects pavement systems and what adaptation strategies might be pursued. However, at the level of pavement systems, the state of the practice is largely limited to general observations and is lacking with regards to specific adaptation strategies. This Tech Brief provides an overview of climate change and pavement-specific impacts, and then addresses specific pavement adaptation strategies that can be implemented now and in the future. KW - Climate change KW - Pavement design KW - Pavement performance KW - Pavements KW - Weather conditions UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement/sustainability/hif15015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1370640 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576286 AU - Tsai, Yichang (James) AU - Wang, Zhaohua AU - Georgia Institute of Technology AU - Georgia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Detecting Asphalt Pavement Raveling Using Emerging 3D Laser Technology and Macrotexture Analysis PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 64p AB - This research project comprehensively tested and validated the automatic raveling detection, classification, and measurement algorithms using 3D laser technology that were developed through a project sponsored by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) program. The raveling condition survey protocol used in the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) was adopted in the testing and validation, though it can be easily extended to other highway agencies’ protocols. Four miles of test sections on I-85 and the entire asphalt pavements (61 miles) on I-285 were selected for validating the developed algorithms. The ground truth data was established by in-field investigation and in-office review of videolog images and 3D laser data with the help of GDOT’s pavement engineers. The results have demonstrated the promising capabilities of automatically detecting and measuring asphalt pavement raveling using the developed algorithms and 3D laser technology to assist in transportation agencies’ raveling data collection. Potentially, it will save tremendous manual effort for field surveys, improve data accuracy, and help highway agencies make more informed decisions on pavement maintenance and rehabilitation. KW - Algorithms KW - Asphalt pavements KW - Automatic data collection systems KW - Georgia KW - Lasers KW - Macrotexture KW - Stripping (Pavements) UR - http://g92018.eos-intl.net/eLibSQL14_G92018_Documents/13-18.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1369395 ER - TY - SER AN - 01576265 JO - Exploratory Advanced Research Program Fact Sheet PB - Federal Highway Administration TI - Automated Video Analysis Analyzing Large Quantities of Transportation Research Data PY - 2015/08 SP - 2p AB - The second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) Safety research area has produced unprecedented data for highway researchers in the form of the naturalistic driving study (NDS). With approximately 2 petabytes of data available to researchers, most of which is video data, new automated tools for data extraction and analysis are required. Developing a prototype tool was the goal of the Exploratory Advanced Research (EAR) Program project, “Machine Learning for Automated Analysis of Large Volumes of Highway Video.” The National Robotics Engineering Center, at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), conducted this research, which was funded by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in 2012. KW - Automatic data collection systems KW - Data analysis KW - Information processing KW - Prototypes KW - Research projects KW - Video UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/advancedresearch/pubs/15070/15070.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1369015 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576255 AU - Machemehl, Randy AU - Gemar, Mason AU - Fan, Wei AU - University of Texas, Tyler AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Forecasting Models to Investigate Future Uncertain Purchase Costs Due to Technology Changes, and Estimate Down Time Costs and Operating and Maintenance Costs PY - 2015/08 SP - 61p AB - The purpose of this task was to investigate future uncertain purchase costs due to technology changes and recommend feasible ways to model the future purchase costs given the historical data. The original approach was to incorporate models developed as part of project 0- 6412 into the software; however, issues were discovered with these forecasting methods and modifications to the strategy were considered and, ultimately, implemented. Based on the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Texas Equipment Replacement Model (TERM) data, the research team developed five different types of models (including Linear/Polynomial/Logarithm/Exponential/Power models) in TERM2 as results of project 0-6412 to investigate the future uncertain purchase costs due to technology changes using model year as the independent variable. Although the models seemed to perform well from a technical perspective, some purchase cost forecasts did not yield intuitive results. For some classcodes, even the best forecasting model derived from historical purchase cost data may yield negative forecasts for purchase cost due to the economic downturn that occurred in the latter years of the TERM data sets. The research team explored the use of both linear and nonlinear statistical modeling techniques, as well as strategies involving fixed increases to the forecasted purchase costs based on the inflation rate, to develop the best possible forecasts due to technology changes and other uncertainties. After a feasible (and potentially most desirable) way to model the future uncertain purchase costs was identified, it was incorporated into the TERM2 equipment replacement optimization software. In addition to developing models for estimating future uncertain purchase costs, the research team also explored the potential of emerging vehicle fuel technologies and their possible impacts on future purchase costs. Traditionally, the transportation industry relies heavily on conventional petroleum based fuels (diesel and gasoline). About two-thirds of U.S. petroleum demand is in the transportation sector and almost half of U.S. petroleum is imported. This high dependency on foreign petroleum supplies puts the United States at risk for trade deficits, supply disruption, and price changes. Development of new and alternative vehicle fuel technologies has the potential to reduce U.S. dependency on petroleum imports and provide future energy security. KW - Alternate fuels KW - Costs KW - Equipment replacement KW - Forecasting KW - Recommendations KW - Technological innovations KW - Texas Department of Transportation KW - Vehicle fleets KW - Vehicle maintenance UR - http://library.ctr.utexas.edu/ctr-publications/0-6693-P1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1369355 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576253 AU - Ashuri, Baabak AU - Kingsley, Gordon AU - Rogers, Juan AU - Gahrooei, Mostafa Reisi AU - Ilbeigi, Mohammad AU - Sung, Elie Ji-Yun AU - Toroghi, Shahaboddin (Sean) H AU - Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta AU - Georgia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Streamlining Project Delivery through Risk Analysis PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 200p AB - Project delivery is a significant area of concern and is subject to several risks throughout Plan Development Process (PDP). These risks are attributed to major areas of project development, such as environmental analysis, right-of-way (ROW) acquisition, utilities coordination, third-party agreements, etc. The major challenge for Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) is that the risks can negatively impact the project outcomes as cost overrun and schedule delay. However, if these risks could be identified early in the concept and scope development processes, their respective negative impacts on project outcomes could be reduced. The research objective of this study is to develop a comprehensive guidebook that advances the adoption of risk analysis tools in GDOT, in order to expedite project delivery. To achieve the research objective, various project risk management processes developed by different organizations were reviewed. Furthermore, current practice of risk management in different state DOTs were studied. Several state DOTs were surveyed and interviewed regarding their risk management programs. The results indicate that typically state DOTs determine the level and methods of risk management based on project size and complexity of the project. The level of risk management may vary from a simple risk register to a complex quantitative analysis. Then, a semi-structured interview was conducted with nine subject matter experts at GDOT. The key factors that influence risk management practices within GDOT were explored. The results were analyzed and a model explaining the current risk management practice and future needs was developed. A comprehensive list of potential risks for transportation projects was developed based on reviewing the academic/professional literature, current state of practice in risk management among leading state DOTs, and current state of practice of GDOT. During several meetings with higher level risk management experts at GDOT, the most important risks were indented and a short list of major potential risks was developed for each office at GDOT. Finally, a software tool specifically designed for identification and qualitative assessment of highway project risks during the pre-construction phase of the project was developed based on the shortlisted risk factors. The software program is equipped with the modification capability of adding new risk items and/or removing some of the predetermined risk factors from the assessment. KW - Construction projects KW - Georgia Department of Transportation KW - Project delivery KW - Risk management KW - Software KW - State departments of transportation KW - State of the practice KW - Surveys UR - http://g92018.eos-intl.net/eLibSQL14_G92018_Documents/13-05.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1369394 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576250 AU - Gibbons, Ronald B AU - Meyer, Jason AU - Terry, Travis AU - Bhagavathula, Rajaram AU - Lewis, Alan AU - Flanagan, Michael AU - Connell, Caroline AU - Virginia Tech Transportation Institute AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of the Impact of Spectral Power Distribution on Driver Performance PY - 2015/08 SP - 240p AB - This project is a complete investigation of the impact of light-source spectrum on driver visual performance. In a series of human factors experiments, the effect of overhead lighting and headlamp spectral power distribution was evaluated with respect to driver detection and recognition of large and small objects and pedestrians. The potential for applying mesopic multiplying factors to roadway lighting was also evaluated, as was a momentary peripheral illuminator system’s effects on driver visual performance and eye-glance behavior. The results indicate that, although the momentary peripheral illuminator improved one measure of pedestrian detection, it was also a distraction to drivers. The results also indicate that at higher speeds, neither light-source spectrum nor mesopic multiplying factors apply, but mesopic multiplying factors are applicable to lighting design for lower-speed roadways and other nondriving environments. KW - Driver performance KW - Drivers KW - Evaluation KW - Eye movements KW - Headlamps KW - Highway safety KW - Human factors KW - Street lighting KW - Vision UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/15047/15047.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1368249 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576231 AU - Wei, Heng AU - Abrishami, Hedayat AU - Xiao, Xinhua AU - Karteek, Allam AU - University of Cincinnati AU - Ohio Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Adaptive Video-based Vehicle Classification Technique for Monitoring Traffic PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 66p AB - This report presents a methodology for extracting two vehicle features, vehicle length and number of axles in order to classify the vehicles from video, based on Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)’s recommended vehicle classification scheme. There are two stages regarding this classification. The first stage is the general classification that basically classifies vehicles into 4 categories or bins based on the vehicle length (i.e., 4-Bin length-based vehicle classification). The second stage is the axle-based group classification that classifies vehicles in more detailed classes of vehicles such as car, van, buses, based on the number of axles. The Rapid Video-based Vehicle Identification System (RVIS) model is developed based on image processing technique to enable identifying the number of vehicle axles. Also, it is capable of tackling group classification of vehicles that are defined by axles and vehicle length based on the FHWA’s vehicle classification scheme and standard lengths of 13 categorized vehicles. The RVIS model is tested with sample video data obtained on a segment of I-275 in the Cincinnati area, Ohio. The evaluation result shows a better 4-Bin length–based classification than the axle-based group classification. There may be two reasons. First, when a vehicle gets misclassified in 4-Bin classification, it will definitely be misclassified in axle-based group classification. The error of the 4-Bin classification will propagate to the axle-based group classification. Second, there may be some noises in the process of finding the tires and number of tires. The project result provides solid basis for integrating the RVIS that is particularly applicable to light traffic condition and the Vehicle Video-Capture Data Collector (VEVID), a semi-automatic tool to be particularly applicable to heavy traffic conditions, into a “hybrid” system in the future. Detailed framework and operation scheme for such an integration effort is provided in the project report. KW - Automatic vehicle identification KW - Axles KW - Cincinnati (Ohio) KW - Image processing KW - Traffic surveillance KW - Vehicle classification KW - Vehicle length KW - Video UR - http://cdm16007.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p267401ccp2/id/12837 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1369969 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576224 AU - Serigos, Pedro A AU - Chen, Kuan-Yu AU - Smit, Andre AU - Murphy, Mike R AU - Prozzi, Jorge A AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Automated Distress Surveys: Analysis of Network Level Data (Phase III) PY - 2015/08//Technical Report SP - 71p AB - The first two phases of this research study provided a project-level assessment of the accuracy and precision of the automated 3D system developed by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), and state-of-the-practice commercially available automated systems for the high-speed measurement of pavement surface distresses, rutting, texture and cross slope. The third phase of this study had the objective of extending the automated systems’ evaluation with a focus on network-level processes and applications. For this purpose, TxDOT initiated a pilot study with two pavement distress data collection vendors to collect full network-level semi-automated data (as per TxDOT Pavement Management Information System [PMIS] specifications) on the entire network in the Bryan and Houston districts, in conjunction with the PMIS Fiscal Year 2014 data collection season. The two districts selected for the pilot study represent highway characteristics from rural, urban, and metropolitan areas in the state of Texas. The two vendors that collected semi-automated data for the pilot study were Fugro-Roadware and Pathway Services. Fugro’s data collection was performed using two Automatic Road Analyzer survey vans equipped with the INO Laser Crack Measurement System and Pathway Services’ data collection was performed using two PathRunner Data Collections Vehicles equipped with Pathway 3D Systems. The comparative analyses were conducted on the PMIS aggregated scores (including Ride Score, Distress Score, and Condition Score) as well as on individual distress ratings for instances of alligator cracking, longitudinal cracking, rutting, spalling, punchouts, and failures. Each type of comparison was further analyzed by breaking down the collected highway network into different experimental factors, such as the highway system and pavement surface type. In addition, this report includes an analysis of the automated systems’ production rates. KW - Automatic data collection systems KW - Deformation KW - Evaluation KW - Pavement distress KW - Pavement management systems KW - Pilot studies KW - Productivity KW - Texas UR - http://library.ctr.utexas.edu/ctr-publications/0-6663-3.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1367531 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576220 AU - Ocel, Justin M AU - Provines, Jason AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Properties of Anchor Rods Removed from San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 68p AB - In March 2013, the construction contractor for the new self-anchored suspension bridge between San Francisco and Oakland, California, tensioned the threaded rods between the bearings/shear keys and the concrete pier cap. Within days of completion, it was discovered that one-third of the rods for the two shear keys on Pier E2 had fractured. An investigation began to determine the root cause for the fractures. The work reported herein was in support of that investigation at the request of the Federal Highway Administration California Division office. It includes data on the mechanical, chemical, and microstructural properties of two samples removed from Pier E2. The testing showed a variation in material properties between the surface and core of the rods. It was concluded that improper heat treatment of the rods caused this variation. In addition, the tensile and hardness properties could have been judged to be in nonconformance depending on interpretation of the ASTM standards. It is recommended that the ASTM A354 and/or F606 standards be revised to provide more guidance on sampling for tensile and hardness properties for large-diameter products as well as guidance on impact toughness. KW - Anchor bolts KW - Bridge piers KW - Chemical properties KW - Failure KW - Hardness tests KW - Mechanical properties KW - San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge KW - Suspension bridges KW - Tension tests UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/structures/bridge/15057/15057.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1368250 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576178 AU - Fan, Wei AU - Haile, Elias AU - Chavez, Tomas AU - Radley, Lee AU - Sorbet, Robert AU - Eifert, Annie AU - Machemehl, Randy AU - Gemar, Mason AU - Murshed, Neaz AU - Yu, Yao AU - University of Texas, Tyler AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Equipment Replacement/Retention Decision Making: Final Report PY - 2015/08//Technical Report SP - 204p AB - The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) vehicle fleet is a fundamental part of the departmental infrastructure, enabling many activities essential to accomplishing the daily departmental operations. Maintenance of a robust vehicle fleet is essential but costly. On one hand, reductions in fleet costs are potentially beneficial to the department as a whole and thereby beneficial to the taxpayers of the State of Texas. On the other hand, not being able to respond adequately under disaster/emergency conditions is unacceptable and therefore maintaining a fleet robust enough to capably respond in a multi-event contingency is also critical. TxDOT’s new equipment replacement optimization software (TERM2) produced through project 0-6412 “Equipment Replacement Optimization” (ERO) by the research team can optimize the equipment retain/replace decision process, potentially resulting in substantial cost savings. Much of the current TERM2 research work and result findings can be seen from Fan et al. (2011a, 2011b). The technical objectives of this project are to (1) Investigate how to estimate costs to the department of NOT replacing equipment when it should be replaced; (2) Identify methods to estimate downtime costs coupled with TxDOT’s current rightsizing efforts; (3) Review the use and development of advanced optimization techniques; (4) Recommend feasible ways to model the future uncertain purchase costs due to technology changes; (5) Review Texas’s Emergency Management Strategy and support concept and list levels of commitment to the Department of Emergency Management (DEM) and Department of Public Safety (DPS); (6) Identify reasonable and likely simultaneous disaster/emergency event scenarios in Texas (if reasonably available, list equipment commitments for several historical simultaneous emergencies); (7) Review and describe how other state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) and major metropolitan governments provision their fleets to handle multiple disasters. To accomplish this project, the research team has addressed the above issues and implemented in the TERM2 software and conducted a comprehensive review of the state of the art and state of the practice of equipment replacement/retention decisions based on future uncertain purchase costs, unavailability of funds, and disaster preparedness and a new TERM2 software has been developed with enhanced functionalities. KW - Cost estimating KW - Decision making KW - Disaster preparedness KW - Equipment maintenance KW - Equipment replacement KW - Optimization KW - Software KW - State departments of transportation KW - Texas Department of Transportation KW - Vehicle fleets KW - Vehicle maintenance UR - http://library.ctr.utexas.edu/ctr-publications/0-6693-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1369354 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576157 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Initial Stage Reference Search: Real-time ridesharing PY - 2015/08 SP - 25p AB - The topic of this literature review is identification of published literature between 2006 and the present, focusing on (1) the use of dynamic ridesharing and (2) behavioral economics to encourage participation in dynamic ridesharing and to make modest personal adjustments that improve the functioning of a dynamic ridesharing system. The use of technology is also included, for example, increased use of cell phones enabling new types of models for promoting shared transportation resources. KW - Literature reviews KW - Ridesharing KW - Technological innovations UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/advancedresearch/pubs/15069/15069.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1367353 ER - TY - SER AN - 01576133 JO - Civil Engineering Studies, Illinois Center for Transportation Series PB - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Lippert, David L AU - Kang, Seung Gu AU - Ozer, Hasan AU - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Illinois Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Illinois Highway Materials Sustainability Efforts of 2014 PY - 2015/08//Interim Report IS - 15-014 SP - 44p AB - This report presents the 2014 sustainability efforts of the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) in recycling reclaimed materials in highway construction. This report meets the requirements of Illinois Public Act 097-0314 by documenting IDOT’s efforts to reduce the carbon footprint and achieve cost savings through the use of recycled materials in asphalt paving projects. Research efforts undertaken and those that will have a future impact on IDOT’s sustainability efforts are highlighted. KW - Asphalt pavements KW - Illinois Department of Transportation KW - Recycled materials KW - Recycling KW - Research projects KW - Road construction KW - Sustainable development UR - https://apps.ict.illinois.edu/projects/getfile.asp?id=3551 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1368158 ER - TY - SER AN - 01576125 JO - Exploratory Advanced Research Program Fact Sheet PB - Federal Highway Administration TI - Coordinating High-Resolution Traffic Cameras: Developing Intelligent, Collaborating Cameras for Transportation Security and Communications PY - 2015/08 SP - 2p AB - Cameras are used prolifically to monitor transportation incidents, infrastructure, and congestion. Traditional camera systems often require human monitoring and only offer low-resolution video. Researchers for the Exploratory Advanced Research (EAR) Program project, “Cooperating Camera Platforms for Ultra-High-Resolution Traffic Surveillance and Autonomous Event Detection,” have developed a system that provides continuous, high-resolution, real-time simultaneous monitoring, tracking, and analysis of multiple events or characteristics. The University of Maryland is conducting this research, which was funded by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in 2012. KW - Cameras KW - Detection and identification technologies KW - Image transmission KW - Real time information KW - Research projects KW - Technological innovations KW - Traffic surveillance UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/advancedresearch/pubs/15068/15068.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1369017 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576119 AU - de León Izeppi, Edgar AU - Morrison, Akyiaa AU - Flintsch, Gerardo W AU - McGhee, Kevin K AU - Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research AU - Virginia Tech Transportation Institute AU - Virginia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Best Practices and Performance Assessment for Preventive Maintenance Treatments for Virginia Pavements PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 60p AB - Preventive maintenance has the potential to improve network condition by retarding future pavement deterioration. This report outlines guidelines for implementing a preventive maintenance policy for bituminous pavements. Preventive maintenance treatments currently being used in Virginia include chip seal, slurry seal, microsurfacing, and thin hot mix asphalt overlays. Historical pavement condition data were obtained from the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Pavement Management System for these treatments, and treatment performance models were developed. A district-level treatment selection tool was developed to facilitate the district-level decision-making process. A prioritized list of pavement sections was generated, maximizing the cost-effectiveness of the selected treatments subject to budgetary constraints set by the Central Office. As a pilot implementation, the treatment selection tool was then run for each pavement classification in each district. The results of this pilot suggest that this selection tool has the potential to be a practical decision support tool. KW - Best practices KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Decision making KW - Implementation KW - Overlays (Pavements) KW - Pavement maintenance KW - Performance measurement KW - Preventive maintenance KW - Sealing compounds KW - Virginia UR - http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/16-r3.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1367951 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576108 AU - Middleton, Scott AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Transit Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Establishing and Integrating Performance Measures: A TPCB Peer Exchange PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 42p AB - This report highlights key recommendations and noteworthy practices identified at “Establishing and Integrating Performance Measures” Peer Exchange held on April 27-28, 2015 in Dimondale, Michigan and via video teleconference. This event was sponsored by the Transportation Planning Capacity Building (TPCB) Peer Program, which is jointly funded by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA). Peer Agencies included: Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT), Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC), Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), and Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT). Specifically, the event helped MDOT and its partner agencies prepare for three key requirements of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21): (1) The development of performance measures and targets; (2) The integration of performance measures into the planning process; and (3) The development of performance-based plans for safety, asset management, and congestion. KW - Asset management KW - Best practices KW - Michigan Department of Transportation KW - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) KW - Peer exchange KW - Performance measurement KW - Recommendations KW - Safety KW - Traffic congestion KW - Transportation planning UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55400/55455/Peer_Exchange_Report_Establishing_and_Integrating_Performance_Measures_Final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1369011 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576096 AU - Hosteng, Travis K AU - Phares, Brent M AU - Abu-Hawash, Ahmad AU - Bierwagen, Dean AU - Nelson, Jim AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Laboratory Investigation of Grouted Coupler Connection Details for ABC Bridge Projects PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 51p AB - With an ever increasing desire to utilize accelerated bridge construction (ABC) techniques, it is becoming critical that bridge designers and contractors have confidence in typical details. The Keg Creek Bridge on US 6 in Iowa was a recent ABC example that utilized connection details that had been utilized elsewhere. The connection details used between the drilled shaft and pier column and between the pier column and the pier cap were details needing evaluation. These connection details utilized grouted couplers that have been tested by others with mixed results—some indicating quality performance and others indicating questionable performance. There was a need to test these couplers to gain an understanding of their performance in likely Iowa details and to understand how their performance might be impacted by different construction processes. The objective of the work was to perform laboratory testing and evaluation of the grouted coupler connection details utilized on precast concrete elements for the Keg Creek Bridge. The Bridge Engineering Center (BEC), with the assistance of the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) Office of Bridges and Structures, developed specimens representative of the Keg Creek Bridge connections for testing under static and fatigue loads in the structures laboratory. The specimens were also evaluated for their ability to resist the intrusion of water and chlorides. Evaluation of their performance was made through comparisons with design assumptions and previous research, as well as the physical performance of the coupled connections. KW - Bridge construction KW - Corrosion resistance KW - Couplers KW - Evaluation KW - Fatigue limit KW - Iowa KW - Laboratory tests KW - Precast concrete KW - Structural connection UR - http://publications.iowa.gov/20326/1/IADOT_InTrans_RB07_013_Lab_Investigation_Grouted_Coupler_Connection_Details_ABC_Bridge_Projects_Final_2015.pdf UR - http://publications.iowa.gov/id/eprint/20326 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1367963 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576091 AU - Smith, Bryan AU - Nair, Harikrishnan AU - Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research AU - Virginia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Development of Local Calibration Factors and Design Criteria Values for Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 47p AB - A mechanistic-empirical (ME) pavement design procedure allows for analyzing and selecting pavement structures based on predicted distress progression resulting from stresses and strains within the pavement over its design life. The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has been working toward implementing ME design by characterizing traffic and materials inputs, training with the models and design software, and analyzing current pavement designs in AASHTOware Pavement ME Design software. This study compared the measured performance of asphalt and continuously reinforced concrete pavements (CRCP) from VDOT’s Pavement Management System (PMS) records to the predicted performance in AASHTOware Pavement ME Design. Model coefficients in the software were adjusted to match the predicted asphalt pavement permanent deformation, asphalt bottom-up fatigue cracking, and CRCP punchout outputs to the measured values from PMS records. Values for reliability, design life inputs, and distress limits were identified as a starting point for VDOT to consider when using AASHTOware Pavement ME Design through consideration of national guidelines, existing VDOT standards, PMS rating formulas, typical pavement performance at time of overlay, and the data used for local calibration. The model calibration coefficients and design requirement values recommended in this study can be used by VDOT with AASHTOware Pavement ME Design as a starting point to implement the software for design, which should allow for more optimized pavement structures and improve the long-term performance of pavements in Virginia. KW - Asphalt pavements KW - Calibration KW - Continuously reinforced concrete pavements KW - Implementation KW - Mechanistic-empirical pavement design KW - Pavement distress KW - Pavement management systems KW - Pavement performance KW - Service life KW - Software KW - Virginia Department of Transportation UR - http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/16-r1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1367534 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01575521 AU - Figliozzi, Miguel AU - Blanc, Bryan AU - Portland State University AU - Oregon Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluating the Use of Crowdsourcing as a Data Collection Method for Bicycle Performance Measures and Identification of Facility Improvement Needs PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 139p AB - This research developed a smartphone application called ORcycle to collect cyclists’ routes, users, and comfort levels. ORcycle combines Global Positioning System (GPS) revealed route data collection with new questionnaires that try to elicit cyclists’ attitudes as well as comfort levels and factors that influence their perceived comfort and route choice. The new questionnaires were developed to better understand how cyclists’ comfort levels are affected by route characteristics, route stressors, safety reports, cyclists’ demographics, and cyclists’ cycling attitude. Preliminary results show that many trip characteristics, route choice factors, route stressors and demographic variables are correlated with comfort levels. ORcycle is the first statewide deployment of a smartphone application to collect bicycle specific safety and crash data in addition to travel and comfort data. Potential applications that can take advantage of the ORcycle data include: comfort and route models, prioritization of network improvements, and crash and injury risk models. KW - Attitudes KW - Bicycle travel KW - Comfort KW - Crash data KW - Cyclists KW - Data collection KW - Global Positioning System KW - Questionnaires KW - Route choice KW - Safety KW - Smartphones KW - Stress (Psychology) UR - http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TP_RES/ResearchReports/SPR768_Crowdsourcing_DataCollection.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1367019 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574373 AU - Zhu, Zhihui AU - Davidson, Michael T AU - Harik, Issam E AU - Sun, Charlie AU - University of Kentucky, Lexington AU - Kentucky Transportation Cabinet AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Effect Of Thermal Loads on Substructures: New Trammel Creek Bridge On Ky-100 In Allen Co., Kentucky PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 178p AB - When infrastructure is subjected to temperature changes, structural members that are either partially or fully restrained against motion can develop internal stresses. The phenomenon of temperature-induced internal stress development in superstructure members has prompted the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) to include provisions for determining superstructure temperature load effects. However, little consideration has been given to explicitly quantifying the effect that thermal stresses have on foundation systems such as intermediate bridge piers. The objective of this study is to instrument a multi-span integral abutment bridge with temperature and bridge response monitoring devices, and ultimately, to make a comparative analysis between measurements of temperature-induced soil pressures with pressures derived using the AASHTO design provisions. Accordingly, the New Trammel Creek Bridge (002B00054N) along KY-100 in Allen County, Kentucky has been fitted with temperature and response instrumentation. Data has been continuously collected from the bridge site since May 2011, and can be viewed at: http://www.ktc.uky.edu/kytc/RemoteBridgeMonitoringInKY/ky100Allen.html. Included in the research is a detailed analytical study of the New Trammel Creek Bridge, performed simultaneously with a field-monitoring program. Finite element (FE) modeling and analysis of temperature loadings on the bridge have pointed to AASHTO superstructure temperature provisions as the preferred method. Also called Method B, the AASHTO provisions led to adequate sizing of bridge foundation members. KW - AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications KW - Bridge foundations KW - Bridge piers KW - Bridge substructures KW - Field studies KW - Finite element method KW - Kentucky KW - Structural health monitoring KW - Thermal stresses UR - http://www.ktc.uky.edu/files/2015/08/KTC_15_14_SPR_10_408_1F.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366866 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574370 AU - Gibson, Bryan AU - Wallace, Candice AU - Sturgill, Roy AU - University of Kentucky, Lexington AU - Kentucky Transportation Cabinet AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Synthesis of Public-Private Partnerships: Potential Issues and Best Practices for Program and Project Implementation and Administration PY - 2015/08 SP - 80p AB - Public-private partnerships (P3s or PPPs) offer an innovative procurement method for the public sector. P3s involve collaborations between the public and private sectors to finance, develop or maintain transportation infrastructure. In an era of shrinking budgets and increased demand for transportation infrastructure, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) can analyze experiences in other states to determine a best path forward on the issue of P3s. During the 2014 regular legislative session, the Kentucky General Assembly passed Kentucky House Bill (HB) 407, which would empower KYTC through the Kentucky Public Transportation Infrastructure Authority (KPTIA), to fund projects through P3 agreements. The governor eventually vetoed the bill. In the current 2015 legislative session, the General Assembly is considering Kentucky HB 443, which would authorize transportation P3s in Kentucky. The objective of this study is to examine benefits and drawbacks of using P3s, current trends and past performance of P3s in the procurement of state transportation infrastructure projects, and common legislative statutes relating to P3s. The team reviewed literature that broadly related to privatization. Then they defined P3s according to the parameters laid out by the Federal Highways Administration (FHWA). This report contains: 1) guidance and best practices that can be used to help ensure successful P3 implementation, 2) case studies that describe P3 experiences and lessons learned, 3) a list of factors that policymakers should consider as they deliberate on whether a P3 is the best procurement option for specific projects. The research conclusively demonstrated that P3s have become more widely used for transportation infrastructure projects in the United States in recent years. Policymakers must thoughtfully weigh risks and benefits before approving P3 agreements. If Kentucky moves ahead with a transportation P3 program, future research would be geared toward studying the performance of projects and toward gathering lessons learned. KW - Best practices KW - Case studies KW - Construction projects KW - Implementation KW - Infrastructure KW - Kentucky KW - Legislation KW - Literature reviews KW - Privatization KW - Public private partnerships KW - States UR - http://www.ktc.uky.edu/files/2015/08/KTC_15_13_SPR15_500_1F.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366868 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574369 AU - Green, Eric R AU - Blackden, Chris AU - Fields, Michael A AU - University of Kentucky, Lexington AU - Kentucky Transportation Cabinet AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Spatial Database For Intersections PY - 2015/08//Research Report SP - 26p AB - Deciding which intersections in the state of Kentucky warrant safety improvements requires a comprehensive inventory with information on every intersection in the public roadway network. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) had previously cataloged only those intersections where state-maintained roadways met. However, this inventory did not account for intersections between state- and locally-maintained routes, nor was it designed to accommodate regular updates. As such, the Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) at the University of Kentucky developed a methodology to create and maintain a full inventory of every intersection in the state. The database contains precise location information as well as several safety and operational attributes for each point of an intersection. By replicating the topology factors used in the Highway Safety Manual (HSM), the research team categorized every intersection type, and developed Safety Performance Functions (SPF) for each intersection type. The SPFs were used to rank each intersection. It is anticipated that this project’s deliverables will be used to increase KYTC’s ability to effectively allocate funds to maintain and improve intersection safety. Making the database available to expert users will allow continuous improvements. In the future, annual average daily traffic (AADT) data and traffic control information could be included. KW - Databases KW - Highway safety KW - Intersections KW - Kentucky KW - Methodology KW - Safety Performance Functions UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366909 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574361 AU - Martin, Andrew AU - Walton, Jennifer AU - Keathley, Valerie AU - University of Kentucky, Lexington AU - Kentucky Transportation Cabinet AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Redefining Commercial Vehicle Permitting and Credentialing Violations PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 81p AB - The objective of this study was to analyze enforcement and adjudication of common commercial vehicle tax, credentialing, and safety offenses. This study examined violations of the International Fuel Tax Agreement and the Kentucky Intrastate Tax, Kentucky’s weight distance tax, Unified Carrier Registration, Kentucky size and weight laws, and federal safety regulations from 2004 to 2013. Statistical analysis showed declining conviction rates, increasing dismissal rates, and a drop in collections of court costs and fines associated with these offenses. In addition, adjudication varied significantly from district court to district court, which is creating an equity issue for motor carriers and the drivers who operate in Kentucky. Surveys of other states and conversations with Kentucky officials were used to develop two policy alternatives to the current system. The first policy is a piecemeal reform of current practices, and the second policy establishes a civil penalties system where a review board adjudicates commercial vehicle offenses in lieu of district courts. An implementation analysis shows the latter would be a more equitable, efficient, and fiscally responsible alternative to current practices. KW - Adjudication KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Commercial vehicles KW - International Fuel Tax Agreement KW - Kentucky KW - Permits KW - Policy KW - Size and weight regulations KW - States KW - Statistical analysis KW - Taxes KW - Traffic law enforcement KW - Traffic violations UR - http://www.ktc.uky.edu/files/2015/08/KTC_15_17_SPR14_489_1F.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366867 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574117 AU - Higgins, Christopher AU - Amneus, Deanna AU - Barker, Laura AU - Oregon State University, Corvallis AU - Oregon Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Methods for Strengthening Reinforced Concrete Bridge Girders Containing Poorly Detailed Flexural Steel Using Near-Surface Mounted Metallics PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 154p AB - Many older reinforced concrete deck girder (RCDG) bridges contain straight-bar terminations of flexural reinforcement in flexural tension zones without special detailing. Common bridge design practice of the 1950s did not consider the additional demands on the terminated bars from shear and flexure. Moreover, application of modern design code provisions and use of heavier trucks contribute to insufficient bridge load ratings when evaluating flexural anchorages in existing RCDG bridges. Replacement of bridges with poor ratings due to localized deficiencies is not economically feasible and thus strengthening methods are necessary. The goal of this research was to investigate methods for strengthening deficient flexural steel anchorages using supplemental surface bonded metallic reinforcing bars. Full-scale reinforced concrete girder specimens with typical vintage details and materials were used as test specimens. The specimens were constructed with flexural anchorage deficiencies by terminating some of the embedded flexural bars past a 45° preformed diagonal crack. The terminated bars had only one-third of the code-prescribed development length past the diagonal crack. A strengthening technique called near-surface mounting (NSM) was applied to the specimens. Two metallic materials were selected for the NSM reinforcement: titanium and stainless steel. These materials were chosen because of their high strength, ductility, environmental durability, and ability to form mechanical hooks at the ends of the bars. This study found that the NSM strengthening technique with metallic materials increased the deformation and load capacity of all specimens. In addition, a case study was performed to demonstrate the flexural strengthening for the Mosier Bridge overcrossing of I84 in Oregon. The case study demonstrated that the techniques and materials applied to the girder were able to achieve the required strength and provided good deformation capacity. KW - Bridge anchorages KW - Case studies KW - Deformation KW - Flexural strength KW - Girders KW - Oregon KW - Reinforced concrete bridges KW - Reinforcing bars KW - Strengthening (Maintenance) UR - http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TP_RES/ResearchReports/SPR750_AppendicesA.pdf UR - http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TP_RES/ResearchReports/SPR750_AppendicesB-D.pdf UR - http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TP_RES/ResearchReports/SPR750_Final_StengtheningGirders.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364706 ER - TY - SER AN - 01574032 JO - TechBrief PB - Federal Highway Administration TI - Safety Evaluation of Access Management Policies and Techniques PY - 2015/08 SP - 20p AB - While the operational effects of access management have been investigated quantitatively through different modeling and analysis approaches, there have been few scientifically rigorous evaluations to quantify safety effectiveness, particularly for corridor access management. The Federal Highway Administration initiated this study to help fill some of the research gaps, namely quantifying the safety impacts of corridor access management decisions. The objective of this research was to develop corridor-level crash prediction models to evaluate the potential safety effects of access management strategies. Agencies can apply the algorithms to assess the safety impacts of their decisions related to access management. The intent of this study was to focus on corridors based on functional classification, area type, and land use. All corridors included in this study are functionally classified as arterials and fall under one of nine area type/land use scenarios. KW - Access control (Transportation) KW - Algorithms KW - Arterial highways KW - Crash risk forecasting KW - Evaluation KW - Highway safety KW - Land use UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/15038/15038.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363946 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574015 AU - Dixon, Karen AU - Monsere, Chris AU - Avelar, Raul AU - Barnett, Joel AU - Escobar, Paty AU - Kothuri, Sirisha AU - Wang, Yi AU - Oregon Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Improved Safety Performance Functions for Signalized Intersections PY - 2015/08//Final Report SP - 182p AB - For this effort, the research team developed new safety performance functions (SPFs) for signalized intersections in Oregon. The modeling dataset consisted of 964 crashes from a total of 73 intersections that were randomly selected based on the presence of a traffic signal (identified through the crash data records). The SPFs were developed using a Poisson-lognormal Generalized Linear Mixed model framework for total crashes and severe injury crashes (coded as KAB). Three SPFs were developed: 1) an SPF for total crashes, which relies on both major and minor Average Annual Daily Traffics (AADTs) to predict the expected number of crashes; 2) an SPF for KAB crashes, whose predictions derive from both AADTs as well as from the speed limit on the major road; and (3) a severity model to predict the proportion of KAB crashes to be used in combination with the SPF for total crashes. The research analyses determined that the speed limit variable significantly improved the quality of the SPFs and severity model, and as expected, suggests increasing severity with speed differentials. The models were validated spatially and temporally based on additional sites and using an additional year of data. The models all performed well during the validation; however enhanced models to improve model reliability were developed based on the larger dataset. As part of the model development, this research also explored a variety of rules to identify crashes as intersection-related based on the crash geo-location (including the common 250 feet rule). Crashes were manually classified from the combined data available from the geo-location of crashes, the geometric database, and the various fields in the Oregon crash database. These classifications were then compared to a number of rule options for classifying them as intersection crashes. The analysis revealed that the best performing rule is to use crashes that were geo-located within 300 feet of the centerline intersection at signalized locations plus crashes where the crash report indicates that they were associated with a traffic control device (i.e. traffic signal). Finally, this research effort developed models to estimate minor road AADT for use in safety analysis where this exposure information is not available. These models were developed from data from 66 intersections with known minor and major AADT volumes and validated with data from another 25 intersections. Significant model variables included major AADT, number of approach lanes, functional class, presence of a two-way left-turn lane, and parallel road AADT. KW - Annual average daily traffic KW - Crash severity KW - Data analysis KW - Highway safety KW - Oregon KW - Poisson distributions KW - Safety Performance Functions KW - Signalized intersections KW - Traffic crashes KW - Validation UR - http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TP_RES/ResearchReports/SPR756_Appendix_E_Final_Report.pdf UR - http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TP_RES/ResearchReports/SPR756_Appendix_F_Final_Report.pdf UR - http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TP_RES/ResearchReports/SPR756_FINAL_LP_081015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366333 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01572157 TI - Providing Support to the Introduction of CV/AV Impacts into Regional Transportation Planning and Modeling Tools AB - Under requirements for long range transportation planning established by Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) Federal Statewide and Metropolitan Planning regulations, State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) and regional metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) are required to have a multimodal transportation plan with a minimum 20-year time horizon. Current estimates are that vehicles with varying levels of connectivity and automation will be present on the highway system in significant numbers well before the year 2035, the minimum time horizon for plans initiated in the current year. Consequently, there is an urgent need for guidance on how to incorporate the impacts of automated vehicles (AVs) and connected vehicles (CVs) into the planning process, especially with the aim of updating the regional modeling and forecasting processes and support the development of long-term transportation plans. The content of this task is particularly critical considering the large changes in infrastructure needs and travel demand possible with the introduction and gradual adoption of AVs and CVs. Limited experiences have been developed, to date, by some agencies and selected research institutions in this area, but the experiences to date appear to be partial, and largely based on different modeling assumptions. The objective of this task is to provide support to State departments of transportation (DOTs) and regional metropolitan (MPOs) in the form of appropriate guidelines and information related to the updates needed in their modeling and forecasting tools, in order to more appropriately account for the expected impacts of AV and CV on transportation supply, road capacity, and travel demand components. As part of this task, the contractor will develop the theoretical basis and specifications to include automated vehicles and connected vehicles as available modes in models to estimate travel demand and network performance, and identify the data needs (including both an assessment of potentially already available data and data that will become available in future years) required to support the re-estimation/update of the modeling frameworks. The final report will provide guidance to planning agencies, state DOT and regional MPO modeling offices and consultants, and will identify a set of guidelines that will assure appropriate updates and modifications are introduced in models used in different regions, in a consistent way across different regions and contexts.The contractor will work in cooperation with the project panel in identifying the high-level goals for the development of the guidelines for updating regional transportation modeling frameworks. Based on this interaction with and feedback from the panel, the contractor will define a comprehensive framework of suggested adjustments and modifications, and specific guidelines on how to implement them in state-of-the-art travel demand modeling frameworks, that should be introduced in order to properly account for the various forecastable impacts CVs and AVs on transportation systems. Such modifications relate to robust ways to model issues that include, and are not necessarily limited to, infrastructure capacity for different road types, regulations for the use of CVs and AVs (e.g. dedicated lanes, eventual restrictions on the use of these vehicles on specific types of infrastructures, etc.), vehicle ownership, adoption of car-sharing programs, travel demand by mode, vehicle occupancy, evaluation of choice attributes, value of travel time, among others. Additional considerations relevant to the development of this task include ways to realistically model (1) the market for vehicle ownership and how these vehicles will be used; (2) how AV use will impact other modes, including non-automated vehicles, transit, and non-vehicular modes; (3) the additional capabilities of CVs and AVs to adapt en-route to changing traffic conditions will require additional feedback into the models for assignment of vehicle trips to the road network. KW - Advanced vehicle control systems KW - Automobile ownership KW - Dedicated lanes KW - Intelligent vehicles KW - Metropolitan planning organizations KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Regional transportation KW - State departments of transportation KW - Travel demand UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4008 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363713 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01571987 TI - Implications of Automation for Motor Vehicle Codes AB - Existing motor vehicle codes have been developed based on implicit assumptions about drivers maintaining continuous involvement in the driving task and continuous responsibility for managing traffic safety hazards. Automated driving systems significantly reduce the role of the driver, which means that some of these codes will need to be reconsidered. The incorporation of driving behavior into in-vehicle software also generates pressure to harmonize the rules of the road across jurisdictions so that manufacturers will be able to develop a single automated driving system for use in all jurisdictions. The objective of this research is to develop recommendations for harmonizing motor vehicle laws and regulations related to connected vehicles (CV) and automated vehicles (AV). Each recommendation should be fully documented with explanations of its rationale. This project should proceed from identification of existing laws and regulations that may need reconsideration as CVs and AVs become more widely used to focusing on specific recommendations for how these codes should be changed (and how soon). Although the primary focus should be on state laws and regulations, examples of local statutes and regulations should also be considered. KW - Advanced vehicle control systems KW - Behavior KW - Drivers KW - Intelligent vehicles KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Regulations KW - Vehicle safety UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4006 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363593 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01571986 TI - Dedicating Lanes for Priority or Exclusive Use by CVs and AVs AB - Converting existing general-purpose highway lanes to more restrictive access for use only by certain vehicles or travelers has been politically unacceptable ever since the disastrous initial attempt to convert a lane of the Santa Monica Freeway to HOV-only use forty years ago. Since connected vehicles (CV) and automated vehicles (AV) systems can work much more effectively and provide much higher lane capacity when the equipped vehicles are clustered in close proximity to each other in the same lane, these technologies provide new motivations to convert lanes from general use to more specialized uses. The issue of dedicated lanes needs to be restudied now in light of these developments, to develop more authoritative estimates of the benefits that could be gained and of the disadvantages to the general purpose road users who would be excluded from those lanes. The objective of this research is to develop guidance on the conditions that appear to be amenable to dedicating lanes for CV/AV users and what policy actions are needed to make this feasible. The deliverables should describe how benefits to CV/AV users in the dedicated lanes and possible dis-benefits to non-users as a function of market penetration could be estimated. KW - Automated vehicle control KW - Benefits KW - Dedicated lanes KW - High occupancy vehicle lanes KW - Highway capacity KW - Intelligent vehicles KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Santa Monica Freeway UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4007 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363592 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580878 AU - Schmidt, Jennifer D AU - Faller, Ronald K AU - Reid, John D AU - Lechtenberg, Karla A AU - Rosenbaugh, Scott K AU - Bielenberg, Robert W AU - Holloway, Jim C AU - Kohtz, Justine E AU - Midwest Roadside Safety Facility AU - Nebraska Department of Roads AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Design and Evaluation of an Energy-Absorbing, Reusable Roadside/Median Barrier PY - 2015/07/29/Final Report SP - 165p AB - Further design and evaluation was conducted on an energy-absorbing, restorable and reusable roadside/median barrier, designated the RESTORE barrier. A series of dynamic component tests were conducted on 11⅝-in. (295-mm) tall x 10-in. (254-mm) wide x 15¾-in. (400-mm) long rubber posts to characterize their energy-absorption properties. A hybrid precast concrete beam and steel tube rail was optimized to meet the design criteria for the new system. Several concrete beam splices were evaluated using LS-DYNA to add continuity to the concrete beam segments. A 240-ft (73-m) barrier model was created, and the barrier performance was evaluated with TL-4 impacts with the 1100C, 2270P, and 10000S vehicle models. The 1100C and 2270P vehicle models were successfully captured and redirected, while the 10000S single-unit truck demonstrated likelihood to be contained by the barrier and began to redirect. The occupant risk values for the passenger vehicle impacts were up to 28 percent lower than what occurred in a comparable simulated impact into a rigid concrete barrier. The full-scale system was installed, and the stability of the system was evaluated. The final design is recommended for full-scale crash testing according to the MASH TL-4 criteria. KW - Crash victim simulation KW - Design KW - Dynamic tests KW - Energy absorption KW - Evaluation KW - Highway safety KW - Impact tests KW - Median barriers KW - Precast concrete KW - Simulation KW - Steel rails UR - http://www.transportation.nebraska.gov/mat-n-tests/research/Design/FinalReportDPU-STWD%2894%29Phase%20III.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373773 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01573850 TI - Mobile Source Air Toxics Research, Analysis and Outreach AB - The purpose of this research project is to build on the current state of the practice and activities that the transportation community is undertaking as it relates to Mobile Source Air Toxins (MSAT) emissions analysis. The goal is to use case studies and the recent Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator (MOVES2014) model and other research efforts to update information provided to transportation practitioners and stakeholders. The required use of MOVES2014 and the need to provide technical assistance to the users of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) MSAT Interim Guidance will also mean that the interim guidance and existing tools need to be updated. Evaluation of the National Near Road Detroit data will be used to enhance understanding of the emissions in the near road environment. Additionally, an assessment will be conducted of MSAT technical assistance and resources currently available, and two supporting documents on the FHWA Air Toxics webpage will be updated. KW - Case studies KW - Detroit (Michigan) KW - Environmental impacts KW - Mobile Source Air Toxics KW - Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator (MOVES) KW - Pollutants KW - State of the practice KW - Technical assistance UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366917 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01599122 TI - Work Zone Intrusion Alert Technologies: Assessment and Practical Guidance AB - The overall goal of the research is to assist Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) with enhancing the safety of motorists and workers in construction work zones on high-speed roadways. To meet this goal, the proposed research intends to assess the value and capabilities of an engineered control used in work zones. Specifically, the proposed research study is designed to provide ODOT traffic control, construction, and maintenance staff with guidance on the use of an intrusion alert system in work zones. KW - High speed vehicles KW - Highway traffic control KW - Oregon KW - Oregon Department of Transportation KW - Warning systems KW - Work zone safety KW - Work zones UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1408119 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576173 AU - Andrew, James AU - Simmons, Erica AU - Rasmussen, Benjamin AU - Volpe National Transportation Systems Center AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Integration Plan for the Mid-Region Council of Governments: Central New Mexico Climate Change Scenario Planning Project PY - 2015/07/27 SP - 40p AB - This Integration Plan for the Central New Mexico Climate Change Scenario Planning Project (CCSP) provides useful information on strategies that the Mid-Region Council of Governments (MRCOG) and its partners can pursue over the next five years to adapt regional policies, programs, and data collection procedures to further the goals of environmental protection, climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, and resiliency. These strategies will help MRCOG further integrate these goals into its next metropolitan transportation plan (MTP). This Integration Plan explores potential implementation strategies for the following policy focus areas.: (1) Transportation Climate Change Adaptation Assessment; (2) Mitigating Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions from Electricity Generation; (3) Incentivizing Transit-Oriented Activity Centers; (4) Open Space Preservation Programs and Policies; and (5) Green Infrastructure Investments. KW - Air quality management KW - Climate change KW - Data collection KW - Environmental policy KW - Land use planning KW - New Mexico KW - Regional planning KW - Sustainable development KW - Transit oriented development KW - Transportation planning KW - Travel demand management UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55300/55338/MRCOG_IntegrationPlan.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1369012 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01598836 TI - Research for the AASHTO Standing Committee on Planning. Task 132. Understanding Changes in Youth Mobility AB - Studies find that in recent decades young adults in North America, Australia and much of Europe are becoming less likely to hold a driver’s license and less likely to drive than previous generations. For example between 1995 and 2010, driver licensing rates for Americans under the age of 20 have declined 1.2% per annum and for those aged 20-29 at a rate of 0.6% per annum). Little is known, however, about the underlying causes of this trend and the effects of these changes on young adults and the transportation system more generally. It is also unclear whether this trend is likely to continue as Generation Y reaches adulthood, and among future generations of youth. While researchers have given considerable attention to identifying and understanding patterns of travel behavior among diverse population groups including children, research on the mobility of teenagers and young adults is limited. Youth have unique travel needs as they transition from dependence on their parents to independent adult mobility. Unlike previous generations, today’s young adults are making their transition to independent mobility during the most unwelcoming job market since the Great Depression; they are the first generation to have never known a world without the Internet; and they face greater hurdles to driver’s licensing than any other generation. Current research on youth tends to focus on teen driver safety or programs such as Safe Routes to School, yet these studies have limited generalizability to broader questions of youth mobility. Generation Y has now surpassed the baby boomers as America’s largest generation. Understanding the current and evolving transportation needs of this generation will help inform transportation planning, project design, and operations that will increase safety, mobility and access for this unique population. Decisions about priorities for the future transportation system must respond to changing travel behavior patterns. The challenges of constrained resources make forward-thinking and strategic decision making all the more relevant. The objectives of this research are to (1) better understand the changing mobility patterns of teens and young adults and the linkages to economic, social, and health effects; (2) highlight current best practices in transportation planning that addresses on youth mobility; and (3) identify potential strategies to better align planned and existing transportation systems with the needs of this demographic. KW - Adolescents KW - Best practices KW - Demographics KW - Driver licensing KW - Mobility KW - Travel behavior KW - Travel patterns KW - Young adults UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4075 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1406512 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01571699 TI - Research for the AASHTO Standing Committee on the Environment. Task 99. Lessons Learned from State DOT NEPA Assumption AB - The objective of this research is to share lessons learned from State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) who have applied or are in the process of applying for the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) assumption with other states who are considering assumption. Information will be shared in at least the following 3 ways: (1) a peer exchange, (2) a white paper, and (3) a webinar. The webinar and white paper will explain the process of obtaining delegation, primary considerations, and an evaluation of what responsibilities can be delegated, existing flexibilities, challenges, risks and benefits. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and state DOTs are looking for opportunities to streamline transportation projects during the NEPA process. To increase opportunities, Section 6004 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users Act (SAFETEA-LU), codified as 23 USC 326, allowed FHWA to assign authorities related to Categorical Exclusions (CE). To gain this authority, state DOTs enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with FHWA, which delineates the responsibilities to be delegated to the state. Section 6005 of SAFETEA-LU, now 23 USC 327, assigned Federal NEPA responsibilities for one or more highway projects to five states under a delegation pilot program: Alaska, California, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Texas. Currently, Alaska, California, Utah and Texas have received this assigned authority. Since the provision was enacted, California applied for and received authority to participate in both delegation programs. The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) began operating on this assigned authority in July 2007 and this authority has been extended to January 2017. The delegation of authority allows Caltrans to assume FHWA responsibilities under NEPA and other Federal environmental laws for CE transportation projects as well as for those requiring Environmental Assessments (EA) or Environmental Impact Statements (EIS). The program has successfully reduced the time required to prepare EAs and EISs. The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) amended this program to make it permanent and allow all state DOTs to assume federal DOT responsibilities under NEPA. Texas is finalizing its MOU with FHWA for NEPA assignment and several other states are interested in pursuing NEPA assignment. Because NEPA delegation is a technique that can help streamline the NEPA process, a number of state DOTs have expressed interest in understanding the risks and benefits of NEPA delegation as well as the process required to obtain NEPA responsibility from FHWA. Disseminating lessons learned would be beneficial to state DOTs that are considering NEPA assumption. KW - Benefits KW - Environmental impacts KW - Information dissemination KW - Lessons learned KW - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) KW - National Environmental Policy Act KW - Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3974 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363277 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01599184 AU - Schroeder, Bastian J AU - O'Brien, Sarah Worth AU - Findley, Daniel J AU - North Carolina State University, Raleigh AU - North Carolina Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - North Carolina Pedestrian Crossing Guidance PY - 2015/07/20/Final Report SP - 95p AB - This research report is geared at providing guidance to North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) for when to consider marking crosswalks at uncontrolled approaches for pedestrians, installing pedestrian signal heads at existing signalized intersections, or providing supplemental treatments at a crossing location. The primary deliverable of the project, the crosswalk assessment flowchart, is intended to be a self-contained, wall-mounted poster that fully describes most aspects of the evaluation and decision-making process. This report is intended to supplement that flowchart, providing background for the flowchart with references to research and underlying data used to develop the guidance. The guidelines principally consist of four parts: Step 1) Document Existing Characteristics / Signalized Crossing Assessment, Step 2) Unsignalized Crossing or Midblock Crossing Assessment, Step 3) Additional / Alternative Treatments Assessment, and Step 4) Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon (PHB) Assessment. KW - Crosswalks KW - Decision support systems KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Guidelines KW - Midblock crossings KW - North Carolina KW - Signalized intersections KW - Unsignalized intersections UR - https://connect.ncdot.gov/projects/planning/Pages/ProjDetails.aspx?ProjectID=2014-15 UR - https://connect.ncdot.gov/resources/safety/Teppl/TEPPL%20All%20Documents%20Library/Pedestrian_Crossing_Guidance.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1407608 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01594133 AU - Schneider, Helmut AU - Pfetzer, Emily AU - Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge AU - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development AU - National Center for Intermodal Transportation for Economic Competitiveness AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Drugged Driving in Louisiana: Quantification of its Impact on Public Health and Implications for Legislation, Enforcement and Prosecution PY - 2015/07/20/Final Report SP - 155p AB - Drugged driving, i.e., driving under the influence of drugs, is considered a rising public health issue in the US and the rest of the world, yet due to underreporting and limitations of existing data, not much is known about the frequency of drugged driving and how it affects public safety is not yet clear. While the federal government has encouraged states to enact zero-tolerance drugged driving laws, the lack of clarity surrounding the effects of drugs on driving abilities as well a lack of empirical evidence about the efficacy of such laws indicate more research is necessary. Using Louisiana as a case study, this report provides important insight into the state of knowledge about drugged driving, the limitations to current data collection practices and how to proceed from here. There are two main goals: first, evaluate laws and policies about drugged driving and through a series of interviews with prosecutors, defense attorneys, police, and the public, identify obstacles to zero-tolerance legislation in Louisiana; and second, analyze the frequency of drugged driving in Louisiana and other states where data is publicly available to identify ways to improve data collection. Analysis of data from the Louisiana State Crime Lab as well as other available sources provide a preliminary baseline estimate about the frequency and nature of drug-impaired driving in Louisiana. Findings indicate substantial disparities exist among parishes in terms of the number of drug-impaired driving arrests and the quality of evidence submitted for testing, which reflects a lack of standardized procedures and an uneven distribution of resources. This study compares the prior DWI arrests, speeding violations and crashes of drivers who tested positive for various drugs to all other drivers. While there are substantial limitations to the analysis, particularly in sample size and selection, the findings suggest the drivers arrested for drugged driving have higher rates of prior unsafe driving incidents than all other drivers. Survey interviews with the target populations reveal an overall lack of training, resources, and testing capacities in Louisiana, as well as a wide range of concerns about per se laws. This study contributes a clearer understanding of existing data limitations and challenges with which states must contend, and presents a series of recommendations for developing a comprehensive approach to dealing with drug-impaired driving in Louisiana and other states moving forward. KW - Analysis KW - Case studies KW - Data collection KW - Drugged drivers KW - Law enforcement KW - Laws and legislation KW - Louisiana KW - Prosecution KW - Public health KW - Recommendations KW - Surveys KW - Traffic crashes UR - http://www.ncitec.msstate.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013-45FR.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1400766 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01596826 AU - Gantla, Snehalatha AU - Reyna, Monica AU - McNamee, Liza Nirelli AU - Wulfhorst, J D AU - Foltz, Barbara E AU - University of Idaho, Moscow AU - Idaho Transportation Department AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Idaho Transportation Department, Division of Motor Vehicles – 2015 Customer Satisfaction Survey PY - 2015/07/16/Final Report SP - 186p AB - In the fall of 2014, the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) commissioned a statewide customer satisfaction survey of Idaho residents to assess their perception of the Division of Motor Vehicles’ (DMV) performance in several key areas of customer service. This study repeats a similar study conducted in 2011 and 2009, and is part of an effort to track changes in customer satisfaction over time. Most areas of service of the DMV were rated relatively highly, with majority of respondents awarding a grade of “A” or “B.” This report also provides recommendations with how ITD could continue to improve in the various areas of customer service. KW - Customer satisfaction KW - Customer service KW - Idaho Division of Motor Vehicles KW - Idaho Transportation Department KW - Recommendations KW - State departments of transportation KW - State motor vehicle departments KW - Surveys UR - https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.uidaho.edu/~/media/UIdaho-Responsive/Files/cals/Programs/SSRU/ITD-2015-Customer-Satisfaction-Report-7-16-15.ashx&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwi07puH0efRAhVlz1QKHd-ZBFcQFggFMAA&client=internal-uds-cse&usg=AFQjCNHX1RnsisBSVA_vZ9t6F-_NbUdSiw UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1403011 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580955 AU - Gentry, Lance AU - Heartland Market Research LLC AU - Missouri Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - A Report Card from Missourians - 2015 PY - 2015/07/16/Final Report SP - 140p AB - Overall statewide satisfaction with Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) and additional feedback about MoDOT’s operations was obtained from a representative sample of the general adult public in Missouri. A professional calling center was engaged to obtain a diverse sample across Missouri. Specific minimums were given, such as 500 responses per district, with gender and age-range targets for each county in Missouri. 3,527 completed responses were obtained between May 18, 2015 and June 22, 2015. With the exception of a few questions (e.g., demographics), all statewide results presented in this document are weighted results. The data was weighted in accordance with the true distribution of the regional population in terms of geographic (county), gender, and age distributions using the most recent (2010) US government census information available. Following past practice, all district measures presented in this document are unweighted. With a minimum of 500 responses per district, the district measures have a 95% level of confidence with a precision (margin of error) of +/- 4.4%. The statewide results for the stratified-random sample of 3,527 Missourians have a 95% level of confidence with a precision of +/- 1.65%. KW - Age groups KW - Customer satisfaction KW - Financing KW - Gender KW - Methodology KW - Missouri Department of Transportation KW - Surveys KW - Trend (Statistics) UR - http://library.modot.mo.gov/RDT/reports/tryy1228/2015/cmr15-012_FinalReport_red.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373133 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01569561 TI - Reducing Stormwater Runoff and Pollutant Loading with Biochar Addition to Highway Greenways AB - This project will develop and demonstrate the application of a biochar to highway soils to increase stormwater infiltration and reduce the quantity and improve the quality (reduced nutrients) of stormwater runoff. Work in this stage 1 will quantify the effect of biochar amendment on the hydrologic properties of soils typically found along highway greenways in the mid-Atlantic region. Cylindrical columns (5 cm in diameter and 7 cm in length) will be packed with three reference soils (sand, loamy sand, and sandy clay loam). For each column, standard soil testing procedures will be used to measure water retention and saturated hydraulic conductivity. A hanging column, pressure plate extractor, and dew point potentiometer will be used to measure the complete water retention curve for each type of sediment. Biochar-amended sediments will also be prepared and tested, where 2 and 5% by weight of wood-derived biochar is added to each sediment material before column packing. Pressure-saturation permeability models will be fitted to laboratory data to predict water retention and infiltration data for biochar-amended soils in the field. In addition to quantifying the effect of biochar on hydrological properties of these three representative highway greenway soils, pilot-scale experiments will be designed to evaluate the impact of bicohar-amended greenways on stormwater runoff. The experimental system will be designed, including the selection of grasses and hydrological measurement devices, to be tested in Stage 2. In this stage, four 100 × 40 × 10 cm (length × width × thickness) plot-sized highway greenways will be constructed for laboratory testing, following the designs developed in Stage 1. Two such devices will be constructed using one of the sediments tested in the laboratory column experiments: one filled with unamended sediment, and one filled with sediment amended with 5% by weight biochar, using the same biochar tested in the column experiments. With the other two devices a second set of experiments will be conducted with a different sediment. Each laboratory greenway will be underlain by a series of screens/filter fabric that permit water drainage but inhibit sediment passage. The laboratory greenway will be sloped and include vertical panes on three of the four sides, so that any runoff will exit only from one end of the greenway. Simulated rainfall-runoff experiments will be conducted in these setups to quantify the impact of biochar amendment on (1) water infiltration, (2) quantity of stormwater runoff, and (3) quality of stormwater runoff, primarily concentration of important nitrogen species. Experiments will be conducted for approximately 12 months to quantify any temporal changes in performance due to changes in soil microbiology and soil structure. Finally, based on Stage 2 results, an engineering cost analysis and regulatory analysis will be conducted to assess the feasibility of employing biochar amendments to highway greenways soils for reduction in stormwater runoff. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - biochar KW - Detention basins KW - Middle Atlantic States KW - Permeability coefficient KW - Pollutants KW - Rainfall KW - Runoff KW - Soil structure UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3991 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1361067 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01569560 TI - A Radiofrequency Identification (RFID) Detection System for Assessing Scour Countermeasures and the Stability of Hydraulic Structures AB - This project will develop and demonstrate the application of an integrated remote-sensing system based on radio frequency identification (RFID) technology for monitoring, inspection, and life estimation of hydraulic structures for developing an effective scour countermeasure strategy. Work in Stage 1 will focus on improving the hardware and software of the RFID system and testing the system in the laboratory. The sensors (transponders) of the RFID system will be enhanced by adding the "awake-up" function for selectively detecting a transponder, an inclinometer for automatically measuring the angle of the transponder axis relative to the antenna, an automated readout of the RF Return Signal Strength Indication (RSSI). Furthermore, the most appropriate chemical compound for protecting the transponders against moisture buildup, vibrations and extremely low temperatures will be identified to encapsulate the transponders. A multiplexer will be integrated with the RFID system base station (reader) to allow the connection of three antennas to the reader. A software package with Graphical User Interface (GUI) previously developed in-house for controlling the RFID system will be improved for displaying and storing the transponder inclination and RSSI readings from all three antennas connected via the multiplexer. These readings will be utilized by the software for estimating the distances of a transponder from the three antennas. A triangulation algorithm based on the circumcircle triangle theory will be incorporated into the software package for determining first the geospatial x, y and z and subsequently the global positioning system (GPS) coordinates of the transponders. Experimentation in a laboratory flume will be conducted to estimate the depth and three-dimensional (3D) geometry of the scour hole, as well as the potential subsidence of model hydraulic structures replicating prototypical structures (to be monitored in the field during Stage 2). The enhanced transponders will be buried around and placed within the model structures for estimating the scour hole depth and their potential subsidence, respectively, using the RSSI and inclination measurements from three antennas. The evolution of the scour hole 3D geometry will be captured by following a 3D Langrangian geospatial approach, where a large number of small transponders will be released into the scour hole and interrogated continuously. The scour hole geometry derived from the Langrangian geospatial approach will be verified using an ultrasonic ranging system. Work in Stage 2 will focus on the application and testing of the RFID technology for monitoring scour around hydraulic structures in the field, and on the dissemination and transfer of the developed technology. Through collaboration with the Washington State Department of Transportation, the improved RFID system, developed in Stage 1, will be used to evaluate the maximum depth and the evolution of the scour hole as well as the potential subsidence of Engineered Log Jam (ELJ) structures, which will be constructed at Mile Post (MP) 100.7 of Skagit River, WA. An RFID reader base station will be installed at the field site along with three antennas overlooking a series of transponders buried at predetermined depths within the sediment bed in the vicinity of the ELJ structures. To improve the field practicality of the system, the RFID system power supply will be constantly charged by a solar panel and remote data transmission will be ensured by a wireless data transmission system via satellite communication. The displacement of the transponders from their original locations due to scour action will be detected by the RFID reader, and will, in turn, be estimated through RSSI and inclination measurements from the three antennas yielding the scour depth. Additional transponders will be placed within the ELJ structures to evaluate their potential subsidence. Upon detection of scour from the installed transponder RSSI readings, the evolution of the 3D scour hole geometry will be monitored following the Langrangian geospatial approach, for which a large number of transponders will be released within the scour hole and continuously tracked. The scour hole geometry determined via the Langrangian geospatial approach will be verified using standard surveying practices and sonar surveys. Technology transfer efforts will be focused on building awareness and persuading potential users, such as the Tennessee Department of Transportation, of the capabilities of this technology. As part of these technology transfer efforts, validation experiments using the RFID system will be conducted at the large-scale flume of the J. Sterling Jones Hydraulics Laboratory of the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, where key personnel will also be trained in the use of the system. The final report will provide all data and results and plans for implementation of the technology by state departments of transportation (DOTs). KW - Global Positioning System KW - Graphical user interfaces KW - Hydraulic structures KW - Moisture content KW - Radio frequency identification KW - Remote sensing KW - Scour KW - State departments of transportation KW - Tennessee Department of Transportation KW - Transponders KW - Washington State Department of Transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3992 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1361066 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01569559 TI - Synthetic Household Travel Data Using Consumer and Mobile Phone Data AB - his project will develop and demonstrate the application of a discrete event simulation and data fusion system for synthesizing individual travel diaries from multiple passive data sources, including consumer and anonymous location data. Work in Stage 1 will focus on selecting a test region and prepare data for the synthesizing process. A study area will be defined in the Seattle metropolitan region that is larger in land and population size than the proof-of-concept study. Data and licenses will be obtained from providers. Some of the input data will be collected through APIs over at least one month to obtain historical distributions. The other input data will be obtained as flat data files from providers. The code and processes for collecting data will be adjusted for different time zones and for different geography definitions based on query limits. Work in Stage 2 will focus on implementing the existing system, which was built for a small study area in the Atlanta metropolitan region, in the larger Seattle study area. The system will be adjusted where required to carry out implementation in a different, larger region. The focus will be on evaluating the transferability of the prototype across different regions to develop a process that is consistent and systematic in producing locally sensitive and representative data. The Seattle synthetic household travel data will be evaluated against the Atlanta synthetic household travel data to identify the key similarities, differences, successes, and failures of the prototype. A Plans for implementation by metropolitan planning organizations and potentially state departments of transportation will be outlined, if successful. KW - Atlanta Metropolitan Area KW - Data fusion KW - Metropolitan planning organizations KW - Seattle (Washington) KW - Smartphones KW - State departments of transportation KW - Travel diaries UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3993 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1361065 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01569558 TI - CurvePortal for Automated Identification and Extraction of Horizontal Curve Information AB - This project will develop a prototype of CurvePortal, a web interface for extracting horizontal curve location and geometric information automatically from geographic information system (GIS) roadway maps with improved curve data extraction algorithm. Work in Stage 1 will focus on incorporating and validating MIRE (Model Inventory of Roadway Elements) compatibility and improving the curve data extraction algorithm, especially increasing its accuracy when applied on low-quality GIS roadway maps. The extracted curve data will include MIRE curve types as well as all MIRE horizontal curve elements, except for superelevation which can only be obtained from field survey. To improve the curve data extraction algorithm, addition of artificial intelligence components to the algorithm will be explored to address the centerline deviation issue. Other methods, such as image processing-based methods, will be explored to identify spaced-out centerline segments and improve the resolution of the GIS centerline feature. In addition, calibration automation, given the availability of ground truth data, will be added to the application and tested. Manual work will be performed to obtain sets of ground truth data for calibration (possible source can be aerial/satellite images). Work in this stage will focus on developing a prototype of CurvePortal, a web application which can be accessed by transportation agencies to upload their GIS roadway shapefiles for curve data extraction. CurvePortal will be developed with user interface for transportation agencies to upload their GIS files, and enter necessary information about the data. The required data is expected to include road classes targeted for curve data extraction, the road direction field, and ground truth data. The web application will have a server with a database to store the data uploaded and information entered. The curve extraction will be performed by the CurvePortal server program which will be developed to complete the following tasks: (i) automatically preprocess the uploaded GIS roadway maps; (ii) automatically detect and group uploaded maps with similar vertex patterns (e.g., average distance between vertices at curves) to prepare for calibrating the CurveFinder algorithm. If ground truth data is not provided, manual work will be performed to select sample aerial/satellite images that contain 50 curves and obtain the ground truth curve information for each group of GIS maps with similar vertex pattern. Automated methods, such as those based on image processing, will be explored to replace the manual methods; (iii) automatically calibrate the CurveFinder algorithm based on the ground truth; and (iv) automatically perform curve identification and curve information extraction and create a curve GIS shapefile and make the shapefile downloadable by the client. Toward the end of this stage, technology transfer efforts will be initiated in collaboration with state departments of transportation to test and validate all functions of CurvePortal including both the web application functions and the server program functions. The CurvePortal prototype system can be further evaluated by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). If successful, plans for nationwide implementation will be developed. KW - Algorithms KW - Calibration KW - Data extraction KW - Geographic information systems KW - Highway curves KW - Maps KW - Model Inventory of Roadway Elements KW - State departments of transportation KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3994 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1361064 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01569557 TI - Development of an Electrical Probe for Rapid Assessment of Ground Improvement AB - This project will develop and implement an electrical probe that measures the geometry of ground improvement columns (jet grout, soil mixed, auger cast) during construction or immediately after construction (within 30-60 minutes). Work in Stage 1 involves probe design and construction, as well as field testing on 2-3 construction sites with a new prototype push probe with inclinometer for exact positioning. This phase includes a 4 month period for design and construction of a next generation probe that builds upon prior research and prototyping. Computational modeling will be used to inform the probe design, e.g., to optimize the probe diameter and electrode spacing. Field testing will be performed on active jet grout and soil mixing construction sites throughout the United States (US) in collaboration with at least two prominent geoconstruction companies, Hayward Baker and Moretrench. While the exact plan of column sizes and ground conditions will be determined by available sites, the goal is to perform testing on 8-10 soilcrete columns on 2-3 sites with diameters that vary from 1-4m. Ideally, these columns will be constructed in a variety of soil profiles that include granular and cohesive soil layers, some homogeneous and some stratified. For each jet grout column tested, the actual geometry and quality of soilcrete will be determined using coring and probing (conducted by partner contractors). In other cases, deep soil mixing with known diameters will be used. Stage 2 work involves any necessary re-design of probe elements based on Stage 1 findings, analysis of implementation into Department of Transportation (DOT) practice, and cost/commercialization analysis. Results and feedback from Stage 1 will be assessed and synthesized to identify and improve inadequacies in the probe. The probe will then be re-designed and modified into a new generation prototype to be implemented. Modifications will be based on finalizing the electrode spacing, settling on one sequencing protocol with a limited array of frequencies, and documentation of the implementation approach to be used, e.g., placement procedure, rate of probe penetration, length of test, etc. Stage 2 also involves evaluating the implementation of the probe into DOTs and examining cost and commercialization potential of the probe through involvement of contractors, consultants and DOT personnel. The research team will work with DOT partners to define and initiate the process for DOT adoption, presuming the technical merits are evident from Stage 1. Work will also continue on field implementation, albeit with much more involvement of DOTs, consultants and contractors. KW - Best practices KW - Cohesive soils KW - Columns KW - Cores (Specimens) KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Grout KW - Probes (Measuring devices) KW - Soil mixing KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3995 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1361063 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576225 AU - Florida Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - e-Construction How to Guide PY - 2015/07/13/V.2.3 SP - 36p AB - The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) understands that the transportation industry faces challenges with tighter budgets and a general public that demands higher accountability for how tax dollars are spent. To assist in addressing these challenges, the FHWA developed the “Every Day Counts” (EDC) initiative. The EDC initiative is an effort to bring a better, faster, and smarter approach to highway and bridge construction. The overall objectives of the EDC initiative are: shortening project delivery, enhancing the safety of roadways, and protecting the environment. This e-Construction How-To-Guide was developed by the Florida Department of Transportation (DOT) to support the FHWA’s EDC goal of helping state DOTs understand how to implement an e-Construction system in their states. The FHWA defines e-Construction as the collection, review, approval, and distribution of highway construction contract documents in a paperless environment: electronically capturing construction data, electronic submission of all construction documentation, increased use of mobile devices, increased automation of document review and approval, essential use of electronic signatures by all parties throughout the process, and secure electronic document and workflow management accessible to all stakeholders on any device. e-Construction has the potential to dramatically change the way construction projects are managed in States. It can make the management of construction projects more efficient, more flexible, and more cost-effective. KW - Construction management KW - Data communications KW - Forms (Documents) KW - Implementation KW - Technological innovations UR - https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/construction/econstruction/florida/howto.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1369350 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570391 AU - Kauten, Rebecca AU - University of Iowa, Iowa City AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Establishing Strategies for a Transportation MS4 PY - 2015/07/10/Final Report SP - 152p AB - The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) was established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a means of addressing surface pollution from both known (point) and non-specific (non-point) sources. The program impacts industrial wastewater, runoff from active construction sites, and stormwater runoff as it is managed within municipal separate storm sewer systems, or “MS4” communities. As part of NPDES permit requirements nationwide, all permitted MS4s must establish a Stormwater Management Program for comprehensive planning and adaptive management. The objective of this project has been to identify best practices and approaches to MS4 program planning for the Iowa Department of Transportation. Information is primarily based on existing state MS4 programs as examples and references for use as an agency-based MS4 program is developed. KW - Best practices KW - Iowa Department of Transportation KW - National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) KW - Runoff KW - State departments of transportation KW - Storm sewers KW - Strategic planning KW - Water quality management UR - http://publications.iowa.gov/20130/1/IADOT_UI_RB36_013_Kauten_Establishing_Strategies_Transportation_MS4_Final_2015.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55200/55294/IADOT_UI_RB36_013_.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1360907 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01608015 TI - Characterization of Portland Cement Concrete Coefficient of Thermal Expansion in South Carolina AB - The objective of this study is to provide specific inputs and guidance in the selection and specification of coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) for portland cement concrete (PCC) pavement design and construction. The new pavement design methodology has the potential to provide pavement designs that will perform more predictably than current designs and avoid potential issues that might cause premature pavement failure. By appropriately calibrating the new American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) pavement design methodology, the Department will be able to avoid costly premature pavement failures and better optimize its pavement investments. KW - AASHTO Design Guide KW - Coefficients KW - Failure KW - Pavement design KW - Portland cement concrete KW - Road construction KW - Thermal expansion UR - http://www.scdot.scltap.org/projects/current/ UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1420916 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01608014 TI - Better Construction Project Management through Better Scheduling AB - The objective of this research is to determine the relationship between scheduling practice and the on time completion of projects. The deliverables of this study are to provide South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) a report on a quantitative assessment of the reduction in uncertainty of contractor payments and project completion time provided by the use of Critical Path Method (CPM) based project scheduling and to recommend modifications to the November 4, 2013 supplemental specifications on construction schedules. KW - Best practices KW - Construction management KW - Critical path method KW - Project management KW - Scheduling KW - South Carolina Department of Transportation KW - Uncertainty UR - http://www.scdot.scltap.org/projects/current/ UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1420915 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01569416 TI - Design and Evaluation of Modified Centerline Rumble Strips AB - Centerline rumble strips are primarily installed on the centerline of undivided two-lane and two-way roadways to alert drivers who are moving out of their intended travel lane. The main purpose of the centerline rumble strips is to reduce cross-over crashes such as head-on crashes, opposite-direction sideswipe crashes, and front-to-side crashes, which are usually caused by inattentive, distracted, drowsy, or fatigued drivers. Despite the safety benefit, several pavement performance concerns associated with the centerline rumble strips have been reported (Torbic 2009). In particular, the centerline rumble strips milled over or adjacent to the centerline joint (even if it is hardly distinguishable), which is a damage-sensitive region of pavement, can increase or accelerate deterioration and degradation of the pavement structure. It also requires more maintenance and attention due to potential safety concerns. To reduce pavement damage, the centerline rumble strips design has been modified from a single strip over the centerline joint to dual strips straddling the joint in our state. The modified design could decrease pavement damage; however, there is still a pressing need to improve the centerline rumble strips design. To maximize the safety benefits of the centerline rumble strips and minimize pavement damage, a series of research activities needs to be performed. Firstly, configurations and dimensions of the centerline rumble strips built or tested by other states need to be collected. Surveying the corresponding lane widths required or suggested by other Departments of Transportation (DOTs) is also necessary. This will result in findings that can be used to improve the current dual rumble strips so as to satisfy expected structural performance as well as roadway safety requirements. Then, the proposed centerline rumble strips design will be evaluated and compared with the current design through structural model simulations and actual field tests. With the limited time and scope of this stage, this proposal primarily intends to first, collect data and practices from other states in order to recommend modifications to our current rumble strip design, and second, evaluate the recommended design through model simulations that compare the newly proposed design with current rumble strip design practices. Field test evaluation of the modified design can then be planned in a follow-up research effort. KW - Center lines KW - Deterioration KW - Fatigue (Physiological condition) KW - Field tests KW - Frontal crashes KW - Pavement performance KW - Rumble strips KW - State departments of transportation UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1360654 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01569415 TI - Evaluation of Dowel Bar Inserter Practices in PCC Pavements with Magnetic Tomography Technology AB - Dowel bars used in jointed concrete pavements (JCP) are significant in preventing pumping, faulting, and cracking and in providing efficient load transfer between slabs. Therefore, dowel bars need to be properly aligned and positioned; improper placement may reduce the effectiveness of the dowel bars, which will lead to spalling and cracking. Proper positioning of dowel bars enables free, uninhibited opening and closing of the joints resulting from expansion or contraction of the pavement slabs in response to temperature changes, as well as initial shrinkage. Dowel bars should also be centered on the joint to ensure adequate embedment in both approach and leave slabs for proper load transfer. Any deviations from the ideal dowel bar position may be defined as misplacement or misalignment. Typically, dowel bars are placed either before Portland cement concrete (PCC) placement by using dowel baskets, or after PCC placement by using an automatic dowel bar inserter (DBI). The DBI offers an advantage in construction cost and speed; however, concerns have been raised over the dowel alignment quality. To determine the effectiveness of DBI practices in the state, the Nebraska Department of Roads (NDOR) has used a nondestructive testing device, MIT Scan-2 which is based on magnetic tomography technology for measuring the position and alignment of dowel bars. MIT Scan-2 consists of three main components: (a) a sensor unit (the rectangular box) that emits electromagnetic pulses and detects the induced magnetic field; (b) an onboard computer that runs the test, collects, and stores the test data; and (c) a glass-fiber reinforced plastic rail system that guides the sensor unit along the joint. The device is easy to use, the dowel alignment can be checked within a few hours of concrete placement, and the results can be printed using the onboard printer immediately after scanning. MIT Scan-2 allows the entire joint to be scanned in one pass, providing results for all dowel bars in the joint. KW - Concrete pavements KW - Cracking KW - Dowel bar retrofit KW - Load transfer KW - Shrinkage KW - Spalling KW - Tomography UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1360653 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01569414 TI - Improvement of Low Traffic Volume Gravel Roads in Nebraska AB - In the state of Nebraska, the total mileage of roads is 96,725. Of this total mileage, approximately 75% or 72,000 miles are unpaved roads that are owned by either local or state agencies. The costs, manpower, and time associated with the required maintenance of these roads are significant. Due to overwhelming costs and maintenance schedules, poor performance of gravel roads is commonly observed. In this research project, it is envisioned that a modified gravel mix specification from native Nebraska sources may significantly improve the performance of these unpaved roads under various traffic, weather, and environmental loads resulting in a lower life-cycle cost. Primary objective is to recommend modifications to surface gravel aggregate specifications within the publication, Standard Specifications for Highway Construction, using material characterization and field verification. The performance evaluation of the gravel will be field verified using remote sensing technology in terms of unraveling and spreading for a one year cycle. Using statistics, the gravel road's performance will be related to aggregate characteristics to support a modified specification. KW - Aggregates KW - Gravel roads KW - Low volume roads KW - Maintenance practices KW - Mix design KW - Nebraska KW - Remote sensing UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1360652 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01569413 TI - Automated Chain Drag Testing AB - The chain drag test is commonly used in current practice for bridge deck evaluation due to its low cost and ease of use. It detects delaminations in bridge decks by dragging a chain over the concrete surface and listening to the dull or hollow sound. However, this method is subjective and lack of consistency. Interpretation of test results highly depends on the experience of inspectors. Ambient noise caused by traffic also affects the test speed and accuracy of results. Since the test results are directly analyzed in the field and defects are marked on site, there is no data saved for further analysis.This research project aims to address the above mentioned drawbacks by developing an automated chain drag test that integrates sensing, data processing, defect identification algorithms and automated positioning in one testing system. Acoustic signals generated by the dragging chain on concrete will be sensed by acoustic sensors (microphones) and further analyzed and recorded by a computer. Including a positioning system will enable real time visualization of tested areas and allow engineers to make quick assessment of bridge deck conditions. Data from the test can be saved for further analysis and used for comparison with past and future tests. The proposed automated chain drag testing system will significantly improve the test consistency and speed for bridge deck evaluation, and therefore reduce the traffic disruption and bridge closure. The goal of the proposed research project is to develop an automated chain drag testing system for rapid evaluation of concrete bridge decks. Specific objectives include: (1) Develop an acoustic inspection device for bridge deck evaluation based on the chain drag test. A microphone is used to collect sound signals generated from the chain drag test. Replacing human ears with a microphone will improve consistency of the test result interpretation, and reduce effects of ambient noises. (2) Build a system with multiple sensor channels that is capable to cover the half or full-width lane. (3) Integrate global positioning system (GPS) or laser positioning system to automatically track test positions and save time for documentation. (4) Develop signal processing and defect identification algorithms, and present the test results and position information in a map view. KW - Acoustics KW - Best practices KW - Bridge decks KW - Condition surveys KW - Delamination KW - Global Positioning System KW - Inspection KW - Sensors UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1360651 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01569412 TI - Steel Pin-and-Hanger Assembly Replacement Options AB - A number of steel beam bridges exist in Nebraska that contain steel pin and hanger assemblies. These assemblies were used to facilitate construction and/or to reduce the level of indeterminacy along a given beam line when the bridges were originally built. Deck expansion joints accompany the pin and hanger assembles and, as the bridges that contain them continue to age, these assemblies have collected debris and moisture and, in certain instances, have deteriorated to a point where their retrofit or removal is being considered. Should removal be necessary and complete replacement of the beam adjacent to the assembly not be needed, one desired option may be to use bolted splices where the pin and hanger assembly once existed. However, clear protocols related to how these splices, and the bridge around them, would be designed are not available in relevant specifications. An extensive body of information related to the design of web and flange splices for steel beams and girders does exist along with some information related to retrofitting and replacing existing pin and hanger assemblies. If organized, this information could be brought to bear to assist Nebraska Department of Roads (NDOR) with guiding future research that would help develop a design protocol for replacing pin and hanger assemblies in Nebraska should NDOR deem it necessary to develop a protocol. Therefore, a project focusing on synthesizing the information would help NDOR with future decisions related replacing pin and hanger assemblies. The proposed synthesis project will: (1) summarize U.S. splice design state-of-the art; (2) explore pin and hanger replacement options the have been studied and implemented in the U.S.; (3) use information from (1) and (2) to identify viable retrofitdesign options for possible use by NDOR; and (4) synthesize findings to assist NDOR with selecting retrofit options to further investigate/research and/or implement. KW - Deterioration KW - Flanges KW - Nebraska KW - Pins KW - Retrofitting KW - State of the art KW - Steel bridges KW - Structural connection UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1360650 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01569411 TI - Development of a Protocol for Holistic Structural Reliability Assessment of Bridges AB - The current Load and Resistance Factor Rating (LRFR) American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) methodology in the Manual for Bridge Evaluation (MBE) includes the use of two adjustment factors to account for local component condition (&#981;c) and structural system redundancy (&#981;s) for strength limit states. The &#981;c and &#981;s factors have not been utilized extensively in Nebraska, partially to maintain existing load ratings through historic procedures (Allowable Stress Rating, ASR; Load Factor Rating, LFR), but also partially because the available guidance lacks precision in the applicability of the factors and potentially imposes an unfair strength capacity penalty if a single factor is applied generally to the entire structure when deterioration may be confined to a localized region of a single member. With the advance of time, and the need to reevaluate load capacity to account for advancing deterioration and/or increasing demands from traffic loads, future rating practices will need to adopt the Load and Resistance Factor Rating (LRFR) methodology, and rating practices will need to include &#981;c and &#981;s. A number of bridges clearly display significant deterioration. Steel girders are typically provided with stiffeners to prevent local yielding and instability in the web at concentrated loads, such as end reactions for simple span abutments. The stiffeners and diaphragms also provide torsional stability at the supports, to prevent roll-over of the torsionally unstable I-shaped girder cross-sections. The deterioration poses significant challenges for accurately characterizing the capacity of the structure. Local web yielding is likely to be the controlling limit state for concentrated loads on rolled sections, but web crippling may become more critical as the web becomes more slender from corrosive section loss. Losing the connection to the bottom flange will also influence the effectiveness of the diaphragm elements to provide stability and potentially redistribute loads to adjacent members. The objective of this research is to refine available &#981; factors referenced in the MBE for LRFR to more reliably characterize element and system capacity and account for deterioration of structural elements in simple span steel girder bridges. The deterioration considered by the study will focus primarily on bearing conditions for simple span girders, although a range of deterioration severities and locations along spans will be considered through computational studies. Guidelines will be developed for selecting and applying appropriate &#981; factors in analyses to account for deterioration of existing steel girder structures. KW - AASHTO Manual for Bridge Evaluation KW - Bearing capacity KW - Cross sections KW - Deterioration KW - Load and resistance factor design KW - Load factor KW - Structural health monitoring UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1360649 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01569410 TI - Protocol to Evaluate and Load Rate Existing Bridges AB - Numerous bridges in Nebraska require evaluation to verify their ability to safely carry traffic. Recent Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Long-Term Bridge Performance Program (LTBP) guidelines provide a solid basis for the rational evaluation of existing bridges. In rural areas, there are many county bridges that require non-conventional methods of evaluation to verify their capacity or to upgrade their postings; in-lieu of replacement or traffic rerouting. Evaluation and rating procedures are listed in the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Manual for Bridge Evaluation (in particular, Chapters 6 and 8 for rating and testing, respectively). Strict requirements apply to state owned structures. However, these federal requirements are not necessarily applicable to off-system bridges, including those that are owned by counties or other local transportation agencies. Regardless, all bridge owners are responsible for the safety of the traveling public using public infrastructure. Therefore, bridge owners are interested in knowing the actual load carrying capacity of the structures within their jurisdiction, as well as knowing the expected loads caused by traffic. Available field testing procedures can vary in terms of accuracy, ease of installation and operation of testing equipment, investment cost and cost of operation, power supply requirements, qualifications of the operators, data processing capability, and so on. Therefore, there is a need to develop a practical guide for field testing procedures within an accepted protocol for bridge owners in Nebraska. The objective of this proposed project is to develop a protocol for the evaluation of existing bridges in Nebraska. The protocol will be specifically prepared for any bridges, which are in question about their performance and capacity; however older rural bridges may be most applicable. The guide to bridge evaluation and rating will be consistent with the AASHTO Manual for Bridge Evaluation and Nebraska Department of Roads (NDOR) Bridge Inspection Program requirements. The proposed research will involve the selection of representative bridges of various construction style and material, both for state-owned and off-system bridges, as well as the identification of problems to be addressed--for example, verification of the load distribution factors, actual live load (weight of trucks), dynamic load factors, or minimum load carrying capacity. The available field testing procedures will be presented and described, focusing on Nebraska-specific applications. The developed protocol will include descriptions of the equipment and operational guides, and present the method of rating bridge based on field test results. The protocols will include the assessment of accuracy, potential problems, and best practice observations. KW - Bridges KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Infrastructure KW - Inspection KW - Live loads KW - Load factor KW - Nebraska UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1360648 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01569409 TI - Nebraska Department of Roads (NDOR) Freight Data Needs AB - The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) has significant provisions for transportation agencies regarding transport of freight and investment in freight-related surface transportation projects. Some of the provisions pertain to improved data and tools to support outcome-oriented, performance-based approach to transportation project evaluations, and availability of 95% federal share for Interstate System projects (or 90% for non-Interstate System projects) that demonstrate improvement in the efficiency of freight movements. Additionally, a provision exists to identify 3,000 miles of critical rural freight corridors by the states per criteria in MAP-21 that includes rural principal arterials with minimum of 25% annual average daily traffic (AADT) as trucks, routes that provide access to energy exploration/development/production, and those that connect the primary freight network. The primary freight network is defined by the United Stated Department of Transportation (USDOT) and consists of 27,000 centerline miles of highways plus an additional 3,000 miles critical to the future. MAP-21 encourages state transportation agencies to establish State Freight Advisory Committees and develop comprehensive plans for immediate and long-range freight-related planning and investments. Fulfillment and/or taking advantage of the provisions in MAP-21 require detailed data on statewide freight movements. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate: 1) current Nebraska Department of Roads (NDOR) inventory of freight data, 2) non-NDOR sources of freight data relevant to NDOR, 3) assessment of NDOR's unmet freight data needs, and 4) planning for collection of unavailable freight data. The research is a step toward addressing the freight-related provisions in TEA-21 that are relevant to Nebraska. The objective is to setup a base from which NDOR can start a planned process in order to comply and/or take advantage of the freight provisions in MAP-21. KW - Annual average daily traffic KW - Arterial highways KW - Freight data KW - Freight traffic KW - Interstate highways KW - Long range planning KW - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) KW - Nebraska UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1360647 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01569408 TI - Permitting Fees AB - In Nebraska the permitting fees for oversized/overweight vehicles is set forth in statute. However, these fees may not be sufficient to cover the real cost of damage that these vehicles inflict upon the public infrastructure (e.g., pavements and bridges). Other states around Nebraska utilize different fee structures, such as fees based on ton-mile to recoup costs associated with transport of oversize/overweight vehicles. It is not clear which fee structure is the most appropriate for Nebraska. Therefore, there is a need to look at Nebraska's fee structure and assess its appropriateness in recouping the costs borne by the highway infrastructure. Additionally, there is a perception that Nebraska attracts much more oversized/overweight vehicles than surrounding states due to its relatively low fees. Therefore, there is a need to estimate where oversized/overweight loads are entering and exiting and display route-specific data in geographic information system (GIS) maps. A case study of cost comparison of similar oversized/overweight loads passing through Nebraska and neighboring states will illustrate the disparities (if any) between Nebraska and its neighboring states. The research will assess the oversized/overweight vehicle permit fees policies and procedures of different states including Nebraska and its neighboring states. It will compare permit sales data and assess if Nebraska is attracting oversized/overweight truck traffic due to its permit fee structure. KW - Defects KW - Fees KW - Geographic information systems KW - Infrastructure KW - Nebraska KW - Oversize loads KW - Overweight loads KW - Permits UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1360646 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01569407 TI - Systematic Approach to Identifying Deeply Buried Archeological Deposits AB - Traditional methods used to discover archeological sites include pedestrian surface surveys and relatively shallow hand-dug shovel or soil core testing. While these methods are appropriate for locating surface and near-surface sites on ridges, hilltops, and on the surface of valley floors, they do not adequately identify archeological remains buried in stream valleys (alluvial terraces, floodplains, fans and valley margin walls). These cultural deposits are often deeply buried and difficult to detect without testing using backhoes and mechanical cores. Central Great Plains research involving geomorphology combined with archeology (or geoarcheology) has succeeded in amassing a large volume of data that can be used to make informed predictions about what landform contexts may host these important deeply buried (yet difficult to locate) archeological resources. The proposed project is designed to systematically gather this disparate information, create a digital repository of it, and distill the data in a Geographic Information System (GIS) format. For cultural resource specialists involved in Nebraska Department of Roads (NDOR) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) project planning and development, this will greatly enhance the ability to predict where these types of resources may or may not occur. As a result planners and cultural resource specialists will be in a better position to determine if additional targeted investigations are necessary or if a project area is likely to be free of deeply buried sites. The proposed project will develop a GIS-based data repository of all Nebraska (and relevant immediately adjacent portions of surrounding states) geoarcheological information including: published and unpublished reports or portions of reports, bibliographies, stratigraphic profiles, radiocarbon ages, maps, notes, and photographs. These data will be linked to specific LSAs in specific stream valleys and drainage basins. The GIS will allow us to visualize the data in the form of maps and diagrams and reveal temporal and spatial patterns of landscape evolution in drainage basins. Moreover, the GIS will allow users to look at the data in a way that is quickly understood and easily shared. KW - Archaeological surveying KW - Data collection KW - Deposits (Geology) KW - Drainage KW - Geographic information systems KW - Geomorphology KW - Nebraska UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1360645 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01564691 TI - Development and Field Testing of an Automatic Turning Movements Identification System AB - The goal of this research is will assist the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) develop and evaluate a real-time system, which can automatically collect the Turning Movements Information at signalized intersections using signal control information and video detection data. To achieve this goal, the researcher, will be working in a partnership with Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study and the City of Akron's Traffic Engineering Division. Currently, Turning Movements Information is collected manually with handheld devices in the field, which is tedious and labor intensive involving high cost. Previous efforts on this problem relied on a mathematical model by solving an origin and destination (O-D) matrix in which the turning movements represent distributions of the arriving flow at each intersection approach. However, such a matrix cannot be mathematically solved with using supplementary volume data from the local detectors; yet previous studies showed that the results from the O-D method are not accurate. Therefore, driven by the need to identify vehicle turning movements automatically in different geometric and traffic control conditions, an Automatic Turning Movement Identification System (ATMIS) has been developed in the transportation Laboratory of The University of Akron. By interfacing with existing signal controller and detection devices, the system was tested in a laboratory environment using video from the field. The results from the preliminary lab experiment showed that the methodology is very promising and it can potentially be expanded and enhanced for field applications. KW - Field tests KW - Loop detectors KW - Mathematical models KW - Ohio KW - Origin and destination KW - Real time control KW - Signalized intersections KW - Traffic signal control systems KW - Traffic volume KW - Turning traffic UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1355606 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01562868 TI - Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Problems. Topic 47-01. Control of Cracking in Concrete Bridges AB - Despite many advances in bridge design, concrete technology, and corrosion-resistant reinforcement, cracking of concrete continues to be a concern for bridge owners; particularly for bridges exposed to severe environments. The presence of cracks provides a direct path for water and chlorides to penetrate the concrete and reach the reinforcement. This in turn, can lead to freeze-thaw damage to the concrete or corrosion of the reinforcement. However, there appears to be little or no correlation between crack width, corrosion, and service life. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Load and Resistance Factor Design (AASHTO LRFD) Bridge Design Specifications provides requirements for minimum amounts of reinforcement and maximum spacing of reinforcement to control crack widths. In some cases, these requirements are based on in-depth research, while others are based on experience. Nevertheless, bridge owners find the need to supplement the AASHTO provisions with their own requirements. The control of cracking for aesthetic, durability, and structural reasons becomes increasingly important as service life goals are extended and higher strength concrete, higher strength reinforcement, and different types of reinforcement are used in bridge construction. The overall goal of the synthesis is to provide a compilation of methods used to control cracking in concrete bridges and the influence of cracking on long-term durability. Specifically, the synthesis will address the following types of cracking: (1) Flexural cracks in nonprestressed members; (2) Shrinkage cracks in nonprestressed concrete bridge decks; (3) Splitting cracks in pretensioned anchorage zones; (4) Vertical cracks in pretensioned beams prior to transfer of the prestressing force; and (5) Reflective cracking in cast-in-place partial-depth decks and overlays. The synthesis will include information related to the use of steel reinforcement with specified yield strengths from 60 to 100 ksi, corrosion-resistant steel reinforcement, and fiber-reinforced polymer reinforcement. The selection of concrete constituent materials and construction methods to reduce the potential for shrinkage cracking will be addressed. Finally, the synthesis will address remedial measures that may be taken after cracks occur. The synthesis will be beneficial to bridge owners and designers and the AASHTO Subcommittee on Bridges and Structures in their Grand Challenges to extend bridge service life and advance the AASHTO specifications. KW - AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications KW - Bridge design KW - Concrete bridges KW - Corrosion KW - Cracking KW - Fiber reinforced polymers KW - Freeze thaw durability KW - Reinforcement (Engineering) KW - Service life UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3953 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353338 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01562866 TI - Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Problems. Topic 47-03. Current Practices and Guidelines for the Reuse of Bridge Foundations AB - As demands for infrastructure continue to change and with bridge components deteriorating over time, bridge widening, rehabilitation, and replacement efforts will continue to increase. Depending on site conditions, bridge foundations typically comprise approximately 30 percent or more of the total highway bridge costs. Decisions on whether to reuse, retrofit, or replace existing foundations have a significant impact on the project budget. Reuse of bridge foundations may result in time savings, improved highway safety, and reduced traffic congestion. However, to consider a foundation for reuse, the integrity and capacity (structural and geotechnical) of the existing foundation elements must be reliably determined. The primary concerns with reusing existing bridge foundations are the ability to accurately assess their condition, load carrying capacity, and remaining service life, and the impacts on design codes. Procedures used to evaluate whether foundation reuse is viable for a particular bridge project differ among transportation agencies. A synthesis on current practices for foundation reuse in highway applications is timely as transportation agencies are facing this question more and more on bridge projects. The objective of this synthesis is to document current practices and guidelines used by state transportation agencies for the reuse of bridge foundations. The synthesis will identify strategies and methods that agencies have used to solve problems, as well as identify problems that remain largely unsolved. Information for this study will be gathered through literature review, a survey of state departments of transportation (DOTs), and follow-up interviews with agencies for case examples of their practices. Lessons learned, gaps in information, and suggestions for future research will be included. KW - Bearing capacity KW - Best practices KW - Bridge foundations KW - Costs KW - Deterioration KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) KW - Retrofitting KW - Service life UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3955 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353336 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01562865 TI - Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Problems. Topic 47-04. Leveraging Technology for Transportation Agency Workforce Development and Training AB - Aging transportation workforce, coupled with the shrinking pool of qualified workers, is a serious challenge facing our transportation industry. With about 50% of the existing transportation professionals retiring in the next 5-15 years, the need for preparing the next generation of professionals is greater now more than ever. Furthermore, with the advancements in technology, the new transportation reality requires interdisciplinary technical and managerial skills and abilities beyond traditional backgrounds. Unfortunately, much of the existing transportation workforce is unprepared for this new reality. The focus of this study is on the use of information and communication technology (ICT) for transportation workforce development and training within the U.S. and among other developed countries. This is also known as ICT-assisted training. There are different models of ICT-assisted training e.g., software-based vs. online, synchronous vs. asynchronous. Issues around content management and ownership are crucial to successfully implement ICT-assisted training. Due to the growing reliance on ICT systems for solving complex transportation problems, there is an expectation agencies train workforce on using these systems, and, therefore, develop and delivery ICT-focused training. There are challenges with providing homogeneous training to a geographically dispersed workforce while minimizing impact of normal agency operations. It is the time to capture and share information on emergent approaches for using technology in training as well as for training workforce on emergent technologies. Information will be gathered by: (1) A literature review of transportation workforce development issues and opportunities; (2) A survey to identify current practices and issues in transportation workforce development; and (3) Detailed follow-up interviews with select agencies to better understand and document successful practices and lessons learned. Information to be gathered includes: (1) How different agencies are training their workforce, including ICT-assisted and traditional through a nationwide survey; (2) Alternative approaches to delivering training, content management strategies, and ownership schemes; (3) Emergent training topics in response to current and future challenges; and (4) Lessons learned that might be useful resource for agencies wanting to learn more about some of the presented alternative approaches. The emphasis of this study is workforce training issues associated with transportation construction, operations, and maintenance. KW - Construction KW - Developed countries KW - Information dissemination KW - Labor force KW - Lessons learned KW - Literature reviews KW - Maintenance KW - Management KW - Technological innovations KW - Telecommunications KW - Training KW - United States UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3956 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353335 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01562864 TI - Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Problems. Topic 47-05. Data Maintenance Practices AB - Data are important to planning, operations, and asset management within a Department of Transportation (DOT). Whether it is spatial data within a geographic information system (GIS), condition data for a transportation asset, or financial data reflecting the expenditures from the last fiscal year, data and the accessibility to that data is of paramount importance. A failure to share data or not have timely access to it can have negative impacts on today's DOT. This has been made even more apparent in light of recent federal mandates in the areas of Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) performance measures, transportation asset management and Highway Performance Monitoring System reporting. The use of technologies such as linear referencing systems (LRS) and dashboards to provide real-time analysis capabilities clearly demonstrate the critical need for accessible data. Statewide data sources have become increasingly vital to the data based decision making process. Attributes that are maintained by a specific office or division need to be shared with multiple areas of the agency who all may have different requirements for its use. It has become increasingly necessary to understand the needs related to the timeliness and quality of the data, ability to integrate with other systems and easy access for users. The rise in central data warehouses and enterprise systems allows for greater flexibility in maintaining the data and ease of use across various functional areas. Opportunities now exist to streamline agency business processes through visualization, analysis, distribution, and monitoring of transportation data in ways that would not have been feasible previously. This in turn creates new opportunities and expectations for expanding data usage and accessibility. However, breaking down agency silos is sometimes easier said than done. Similar datasets that may have some duplicate data items as well as slightly different spatial and attribute models can present significant issues. This will require coordination within a DOT on major decisions related to how it is used, where is it maintained, and how will it be shared. It is through these collective experiences that the project seeks to produce best practices in data warehousing issues such as data quality, LRS, integration, utilization, etc. The product of this research will be a collection of practices and experiences from DOTs to help agencies efficiently maintain data and for users and decision makers to gain access to data. KW - Asset management KW - Data files KW - Data quality KW - Decision making KW - Expenditures KW - Geographic information systems KW - Highway Performance Monitoring System KW - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) KW - Performance measurement KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3957 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353334 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01562863 TI - Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Problems. Topic 47-06. Optimizing Program Delivery Methods AB - More than ever before, state departments of transportation and other transportation agencies have a choice of project delivery methods. There is no "best method" that works for all projects; instead the project goals and attributes can drive which delivery method is optimal for a given project. Each delivery method has certain performance opportunities for cost, schedule, quality, and other performance metrics. National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP), Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) and Transit Cooperative Highway Research Program (TCRP) research has shown that unique project characteristics in combination with the attributes of the project delivery methods (e.g., design-bid-build, design-build, construction manager general contractor or public-private partnerships) determine the optimal delivery method for a given project. However, no research has explored how the combination of different delivery methods can optimize the delivery of an agency's program. The objective of this synthesis is to provide a summary of the state-of-practice related to programmatic approaches for choosing project delivery methods. A comprehensive review of literature and a survey of state highway agencies will determine which decision approaches are currently being used, along with best practices associated with each approach. Decision-making methods in use by the vertical project owners such as the General Services Administration and the Army Corps of Engineers will also be reviewed for applicability to transportation projects. A survey of transportation agencies will gather the approaches currently being used to select project delivery methods and lessons learned from past experience. The synthesis also will incorporate a review of completed studies on choosing delivery methods, along with a summary of the advantages and disadvantages to each project delivery method. Current Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) guidance will be reviewed, including guidance on the implementation of Public-Private Partnerships for transportation projects. The resulting synthesis will help guide transportation agencies through the decision making process and ensure critical factors are considered to best inform the selection of delivery methods for an agency's program. KW - Best practices KW - Decision making KW - Design bid build KW - Design build KW - Optimization KW - Project delivery KW - Public private partnerships KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3958 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353333 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01562862 TI - Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Problems. Topic 47-07. Evolving Debt Finance Practices for Surface Transportation AB - Transportation investment represents the largest category of capital spending at the state level, accounting for 59% of all state capital expenditures in fiscal year 2012. More than 90 percent of states have issued debt to help finance their transportation spending. Among these states, however, debt finance practices vary widely, and basic principles of debt issuance for surface transportation - addressing, for example, the nuances of transportation revenue streams, the unique cash flow aspects of transportation construction programs vis-à-vis the federal funding partnership, and the transparent treatment of long-term commitments to make "availability payments" to concessionaires under public private partnerships - have not yet been compiled into a single source of information. For state borrowers, debt should be issued to accomplish critical goals under acceptable financing terms. Like federal decision makers (who administer funds now widely used to secure state debt), state borrowers also want to sustain robust pay-as-you-go spending programs into the future. Examples of debt management choices include the following: (1) When is it appropriate to use debt to finance capital (and operating) expenses? (2) What criteria or benchmarks could be set to determine how much debt to issue and how it should be used? (3) What principles should be employed to guide decisions about the debt type and term? (4) Might debt limits be set on a comprehensive basis (e.g., across all government programs) or for individual funding sources (e.g., a road fund) - or a combination of aggregate and individual limits? (5) How do debt covenants fit into debt management choices? (6) In what ways should availability payments be treated differently, and the same, as debt issuances? (7) What should be the federal government's policy role in the issuance of state and local debt backed by federal transportation funds? The proposed study would update and extend the 2009 National Cooperative Highway Research Progam (NCHRP) Synthesis 395, Debt Finance Practices for Surface Transportation, in which most states reported a need for assistance in developing prudent debt management practices for their transportation programs. Based on state feedback, Synthesis 395 identified many topics for further research, including the following: (1) A critical need for the development and sharing of transportation-specific debt affordability measures, as distinct from general obligation and statewide measures; (2) Guidance on the effective use of debt and of nontraditional products such as derivatives; (3) Policy development regarding the evaluation of debt in the context of ongoing operations and maintenance demands; (4) Optimization of pay-as-you-go programs versus Grant Anticipation Borrowing (for highways) and other debt structures; and (5) Tools to educate lawmakers on both the advantages and disadvantages of debt financing. Indicative of the interest in these questions, the Transportation Research Board (TRB) will host an April 2015 webinar, sponsored by the Committee on Revenue and Finance, to identify critical debt management issues and potential research topics. An updated Synthesis would provide an indispensable platform for specific research efforts developed by webinar participants. To identify current debt management practices and concerns, this study should survey State Department of Transportation to discover debt management policies and analyze how these policies are integrated with the relevant state's overall debt affordability review. The survey could include all states or representative samples based on population, level of borrowing, or other relevant criteria. In addition, the Study could include representative case studies of major state-level highway bond programs and local government initiatives, highlighting effective practices. The study will also include state debt obligations through review of Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA's) Highway Statistics series and other public sources. Researchers could consult public sector organizations such as the Government Finance Officers Association, the National Governors Association, the National Association of State Treasurers, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the National Association of State Budget Officers. The private sector firms that comprise the capital market - institutional investors, investment banks, rating agencies, financial advisories and counsel - would offer essential perspectives. KW - Cash flow KW - Debt KW - Financing KW - Ground transportation KW - Investments KW - Policy KW - Revenues UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3959 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353332 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01562861 TI - Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Problems. Topic 47-08. Pavement Management Systems: Putting the Data to Work AB - Recent changes in the Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS) related to pavements and Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) requirements for pavement performance measures have heightened the importance of having, maintaining, and using an effective pavement management system (PMS). Most states have implemented a pavement management system (PMS) but they now face new challenges. Data collection has moved from primarily windshield surveys to automated collection. Data analysis can be manual, semi-automated, or automated. PMS engineers are asked to provide consistent, dependable analysis in the face of changing technologies and budgetary restrictions. The purpose of this synthesis is to document the state-of-the-practice for pavement management systems used by departments of transportation (DOTs). The synthesis will be useful to DOTs that are considering making changes to their PMS to enhance the usability of their data and to better manage their pavement assets with limited resources. KW - Asset management KW - Best practices KW - Data collection KW - Decision making KW - Highway Performance Monitoring System KW - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) KW - Pavement management systems KW - Pavement performance KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3960 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353331 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01562860 TI - Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Problems. Topic 47-09. Effective Practices for Establishing Contract Completion Dates for Highway Projects AB - State Departments of Transportation (DOT) use various methods to set contract completion dates for highway projects. The objective of this synthesis is to document the methodologies used by DOTs to determine completion dates for different types of contracts. Information gathered for the synthesis will include the following: (1) Methods for setting completion dates for design-build, construction manager/general contractor, and public-private partnership contracts; (2) Cost and benefit impacts of the methodologies; (3) Impacts of reducing project delivery periods; (4) DOT experience with Incentives/Disincentives or Disincentives Only; (5) DOT experience with calendar day completion dates and allowable work day contracts; and (6) Methods for revising competition dates for approved alternative technical concepts in different project delivery methods. Information for this study will be gathered through literature review, a survey of state DOTs, and follow-up interviews with agencies for case examples of their practices. Lessons learned, gaps in information, and suggestions for future research will be included. KW - Construction projects KW - Contracts KW - Methodology KW - Project delivery KW - Project management KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3961 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353330 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01562859 TI - Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Problems. Topic 47-10. Synthesis on: Resource Allocation of Available Funding to Programs of Work AB - Transportation Commissions, chief executive officers (CEOs), and officials of State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) struggle with resource allocation and funding between the multitudes of programs of work. Determinations of program value and benefit cost (with great variation among states) are generally tied to strategic goals of the agency. Adequate program level evaluations for distribution of available funding across, as well as within, modes are not well documented. Efforts to make distributions among the programs politically realistic and take into consideration the internal and external customers are sometimes considered to be lacking. The purpose of this synthesis to document how state agencies determine resource allocation to different programs of work (not the project selection process within the programs). This synthesis will be beneficial to all transportation planning officials and staff in responding to the fundamental issues of resource allocation. Assessment of available techniques, tools, and data can be used to enable a more adequate program level evaluation of funding distribution. This synthesis will include a literature review and a survey of state departments of transportation (DOTs) and Canadian ministries of transportation. International agencies' experience will be reviewed as available. From the results of the survey, a minimum of 3 agencies will be selected and case examples of their practices will be shared. Lessons learned and gaps in information will also be covered. Information gathered will include, but not be limited to the following:(1) Both competitive and non-scientific processes currently used by DOTs in their funding distributions; (2) How decisions are made for resource distribution between rural and metro areas; (3) Alternatives for data use in trial distribution equations; (4) Available models and data systems to assist in distribution between programs; (5) Possible use of performance measures to assist in distribution between the programs of work; and (6) Previously developed research on multi-modal tradeoffs that could be useful. KW - Canada KW - Canadian Ministry of Transportation KW - Financing KW - Literature reviews KW - Metropolitan areas KW - Performance measurement KW - Resource allocation KW - Rural areas KW - State departments of transportation KW - Surveys UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3962 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353329 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01562858 TI - Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Problems. Topic 47-12. Use of Fiber Reinforced Polymers in Transportation Infrastructure AB - The use of Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composite materials has expanded tremendously over the past five to ten years. These materials offer unique qualities such as light weight, high strength, and corrosion resistance that are being effectively applied to transportation infrastructure. Among transportation agencies, FRP has been used for bridge decks, beams, piling, buried structures, concrete reinforcing, and post-tensioning, as well as for repair and strengthening of existing bridges. Yet barriers exist to more widespread usage of FRP including higher initial material cost, lack of specifications and guidelines, and a gap in knowledge on FRP properties and applications. The objective of this synthesis is to document the current state of the practice in the use of FRP in transportation infrastructure. The synthesis will identify FRP applications, barriers to more widespread use, and research needs. Information for this study will be gathered through literature review, a survey of state departments of transportation (DOTs), and follow-up interviews with agencies for case examples of their practices. Lessons learned, gaps in information, and suggestions for future research will be included. KW - Bridge decks KW - Corrosion resistant materials KW - Costs KW - Fiber reinforced polymers KW - Infrastructure KW - Literature reviews KW - Posttensioning KW - Properties of materials KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3963 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353328 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01562857 TI - Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Problems. Topic 47-13. Relationship Between Chemical Makeup of Asphalt Binders and Engineering Performance AB - The engineering properties of asphalt binders are dictated by their chemical makeup. The chemical makeup of any particular asphalt binder and its concomitant properties are dependent on the crude source, the process parameters used during binder production, and the chemical, polymer or other additives used to process the asphalt binder to achieve target specification requirements. During the past few decades there has also been an increase in the use of post-production modifiers that further influence the properties and performance of the asphalt binder. Furthermore, the chemical makeup and concomitant engineering properties of the binder continually change with time for years after being placed in service. There are number of factors and variables that influence the chemical composition and ultimately the engineering properties of a binder used in pavement applications. It is important that the users most closely working with the binders have a strong working knowledge of the relationship between binder chemistry and engineering properties. This knowledge can help departments of transportation (DOTs) and practicing engineers make more informed choices with regards to selection of binders and post-production additives and modifiers and avoid potentially expensive mistakes. Also, researchers might develop more informed methods to design binder modifiers and additives that will result in low-cost and high performance binders for specific applications. An updated synthesis of information in this area will include a literature review and a survey of state departments of transportation and Canadian ministries of transportation. Late 1990's Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP) research that investigated the relationship between binder chemistry and engineering properties will be documented and international agencies' experience will be reviewed as available. From the results of the survey, a minimum of 3 agencies will be selected and case examples of their practices will be shared. Lessons learned and gaps in information will also be covered. KW - Additives KW - Asphalt pavements KW - Bituminous binders KW - Chemical composition KW - Mix design KW - Properties of materials KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3964 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353327 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01562856 TI - Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Problems. Topic 47-14. Effective Utility Investigations to Optimize Safety and Savings AB - Utility issues are one of the top reasons that highway and other capital improvement projects are delayed and/or have cost overruns. In an ideal world, the study team would know with great certainty the location and character of every utility within their project. In the meantime, there is a need to deal with uncertainty in the best possible manner. Although the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)/CI 38-02 standard guideline provides information on how to collect and depict utility data for engineering applications, there is much confusion and lack of standard of care or best practice guidance on how to scope, procure, manage, and conduct & produce utility investigations. This is particularly true with respect to (a) best practices for the reduction of uncertainty; (b) risk management of the remaining uncertainty of existing or unknown utilities as they pertain to projects; and (c) misinterpreting ASCE 38 standard language. A simplistic approach is to attempt to achieve high quality level utility location data throughout the project at the planning stage, and use these data to inform decisions on avoidance, protection, relocation, cost, and other impacts throughout the remaining project development process. However, one size does not fit all situations. There has been research into new technologies (Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP) 2 R01A/B/C); synthesis studies on how utilities are considered by engineers, designers, and other stakeholders (National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) 405, Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) 34) and how they are managed (NCHRP 462); cost studies on the effectiveness of subsurface utility engineering (SUE); and other studies on how to interface with utility owners (SHRP 2 R15) and document conflicts (SHRP2 R15B/C). However, no guidance documents have been developed on how to integrate all this previous research into an effective utility investigation standard of care. As a result, there are a wide range of processes in use. As with any rapidly evolving discipline, there exist inherent problems in keeping current with practices, technology, and standards. Rapid market growth and a national aging infrastructure forces demand on existing providers who have not prepared to meet market demand, new providers enter into the industry, new providers who rely upon project owners for scopes of service; project owners rely upon previous literature that may not be up to date with the growth of the profession. There is a hodge-podge of practices, scopes of work, misapplication or ignorance of standards, misinformation, and legacy processes that now comprise the practice of utility investigations. The objective of this synthesis is to conduct a literature and limited field review of existing and ongoing research and guidance information relative to scoping; procuring; managing; phasing; and conducting & delivering utility investigations. This will include (a) looking at current practices regarding prequalification of consultants; (b) reviewing different investigation deliverables and their formatting; (c) looking at gaps, overlaps, and contradictions between Common Ground Alliance (CGA), ASCE, state One-Call statutes and Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) regarding utility investigations; (d) identifying core practices that might be necessary for an effective program; and (e) looking at prequalification requirements for assessing compliance or noncompliance by SUE consultants. The product of this study will be a synthesis report that (a) provides an overview of the current state of the practice relative to scoping, procuring, managing, phasing, and conducting utility investigations; (b) identifies gaps in practice and knowledge; (c) identifies core elements of an effective utility investigation program, and (d) identifies barriers to utility investigations, and (d) suggests research needed for the development of a comprehensive manual and subsequent training on conducting effective utility investigations. KW - Best practices KW - Compliance KW - Construction projects KW - Location KW - Project delivery KW - Public utilities KW - Regulations KW - State of the practice UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3965 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353326 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01562855 TI - Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Problems. Topic 47-13. State of the Practice for Traffic Signal Preemption at Intersections Near Highway-Railway Grade Crossings AB - Traffic signal operations near highway-rail grade crossings vary widely and are important to transportation agencies and railroad companies in light of safety and mobility issues. In addition to traffic volume and train blockage duration that are already taken into account in existing methodologies, other factors need to be considered. Also, practice has been evolving as a result of recent changes in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) and Federal Regulations. A synthesis study will document the state of practice of traffic signal preemption deployed at intersections adjacent to railway grade crossing in the U.S. It will provide information on the practices in implementing traffic signal preemption, practices for mitigating the impacts of power and equipment failure, and practices from the viewpoint of an agency that is responsible for funding and operating the preemption systems. The resulting study will be useful for transportation agencies to assist in design of a railway preemption system for a particular situation, and to assist in their ability to maintain the system. The information included can help practitioners in seeking better solutions for traffic signal operations near railway grade crossing. This synthesis will include a literature review and a survey of state departments of transportation (DOTs) and Canadian ministries of transportation. International agencies' experience will be reviewed as available. From the results of the survey, a minimum of 3 agencies will be selected and case examples of their practices will be shared. Lessons learned and gaps in information will also be covered. KW - Intersections KW - Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices KW - Railroad grade crossings KW - State departments of transportation KW - State of the practice KW - Traffic control devices KW - Traffic signal preemption KW - Traffic volume UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3966 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353325 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01562854 TI - Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Problems. Topic 47-16. Transportation Worker Safety AB - Worker safety and health injury illness data managed by occupational safety and health offices may or may not be combined with the worker's compensation management or their third-party administrator. Numerous workers injuries resulting in compensation claims, primarily for transportation workers in temporary, roadway workzones, are submitted each year. To address these issues, a study is warranted to better understand what issues are contributing to workers injuries and workers compensation claims. If the data from each area are compared, a more complete view of this subject could help determine trends, leading to new policies and procedures, and, ultimately, prevention. To mitigate the number of worker injuries and the associated costs, a proactive safety approach is necessary. Foundational to this approach is identification of the most significant types of injuries and determination of how those claims tie to the workers compensation program. Information gathered may include a combination of worker safety injury data, historical claims data, feedback from both workers and administrators, and other pertinent information. In a time of fiscal constraints and escalating health care costs, this study might lead to a reduction in injuries and costs. This project will conduct a literature review and survey transportation employers to collect information on worker safety and health programs relating to workers compensation claims as well as identify effective practices. The final product will include a synthesis of current practice and the analysis of the survey to provide additional information on the type and causes of injuries for comparison with workers compensation claims. This my be useful for developing new or updating existing policies, programs, or tools that minimize the exposure to risk for a variety of common types of injuries. Also, it is the intent of the study to identify effective practices, and gaps in knowledge and needed future research. KW - Health KW - Injuries KW - Insurance claims KW - Literature reviews KW - Occupational safety KW - Policy KW - Safety programs KW - State of the practice KW - Surveys KW - Workers compensation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3967 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353324 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01619968 AU - Grubb, Michael A AU - Wilson, Kenneth E AU - White, Christopher D AU - Nickas, William N AU - Michael Baker International AU - National Highway Institute TI - Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) for Highway Bridge Superstructures - Reference Manual PY - 2015/07//Final Report SP - 1694p AB - This document presents the theory, methodology, and application for the design and analysis of both steel and concrete highway bridge superstructures. The manual is based on the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications, Seventh Edition, 2014, with Interim Revisions through 2015. Design examples and commentary throughout the manual are intended to serve as a guide to aid bridge engineers with the implementation of the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications. This Reference Manual consists of eight chapters. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to load and resistance factor design (LRFD), including an overview of the LRFD design philosophy and a description of the various LRFD limit states. Chapter 2 provides general information about location features and design objectives, as well as a brief overview of Accelerated Bridge Construction. Chapter 3 presents loads and load factors, including design criteria for common bridge loads, as well as load factors used for various LRFD load combinations. Chapter 4 provides a general summary of structural analysis, including general analysis considerations, dead load analysis, live load analysis, and various methods of analysis. Chapter 5 provides valuable information for the design of concrete girder superstructures, including preliminary design decisions, flexural design of prestressed I-girders, design for shear and torsion, prestressing, and reinforcement details. Similarly, Chapter 6 provides valuable information for the design of steel girder superstructures, including LRFD girder verifications for constructibility, service, fatigue and fracture, flexure, and shear, as well as design provisions for various steel superstructure details. Chapter 7 describes decks and deck systems, covering such topics as traditional design method, empirical design method, deck overhang design, precast deck slabs, and bridge railings. Chapter 8 provides general information about bearings and joints, including design requirements for elastomeric bearings and pot bearings. Finally, a glossary of common terms related to bridge superstructures and LRFD is provided. KW - AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications KW - Bridge bearings KW - Bridge construction KW - Bridge decks KW - Bridge design KW - Bridge railings KW - Bridge superstructures KW - Concrete KW - Girders KW - Highway bridges KW - Joints (Engineering) KW - Load and resistance factor design KW - Load factor KW - Manuals KW - Structural analysis KW - Structural steel UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/pubs/nhi15047.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1440492 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01611978 AU - Parsons Brinckerhoff AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Implementation of Electronic Right-of-Way Management Systems Versus Paper Systems PY - 2015/07//Final Report SP - 159p AB - The purpose of this report is to provide the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and state and local departments of transportation (DOTs) with a tool kit using tangible and easily understandable documentation with quantitative metrics. This toolkit will assist these professionals as they endeavor to get their leadership buy-in to support implementation of Integrated Electronic right-of-way (ROW) Management Systems. KW - Electronic data interchange KW - Implementation KW - Information systems KW - Metrics (Quantitative assessment) KW - Project management KW - Property acquisition KW - Right of way (Land) UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/real_estate/publications/e-row_management/fhwahep16001.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1423088 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01597412 AU - Mahoney, James AU - Jackson, Eric AU - Larsen, Donald AU - Vadas, Timothy AU - Wille, Kay AU - Zinke, Scott AU - Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering AU - Connecticut Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Winter Highway Maintenance Operations: Connecticut PY - 2015/07//Final Report SP - 248p AB - This study addresses issues identified in legislation adopted by the Connecticut General Assembly that directed the Commissioner of Transportation to conduct an analysis of corrosive effects of chemical road treatments, to determine the cost of corrosion created by road treatments, and to provide an evaluation of alternative techniques and products, such as, but not limited to, rust inhibitors, with a comparison of cost and effectiveness. Primary conclusions of the study include that ensuring the safety and mobility of the traveling public requires the most effective winter highway maintenance practices possible. This is a shared responsibility—to achieve comprehensive and sustainable success, competing factors must be considered including safety, cost, corrosion, operating practices, materials and equipment, environmental and economic impacts, and communication with the general public, stakeholders, and government leaders. Balancing these factors presents a challenge that can be met through ongoing monitoring and continuous improvement based on evolving best practices. While use of chloride-based deicing chemicals for winter highway maintenance has raised concerns regarding impacts on vehicles, infrastructure and the environment, alternative products also have environmental, corrosion and expense impacts. Although corrosion inhibitors are available for use with deicers, evidence of their effectiveness in the field based on literature reviewed was not found. Research is needed to confirm their effectiveness before considering use. Further, the Connecticut Department of Transportation's (CTDOT’s) participation in national initiatives, and ongoing communication with neighboring states, municipalities, and other stakeholders should continue and be strengthened to help balance the competing factors by using the most effective practices. KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Best practices KW - Connecticut KW - Corrosion KW - Corrosion resistant materials KW - Costs KW - Deicing chemicals KW - Highways KW - Snow and ice control KW - Winter maintenance UR - http://www.ctcase.org/reports/WinterHighway2015/winter-highway-2015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1402175 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01594521 AU - Lyn, Dennis A AU - Newton, John F AU - Purdue University AU - Indiana Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Approaches to the Design of Biotechnical Streambank Stabilization: Volume I-A Guide to the Literature PY - 2015/07//Final Report SP - 41p AB - Streambank stabilization has traditionally been performed with riprap for which reliable design and installation procedures are available. Due to concerns about the environmental impact of riprap, there has been increasing interest in more natural biotechnical (or bioengineering) alternatives. A review of the literature on biotechnical approaches to streambank stabilization has been performed, with a focus on those works that might be particularly useful in developing design guidelines or standards for the Indiana Department of Transportation. Works that synthesized the literature (up to about the year 2000) and so covered a broad range of topics, were examined, including monographs and manuals published by federal and state agencies. More recent publications were also found on narrower more specific topics, including the ecological effects of riprap and bio‐technical approaches, advances in the geotechnical modeling of vegetation effects on bank stability, the effectiveness of biotechnical measures, and screening methods for selecting appropriate measures. Implications of the reviewed work for the development of design guidelines are discussed. KW - Bank protection KW - Banks (Waterways) KW - Channel stabilization KW - Coast and river protective works KW - Indiana KW - Literature reviews UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.5703/1288284315998 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1401028 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01594499 AU - Lyn, Dennis A AU - Newton, John F AU - Purdue University AU - Indiana Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Approaches to the Design of Biotechnical Streambank Stabilization: Volume III—Design Guidelines PY - 2015/07//Final Report SP - 37p AB - A conceptual framework for the design of biotechnical streambank revetment is proposed. It is intended to be simple in practice, flexible in being widely applicable, familiar in retaining certain aspects of current practice while being patterned after other aspects, and encouraging a more environmentally sensitive approach to reliable streambank protection for INDOT projects. It distinguishes between a toe zone, where traditional hard armoring techniques such as those already included in the INDOT standard designs are more appropriate, and an upper bank zone where vegetation‐based techniques would typically be applied. Default techniques are identified to simplify the choice of measures for 'routine' problems, but more case‐specific techniques may also be selected. Primary techniques that offer immediate protection on their own are also distinguished from supplementary techniques that are used only in combination with other (primary) techniques. The boundary between the toe zone and the upper bank zone is proposed to be the maximum of the ordinary high water mark (or bankfull elevation), the elevation corresponding to the 2‐year discharge, and the elevation corresponding to the point that is one third up the slope from the bank toe at the design discharge (for streambank protection). For the upper bank zone, for bank slopes up to 2H:1V, regrading and revegetation with herbaceous species together with the use of rolled erosion control products (RECPs) is proposed as the default. The other (non‐default) main primary technique for the upper bank zone is the vegetated mechanically stabilized earth (VMSE, or vegetated reinforced soil slope VRSS, or soil lifts) option (where revegetation with herbaceous species is also considered standard). This requires more engineering and construct‐ion effort but is appropriate for those projects where a more vertical (up to maximum bank slope of 1H:1V) solution is desired. The supplementary techniques to be included are live staking to be used with the regrading option, and brush‐layering to be used with the VMSE option. KW - Bank protection KW - Banks (Waterways) KW - Coast and river protective works KW - Design KW - Guidelines KW - Indiana KW - Revetments KW - Vegetation UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.5703/1288284316000 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1401030 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01594489 AU - Newton, John F AU - Lyn, Dennis AU - Purdue University AU - Indiana Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Approaches to the Design of Biotechnical Streambank Stabilization: Volume II-A Field Assessment PY - 2015/07//Final Report SP - 55p AB - As part of a larger project to develop guidelines for the design of biotechnical approaches to streambank stabilization to be included in Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) standard designs and specifications, a field assessment was undertaken of 26 sites, of which 13 were INDOT sites. Multiple techniques were frequently installed in combination, which resulted in 47 samples of 12 different techniques at the 26 sites. Each site was visited at least once and the measures were visually inspected for evidence of damage either to the measure or to the streambank being protected. Some of the field assessments were supplemented by interviews with designers involved in the INDOT projects; the general merits of biotechnical techniques were discussed together with those of specific techniques that might be included in a standard design. The assessment resulted in grouping the techniques into three broad categories: i) typically reliable techniques that could be used where tolerance for bank instability is very low, and generally involving hard armor, ii) potentially reliable techniques where the tolerance for bank instability is low to moderate, and iii) techniques that are appropriate only for special circumstances or to be used only in combination with measures from the other two groups. KW - Bank protection KW - Banks (Waterways) KW - Channel stabilization KW - Coast and river protective works KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Indiana UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.5703/1288284315999 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1401029 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01593721 AU - Mudrinich, Shane AU - Guensler, Randall AU - Grossman, Alice AU - Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta AU - Southeastern Transportation Research, Innovation, Development and Education Center (STRIDE) AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Atlanta’s Hotel District: ADA Transition Plan PY - 2015/07//Final Report SP - 89p AB - ADA transition plans document the condition of facilities and programs (such as transportation infrastructure) and identify changes that are necessary to make the facilities fully accessible and in compliance with the Americans Disability Act (ADA) of 1990. This report examines the pedestrian infrastructure in and around the Atlanta downtown convention hotels. The report follows the format of a generic ADA transition plan, outlining: the areas examined, accessibility issues evaluated, tools and methodologies used in evaluation, findings and documentation, suggested mitigation measures and timelines, and potential funding needs. The researchers used Dragon Con as the annual baseline convention event for the area. The research team examined how convention attendees would use and travel between the buildings and transportation options in the area, and conducted accessibility evaluations in those areas. Findings of the report show that the buildings are nearly completely compliant to ADA standards, and have high levels of accessibility for people with all levels of physical ability. However, the sidewalks, crosswalks, and curb ramps in the areas between and around the buildings are in need of significant repairs and redesign to comply with ADA standards. Problems such as crumbling curb ramps, obstructions and narrow sidewalks, crosswalk potholes, and steep grades and cross slopes make some routes inaccessible to many users. Each of the problems found by the research team is documented with photos, text, field measurements, and each includes a proposed fix and associated cost. KW - Accessibility KW - Americans with Disabilities Act KW - Atlanta (Georgia) KW - Barrier free design KW - Condition surveys KW - Crosswalks KW - Curbs KW - Evaluation KW - Recommendations KW - Sidewalks KW - Structures UR - http://stride.ce.ufl.edu/uploads/docs/Atlanta_Hotel_District_ADA_Transition_Plan_Guensler.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1400040 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01590532 AU - Zimberlin, Carol AU - Shrivastava, Ram AU - Larsen Engineers AU - New York State Department of Transportation AU - New York State Energy Research and Development Authority AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Wayne County, NY, Municipal Vehicle Retrofit Project – Final Report PY - 2015/07//Final Report SP - 30p AB - Police Departments struggle with both increasing fuel prices and increasing demands for greater fuel efficiency and lower emissions. According to vehicle manufacturers, an average of one gallon of gasoline is burned every hour that a vehicle’s engine idles. Excessive idling creates increased wear and tear on a vehicle’s engine (between 29 and 33 ghost miles per idle hour), which makes for hidden maintenance costs. Constant dead batteries result from auxiliary equipment power draw and causes many police cruisers to end up in the maintenance shop instead of out on patrol. Running these systems (lights, radios, etc.) requires officers to keep the police cruiser’s gasoline engine turned on when stationery. Municipal truck engines are left idling for hours in order to supply electricity for power tools and construction lights. The goal of this project was to demonstrate that vehicle retrofits with anti-idling power cell battery units can serve as an example of fuel savings technology and reduced vehicle emissions. Data results, which included before and after fuel costs and emissions data, are being shared with the involved project communities, Wayne County, and Communities throughout Upstate New York. It was found from research done in this project that utility truck retrofits can be very streamlined, efficient, and effective – saving communities fuel costs. Research was performed regarding police car vehicle retrofits. Challenges and learning tools were examined. KW - Anti-idling equipment KW - Before and after studies KW - Electric batteries KW - Engine idling KW - Fuel conservation KW - Police vehicles KW - Pollutants KW - Retrofitting KW - Technological innovations KW - Trucks KW - Wayne County (New York) UR - https://www.dot.ny.gov/divisions/engineering/technical-services/trans-r-and-d-repository/C-10-20%20-%20Final%20Report_8-2015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1394957 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01590453 AU - Sun, Xiaoduan AU - Das, Subasish AU - University of Louisiana, Lafayette AU - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Developing a Method for Estimating AADT on all Louisiana Roads PY - 2015/07//Final Report SP - 98p AB - Traffic flow volumes present key information needed for making transportation engineering and planning decisions. Accurate traffic volume count has many applications including: roadway planning, design, air quality compliance, travel model validation, and administrative purposes. Traffic counts also serve as an important input in highway safety performance evaluation. However, collecting traffic volume on all rural non-state roads has been very limited for various reasons, although these roads constitute a great portion (60 to 70%) of road mileage in the roadway network of any state in the U.S. For example, out of 61,335 miles of roadway in Louisiana, 73% of the roadways are non-state roads. Due to limited resources, traffic volume information on non-state roadways has not been systematically collected in Louisiana. Generally, traffic volumes on these roads are fairly low, and vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT) on these roads is much less compared with that on interstate or arterial roads. Thus, regularly conducting traffic count is not economically feasible for non-state roadways. This study develops an annual average daily traffic (AADT) estimation methodology by using modern statistical and pattern recognition methods. By using available traffic counts on non-state roadway and four variables (namely: population, job, and distance to intersection and to major state highways at block level), a training set to estimate roadway AADT for eight parishes were obtained by a modified support vector regression (SVR) method. This pattern recognition method yields better AADT estimates than the conventional parametric statistical methods. Sensitivity analyses were also conducted in this study, which indicates a parish-specific model works better than an aggregated single model. With the estimated AADT, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) and local government agencies can make better decisions on funding allocations for safety improvement projects and pavement maintenance actions. The estimated parish-specific AADT on non-state roads can also improve statewide travel demand forecasting models and air quality assessment. KW - Annual average daily traffic KW - Louisiana KW - Pattern recognition systems KW - Regression analysis KW - Rural highways KW - Sensitivity analysis KW - Traffic counts KW - Traffic estimation KW - Traffic flow KW - Traffic volume UR - http://www.ltrc.lsu.edu/pdf/2015/FR_548.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1397599 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01587922 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - LeGrand, Lindsay TI - Keeping Virginia Moving PY - 2015/07 VL - 79 IS - 1 SP - pp 2-9 AB - The Interstate 95 Richmond Bridge Restorations in Virginia was an ambitious project to restore eleven aging bridges along a busy interstate highway. The project was successful due to accelerated bridge construction, good project management, and effective communication. Accelerated bridge construction allowed the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to keep traffic moving during the construction period. Logistics planning at the start of the project helped VDOT to develop an accurate scope of what the project would entail. The project was completed ahead of schedule and under budget, and its success can lead the way for future projects. KW - Aging (Materials) KW - Bridge construction KW - Bridges KW - Interstate 95 KW - Interstate highways KW - Project management KW - Repairing KW - Richmond (Virginia) KW - Virginia Department of Transportation UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/15julaug/01.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1386614 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01587907 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - O'Shea, Dennis M TI - How Could a Pile of Dirt Cause a Major Interstate Bridge to Tilt? PY - 2015/07 VL - 79 IS - 1 SP - pp 32-39 AB - In June 2014, the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) closed Interstate 495, causing major traffic delays. The highway was closed because a damage inspection of Bridge 1-813 found it to be leaning. A number of column supports were tilted, caused by the uneven settling and lateral movement of the piers. This was caused by a stockpile of dirt near the bridge. It was necessary to repair and reopen the bridge in as little time as possible, so work was around the clock and other bridge agencies offered assistance. It took several months to fully reopen the bridge to traffic. KW - Bridges KW - Columns KW - Delaware KW - Delaware Department of Transportation KW - Interstate 495 KW - Repairing KW - Soils KW - Stockpiling KW - Street closure KW - Traffic delays UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/15julaug/05.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1386621 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01587852 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Gomez, Patrick AU - Groudine, Candace AU - Hilton, Elizabeth AU - Struve, Brooke TI - Access for All PY - 2015/07 VL - 79 IS - 1 SP - pp 10-17 AB - On the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), this article looks back at the milestones in removing barriers to accessibility for all travelers. Since the ADA was enacted in 1990, a number of improvements have been made to increase accessibility for people with disabilities, such as curb ramps on sidewalks and mandatory standards for the built environment and transportation system. Developing these improvements has required a great deal of collaboration and outreach, and the Federal Highway Administration provides training and technical assistance for state transportation agencies and other practitioners. KW - Accessibility KW - Americans with Disabilities Act KW - Barrier free design KW - Cooperation KW - Outreach KW - Persons with disabilities KW - Sidewalks KW - Standards KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/15julaug/02.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1386616 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01587847 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Baker, Shana AU - Biton, Anna TI - Changing the Landscape of Livability PY - 2015/07 VL - 79 IS - 1 SP - pp 24-31 AB - In 2009, the Partnership for Sustainable Communities was formed by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U. S. Department of Transportation, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The partnership coordinates housing, transportation, and infrastructure investments to improve the livability of neighborhoods. They incorporate principles of livability into federal funding programs and projects. The partnership provides grants and technical assistance to ensure that federal policies and investments improve quality of life. Looking to the future, they are working to help communities find ways to cope with the changing climate, as well as encouraging new investment and economic growth. KW - City planning KW - Federal aid KW - Neighborhoods KW - Partnership for Sustainable Communities KW - Quality of life KW - Sustainable development KW - U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development KW - U.S. Department of Transportation KW - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/15julaug/04.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1386619 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01587833 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Beale, Victoria F AU - Elliott, Rob TI - Ohio’s Training Gets a Boost PY - 2015/07 VL - 79 IS - 1 SP - pp 18-23 AB - In 2013 the Ohio Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) Center developed a 12-module course for local public agencies on managing Federal-aid projects. Resources for LTAP were limited, and they used a training resource produced by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to augment their course content. Federal-Aid Essentials for Local Public Agencies is a proven training resource consisting of a library of short, to-the-point videos covering various aspects of Federal aid regulations and requirements. FHWA keeps the resource updated, adding additional content often. KW - Federal aid KW - Management KW - Ohio KW - Regulations KW - Training KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration KW - Video UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/15julaug/03.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1386617 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01587720 AU - Lawrence, Michael AU - Nguyen, Paul AU - Skolnick, Jonathan AU - Symoun, Jennifer AU - Hunt, Jim AU - Alfelor, Roemer AU - Leidos AU - Jack Faucett Associates AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Transportation Systems Management and Operations Benefit-Cost Analysis Compendium PY - 2015/07 SP - 232p AB - The Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO) Benefit Cost Compendium is a continuation of the series of reference documents and tools developed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Office of Operations designed to assist planners and operations professionals in evaluating the benefits and costs of Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO) strategies and technologies. The TSMO Compendium is a collection of cases from across the country where benefit-cost analysis (BCA) has been applied to a specific TSMO technology/strategy or group. These actual project evaluations demonstrate the use of custom spreadsheet analysis developed by the agency or its contractors or the application of available software tools to conduct the BCA. The Compendium also includes hypothetical cases designed to demonstrate how BCA can be used for a specific TSMO technology/strategy or group. FHWA has developed a sketch planning BCA tool, called the Tool for Operations Benefit-Cost Analysis (TOPS-BC), for application to TSMO projects. For the hypothetical cases TOPS-BC is used to assist in the measurement of benefits and costs and in the calculation of the benefit-cost ratio. Each case demonstrates how planners have or could in the future conduct a BCA on one or more TSMO technologies or strategies. There are over two dozen cases presented in the Compendium and they cover a wide range of TSMO technologies and strategies where each case addresses one or more specific issues or procedures. KW - Advanced traveler information systems KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Case studies KW - Highway facilities KW - Software KW - Spreadsheets KW - Traffic control KW - Transportation operations KW - Transportation system management UR - http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop14032/fhwahop14032.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1394932 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01584086 AU - Bhajandas, Amar AU - Rao, Shreenath AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated TI - Reconstruction of the I-25 Bronco Arch Bridge PY - 2015/07//Final Report SP - 35p AB - As part of a national initiative sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration under the Highways for LIFE program, the Colorado Department of Transportation was awarded a grant to help replace the Bronco Arch Bridge carrying I-25 over the South Platte River in Denver to demonstrate the use of proven, innovative technologies for accelerated bridge removal and replacement. This report documents accelerated bridge construction technique using precast bridge elements and systems (PBES), with virtually no disruption to daily traffic of over 200,000 vehicles that use this portion of the interstate. The 60-year-old original structure was a steel arch that local residents dubbed the Bronco Arch because of the site’s proximity to Mile High Stadium where the Denver Broncos play football. The new structure is shorter and wider than the original structure (371 feet long by 197 feet wide versus 384 feet long by 158.5 feet wide). It has a five-span layout, 71 feet-30 feet-118 feet-30 feet-119 feet. Eight lines of girders support an 8-inch full-depth precast concrete deck system. Each girder line consists of three precast concrete pretensioned and posttensioned 72-inch-deep U girders cast in lengths of 95.0, 136.5, and 133.5 feet. The new bridge is designed as a rigid frame with integral connections between the substructure and the superstructure. The distinctive-looking piers simulating the look of arches were precast at the site and placed immediately following caisson construction, eliminating the need for forming and pouring, resulting in reduced construction time. The use of PBES reduced construction time by more than 2 months, avoiding an estimated 58 crashes at this location. The contractor maintained preconstruction lane capacity during construction, virtually eliminating impacts on traffic. Because of the success of this project, Colorado plans to accelerate bridge construction using PBES on future projects, where this innovative technology is feasible and appropriate for conditions. KW - Arch bridges KW - Bridge construction KW - Bridge piers KW - Denver (Colorado) KW - Precast concrete KW - Reconstruction KW - Technological innovations UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/bronco-arch-draft-report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1377947 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580949 AU - Lee, Hyung AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Ohio Demonstration Project: Best-Value Design Build Contracting for Construction of I-71/I-670 Interchange in Columbus, OH PY - 2015/07//Final Technical Report SP - 22p AB - As a part of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Highways for LIFE initiative, a Federal grant of $1,000,000 was provided to the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) for this project, which was in addition to FHWA’s 80 percent contribution under the Federal-aid highway funding program. This project is a result of ODOT’s I‐70/I‐71 Split Planning Study, Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision, which described a program of construction projects for reconstruction of the existing interstate highways in and around the central business district of Columbus. The project consisted of reconstruction of the I‐71/I‐670 interchange, including 0.58 miles of I‐71 and 1.16 miles of I‐670. The project also included construction of connections between the freeways and the local urban corridor street system and a total of 19 bridge structures, including 2 long curved bridges over the interchange area (I‐670 eastbound and the connector road from I‐670 eastbound to I‐ 71 northbound). The key innovation of this project was a two-step best-value based design-build (DB) procurement method of contracting for construction. The DB method is an innovative contracting technique which allows the contractors to develop and propose innovative design methodologies and optimize their capabilities. DB is not a standard practice for ODOT and this type of contracting was expected to cut construction time in half KW - Bridge construction KW - Columbus (Ohio) KW - Construction projects KW - Contracting KW - Demonstration projects KW - Design build KW - Interstate highways KW - Reconstruction UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/ohio-i-71%20and%20i-670-interchange-report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1372962 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580465 AU - Lee, Hyung AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Washington Demonstration Project: LED Lane Delineation and High Visibility Barrier Delineation for I-90 through Snoqualmie Pass in King and Kittitas Counties, WA PY - 2015/07//Final Technical Brief SP - 26p AB - As a part of the Highways for LIFE (HfL) initiative, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provided an approximately $180,000 grant to the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to improve pavement visibility along I-90 through Snoqualmie Pass in King and Kittitas Counties. The key innovations on this project included the installation of light-emitting diode (LED) lane delineators and high-visibility barrier delineators. Although these delineators have been used in other States (e.g., Oregon, New York, California, and Colorado) as well as for small projects in the State of Washington, this is WSDOT’s first pilot project that utilizes them on a large scale. WSDOT plans to monitor this pilot program for the next 3 years to determine if the LED lights are effective. Maintaining delineation for I-90 in the Snoqualmie Pass vicinity has been a challenge for WSDOT, and it is anticipated that the new LED lights installed for this project will provide more durable and reliable delineation, giving drivers a more positive delineation especially at night and during severe weather conditions. KW - Barriers (Roads) KW - Demonstration projects KW - Highway delineators KW - Highways for LIFE KW - King County (Washington) KW - Kittitas County (Washington) KW - Light emitting diodes KW - Night visibility KW - Snoqualmie Pass (Washington) KW - Technological innovations KW - Weather conditions UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/Washington-HfL-I-90-Snoqualmie-Pass_Final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373009 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01578162 AU - Lee, Hyung AU - Rao, Shreenath AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Nevada Demonstration Project: Construction Manager at Risk Contracting for Rehabilitation of I-80 Carlin Tunnels in Elko County, NV PY - 2015/07//Final Technical Brief SP - 24p AB - As a part of the Highways for LIFE initiative, the Federal Highway Administration provided a $1.2 million grant to the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) to rehabilitate the highway structures on I-80 Elko County. This project involved (1) Rehabilitation of Carlin Tunnels, (2) Reconstruction of pavement structures, (3) Rehabilitation of eight bridge structures, and (4) Operational improvements to highways and tunnels. The key innovation employed on this project was the construction manager at risk (CMAR) method of construction delivery, which was expected to extend the service life of the highway structures while significantly reducing the duration of construction. Another important element of this project was to completely renovate the lighting system within the Carlin Tunnels using new light-emitting diode (LED) luminaires. In fact, this is the first project in North America that used an LED lighting system for highway tunnels. The overall objective of this project was to improve the structural condition of I-80 through Carlin Canyon and provide operational and safety improvements, which was accomplished innovatively through this project. KW - Bridge construction KW - Construction manager at risk KW - Contracting KW - Demonstration projects KW - Elko County (Nevada) KW - Highways for LIFE KW - Light emitting diodes KW - Paving KW - Reconstruction KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) KW - Technological innovations KW - Vehicular tunnels UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/nevada-I-80-carlin-tunnel-report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1371166 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01577857 AU - Lee, Hyung AU - Rao, Shreenath AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Indiana Demonstration Project: Rehabilitation of I-65/I-465 Interchange with Next Generation Concrete Surface in Indianapolis, IN PY - 2015/07//Final Technical Brief SP - 24p AB - As a part of the Highways for LIFE initiative, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provided a $2 million grant to the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) to research a variety of concrete surfaces, including the Next Generation Concrete Surface (NGCS) developed by Purdue University. INDOT anticipates that the NGCS would provide a significant reduction in tire-pavement noise and the ability to maintain friction for increased skid and hydroplaning resistance. The overall objective of this project was to improve the traffic flow and relieve the recurring commuting bottlenecks around the I-65 and I-465 interchange. The project involved widening of the I-65 and I-465 mainline and several ramps and construction of a new flyover ramp from westbound I-465 to southbound I-65. The key innovation of this project was the implementation of the NGCS. Three other concrete texturing techniques were implemented to study their effect on noise reduction. KW - Concrete pavements KW - Demonstration projects KW - Highways for LIFE KW - Indianapolis (Indiana) KW - Interchanges KW - Next generation design KW - Ramps (Interchanges) KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) KW - Skid resistance KW - Technological innovations KW - Texture KW - Tire/pavement noise UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/indiana-ngcs-report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1370473 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01577850 AU - Lee, Hyung AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Louisiana Demonstration Project: Wide Area Surveillance Radar and Sequential Gate for Traffic Management in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes, LA PY - 2015/07//Final Technical Brief SP - 17p AB - As a part of the Highways for LIFE initiative, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provided an approximately $1 million grant to the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LADOTD) to improve the traffic flow of US 90B (West Bank Expressway), mitigate ongoing congestion and crashes, and support work zone traffic and incident management during construction. The innovations employed on this project included the use of a phased-array Doppler radar and corresponding operator interface for traffic monitoring, as well as a remotely controlled gate system for the on-ramps. LADOTD anticipates that these innovations will greatly reduce the congestion and crashes during the upcoming interchange construction. In addition, these innovative features will remain in place and continue to be functional for future construction activities. KW - Automatic gates KW - Demonstration projects KW - Doppler radar KW - Expressways KW - Highway traffic control KW - Highways for LIFE KW - Jefferson Parish (Louisiana) KW - Louisiana KW - On ramps KW - Orleans Parish (Louisiana) KW - Technological innovations KW - Traffic congestion KW - Traffic flow KW - Traffic surveillance KW - Wide area monitoring KW - Work zone traffic control UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/louisiana-us90b-report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1370465 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576194 AU - Hopwood, Theodore AU - Fairchild, Jared AU - Meade, Bobby W AU - Palle, Sudhir AU - University of Kentucky, Lexington AU - Kentucky Transportation Cabinet AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Preventive Maintenance Program for Bridges PY - 2015/07//Final Report SP - 80p AB - The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s (KYTC) bridge inventory is rapidly aging. As such, the Cabinet needs to identify and implement relevant preventative maintenance (PM) actions to extend the useful service lives of those structures. Maintenance actions, costs, and application interval/repair durability information have been obtained for both cyclical and condition-based bridge PM. Additionally, information rehabilitation actions were acquired from a regional Department of Transportation (DOT) survey and from other literature. As part of this study, the Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) researchers monitored a KYTC bridge washing project to assess its level of effectiveness and to identify potential improvements. Based upon these tasks, recommended guidance was provided to KYTC for use when implementing bridge PM programs. The guidance includes a discussion of critical PM activities, strategies to adopt training and work documents (i.e., special notes) for contract work, and the implementation of work standards/special operating procedures for work performed by KYTC personnel. This report also includes details on the tools and training KYTC district-level personnel will need and outlines a roadmap for conducting pilot programmatic PM work in several districts. KW - Cleaning KW - Costs KW - Durability KW - Highway bridges KW - Kentucky Transportation Cabinet KW - Literature reviews KW - Preventive maintenance KW - Surveys KW - Training UR - http://www.ktc.uky.edu/files/2015/08/ktc-15-07_SPR11_424_1F-red.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1367536 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574374 AU - El-Aasar, Moni AU - BG Consultants, Incorporated AU - Kansas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - The Development of Crashworthy Rails for Fiber Reinforced Polymer Honeycomb Bridge Deck System PY - 2015/07//Final Report SP - 30p AB - Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) honeycomb panels offer an efficient and rapid replacement to concrete decks. The system consists of FRP honeycomb sandwich panels with adequate guardrails. Although FRP bridge deck panels have already been designed and used over the past several years on a number of through truss bridges, they could not be used on steel girder bridges until approved crashworthy bridge railing attachments could be validated. Two systems have been successfully crash tested, one with steel thrie beams/guardrails on steel posts and the other with concrete barriers. Both systems are now ready for use on temporary/detour bridges, or as permanent deck replacement allowing higher live load while keeping the existing steel girders and substructure. The light weight of FRP honeycomb panels (about 75% lighter than concrete) allows heavier truck loads, while keeping the existing girders and substructure without compromising the safety of the public. The roadway can be made wider by increasing the overhangs, thus allowing for wider farm equipment on narrow bridges in rural areas. The replacement of the concrete deck using this system may be completed in a matter of a few days, or even hours, as opposed to several months when using the conventional methods. KW - Bridge decks KW - Concrete KW - Crashworthiness KW - Fiber reinforced polymers KW - Girder bridges KW - Guardrails KW - Honeycomb structures KW - Impact tests KW - Median barriers KW - Panels KW - Steel UR - http://dmsweb.ksdot.org/AppNetProd/docpop/docpop.aspx?clienttype=html&docid=9326995 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366494 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574118 AU - Tia, Mang AU - Subgranon, Thanachart AU - Kim, Kukjoo AU - Rodriguez, Andrea Medina AU - Algazlan, Abdullah AU - University of Florida, Gainesville AU - Florida Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Internally Cured Concrete for Pavement and Bridge Deck Applications PY - 2015/07//Final Report SP - 175p AB - A laboratory and field testing program was conducted to evaluate the performance and usability of internally cured concrete (ICC) using lightweight aggregates for bridge decks and concrete pavement slabs under Florida conditions. The laboratory testing program evaluated three standard mixes (SM) and three corresponding ICC mixes with the same water-cementitious (w/c) ratios and cementitious materials contents. The ICC mixes were produced by replacing a part of the fine aggregate with a pre-wetted lightweight aggregate (LWA). The quantity of LWA used was an amount that would supply 7 lb of absorbed water per 100 lb of cementitious materials used. The amounts of water-reducing admixtures needed for the ICC mixes to achieve the same workability of the fresh concrete were less than those for the standard mixes with the same w/c ratios. The compressive strength, flexural strength, elastic modulus, splitting tensile strength, and coefficient of thermal expansion of the ICC mixes were lower than those of the standard mixes with the same w/c ratio. The ICC mixes showed substantially greater resistance to shrinkage cracking than the standard mixes as observed from the results of the restrained shrinkage ring test. Two ICC test slabs and one SM test slab were constructed to evaluate the performance of ICC in pavement slabs. The results of the critical stress analysis showed that at a critical loading condition, the computed stress-tostrength ratios for the ICC slabs were lower than that for the SM slab. Visual inspection of the SM slab after heavy vehicle simulator (HVS) loading showed that some hairline cracks could be seen next to the wheel path. These hairline cracks could be caused when micro shrinkage cracks developed into hairline cracks after the slab was loaded repetitively by the HVS wheel load. No visible cracks were observed from the two ICC test slabs. Based on the results of the critical stress analysis and the visual inspection of the three test slabs, the ICC test slabs appeared to have better performance than the standard-mix slab. A field testing program to further assess the performance and benefits of ICC mixes in bridge deck and pavement applications is recommended. KW - Bridge decks KW - Concrete curing KW - Concrete pavements KW - Cracking KW - Field tests KW - Florida KW - Laboratory tests KW - Lightweight aggregates KW - Mechanical properties KW - Mix design KW - Slabs KW - Structural analysis UR - http://www.fdot.gov/research/Completed_Proj/Summary_SMO/FDOT-BDV31-977-11-rpt.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55300/55391/FDOT-BDV31-977-11-rpt.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364574 ER - TY - SER AN - 01574110 JO - Civil Engineering Studies, Illinois Center for Transportation Series PB - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Kazmee, Hasan AU - Tutumluer, Erol AU - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Illinois Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Aggregate Subgrade Materials Used as Pavement Subgrade/Granular Subbase PY - 2015/07 IS - 15-013 SP - 95p AB - With recent focus on sustainable construction practices and the ever-increasing transportation costs and scarcity of natural resources, integration of large-size and marginally acceptable aggregates and recycled materials (e.g., reclaimed asphalt pavement [RAP]) with current construction specifications is becoming imperative. As an incentive, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has been using large-size rocks, popularly known as aggregate subgrade. However, adequate scientific knowledge about material performance is largely unknown. To this end, a research study was undertaken at the Illinois Center for Transportation to evaluate the adequacy and field performances of IDOT’s new aggregate subgrade specifications. A state-of-the-art image analysis technique was used to characterize the size and shape as well as the texture and angularity properties of selected aggregate subgrade materials. For field evaluation, 24 combinations of pavements were constructed over subgrade with controlled low immediate bearing value (IBV) or unsoaked California bearing ratio (CBR) strength properties. Construction quality control was achieved through in-place density and modulus measurements on aggregate layers using a nuclear gauge, lightweight deflectometer, and soil stiffness gauges. Periodic rut measurements were carried out on the pavement surface throughout the accelerated loading process using an Accelerated Transportation Loading Assembly (ATLAS). Contributions of the underlying pavement layers to the total rut accumulation were evaluated through innovative applications of ground-penetrating radar (GPR), a lightweight variable-energy penetrometer device, known as the PANDA, and a geo-endoscopy probe. Layer intermixing and material migration at the aggregate subgrade–subgrade interface improved the foundation layer stiffness properties and pavement performance results significantly. RAP-capped construction platforms consistently exhibited a higher magnitude of rutting. Performances of flexible pavement sections were governed by the as-constructed HMA thicknesses, which varied considerably during the paver operation because of RAP subbase sinkage and the weak subgrade. Adequate validation and potential revisions to current IDOT specifications were recommended. KW - Aggregates KW - Evaluation KW - Field tests KW - Granular bases KW - Ground penetrating radar KW - Illinois KW - Image analysis KW - Pavement performance KW - Recycled materials KW - Ruts (Pavements) KW - Specifications KW - Subgrade (Pavements) KW - Subgrade materials UR - https://apps.ict.illinois.edu/projects/getfile.asp?id=3517 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363895 ER - TY - SER AN - 01574102 JO - Civil Engineering Studies, Illinois Center for Transportation Series PB - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Tutumluer, Erol AU - Sarker, Priyanka AU - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Illinois Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Development of Improved Overlay Thickness Design Alternatives for Local Roads PY - 2015/07 IS - 15-008 SP - 99p AB - In this research study, 20 pavement sections were selected from six counties in Illinois, with varying structural and traffic characteristics. Falling weight deflectometer (FWD) tests were conducted on these road segments to determine and monitor the structural conditions of both the existing and hot mix asphalt (HMA) overlaid pavement sections. Then the corresponding required overlay thicknesses were determined using three different methods—the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) 1993 nondestructive testing (NDT) method, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) modified layer coefficients method, and the Asphalt Institute deflection approach—that are currently used by local agencies including municipalities, counties and townships. Inadequacies of the currently available methods to properly account for the pavement structural conditions were highlighted. Accordingly, a new mechanistic-empirical (M-E) overlay design method was developed to adequately assess the structural conditions of existing pavements and subsequently recommend required thickness values from FWD-based critical pavement responses computed and compared with threshold values for the pre-established fatigue and/or rutting damage algorithms. The M-E overlay design method successfully identified structural deficiencies in the original pavement configurations through FWD NDT and subsequently resulted in reliable and cost-effective overlay solutions, as compared with the IDOT modified layer coefficients method. KW - Falling weight deflectometers KW - Hot mix asphalt KW - Illinois KW - Low volume roads KW - Mechanistic-empirical pavement design KW - Nondestructive tests KW - Overlays (Pavements) KW - Structural analysis KW - Thickness UR - https://apps.ict.illinois.edu/projects/getfile.asp?id=3523 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366061 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574083 AU - Gaspard, Kevin AU - Rupnow, Tyson AU - Zhang, Doc AU - Louisiana Transportation Research Center AU - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Joor Road Noise Level Assessment PY - 2015/07 SP - 76p AB - Joor Road (LA 946) is an Urban 5-lane Portland cement concrete (PCC) roadway with an annual daily traffic (ADT) of approximately 13,500 with 7 percent trucks and posted speed of 55 mph. Since being opened to traffic in 2009, residents have been complaining about the high noise levels emanating from the roadway. A comprehensive experiment was developed. The experiment consisted of randomly selecting six PCC slabs, three northbound and three southbound, in the noisy areas. An additional PCC slab was selected in the southbound direction outside of the noisy area to use as a control. In order to determine if there were any significant differences between this project and another project constructed under the 2006 specifications, four PCC slabs were randomly selected for evaluation on O’Neal Lane, which was constructed approximately two years after this section of Joor Road. The parameters assessed from each of eleven slabs were tine depth, tine width, spacing between tines, and randomness of spacing between tines. Sound level measurements based on the pass by method indicated the sound levels were excessive (82 dBA) when compared to the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development’s (DOTD) Highway Traffic Noise Policy of 66 dBA for residential areas. Sound level measurements from the on-board surface intensity (OBSI) assessment also indicated that sound levels generated by the tire/road contact were excessive with values as high as 110.6 dBA. Tine parameter analysis implied that the sources of excessive noise level emissions were due to excessive tine widths, non-randomness of spacing between tines, and the spacing intervals between the tines. Pavement macrotexture values for the north and southbound lanes were generally within the range of 0.5 to 0.8 mm as recommended by Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). KW - Louisiana KW - Portland cement concrete KW - Rolling contact KW - Sound level KW - Texture KW - Traffic noise KW - Urban highways UR - https://www.ltrc.lsu.edu/pdf/2015/tar1401TAP.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1365938 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574081 AU - Hallenbeck, Mark E AU - McCormack, Ed AU - Sankarakumaraswamy, Saravanya AU - Washington State Transportation Center AU - Washington State Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Developing a System for Computing and Reporting MAP-21 and Other Freight Performance Measures PY - 2015/07 SP - 100p AB - This report documents the use of the National Performance Monitoring Research Data Set (NPMRDS) for the computation of freight performance measures on Interstate highways in Washington state. The report documents the data availability and specific data quality issues identified with NPMRDS. It then describes a recommended initial set of quality assurance tests that are needed before Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) begins producing freight performance measures. The report also documents the initial set of performance measures that can be produced with the NPMRDS and the specific steps required to do so. A subset of those metrics was tested using NPMRDS data, including delay and frequency of congestion to illustrate how WSDOT could use the freight performance measures. Finally, recommendations and the next steps that WSDOT needs to take are discussed. KW - Data quality KW - Freight transportation KW - Interstate highways KW - Metrics (Quantitative assessment) KW - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) KW - National Performance Monitoring Research Data Set KW - Performance measurement KW - Quality assurance KW - Recommendations KW - Washington (State) UR - http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/research/reports/fullreports/844.1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366060 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574027 AU - Heitzman, Michael AU - Turner, Pamela AU - Greer, Mary AU - National Center for Asphalt Technology AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - High Friction Surface Treatment Alternative Aggregates Study PY - 2015/07//Final Report SP - 72p AB - The objective of this study was to examine the pavement surface friction performance of seven alternative aggregate sources in the United States to determine if they provided similar performance to calcined bauxite as a high friction surface treatment (HFST). The alternative aggregates were granite, flint, basalt, silica sand, steel slag, emery, and taconite. The first laboratory study evaluated test slabs under accelerated laboratory polishing using the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) Three Wheel Polishing Device, dynamic friction tester, and circular texture meter. The field study evaluated HFST pavement test sections with the same eight aggregates under heavy truck loading at the NCAT Pavement Test Track. The second laboratory study evaluated four aggregates for the influence of particle size of HFST friction performance, and examined the British Wheel and Pendulum, Aggregate Image Measurement System (AIMS), and Micro-Deval as simpler tests to qualifying friction aggregates in HFST specifications. Terminal surface characteristics were achieved after early conditioning (less than one month for field friction) both in the laboratory and in the field. The terminal texture and friction characteristics decreased very slowly during additional conditioning. All eight surfaces maintained good macro-texture, predominately greater than 1.0 mm mean profile depth (MPD). The eight surfaces measured terminal dynamic friction tester (DFT) (40) friction values in the range of 0.84 to 0.49 in the lab and 0.79 to 0.43 in the field. There may be a correlation between HFST surface friction and Micro-Deval mass loss. There was no correlation between HFST surface friction and AIMS particle shape and angularity. An additional laboratory procedure is needed to prepare test specimens of small aggregate particles for the British Wheel and Pendulum friction test. There is no correlation between surface macro-texture and friction. Friction measured on HFST using alternative aggregates was not equal to HFST using calcined bauxite. KW - Aggregates KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Bauxite KW - Field studies KW - Friction KW - Laboratory studies KW - Pavement performance KW - Surface treating KW - Texture KW - United States UR - http://www.ncat.us/files/reports/2015/15-04.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366064 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574021 AU - Hanifa, Khalil AU - Abu-Farsakh, Murad Y AU - Gautreau, Gavin P AU - Louisiana Transportation Research Center AU - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Design Values of Resilient Modulus for Stabilized and Non-Stabilized Base PY - 2015/07//Final Report SP - 132p AB - The American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials’ (AASHTO) new AASHTOWare pavement design software, Pavement ME Design, has recommended the use of laboratory determined resilient modulus of base, subbase, and subgrade soils in characterizing pavements for their structural analysis and design. Pavement ME Design requires the base course resilient modulus as an input parameter for pavement design. These resilient modulus design values for stabilized (bound) and non-stabilized (unbound) base materials are not well established for Louisiana. The primary objective of this research study was to determine resilient modulus design values for typical base course materials, as allowed by Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) specifications. The study also intended to develop resilient modulus models (k₁, k₂, and k₃) for use to evaluate the resilient modulus for unbound base course materials for use in the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG). To accomplish this objective, typical base course materials specified and constructed as part of Louisiana roadways were evaluated in this research study. Three stabilized soil types (classified as A-2-4, A-4, and A-6, according to AASHTO soil classification) were evaluated as bound base materials. Two field materials (in-place cement stabilized and in-place cement treated base course) were also evaluated as bound base materials. Two aggregate types (Mexican Limestone and Recycled Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) (crushed)) were evaluated as unbound base materials. The basic material properties of the bound and unbound base materials were characterized through laboratory tests; repeated load triaxial tests were also conducted to evaluate their resilient modulus. Resilient modulus design values were recommended for the typical base course materials evaluated. Three mathematical resilient modulus models, the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP Project 1-37A, 2001) model, University of Kentucky Transportation Center (UKTC) model (2002), and Uzan (1985) model were evaluated. Material coefficients k₁, k₂, and k₃ for these models were obtained using multiple regression analysis of all standard testing stresses and corresponding resilient modulus values. These models provide best data “fits” between resilient modulus and testing stresses. Furthermore, using the material coefficients (k₁, k₂, and k₃) for each model, the resilient modulus can be predicted when the stress condition and type of unbound base course material is known. While the NCHRP model, UKTC model, and Uzan model all performed well for estimating the resilient modulus of unbound base materials, the NCHRP model will be recommended and made readily available to the design personnel of DOTD. KW - Base course (Pavements) KW - Laboratory tests KW - Louisiana KW - Mechanistic-empirical pavement design KW - Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide KW - Modulus of resilience KW - Multiple regression analysis KW - Stabilized materials UR - https://www.ltrc.lsu.edu/pdf/2015/FR_521.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364661 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570625 AU - Ishak, Sherif AU - Osman, Osama AU - Thapa, Raju AU - Jenkins, Syndney AU - Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge AU - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development AU - Southeast Transportation Consortium AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Real Time Driver Information for Congestion Management PY - 2015/07//Final Report SP - 71p AB - Traffic demand in the U.S. has grown substantially over the past few years because of the increase in population and urbanization in large cities. This causes traffic congestion to spread out over U.S. highways and arterials, and subsequently leads to deterioration in traffic networks in terms of operation, safety, and productivity. Therefore, congestion management strategies have become essential for addressing safety and operational problems. Recently, active traffic management (ATM) strategies have been recognized as efficient methods for managing widespread congestion, provided that a proper management strategy is identified and implemented. Any ATM strategy requires a systematic process that should work in a specific sequence starting from getting information from a congested road segment to dissemination of relevant information to travelers to help relieve congestion. This process starts with collecting traffic data from the roadways, screening the collected data to remove redundancies and erroneous data, synthesizing useful traffic information, and finally disseminating such information to travelers in real time. Based on the type of delivered information, travelers may alter their trip decision in terms of departure time, mode choice, and route selection in order to avoid congestion. This report presents a review of the state-of-the-art and state-of-practice methods used to execute the steps taken to deliver accurate real time traffic information to travelers and the impact such information has on congestion management. The report sheds light on different technologies and methodologies used for data collection, screening, and dissemination in the United States. In addition, the report highlights the impact of disseminated information on drivers’ behavior and transportation network operation and safety. More so, the report presents a few case studies on different ATM strategies and shows the gained benefits from using these strategies. KW - Advanced traffic management systems KW - Behavior KW - Case studies KW - Congestion management systems KW - Data collection KW - Drivers KW - Information dissemination KW - Information processing KW - Real time information KW - State of the practice KW - Traffic congestion KW - Traveler information and communication systems KW - United States UR - http://www.ltrc.lsu.edu/pdf/2015/FR_543.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1361382 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570398 AU - Heavey, Justin P AU - Volk, Timothy A AU - Abrahamson, Lawrence P AU - Castellano, Phillip AU - Williamson, Ruth AU - State University of New York, Syracuse AU - New York State Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Designing, Developing and Implementing a Living Snow Fence Program for New York State PY - 2015/07//Final Report SP - 456p AB - Living snow fences (LSF) are a form of passive snow control designed to mitigate blowing and drifting snow problems on roadways. Blowing and drifting snow can increase the cost of highway maintenance and create hazardous driving conditions when snow is lifted off the ground by wind and transported toward a road. LSF disrupt wind patterns, causing blowing snow to be deposited in designated areas around the fence and away from the road. LSF are rows of vegetation (trees, shrubs, corn) that perform the same function as structural (wooden, plastic) snow fences with potentially longer life cycles and better returns on investment. This project provided a literature review; training materials; classroom and field workshops on LSF design, installation and maintenance; four demonstration sites with installed LSF; protocols for the assessment of sites and operational fences; a study of 18 LSF using these protocols; the identification of key factors for successful LSF in NY State and beyond; and a benefit-cost tool. Key research outcomes include improved understanding of snow trapping function as LSF grow over time and improved design recommendations based on these findings. Applying these design standards along with best practices for installation and maintenance developed in this project can increase the feasibility and effectiveness of LSF. Well designed and managed LSF can produce numerous economic, safety and environmental benefits to transportation agencies and the public. KW - Assessments KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Best practices KW - Design KW - Education and training KW - Literature reviews KW - Maintenance KW - New York (State) KW - Recommendations KW - Snow and ice control KW - Snow fences KW - Vegetation UR - http://www.utrc2.org/sites/default/files/FinalReport-Living-Snow-Fence-Program-NYS_0.pdf?utm_source=10-13-15+Final+Reports&utm_campaign=07-06-14+PR-Final+Reports&utm_medium=email UR - https://www.dot.ny.gov/divisions/engineering/technical-services/trans-r-and-d-repository/C-06-09_Final%20Report_0.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55200/55284/C-06-09_Final_Report_0.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1360909 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570397 AU - Shuler, Scott AU - Colorado Department of Transportation AU - Colorado State University, Fort Collins AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Best Practices for Full-Depth Reclamation Using Asphalt Emulsions PY - 2015/07//Final Report SP - 43p AB - Full depth reclamation (FDR) of asphalt pavements using asphalt emulsions (AEFDR) is a process that recycles and rejuvenates the existing asphalt pavement surface, base, and, sometimes, the subgrade, providing an improved underlying structure for the new asphalt pavement. This report provides design guidance, standardized plans and specifications, construction inspection best practices, materials testing procedures and frequencies, a performance evaluation process, and quality assurance and quality control protocols when constructing FDR projects. KW - Asphalt emulsions KW - Asphalt pavements KW - Best practices KW - Full-depth reclamation KW - Paving KW - Performance measurement KW - Quality assurance KW - Quality control KW - Specifications KW - Test procedures UR - https://www.codot.gov/programs/research/pdfs/2015-research-reports/best-practices-for-full-depth-reclamation-using-asphalt-emulsions/at_download/file UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55200/55285/CDOT-Research-2015-04.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1360911 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570371 AU - Dusicka, Peter AU - Bazaez, Ramiro AU - Knoles, Sarah AU - Portland State University AU - Oregon Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Bridge Seismic Retrofit Measures Considering Subduction Zone Earthquakes PY - 2015/07//Final Report SP - 220p AB - Over the years, earthquakes have exposed the vulnerability of reinforced concrete (RC) structures under seismic loads. The recent occurrence of highly devastating earthquakes near instrumented regions, e.g. 2010 Maule, Chile and 2011 Tohoku, Japan, has demonstrated the catastrophic impact of such natural force upon reinforced concrete structures. Research was conducted to investigate the effect of subduction zone earthquakes on structural damage. The study suggests that large magnitude ground motions of long duration have the potential of significantly increasing the number of inelastic excursions and consequently incur more extensive structural damage as compared to ground motions with similar elastic spectral demands but of shorter duration. This increase in demand plays a crucial role in the Pacific Northwest where a mega subduction zone earthquake is impending. Typical reinforced concrete bridge bents constructed in the 1950s to mid-1970s in the State of Oregon were designed and built with minimum seismic considerations. This resulted in inadequate detailing within plastic hinge zones, leaving numerous RC bents highly susceptible to damage following an earthquake. In this study, the cyclic performance of an as-built RC square column and a reinforced concrete bridge bent retrofitted using buckling restrained braces (BRBs) was experimentally evaluated using quasi-static cyclic loading protocols aiming to reflect subduction zone earthquake demands up to displacement ductility. The buckling restrained braces were designed as replaceable elements in order to take the earthquake-induced energy and dissipate it through nonlinear hysteretic behavior. Two BRB designs were considered in the study in an effort to assess the influence of BRB stiffness on the overall structural performance. The results of these large-scale experiments successfully demonstrated the effectiveness of utilizing buckling restrained braces for achieving high displacement ductility of the retrofitted structure, while also controlling the damage of the existing vulnerable reinforced concrete bent up to the design performance levels. The potential of improving the overall seismic behavior and the design performance levels with BRBs offers structural design professionals a viable method for performance driven retrofit of reinforced concrete bents. KW - Bents KW - Braces KW - Earthquake resistant design KW - Earthquakes KW - Oregon KW - Reinforced concrete bridges KW - Repeated loads KW - Retrofitting KW - Structural analysis UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55300/55300/SPR741_FinalReport_LP.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1361006 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570361 AU - Dornak, Mitchell AU - Zuniga, Jose AU - Garcia, Anthony AU - Drimalas, Thano AU - Folliard, Kevin J AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Development of Rapid, Cement-based Repair Materials for Transportation Structures: Final Report PY - 2015/07//Final Report SP - 191p AB - The state of Texas has been plagued by various durability-related issues in recent years, including deterioration from alkali-silica reaction (ASR), delayed ettringite formation (DEF), corrosion of reinforcing steel, and volume changes (plastic shrinkage, drying shrinkage, thermal effects, etc.), just to name a few. These durability-related issues, coupled with other factors that contribute to reductions in service life (e.g., service loads, defects, vehicle impact, etc.), have resulted in the need to repair concrete structures and to do so in a timely, efficient fashion, with minimal disruption to the traveling public. Thus, the need for rapid, cement-based repair materials has emerged, especially in highly congested urban areas. This project included a comprehensive laboratory-based program, as well as a significant field component, aimed at addressing this critical infrastructure need. The goals of the research project were to evaluate a range of rapid repair materials and to provide recommendations on the most efficient, economical, and durable repair materials and methodologies. KW - Cement KW - Concrete structures KW - Durability KW - Field tests KW - Laboratory tests KW - Methodology KW - Properties of materials KW - Recommendations KW - Repairing KW - Texas UR - http://library.ctr.utexas.edu/ctr-publications/0-6723-1.pdf UR - http://library.ctr.utexas.edu/ctr-publications/0-6723-1_appx.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1361076 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570279 AU - Ma, Jiaqi AU - Lochrane, Taylor AU - Leidos AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - User’s Manual for the Traffic Incident Management Benefit- Cost (TIM-BC) Tool PY - 2015/07//Version: 1.0.0 SP - 26p AB - This document serves as a user’s manual for the Traffic Incident Management Benefit-Cost Tool (TIM-BC) Version 1.0.0 - Safety Service Patrol Benefit-Cost (SSP-BC) Tool, which is used to assist State and local engineers and decisionmakers with evaluating and comparing the monetary value of Safety Service Patrol (SSP) programs. The document describes how to use the tool by providing detailed instructions and screenshots of the tool. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Computer program documentation KW - Freeway service patrols KW - Incident management KW - Traffic incidents KW - Web applications UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/operations/15059/15059.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359643 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570275 AU - Taylor, Peter AU - National Concrete Pavement Technology Center AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Blended Aggregates for Concrete Mixture Optimization: Best Practices for Jointed Concrete Pavements PY - 2015/07//Tech Brief SP - 4p AB - Historically, aggregate gradation has been controlled by specifications that call out envelopes for individual fractions, typically the coarse aggregate and the fine aggregate. The shortcoming of this approach is that the gradation of the overall system is not addressed. While it is sensible to stockpile coarse and fine fractions separately to prevent segregation, it is the combined system that is critical in the final mixture. The combined grading of aggregates used in concrete mixtures for paving applications can have a direct impact on workability, and indirectly on mixture performance. The measurement of what comprises a good combined gradation is the topic of this tech brief. KW - Admixtures KW - Aggregate gradation KW - Best practices KW - Concrete pavements KW - Optimization KW - Pavement joints UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement/concrete/pubs/hif15019.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1360769 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01571959 AU - Ferluga, Eric AU - Glassford, Patrick AU - Washington State Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Performance Based Concrete for Bridge Decks PY - 2015/06/30 SP - 383p AB - The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) revised the concrete specification for bridge decks in 2011 to be more performance based with the desired effect of having less early-age shrinkage cracking. This report evaluates a sample of the bridges constructed with the revised performance based specification against a sample of bridges constructed with the traditional WSDOT specification. The evaluation consists of visual inspections, noting cracks and developing crack intensity diagrams for each bridge. These diagrams are then used to rank and compare the bridge decks. The outcome of this study is that the bridge decks constructed with the performance based specification have much less early-age shrinkage cracking than the traditional WSDOT specification. KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Bridge decks KW - Concrete bridges KW - Cracking KW - Evaluation KW - Performance based specifications KW - Washington (State) UR - http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/research/reports/fullreports/845.1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363268 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570306 AU - Harries, Kent A AU - Lin, Jeen-Shang AU - Hasanzoi, Marwa AU - University of Pittsburgh AU - Pennsylvania Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - 50 ksi Steel H-pile Capacity PY - 2015/06/30/Final Report SP - 79p AB - The objective of this study is to re-evaluate the adoption, with the objective of potentially extending the utilization of Fy = 50 ksi for the structural capacity of steel H-piles (American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) HP sections) for bridge foundations. Specific consideration is given to the current capacity equations, Pn = 0.66AsFy and Pr = 0.33AsFy, with the objective of their confirmation or revision; potentially permitting fewer piles for a foundation and an associated cost savings. The impacts of any revisions, particularly upon foundation settlement, are evaluated and recommendations for the revision of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) Pub 15M Design Manual Part 4 (DM-4) Structures (as amended by Strike-Off Letter (SOL) 483-14-04) are provided. KW - Bridge foundations KW - Costs KW - Piles (Supports) KW - Settlement (Structures) KW - Specifications KW - Structural steel UR - http://www.dot7.state.pa.us/BPR_PDF_FILES/Documents/Research/Complete%20Projects/Design/50_KSI_Steel_H-Pile_Capacity.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359646 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01569097 TI - Research for AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways. Task 377. Standardized Format for Bridge and Structure Information Models AB - Software used for bridges and structures is numerous and varied. Some perform specific tasks and functions in analyzing a bridge (such as splice analysis); while others perform a broader analysis over the entire structure. State agencies and consultants struggle to determine which software best addresses their analysis philosophies and project delivery needs. They are burdened with the task of manually entering in the description of the structure, or model for different software used in the analysis. Furthermore, state agencies perform quality control checks and test software packages by employing different software that essentially perform the same task in order to compare the results and establish software acceptance criteria. In addition, most state agencies are not able to keep current software and hardware up to date. These issues could be addressed by using a standardized format that allow bridge and structure modeling be used within multiple software programs and different hardware operating systems during the life of the asset. Furthermore, this standardized format would be included in other cross function and agency wide models (i.e. Civil Integrated Management (CIM) solutions). The objectives of this project are: (1) synthesize the current state of software used for bridge and structure modelling including formats and requirements; and (2) propose recommendations for future research to develop a common modelling format (i.e., one model for a bridge or a structure) that can be used as a standard input for different software during the life of the asset. KW - Acceptance tests KW - Asset management KW - Bridges KW - Quality control KW - Service life KW - Software KW - Standardization KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3923 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359608 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01569096 TI - Research for AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways. Task 378. Assessing Risk for Bridge Management AB - The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) requires that each state develop a "risk-based asset management plan" and declares that "it is in the vital interest of the United States … to use a data-driven, risk-based approach and cost-effective strategy for systematic preventative maintenance, replacement, and rehabilitation of highway bridges and tunnels to ensure safety and extended service life." The legislation does not specify a method or performance measures for considering risk. However, the language makes clear the desirability of incorporating risk in a way that can reasonably be supported in a data-driven cost-effective process. Risks of interest include exogenous uncommon hazard that acts on a bridge or a small subset of bridges at random timing and location, and causes a loss of access, seriously degraded functionality for road users, unexpectedly rapid deterioration, or unexpectedly high cost. For these types of risks, it may be possible to estimate hazard likelihood at the level of geographic zones or structure categories, and vulnerability or resilience at the level of individual assets. This probabilistic approximation may enable an agency with suitable tools to quantify and manage risks in a data-driven cost-effective manner even if the exact risk for each bridge can never be measured or the timing of event is not exactly known. The hazards satisfying these criteria may include, but are not limited to, earthquakes and other types of earth movement, hurricanes and tornadoes, floods and scour, fires, vehicular or vessel collisions, fatigue, and advanced deterioration. These hazards have consequences that are beyond the normal deterioration and functional deficiencies already assessed in bridge management systems. The probability of each hazard and the ability of each structure to resist the hazard are not always consistently and quantitatively assessed at the current state of the practice. The objective of this research is to develop proposed American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) guidelines for a data-driven risk assessment at the bridge and structure level. At the minimum, the guidelines should consider risks from natural and man-made hazards and should be suitable for use in a bridge management system. KW - Asset management KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Disasters KW - Highway bridges KW - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) KW - Performance measurement KW - Preventive maintenance KW - Service life KW - United States UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3924 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359607 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574040 AU - Savolainen, Peter T AU - Gates, Timothy AU - Lord, Dominique AU - Geedipally, Srinivas AU - Rista, Emira AU - Barrette, Timothy AU - Russo, Brendan J AU - Hamzeie, Raha AU - Wayne State University AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Michigan Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Michigan Urban Trunkline Intersections Safety Performance Functions (SPFs) Development and Support PY - 2015/06/29/Final Report SP - 164p AB - This study involves the development of safety performance functions (SPFs) for signalized and stop-controlled intersections located along urban and suburban arterials in the state of Michigan. Extensive databases were developed that resulted in the integration of traffic crash information, traffic volumes, and roadway geometry information. After these data were assembled, an exploratory analysis of the data was conducted to identify general crash trends. This included assessment of the base models provided in the Highway Safety Manual (HSM), as well as a calibration exercise, which demonstrated significant variability in terms of the goodness-of-fit of the HSM models across various site types. Michigan-specific SPFs were estimated, including simple models that consider only annual average daily traffic (AADT). More detailed models were also developed, which considered additional geometric factors, such as posted speed limits, number of lanes, and the presence of medians, intersection lighting, and right-turn-on-red prohibition. Crash modification factors (CMFs) were also estimated, which can be used to adjust the SPFs to account for differences related to these factors. Separate SPFs were estimated for intersections of only two-way streets and for those where at least one of the intersecting streets was one-way as the factors affecting traffic safety were found to vary between these site types. Severity distribution functions (SDFs) were also estimated, which can be used to predict the proportion of injury crashes which result in different injury severity levels. The SDFs may include various geometric, operation, and traffic variables that will allow the estimated proportion to be specific to an individual intersection. Ultimately, the results of this study provide Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) with a number of methodological tools that will allow for proactive safety planning activities, including network screening and identification of high-risk sites. These tools have been calibrated such that they can be applied at either the statewide level or within any of MDOT’s seven geographic regions, providing additional flexibility to accommodate unique differences across the state. The report also documents procedures for maintaining and calibrating these SPFs over time, allowing for consideration of general trends that are not directly reflected by the predictor variables. KW - Calibration KW - Crash data KW - Crash severity KW - Data analysis KW - Highway safety KW - Highway Safety Manual KW - Michigan KW - Safety Performance Functions KW - Signalized intersections KW - Traffic crashes KW - Urban highways UR - http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mdot/RC1628_497550_7.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366100 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01568392 TI - Performance-Based Management of Traffic Signal Operations AB - With over 400,000 traffic signals deployed throughout the United States (US), traffic signal operations have a profound impact on the performance of urban streets. Poor signal timing is one of the primary causes of recurring congestion. Ideally, traffic signals should be retimed on a need basis, but because signal retiming projects are quite labor intensive, there is a tendency for such projects to be deferred or placed on an arbitrary schedule on the scale of years. Consequently, many agencies rely primarily on user complaints to identify problems. However, user complaints are often difficult to substantiate, and as such, do not always lead to a resolution. The operational and maintenance issues that cause poor signal operations could be substantially improved by introducing a performance-based approach to automatically identify and report problems to the engineering staff, before they generate user complaints. There have been numerous innovations in the development of automated traffic signal performance measures that can assist in this task. However, adoption of these methodologies has so far been limited to a few large agencies with the ability to employ technical staff such as computer programmers to build systems for converting the data into useful information. There is currently very little guidance for agencies without such resources on how to implement a traffic signal performance measure system. There is a need to develop a set of guidelines that fully defines the problem from a systems engineering perspective, and that helps agencies articulate their objectives and identify the appropriate performance measure tools that are the most effective for meeting those objectives within the constraints of available resources. The objective of this research is to help address the problem of poor signal system performance and improve the state of the practice by developing guidelines for agencies across a spectrum of resource levels to implement traffic signal performance measures. KW - Highway operations KW - Highway traffic control KW - Performance measurement KW - Traffic congestion KW - Traffic signal control systems KW - Traffic signal timing UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3985 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359252 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01568391 TI - Innovative Methods for Identifying and Delineating Dynamic Lane Use Control AB - Proactively managing recurrent and non-recurrent traffic congestion on freeway systems has introduced a number of innovative strategies under the frame of Active Traffic Management (ATM). ATM has also introduced a new family of traffic control devices necessary to support the dynamic practices of these innovative systems management and operational strategies. Most of the traffic control devices currently used to support ATM strategies are not supported in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) or by research prior to their development, installation and use. Furthermore, human factors, especially driver comprehension of dynamic traffic control devices used to support ATM, are not well understood. Inefficiencies in traffic control lead to reductions in safety and operational efficiency, precisely what ATM is intended to improve. Consider one of the commonly used ATM strategies--dynamic lane use control. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) defines dynamic lane use control to be dynamically closing or opening individual traffic lanes as warranted and providing advance warning of the closure(s) (typically through dynamic lane control signs), in order to safely merge traffic into adjoining lanes. Dynamic lane use control continuously monitors the roadway system to dynamically manage the operations of travel lanes and temporary use of shoulder lanes. It monitors traffic demand and determines when and how the current lane configurations of the roadway should be reconfigured to improve capacity and reduce congestion. Real-time incident and congestion data is used to control the lane use ahead of the lane closure(s) and dynamically manage the vicinity of the closure(s) to reduce rear-end and other secondary crashes. Note that a number of other dynamic lane control strategies exist with similar challenges to dynamic lane use control; namely, dynamic lane reversal, dynamic shoulder lanes, dynamic lane access control, and dynamic merge control. Drivers are required to identify and understand the appropriate lane usage, while traveling at freeway speeds, when dynamic lane use control is implemented. In many existing applications, acceptable travel lanes are identified by text-based or graphical overhead signage such as a green arrow or a dynamic speed limit sign. Closed travel lanes are most often identified by an overhead red 'X'. In some locations, ground mounted signing is also used to communicate lane use to drivers. For example, Seattle, WA uses shoulder or barrier mounted manual flip signs that reads either SHOULDER OPEN TO TRAFFIC or SHOULDER CLOSED. Other locations use signs to support the type of traffic mode acceptable for the controlled lane, often time designated to bus traffic. Various forms of static pavement marking are used to support the specific freeway operational program in place. There is little consistency and limited guidance in the methods used for communicating dynamic lane use control to drivers via pavement marking, nor are changes in lane uses effectively communicated through pavement markings, static or dynamic signing, other delineation devices, or in-vehicle displays. Research is needed to explore the array of methods currently being used to identify active lanes with dynamic lane use control. Additionally, research is needed to explore and develop innovative techniques for supporting the transition from static to dynamic lane changes with appropriate traffic control and delineation methods that can be uniformly applied and effectively communicated with road users. The most effective traffic control devices should be recommended for inclusion in the MUTCD to support safety, uniformity and positive guidance. Best practices will also be provided to transportation agencies and present standard methods for optimizing traffic control. Note that this research differs from currently proposed FHWA research focused on better understand traveler strategic decision making, better understand driver tactical decision making, understand the motivation(s) behind traveler behaviors and decisions, and develop approaches to overcome resistance to change related to dynamic ATM systems. The objective of this research is to identify and produce the most effective traffic control devices to support dynamic lane use control. Specific objectives include the following: (1) Produce a comprehensive synthesis report on existing traffic control devices and methods used to communicate dynamic lane use control. (2) Recommend and conduct research to assess the effectiveness of currently used traffic control devices supporting dynamic lane use control. Innovative and transformative traffic control devices not currently being used, including both static and dynamic signs, markings, signals, and in-vehicle displays should be considered. (3) Recommend traffic control devices to standardize methods of communicating with drivers that maximizes driver recognition and minimizes driver error. (4) Recommend changes to the MUTCD to support the results of the research. KW - Active safety systems KW - Active traffic management KW - Advanced traffic management systems KW - Best practices KW - Highway traffic control KW - Lane use control signals KW - Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices KW - Road shoulders KW - Traffic control devices KW - Traffic safety UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3986 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359251 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01568390 TI - User Information Needs and Workload Issues Associated with Active Traffic Management Strategies AB - Persistent congestion and safety concerns continue to challenge transportation professionals in the United States and around the world. Ever increasing recurring and non-recurring congestion is responsible for longer delays, higher fuel consumption, and increased risk of accidents. Recognizing the inability to quickly and cost-effectively add capacity to their systems, agencies have relied on systems operations and maintenance strategies to mitigate their mobility and reliability impacts. Over the past two decades, there have been several success stories and advances in freeway management, arterial management, and regional coordination. Today, most agencies have levels of detection and operational capability that would have been unimaginable two decades ago, which can be leveraged for a wide variety of approaches to improve mobility and safety. However, changing travel patterns, growing demand, traveler behavior changes, and increasing expectations are all requiring agencies to ask the question of "what is the next generation of systems operations and management strategies that can address their new challenges?" Active traffic management (ATM) has emerged in the evolutionary advancement of systems management and operational strategies bringing together operational strategies and a management philosophy to manage highway network conditions to improve efficiency and reduce system congestion. ATM is the ability to dynamically and proactively manage recurrent and non-recurrent congestion on an entire facility based on real-time traffic conditions. Focusing on trip reliability, ATM strategies maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of existing facility capacity while increasing throughput and enhancing safety. ATM strategies rely on the use of integrated systems with new technology--including comprehensive sensor systems, real-time data collection and analysis, and automated dynamic deployment--to optimize system performance quickly and without the delay that occurs when operators must deploy operational strategies manually. When various ATM strategies are implemented in combination, they can work to fully optimize the existing infrastructure and provide measurable benefits to the transportation network and the motoring public. One of the benefits of these new systems is that they allow for the "dynamic" or real-time automated operation of traffic management strategies that more quickly respond to changing conditions as they occur. These strategies include but are not limited to adaptive ramp metering, adaptive traffic signal control, dynamic junction control, dynamic lane reversal/contraflow lane reversal, dynamic lane use control, dynamic merge control, dynamic shoulder lanes, dynamic speed limits, queue warning, and transit signal priority. Deployment of ATM strategies has led to the creation of new graphical and text-based user information displays to deliver dynamic traveler information. These information displays are designed to garner travelers' attention quickly to allow sufficient opportunity to make and carry out decisions in a safe and timely manner. The presence of new signage and information displays along with the need to make quick decisions has the potential to significantly increase the driving task and lead to driver error. This may be compounded when drivers have to interpret and respond to multiple user information displays that are used when combinations of ATM strategies are deployed on a facility. Safety is one of the primary objectives of ATM strategies, and further research on the user information needs and driver workload issues is needed to understand their impact on the safety of ATM strategies. To date, there is a lack of consistency and standardization as it relates to the design and deployment of ATM user interfaces. There is also limited understanding of how drivers interpret and react to the design of such interfaces. To gain the maximum benefit from ATM strategies, agencies need to better understand the following questions: (1) How does the design and placement of ATM user interfaces impact the ability of drivers to make timely decisions and execute safe movements? and (2) Is there a combination of strategies that require complex user interfaces that would present challenges to driver workload and could negatively impact driver safety? It is important to note with all of the traffic control device (TCD)-related research within the ATM context is that no research has been conducted to specifically assess user information needs within the overall context of their trip as well as the additional workload these signs, alone or in combination, cause for the driver. Particularly, at what point does the driver begin to shed information within the complex environment and what do they shed first. The objective of this research is to produce an overall framework for understanding the human factors and user information needs in complex driving environments to optimize driver response and reduce driver error in support of the planning, design, and deployment of ATM strategies. Desirable future outcomes from this research are enhancement of guidance provided in pending ATM-related documents as well as potential specific information needs requiring research and validation for inclusion in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). KW - Active safety systems KW - Active traffic management KW - Driver errors KW - Fuel consumption KW - Highway traffic control KW - Mobility KW - Real time information KW - Traffic congestion KW - Traffic control devices KW - Traffic delays KW - Traveler information and communication systems UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3987 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359250 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01568389 TI - Evaluation of Change and Clearance Intervals Prior to the Flashing Yellow Arrow Permissive Left-Turn Indication AB - The flashing yellow arrow has been the focus of many research efforts over the past 20 years. Those efforts culminated with the inclusion of the flashing yellow arrow (FYA) as a permissive left-turn and right-turn indication in the 2009 Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). As such, implementation of FYA indication operations across the country has rapidly increased. As an example, Washington County, Oregon, added the FYA permissive left-turn indication to over 300 signalized intersections in a single year. Other cities and states have also installed hundreds of FYA indications. One of the issues with the implementation of the FYA indication that has not been effectively addressed by research is the indication sequence prior to and immediately after the FYA indication that most effectively communicates the desired action to road users. For example, many jurisdictions who have implemented the FYA permissive left-turn indication, following a green arrow protected left-turn indication, use both the yellow arrow change indication and the red arrow clearance indication prior to initiating the FYA indication. Although not currently required by the MUTCD, some traffic engineers believe that the solid red arrow is needed to effectively communicate to drivers that the left-turn movement has switch from protected to permissive. Other traffic engineers allow the solid yellow arrow change interval following the protected left-turn movement to immediately change to the FYA indication, without the use of the solid red arrow clearance indication. The need for the red arrow clearance indication, its effectiveness when used, and the appropriate duration for its use have not been explored. Traffic engineers lack the necessary guidance in using the sold red arrow prior to the FYA indication. Research is needed to determine the need and best methods of using the solid red arrow clearance indication when the FYA indication is used. The objective of this research is to better understand the safety and efficiency implications of the use of solid yellow arrow change and solid red arrow clearance intervals after a leading solid green arrow transitioning to a permissive FYA or after a permissive FYA transitioning to a lagging solid green arrow. Specifically, there is a need to understand what intersection characteristics result in a value proposition that supports the use of both the solid yellow arrow change and solid red arrow clearance intervals. Additionally, there is a need to determine the appropriate duration of the red clearance interval when it is used. The influence of opposing bicycle, pedestrian and vehicle volumes and gaps, left turning demand, approach speeds, and lane configurations will all be considered. Ultimately, recommendations for the inclusion of change and clearance intervals and their correct durations will be drafted in a form as to be considered for inclusion in updates to documents such as the MUTCD or the Traffic Signal Timing Manual. KW - Clearance interval (Traffic signal cycle) KW - Flashing traffic signals KW - Intersections KW - Left turn phase KW - Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices KW - Permissive phasing KW - Traffic engineering UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3988 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359249 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01568388 TI - Evaluation Guidance for Automated Vehicle Pilot and Demonstration Projects AB - A number of pilot and demonstration automated vehicle (AV) projects are underway or planned in the United States and Europe. Each of these projects is intended to highlight different aspects of AV systems and their impacts on transportation, safety, and society. These local demonstrations are particularly important to gauge and foster societal acceptance since the public and policy-makers are often reluctant to believe that driverless technologies can work in their city, region, or country. Each of these pilot projects includes an evaluation phase, but each evaluation approach is different, so it is difficult to directly compare the results. Evaluations are often being done by an interested party who may have a vested interest in the outcome of the evaluation and therefore are not independent and may not be totally objective. A common framework for these evaluations could help to clearly identify the real benefits, impacts, risks, and issues of the AV technologies so that other organizations could more easily gain insights from the pilot organizations' experiences. Objective guidance on the accuracy and robustness of evaluation methodology could also increase the confidence in those results. The U.S. DOT is currently evaluating proposals for the Connected Vehicles Pilot Deployment Project (http://www.its.dot.gov/pilots/). Multiple awards are expected by Fall 2015. While these projects are focused on connected vehicle technologies rather than automated vehicle, many of the performance metrics and evaluation methods should be the same. A "Sources Sought" notice has been released for independent evaluation of the CV Pilot Deployments (https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=86abc4a62cdd10a27380dce8c8372eca&tab=core&_cview=0). The objective of the proposed research is to develop a common methodological approach to evaluating the benefits, impacts, costs, safety implications, and societal acceptance of automated vehicles for the experiences of AV pilot and demonstration projects. This will be done by developing guidance on how evaluation information can be collected and analyzed in a way that will enable objective comparisons among pilot and demonstration projects. KW - Automated vehicle control KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Demonstration projects KW - Europe KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Highway safety KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Pilot studies KW - United States UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3989 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359248 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574022 AU - Remian, Dan AU - CD Engineering AU - New Hampshire Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Corrosion and Corrosion Control on Interstate 89 Bridge #30 and # 31 PY - 2015/06/24/Final Report SP - 75p AB - This report summarizes the evaluation of the performance of cathodic protection installed on I-89 bridges over Gile Pond Road (New Hampshire Route 114) during a rehabilitation project in 1987. Control bridges of I-89 over Hominy Pot Road, approximately 1.5 miles to the northwest, were also evaluated. The Hominy Pot Road bridges received a standard-practice New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) rehabilitation of an overlay of 1 ½ inches of concrete and a new membrane. The Gile Pond Road bridges each received a four-zone Raychem FEREX 100 anode cathodic protection system overlaid with concrete and no membrane. This system was tested after installation and records indicate it was working properly; however, within 6 years only one of the four zones was functioning as expected. Two zones of the four appear to have failed in 1990 and the system failed completely by 1998. Field surveys for this study took place in 2009 using an evaluation protocol as presentation in National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) report 558. The control bridges exhibited more substantial damage in comparison with higher rebar loss, in addition to amounts of concrete delamination and spalling. The cathodic protection system did provide some benefit to these bridges; however, the system failed and no longer provides protection. The particular system used in this installation proved to be unsuccessful at most installations in the U.S. KW - Cathodic protection KW - Condition surveys KW - Corrosion KW - Evaluation KW - Highway bridges KW - New Hampshire KW - Reinforcing bars KW - Spalling UR - http://www.nh.gov/dot/org/projectdevelopment/materials/research/projects/documents/26962D-REPORTFINAL.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55300/55389/26962D-REPORTFINAL.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364784 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01571967 AU - Bell, Erin Santini AU - Gaylord, David AU - Goudreau, Adam AU - White, Daniel AU - University of New Hampshire, Durham AU - New Hampshire Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Instrumentation, Digital Image Correlation, and Modeling to Monitor Bridge Behavior and Condition Assessment PY - 2015/06/24/Final Report SP - 268p AB - Bridge managers have historically relied on visual inspection reports and field observation, including photographs, to assess bridge health. The inclusion of instrumentation, including strain gauges, along with a structural model can enhance bridge management. This combination of instrumentation and modeling is commonly classified as Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). Traditional SHM measurements are reference-independent, such as strain gauges. These sensors can be easily installed and provide valuable information for bridge condition assessment, including neutral axis location. The collection of global deflection of a bridge, a reference-dependent measurement, is more difficult to collect as the connection between the bridge structure and a fixed reference is geometrically challenging. A measurement technique that alleviates this issue is digital image correlation. Through recent advances in digital photography and the computational capability of personal computers, Digital Image Correlation (DIC) is a non-contact measurement technique that can be cost-effectively deployed to collect global deflection measurements of a bridge structure. DIC uses multiple digital cameras to photograph a target object to provide structural response information. This project incorporates a DIC system into the bridge instrumentation and testing program for a concrete deck-steel girder composite bridge, Bagdad Road over US Route 4, in Durham, New Hampshire. This report presents the instrumentation selection, sensors location planning and deployment, structural testing, DIC measurement for displacement, and strain measurements in both laboratory and field experiments. This report also includes a detailed structural model that is calibrated with collected field structural response data for bridge decision-making and management. KW - Condition surveys KW - Deflection KW - Digital cameras KW - Digital image correlation KW - Durham (New Hampshire) KW - Girder bridges KW - Instrumentation KW - Sensors KW - Strain measurement KW - Structural health monitoring UR - http://www.nh.gov/dot/org/projectdevelopment/materials/research/projects/documents/15680L-FINALREPORT.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363116 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01573293 TI - Toolkit for the Deployment of Alternative Vehicle and Fuel Technologies AB - The initial focus of this project will be on electric vehicle (EV) deployment efforts, but the overall project scope will include consideration of other alternative vehicle and fuel technologies that may begin to play a substantial role in the light-duty and heavy-duty transportation sector such as fuel cell hydrogen vehicles or increased usage of natural gas (i.e. compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG)). The objectives of this project will be twofold: (1) implementation of 8-10 regional/topic-based workshops for state and local transportation agencies, their state counterparts and stakeholders to discuss the current status of alternative vehicle and fuels technologies in their specific region; and, (2) development of a "toolkit" for state and local transportation agencies who are interested in advancing the deployment of alternative vehicle and fuels technologies. The toolkit will be tailored to the specific needs of each region. KW - Alternate fuels KW - Compressed natural gas KW - Deployment KW - Electric vehicles KW - Fuel cell vehicles KW - Liquefied natural gas KW - Workshops UR - http://www.pooledfund.org/Details/Study/580 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366517 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01613989 AU - Timcho, Thomas AU - Plapper, Eric AU - Klein, Rachel AU - Toth, Christopher AU - Kellom, Brandy AU - Vaughn, Ken AU - Battelle AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Task 2: Conduct Scan of Technology, Application Standards, and Stakeholder Engagement Technical Memorandum – Final Report PY - 2015/06/19/Final Report SP - 77p AB - This document presents the technology scan and standards assessment performed for the U.S. DOT project, Coordination of Mobile Devices for Connected Vehicle Applications. This project seeks to develop personal safety and personal mobility messages that complement the existing basic safety and vehicle situation data messages exchanged in the connected vehicle environment by utilizing mobile devices as a message-capable medium, enabling individual users to participate as a connected “person.” This document presents the terminology and scenario development process used to identify and describe the use case scenarios that will be utilized in the concept and design phases of the project; example scenarios are provided to illustrate the range of characteristics each scenario is intended to demonstrate. An overview of relevant communication and connected vehicle technology is then presented to identify which technologies are most capable of supporting these use cases. Finally, a summary of domestic and international industry standards is used to identify which standards are most applicable to incorporating mobile devices into the connected vehicle environment. KW - Connected vehicles KW - Messages (Communications) KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Standards KW - Technological innovations KW - Vehicle to infrastructure communications KW - Vehicle to vehicle communications UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/60000/60100/60122/FHWA-JPO-15-224.1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1426740 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574064 AU - Stephens, Denny AU - Timcho, Thomas AU - Smith, Theodore AU - Balke, Kevin AU - Charara, Hassan AU - Sunkari, Srinivasa AU - Battelle AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Technical Report on Prototype Intelligent Network Flow Optimization (INFLO) Dynamic Speed Harmonization and Queue Warning PY - 2015/06/19/Final Report SP - 125p AB - This Technical Report on Prototype Intelligent Network Flow Optimization (INFLO) Dynamic Speed Harmonization and Queue Warning is the final report for the project. It describes the prototyping, acceptance testing and small-scale demonstration of the INFLO Prototype Speed Harmonization (SPD-HARM) and Queue Warning (Q-WARN) applications. This report also describes the programmatic and technical accomplishments of the program wherein the Small-Scale Demonstration fully confirmed the functionality of the INFLO Prototype System in an operational highway traffic environment. The system was proven to reliably (1) Capture current location and telematics data from connected vehicles and vehicle speed data from infrastructure; (2) Analyze the data to detect congestion and determine the beginning and end of congestion queues; (3) Formulate speed harmonization recommendations; and (4) Communicate queue location and speed harmonization recommendations to drivers. The demonstration proved connected vehicle data capture and dissemination functionality using both cellular communications and DSRC communications. Furthermore, the Small-Scale Demonstration confirmed that the INFLO Prototype System has the latency and processing speed to support INFLO application functionality in an operational traffic environment. KW - Acceptance tests KW - Driver information systems KW - Intelligent Network Flow Optimization (INFLO) KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Optimization KW - Prototype tests KW - Queuing KW - Speed data KW - Traffic congestion KW - Traffic flow KW - Traffic speed UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55300/55304/100030614-601_Technical_Report_on_Prototype_Intelligent_Network_Flow_Optimization_Final_.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364671 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01598841 TI - Research for the AASHTO Standing Committee on Planning. Task 128. Data Visualization Methods for Transportation Agencies AB - Sharing technical transportation data in ways that both inform and enhance understanding is both necessary and challenging. With the advent of performance-based planning and programming, transportation agencies are finding it essential to relay information across a number of performance areas in ways that are easily understood by a broad audience. Data visualization methods (DVM) can be especially effective in analyzing, mapping, displaying, and reporting a wide range of data to support planning functions; however, research is needed to produce a systematic classification of data visualization methods and an assessment of how these methods can best be used by local agencies and state transportation departments to enhance the analytical process. It is not only important to share the data, but also to explain the decisions that result from analyzing that data. Visualization techniques can enhance both objectives. The types of data addressed by this approach include but are not limited to travel-related data, environmental information, safety data, Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS) reporting, asset management information, and operations data. These data resources are representative of the range of information that modern systems are currently displaying and reporting as an aid to the planning profession. Given the continuing demand for information sharing to facilitate effective decision-making, there is a critical need for guidance on how to identify and select effective data visualization tools and techniques. The objective of this research is to evaluate Design Visualization Methods and their applicability to transportation planning and analysis. This study will produce a systematic classification of tools and techniques that can be employed for analyzing, displaying and reporting information, and it will provide guidance on how to select the most appropriate tools and techniques as a function of the desired application. This research should address relatively simple and commonly available DVMs as well as those that are more complex and/or expensive. It should not address project design and construction project visualization. KW - Data collection KW - Highway Performance Monitoring System KW - Information dissemination KW - Mapping KW - Monitoring KW - Transportation planning KW - Visualization UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3687 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1406516 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01598842 TI - Research for the AASHTO Standing Committee on Planning. Task 129. Scoping Study to Establish Standards and Guidance for Data for AB - A great deal of work has been done to establish data needs for transportation, but little has been done to identify standards and guidance that should be applied to data for transportation purposes. In engineering fields this is less true, but in the burgeoning fields of performance based measurement and planning, establishing standards for quantitative and qualitative data is critical. To this end it is necessary to perform research to determine what those standards and guidelines could be. A complete research plan to address this would include determining the feasibility of developing standards and guidance, and if it is determined to be feasible, developing an implementation plan and technical assistance that facilitates their use. Agency resources are being stretched to their limits at the same time as technology develops and drives change. Practitioners face greater and greater demands to do “more with less”. Data have to be more versatile, more useful and more re-usable than ever before. Establishing standards and guidance for the collection, use and maintenance of data for transportation uses will effectively and efficiently enable data to meet these multiple goals, saving time and the resources required for the daily work of performance based transportation planning. There is currently no established standard and little overall guidance on the collection, use and maintenance of data for transportation purposes that explicitly looks at cost benefit, time savings and versatility and usability of data. There is a large body of research on data, and recommendations for national investment in data (TRB Special Report 304: How We Travel: A Sustainable National Program for Travel Data); this work complements that prior research and is the logical next step. With the new emphasis on performance management, planning and operations collection, use and maintenance of shared data will become increasingly important. The objectives of this research are to (1) examine the feasibility of conducting research that will produce potential standards and guidance for the collection and maintenance of data used by transportation agencies and local and regional transportation planning agencies in performance-based transportation planning, and (2) create a research problem statement for accomplishing that research. New sources and types of data, including Big Data, and how to leverage these emerging data sources should be considered. An initial assessment of the applicability of “Big Data” analytical methods to transportation planning and traffic engineering is needed to determine whether additional research and development is warranted. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Data collection KW - Guidelines KW - Performance based specifications KW - Standards KW - Sustainable development KW - Traffic engineering KW - Transportation planning UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3688 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1406515 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01575490 TI - Advancing Innovation in Transportation and Economic Development: Capacity Building for County Leaders AB - This project will investigate and promote new ways for county officials, county staff, and their local and regional partners to strategically align transportation planning and investments with economic development priorities. This project will also build the capacity of county leaders to improve transportation planning decision-making and coordination, and strengthen their ability to link transportation planning with economic development strategies, land use plans, and related local and regional planning, policy and investment decisions. In addition, this project will address Freight Planning by demonstrating opportunities for countries to engage the private sector freight community into the transportation planning process and integrating freight plans into local, regional, and state transportation planning and programming processes. It will also address Planning and Environmental Linkages by investigating techniques for using a collaborative approach to transportation planning and prioritization by integrating environmental, economic, and community goals into the transportation planning process. KW - County government KW - Decision making KW - Economic development KW - Environmental impacts KW - Regional development KW - Strategic planning KW - Transportation planning UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1367799 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543473 TI - Acceptance Criteria of Complete Joint Penetration Steel Bridge Welds Evaluated Using Enhanced Ultrasonic Methods AB - Inspection of welds in steel bridges is necessary to ensure the quality of workmanship during the fabrication and construction process and later on when the bridge is in service. There are two non-destructive evaluation (NDE) methods for evaluation of complete joint penetration (CJP) welds in steel bridges: radiographic (RT) and ultrasonic (UT). Recent advances in enhanced ultrasonic methods, including the development of phased-array ultrasonic technology (PAUT), allow for efficient detection and characterization of flaws with the option of automated data collection and imaging. Criteria for categorizing weld discontinuities as acceptable or unacceptable are codified in the AASHTO/AWS D1.5M/D1.5: Bridge Welding Code (BWC). However, these acceptance criteria do not reflect full use of the capability of enhanced ultrasonic testing methods, and furthermore are not based on the effect of weld discontinuities on bridge performance (e.g., resistance to fatigue and fracture). In addition, some weld discontinuities that are not allowed according to BWC are potentially not harmful and may not decrease service life. An updated acceptance criteria based on enhanced ultrasonic testing methods for evaluation of CJP welds in steel bridges is needed for fabricators and bridge owners. The objectives of this research are to: (1) develop guidelines to evaluate complete joint penetration welds in steel bridges based on updated acceptance criteria and (2) develop proposed modifications to BWC. As a minimum, the guidelines should cover shop and field fabrication and in-service evaluation and include procedures for using enhance ultrasonic testing methods to evaluate CJP welds in steel bridges and pertinent acceptance criteria. KW - Acceptance KW - Data collection KW - Defects KW - Joints (Engineering) KW - Nondestructive tests KW - Phased-array ultrasonic testing KW - Steel bridges KW - Ultrasonics KW - Welds UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3868 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330929 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01566310 TI - Research for AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways. Task 385. AASHTO Traffic Incident Management Working Group and Technical Advisory Group Business Plan AB - The Transportation and Public Safety Summit of 2012 brought a new discussion on traffic incident management (TIM) to the forefront. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) had previously led the collaboration efforts through the development and sustainment of the National Traffic Incident Management Coalition (NTIMC). As an executive leadership group (ELG) was formed on the heels of the 2012 Summit, the NTIMC was sun-setted. This has left the national transportation voice on TIM fragmented and has hampered the efforts to institutionalize TIM within state transportation agencies across the nation. Understanding TIM in the context of Transportation Systems Management & Operations (TSMO), AASHTO moved to create a TIM Working group in May 2014. This working group will facilitate advanced understanding of TIM, report on developments and assist with pushing AASHTO's position on TIM into the national dialog. To ensure that invested time and energy is effective, the Subcommittee Transportation Systems Management & Operations (STSMO) needs to engage a consultant to develop an initial business plan as well as a template for the future. AASHTO recently renamed its standing subcommittee on operations management to STSMO. This marked the beginning of more fully addressing the diverse transportation operations needs that state transportation agencies face. One emphasis area continues to be on traffic incident management (TIM). AASHTO has had a long-standing interest in TIM including playing a vital role in the creation of the NTIMC in 2006. In 2012 AASHTO participated in a Transportation and Public Safety Summit that identified four pillars of TIM for the nation: Legislation and Leadership; Institutional and Sustainability; Practitioner Capacity Building; and Public Outreach. In reaction to this summit the NTIMC was transitioned into the current Executive Leadership Group (ELG). As part of TSMO strategies, AASHTO has created an inward focused TIM Working Group that is comprised of state transportation agency members that guide, participate in, and report back developments in TIM to the overall STSMO. The STMSO also created an outward focused TIM Technical Advisory Group (TIMTAG) that can leverage participation from all TIM disciplines to tackle common interests. The TIM Working Group and TIMTAG need to have a clear business plan that maximizes both efficiency and output. KW - Advisory groups KW - American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials KW - Cooperation KW - Highway traffic control KW - National Traffic Incident Management Coalition KW - State departments of transportation KW - Strategic planning KW - Traffic incidents UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3984 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1357476 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01566664 TI - Research for the AASHTO Standing Committee on the Environment. Task 101. Stormwater Monitoring Program Goals, Objectives and Protocols for State Departments of Transportation AB - Many National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (NPDES MS4) stormwater permits require state departments of transportation (DOTs) to monitor stormwater discharges to characterize runoff from DOT facilities, assess the effectiveness of best management practices (BMPs), show compliance with total maximum daily loads (TMDLs), and in some cases assess ambient water quality in receiving water bodies. Stormwater monitoring programs require considerable time and resources to develop and implement. The objectives of state DOT stormwater monitoring programs are often poorly defined in the permits, leading to results that provide little useful, actionable information for the state DOTs. Furthermore, variations in monitoring programs mean that results are not particularly useful to other DOTs. Finally, monitoring permit requirements are often set without an understanding of the logistics and constraints of establishing monitoring stations on state DOT roadways and at other facilities. Research is needed to identify and select achievable and worthwhile goals for highway stormwater monitoring, and on the appropriate study design and monitoring techniques that would lead to the implementation of effective monitoring programs that produce information useful to state DOTs and their stormwater management programs. The objectives of the research are to (1) identify problems or questions that relate to the design, implementation and improvement of DOT stormwater monitoring programs, and (2) identify effective stormwater monitoring practices. Important information and data gaps will be identified, and a review of when, how and if state DOTs participate in the monitoring of receiving waters will be conducted. KW - Compliance KW - Environmental impacts KW - Environmental monitoring KW - Runoff KW - State departments of transportation KW - Transportation departments UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3970 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1358302 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01566287 TI - Research for the AASHTO Standing Committee on the Environment. Task 100. Compilation of Existing Data on Northern Long-Eared and Other Cave-Dwelling Bat Habitat and the Roadside Environment AB - The Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) is a federally listed endangered species, and the Northern long-eared bat [Myotis septentrionalis] (NLEB) is a species proposed for Federal listing under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). These species' ranges include most of the eastern U.S. The Indiana Bat is found in 22 states, and has been considered endangered since 1967. The NLEB is found in 39 states; it was proposed for listing as endangered under the ESA in October 2013. The listing is anticipated to become final in April 2015. Research on the biology and ecology of the Indiana bat has been conducted since the late 1960s. Over the years, a great deal of survey information has been collected across the multiple states where it occurs. These surveys have often employed acoustic monitoring or mist netting to capture bats to demonstrate the presence or absence of the Indiana bat as part of Section 7 consultation under the ESA. During these surveys, data on other bat species, including the NLEB and other cave-dwelling bats have also been recorded. Both the Indiana bat and the NLEB can be found roosting singly or in colonies in trees, caves and mines throughout the summer months and use caves and mines as hibernacula during the winter months. The populations of these bats are declining as a result of white-nose syndrome, a deadly fungal disease that is spreading across the U.S. (USFWS 2014b). There is little information compiled on the particular characteristics of wooded areas that the NLEB may use in the summer months, making it difficult to determine the potential impact on the species of construction projects such as lane additions or shoulder widening that involves tree removal along long linear distances. This research is urgent because of the impending listing of the NLEB as a federal endangered species in 39 states. Additional species such as the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) and the tri-colored bat (Perimyotis subflavus) may be added to the federal list as well. The listing of these species will dramatically affect the workload of highway agencies in their efforts to evaluate impacts of tree removals on bats. Tree removal is commonly required for both construction and maintenance along roadsides; so many projects are affected by the possibility of informal and formal consultation with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The objective of this research is to produce information that will assist state departments of transportation (DOTs) in discussions with the USFWS as both agencies work toward clarifying the regulatory process and identifying strategies for streamlining compliance with the ESA. This will include (1) the creation of a database of existing survey data where NLEB and other cave dwelling bats were successfully detected during surveys for Indiana bats from the 22 states where the Indiana bat is listed, and (2) conducting an analysis of the observations to obtain useful information regarding the NLEB and other bats' important habitat characteristics and use of groups of trees and wooded areas in close proximity to roads. Readily available survey data collected for Indiana bats will be compiled and an analysis of the data collected on other bat species--other bat species that were detected during the surveys--will be conducted to determine what else can be learned about the NLEB and other cave-dwelling bats, particularly regarding their use of roadside environments. Based upon this information, potential mitigation strategies will be identified. KW - Bats (Animals) KW - Caves KW - Databases KW - Endangered species KW - Endangered Species Act KW - Environmental impacts KW - Habitat (Ecology) KW - State departments of transportation KW - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service KW - Wildlife UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3969 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1357464 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01566284 TI - Research for the AASHTO Standing Committee on the Environment. Task 97. Historic Roads: A Synthesis of Identification and Evaluation Practices AB - Historic roads are an intrinsic part of the nation's heritage, representing diverse periods and trends in engineering design from the wagon roads that survive in rural areas to early transcontinental routes. Some are seemingly common while others, such as the Lincoln Highway and Route 66, have become iconic. As linear resources with a current transportation function, historic roads pose a challenge for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), state departments of transportation (DOTs), and state historic preservation offices (SHPOs) to identify, define, and evaluate for historic significance. FHWA and state DOTs are required to consider the effects their transportation projects may have on historic roads that are eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places (National Register), pursuant to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. Historic roads eligible for listing in the National Register are also protected under Section 4(f) of the U.S. Department of Transportation Act. A number of states have undertaken efforts to develop historic contexts to assist with the identification and evaluation of historic corridors within their respective states. Although the typology and significance of important historic corridors will vary nationally, there are potential common themes and methodologies that could benefit those state DOTs that have not undertaken this type of research on their own. Additionally, a synthesis of this information could reveal gaps in available information and recommend further research avenues. The objective of this research is to synthesize existing research and methodologies for identifying and evaluating the National Register eligibility of historic roads. KW - Compliance KW - Eligibility KW - Evaluation KW - Historic automobile roads KW - Historic preservation KW - Laws and legislation KW - National Historic Preservation Act KW - National Register of Historic Places KW - Roads UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3972 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1357461 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01566283 TI - Research for the AASHTO Standing Committee on the Environment. Task 98. Practical Guide for Developing Effective Scopes of Work for the Geophysical Investigation of Cemeteries AB - Cemeteries are a historic property type commonly encountered during surveys conducted for compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) on federally-funded transportation projects. Many historic cemeteries contain unmarked graves and do not have well-defined structural boundaries. Due to the sensitive nature of these property types and the often restrictive state laws regarding the disturbance of graves, non-invasive geophysical investigations can be an effective tool in establishing property boundaries. Most state department of transportation (DOT) environmental staff do not have technical expertise in geophysical applications for archaeology therefore guidance is needed on how to write or review an adequate scope of work for these services. conduct this work. A poorly scoped geophysical survey, unrealistic goals, and lack of knowledge of equipment or its limitations can lead to poor results and an unfavorable view of these useful techniques. Poor results also can lead to project delays and unintentional site disturbance. The success of a geophysical survey for archaeological applications depends on many factors including vegetation, soil type, weather, experience of the Principal Investigator, instrument type(s), data collection methods, and data analysis methods. Successfully using archaeological surveys that use highly technical geophysics are dependent on an appropriately detailed scope of work. The objective of this research is to provide guidance on (1) the factors to consider when preparing and reviewing a Scope of Work for the geophysical investigation of cemeteries and (2) how to establish investigation requirements and realistic goals. The guidance will be supported by case studies that best demonstrate application of the guidance. The guidance also may be applicable to the use of geophysical methods for other archaeological investigations not involving cemeteries. The guidance should be sufficient for a novice to use to write and appropriately review an effective Scope of Work for the geophysical investigation of cemeteries. For the purposes of this research, geophysical methods include ground penetrating radar, electromagnetic methods, magnetic methods, resistivity, and light detecting and ranging (LIDAR). KW - Archaeological surveying KW - Cemeteries KW - Compliance KW - Geophysical prospecting KW - Historic preservation KW - Historic sites KW - National Historic Preservation Act UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3973 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1357460 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574003 AU - Stoffels, Shelley M AU - Solaimanian, Mansour AU - Barzegari, Saman AU - Pennsylvania State University, University Park AU - Pennsylvania Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Potential Use and Applications for Reclaimed Millings: Report of Findings and Recommendations for Other Applications for Reclaimed Millings PY - 2015/06/11/Task 5.2 SP - 50p AB - The purpose of this project was to provide support to Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) District 1-0 in the effective use of milled asphalt material. Specifically, District 1-0 has a shortage of high-quality available coarse aggregate and has developed the innovative procedure of breaking down and sorting recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) to recover the older high-quality aggregate for use on higher-volume roadways. The focus of this project was on the usage of the remaining asphalt and fines. This report documents Task 5. The objective of Task 5 was the laboratory exploration of two promising applications for the reclaimed fine millings. The two applications investigated were use of the reclaimed millings in thin cold-mix overlays, and the possibility of using a cold mix of the reclaimed millings with virgin-grade C aggregates to replace the scalped #8 aggregates for binder course or low-volume secondary roads. KW - Binder course KW - Cold mix paving mixtures KW - Fines (Materials) KW - Laboratory studies KW - Overlays (Pavements) KW - Pennsylvania KW - Recommendations KW - Recycled materials UR - http://www.mautc.psu.edu/docs/PSU-2013-05.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366488 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01566285 TI - Research for the AASHTO Standing Committee on the Environment. Task 96. Quick Reference Guide for Traffic Modelers for Generating Traffic and Activity Data for Project-Level Air Quality Analyses AB - There is a frequent disconnect between the traffic data needed for project-level air quality analysis and the traffic data provided by traffic modelers. The disconnect leads to waste in processing and time and introduces project risk by introducing uncertainty into the NEPA and Transportation Conformity process. The challenge stems from different technical vocabulary and knowledge-base of air quality and transportation modelers. State departments of transportation (DOTs) need guidance that can bridge the gap between air quality and traffic modelers by articulating air quality needs with an understanding of common language and tools available to traffic modelers. The purpose is not to create a new process for AQ but to improve communication between disciplines and build upon the recently completed National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) project 25-38, "Input Guidelines for Motor Vehicle Emissions Simulator Model". The objective of this research is to supplement the recently completed NCHRP Report 765, "Analytical Travel Forecasting Approaches for Project-Level Planning and Design" by providing guidance focusing specifically on generating traffic information for air quality analysis. This research this effort will aid traffic modelers in understanding the traffic data needed for air quality analysis and contribute to improved accuracy and efficiency of the traffic and activity modeling that is necessary to complete federally required air quality analysis by providing guidance to modelers to help them develop data in format that can be easily used by air quality analysts. NCHRP Report 765 addressed the general subject of project-level modeling in detail but does not address needs specific to project-level air quality analyses. The amount and complexity of air quality data needs varies by location, modal components, pollutant, context (e.g., stakeholder concerns). Guidance would need to consider all these variables along with traffic data considerations for when air quality mitigation includes operational changes to traffic. KW - Air quality KW - Air quality management KW - Exhaust gases KW - Guidelines KW - Pollutants KW - State departments of transportation KW - Traffic data KW - Traffic models KW - Uncertainty UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3971 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1357462 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01566182 TI - Research Program Design---Administration of Highway and Transportation Agencies. Evaluation Guidance for Automated Vehicle Pilot and Demonstration Projects AB - No summary provided. KW - Advanced driver information systems KW - Automated vehicle control for ground vehicles KW - Demonstration projects KW - Intelligent vehicles KW - Pilot studies UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3975 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1357353 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01616411 AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute, College Station AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Analysis of Bluetooth Technology to Measure Wait Times of Passenger Vehicles at International Border Crossings PY - 2015/06/10/Final Report SP - 23p AB - The objective of this study was to analyze the penetration rate of Bluetooth®-enabled devices for both southbound and northbound passenger vehicles at five of the United States (US)-Mexico (MX) ports of entry located along the Texas-Mexico border. This is an addendum to a previous project where Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) performed the study at 10 US-MX border crossings. After the completion of the study, it was determined that 3 out of 10 border crossings needed further data collection to ensure that the penetration rates observed during the study were reflective of the ground conditions. Two additional border crossings, Eagle Pass Bridge I and Gateway to the Americas, include bridges that are in close proximity to the previously studied bridges and may have competing traffic. The outcome of this study was recommendations to the stakeholder agencies on the border about which crossings could employ Bluetooth technology to measure wait times of passenger vehicles crossing the border. KW - Bluetooth technology KW - Passenger vehicles KW - Ports of entry KW - Texas-Mexico Border region KW - United States-Mexico Border KW - Waiting time UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/border_planning/us_mexico/resources/studies_and_reports/bluetooth_analysis/blue_tooth_analysis_of_waittimes.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1434918 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01573854 TI - MPO Staffing and Organizational Structure AB - The purpose of this contract is to explore innovative changes in multi-modal transportation planning. This project will assist metropolitan planning organizations (MPO) board members and senior staff to allocate their limited resources in the most efficient fashion by documenting how peer agencies have structured their organizations and allocated staff resources and expertise. The results of this project may also help the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Federal Transit Administration (FTA), and state departments of transportation (DOTs) recognize instances where their relationship with MPOs can change. There may be opportunities to eliminate duplicative work, collaborate on data collection, or assign new tasks. These relationship changes could influence future transportation legislation or regulation. KW - Cooperation KW - Data collection KW - Metropolitan planning organizations KW - Organizational effectiveness KW - Resource allocation KW - Selection and appointment KW - State departments of transportation KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration KW - U.S. Federal Transit Administration UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366921 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01573856 TI - Advancing Transportation Planning through Innovation and Research AB - The purpose of this contract is to explore innovative changes in multi-modal transportation planning. The research findings will inform ongoing Department of Transportation (DOT), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) capacity building efforts with recent grantees as well as inform choices in the reauthorization of transportation funding efforts. Best practices gleaned from individual case studies should inform metropolitan planning organizations (MPO) planners and public officials on ways to include sustainability in performance measures for regional transportation planning practice and the strategic importance of partnering. While this effort falls squarely into the BAA focus area of State, MPO and Local Planning Capacity Building, it is likely that the findings will also help inform other focus areas such as Pedestrian and Bicycle Planning and Design, Freight Planning, Public Involvement, Environmental Justice, Visualization in Planning and Congestion Management, due to the breadth of topics addressed in SCI grants. KW - Best practices KW - Case studies KW - Congestion management systems KW - Multimodal transportation KW - Performance measurement KW - Sustainable development KW - Transportation planning UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366923 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01600781 AU - Zaghi, Arash Esmaili AU - Wille, Kay AU - Zmetra, Kevin AU - McMullen, Kevin AU - University of Connecticut, Storrs AU - Connecticut Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Repair of Steel Beam/Girder Ends with Ultra High Strength Concrete (Phase I) PY - 2015/06/06/Final Report SP - 287p AB - The end corrosion in steel girders at the bearings due to joint leakage is a significant problem in many of the old bridges around the nation. This critical damage impairs the shear and bearing capacities of girders. Research has been conducted investigating a novel method for retrofitting the corroded ends of steel bridge girders using ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) encasings. The repair involves casting thin UHPC panels on each side of the girder web. Shear studs welded to undamaged portions of the web and flange engage the UHPC panels and provide an alternate load path. This repair method is expected to be superior to the current practice of attaching steel cover plates. It can be easier to design and install, reduce obstruction to traffic during the repair, prevent future corrosion to the girder end, and reduce the total cost of repair. To investigate the effectiveness of the repair in recovering the capacity of the corrosion damaged girders, three large-scale experiments were performed on the undamaged, damaged and repaired rolled girders. This report presents results of these experiments, describes the finite element analysis (FEA) model, compares the model results to the tests, and describes the performance of the full-scale FEA. KW - Beams KW - Corrosion KW - Finite element method KW - Girders KW - Highway bridges KW - Laboratory tests KW - Repairing KW - Retrofitting KW - Ultra high performance concrete UR - http://www.ct.gov/dot/lib/dot/documents/dpolicy/research/CT-2282-F-15-2.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1408432 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570617 AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Railroad Administration AU - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service TI - User’s Guide for the Range-wide Programmatic Informal Consultation for Indiana Bat and Northern Long-eared Bat PY - 2015/06/04/Version 1.1 SP - 17p AB - This document is based on the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Range-wide Biological Assessment (BA) for Transportation Projects for the Indiana bat and the northern long-eared bat (NLEB) dated April 17, 2015 and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) concurrence letter dated April 20, 2015. The Service, FHWA, and FRA jointly developed this User’s Guide to be instructional for both transportation agencies and Service field offices. This User’s Guide provides: (1) Effects Analysis Summary: Key effects analysis decision points and Avoidance and Minimization Measures (AMMs) for projects; (2) Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Site-Specific Project(s) Submission; (3) Project Submittal Form; and (4) Avoidance and Minimization Measures: Summary of AMMs to avoid or minimize impacts to the point of insignificant/discountable for projects to be included in the programmatic consultation. KW - Bats (Animals) KW - Construction projects KW - Environmental impacts KW - Transportation departments KW - United States KW - Wildlife UR - http://www.fws.gov/midwest/Endangered/section7/fhwa/pdf/UserGuideV11_060415.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1361890 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01600782 AU - Zinke, Scott AU - Mahoney, James AU - University of Connecticut, Storrs AU - Connecticut Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Longitudinal Joint Density Specification on 2012 Polymer Modified Warm-Mix Asphalt Projects in Connecticut PY - 2015/06/03/Final Report SP - 29p AB - In order to examine performance and establish future longitudinal joint density requirements on projects using Polymer Modified Asphalt (PMA) and Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA), this study examines test data from several pilot projects that were constructed during the 2012 construction season on limited access highways in Connecticut. The current requirement for in-place longitudinal joint density on non-WMA/PMA projects is 91.0 percent of maximum theoretical density. A major focus of this study was to determine if that requirement was achievable using PMA. Inspection of the project during construction revealed no indications of issues that may have contributed to lower in-place density. Core samples of the bridge deck and roadway longitudinal joints were collected from the projects and specimens analyzed. Based on these results, it is recommended that the specification for joint density on pavements using WMA/PMA asphalt remain at 91.0 percent for roadway lots. The dataset from bridge deck joints is insufficient to make any recommendations. KW - Connecticut KW - In place density KW - Laboratory tests KW - Pavement joints KW - Pavement performance KW - Pilot studies KW - Polymer asphalt KW - Specifications KW - Warm mix paving mixtures UR - http://www.ct.gov/dot/lib/dot/documents/dpolicy/research/CT-2280-F-14-6.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/59000/59300/59386/CT-2280-F-14-6.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1408433 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01600774 AU - Zinke, Scott AU - Mahoney, James AU - University of Connecticut, Storrs AU - Connecticut Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - The Use of Recycled Asphalt Products in Asphalt Pavements PY - 2015/06/03/Final Report SP - 71p AB - Reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) and recycled asphalt shingles (RAS) are two of the most commonly used recycled materials in the world. Recommendations as to their use and handling in Connecticut need to be made in order to increase the amount of RAP that may be introduced into the mixture and also to make determinations as to the benefits and total quantity of RAS that should be used. Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) constructed three pilot projects utilizing RAS, RAS with RAP and then varying quantities of RAP from 15%-40%. The projects are summarized in this research. Performance tests show comparisons between the test sections and control sections. Density analysis shows that increasing RAP quantities beyond 20% should be avoided at this time. Recommendations are made to continue monitoring these pilot sections in order to determine the longer term effects of the recycled products. KW - Asphalt pavements KW - Connecticut KW - Density KW - Mix design KW - Pavement performance KW - Pilot studies KW - Reclaimed asphalt pavements KW - Recommendations KW - Recycled materials KW - Shingles KW - Test sections UR - http://www.ct.gov/dot/lib/dot/documents/dpolicy/research/CT-2278-F-15-8.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1408428 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01573855 TI - Guide to Developing Congestion Scenarios for Long Range Plans using Travel Demand Models AB - The purpose of this contract is to explore innovative changes in multi-modal transportation planning. This research will develop a guide for forecasting Travel Time Index (TTI) using traditional travel demand models. The researchers will also investigate use of other performance measures in forecasting, such as Commuter Stress Index (the TTI in the peak direction), and Planning Time Index (a percentile based TTI that measures travel time reliability). Since TTI is an important measure that is commonly used, a standardized method using travel demand models to predict the ratio of forecasted free-flow vs. congested travel time is needed. TTI can be used as a vital performance measure to assess the effectiveness of proposed capacity-added and demand-reduction strategies in long range transportation plans and programs. KW - Commuters KW - Multimodal transportation KW - Performance measurement KW - Traffic congestion KW - Travel demand KW - Travel demand management KW - Travel time UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366922 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01598838 TI - Research for the AASHTO Standing Committee on Planning. Task 130. Inventory and Assessment of Methods for Making Collected Transportation Data Anonymous AB - Data from roadside monitoring equipment, cell phones, license plate readers, and similar technology are very useful for transportation planning and traffic engineering. New transit fare systems also collect individualized data that are similarly useful. Data generated for a single purpose by personal technology increasingly can be useful for transportation planning purposes. These data, however, often include personally identifiable information and may be subject to privacy concerns and/or legal restrictions. Large geographies are a very simple way of making data anonymous but this significantly reduces the utility of the data. It is therefore important to maintain a high level of geographic granularity while respecting privacy concerns. Methods to make or keep data anonymous may provide a way of continuing to collect needed data without violating privacy concerns or restrictions The 2007 National Academies Press report, “Putting People on the Map: Protecting Confidentiality with Linked Social-Data” (http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11865) provides additional background information for this research. The objectives of this research are to: (1) provide an inventory of methods used by transportation agencies as well as other public organizations and private entities to make data anonymous, or collect it anonymously in the first place; (2) identify the features that are of concern from a privacy perspective and that would be of interest to transportation agencies; (3) characterize the tradeoffs when certain features are anonymized while preserving the usability of the data, e.g. spatial granularity, as well as their statistical validity; (4) assess the applicability of the methods for transportation planning and traffic engineering purposes: and (5) identify future research and development needed to provide effective methods for making data used for transportation planning and traffic engineering anonymous. KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Data collection KW - Privacy KW - Traffic engineering KW - Transportation departments KW - Transportation planning UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3689 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1406514 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574011 AU - Rosenbaugh, Scott K AU - Humphrey, Brandt M AU - Reid, John D AU - Bielenberg, Robert W AU - Faller, Ronald K AU - Lechtenberg, Karla A AU - Midwest Roadside Safety Facility AU - Nebraska Department of Roads AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Cable-to-Post Attachments for Use in Non-Proprietary High-Tension Cable Median Barrier – Phase II PY - 2015/06/02/Final Report SP - 160p AB - The research objectives reported herein were based on further development of cable-to-post attachment hardware for use in the non-proprietary high-tension cable barrier system. Specifically, this project aimed to develop and evaluate alternative attachment designs for the bolted, tabbed bracket and evaluate the use of a larger diameter, keeper rod for use in the top cable attachment. From a group of over 25 alternative attachment concepts, two tabbed bracket designs were selected for evaluation through dynamic component testing: 1) the lateral shear plate attachment and 2) the drop-in shear plate attachment. The drop-in shear plate concept did not perform as intended, as the vertical release load was too high and the lateral release loads were too low. Alternatively, the lateral shear plate design provided vertical and lateral release loads very similar to the original bolted, tabbed bracket V10. However, concerns were raised over the lack of rigidity in the attachment and the ease of installations of the shear plate. Thus, it was recommended that the lateral shear plate design be modified and reevaluated prior to use in the full-scale system. Dynamic bogie or component testing of the 3/16-in. (4.8-mm) diameter brass keeper rod provided a quick cable release similar to the previous design. The increased strength of the rod also showed promise in distributing impact loads more uniformly to adjacent posts and helping reduce system deflections. Thus, the 3/16-in. (4.8-mm) diameter brass rod was recommended for use in the new high-tension cable barrier system. KW - Brackets KW - Cables KW - Evaluation KW - Highway safety KW - Impact tests KW - Median barriers KW - Posts KW - Recommendations UR - http://www.transportation.nebraska.gov/mat-n-tests/pdfs-docs/ARLinks/TRP-03-313-15.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1365279 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570609 AU - Schroeder, Bastian J AU - Rouphail, Nagui M AU - Williams, Billy M AU - Hajbabaie, Ali AU - Aghdashi, Behzad AU - Kim, SangKey AU - Tabrizi, Kambiz AU - Narron, Brian AU - North Carolina State University, Raleigh AU - North Carolina Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Delay and User Cost Estimation for Work Zones on Urban Arterials PY - 2015/06/02/Final Report SP - 107p AB - This is the final project report of North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) research project 2013‐09: Delay and User Cost Estimation for Work Zones on Urban Arterials. The project seeked to develop a methodology for quantifying delay and user cost impacts of arterial work zones in North Carolina in an analytical framework, supported by NC‐specific empirical performance data of arterial work zones. NCDOT recently acquired a similar methodology for the evaluation of significant work zones on freeways, and this research aims to build on that prior effort to develop a companion tool for arterial streets. Just as with the prior effort (NCDOT Research Project 2010‐08), the methodology developed in this project would be implemented in a software tool, ARTVAL‐WZ, which can be used directly for in‐house analyses of these types of work zones to assure seamless technology transfer of these research products. This report summarizes the findings of all project tasks. KW - Arterial highways KW - Costs KW - Methodology KW - North Carolina KW - Software KW - Traffic delays KW - Work zones UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55000/55099/NCDOT_Arterial_WZ_-_Final_Report_-_NCDOT_Submission.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1361749 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01579190 AU - Allen, Anabelle AU - Goodspeed, Charles AU - University of New Hampshire, Durham AU - New Hampshire Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - The Future of Rapid Bridge Deck Replacement PY - 2015/06/01/Final Report SP - 29p AB - Replacing aging, deteriorated infrastructure often requires road closures and traffic detours which impose inconvenience and delay on commerce and members of the motoring public. Accelerated bridge construction techniques often use precast members to reduce the duration of construction and the resultant disruption to traffic patterns. This project considered various technical, safety, and economic challenges in the design and construction of a full-width precast concrete slab with a centerline crown. Torque verified leveling screws compensated for girder, deck panel prefabrication tolerances, and dead load deflections. In addition, the uniform-depth deck slab was cast by conventional prestressing fabricators. The method to lift and transport the slabs was considered to prevent damage. Accelerated bridge construction is less expensive and bridge work can be completed and the bridge reopened to traffic within a matter of days versus months for conventional deck replacement. KW - Bridge construction KW - Bridge decks KW - Bridge design KW - Precast concrete KW - Prestressing UR - http://www.nh.gov/dot/org/projectdevelopment/materials/research/projects/documents/15680X-FINALREPORT.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1371520 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01573853 TI - Advancing Transportation Planning Through Innovation and Research AB - The objective of this project is to advance the practice and application of transportation planning among metropolitan, regional, local, and tribal transportation planning agencies in response to significant changes in the planning process; and to identify new tools, techniques, and approaches that respond to national transportation planning priorities. This research has the potential to transform metropolitan transportation project selection by providing metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) with recommended processes for fully integrating safety into project prioritization. KW - Metropolitan planning organizations KW - Safety KW - Strategic planning KW - Transportation departments KW - Transportation planning UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366920 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01573851 TI - Next Generation Scenario Planning Guidebook AB - This project will provide new guidance on the next generation of scenario planning efforts to provide transportation practitioners with a comprehensive summary of the multitude of applications, scales, methods, tools and outcomes of scenario planning, along with guidance on how best to scope and customize efforts to the particular planning challenges at hand. This will be achieved by creating a typology of scenario planning approaches and decision support tools that align with the common issues facing transportation planning today. KW - Decision support systems KW - Forecasting KW - Handbooks KW - NextGen (United States) KW - Practitioners KW - Transportation planning UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366918 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01565590 TI - Advancing Transportation Planning Through Innovation & Research: Multimodal Planning at the Megaregional Scale AB - This research project will provide specific strategies and implementation tools for local governments, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to reconcile local, regional, megaregion, and national transportation planning as a comprehensive system. Current planning methods do not readily bridge across scales to address transportation issues in a consistent way. This project will lead to transformational changes and revolutionary advances for transportation planning by developing and disseminating clear guidance (policies, strategies, and implementation tools) for local governments and regional agencies to address megaregional issues in long-range comprehensive planning. KW - Information dissemination KW - Long range planning KW - Megaregions KW - Metropolitan planning organizations KW - Multimodal transportation KW - Regional planning KW - Transportation planning UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1356002 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01562682 TI - Understanding the Soil Plugging Mechanism in Large Open Ended Pipe AB - Research is needed to study the soil plugging mechanism in large open-ended pipe. The knowledge will help to design methods to foster the development of soil plug in large diameter pipe piles used in Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) projects. The results from this study will also help to develop guidelines on the design, construction, and Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) of large diameter pipe piles in transportation projects. The goal of this research is to study the soil plugging mechanism in large open-ended pipe piles, especially for typical types of soils in Ohio. These will include a systematic collection of the existing experience on the design and construction of large open-ended pipe piles, conduct model experiments and computational modeling, and analyze the field data from ODOT construction projects. The longer term goal is to improve the design and construction method for large open ended pipe piles. KW - Guidelines KW - Ohio KW - Piles (Supports) KW - Pipe KW - Plugging KW - Quality assurance KW - Quality control KW - Soil mechanics KW - Soil structure interaction UR - http://worldcat.org/oclc/921157109/viewonline UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1352380 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543423 TI - Proposed AASHTO Seismic Specifications for ABC Column Connections AB - During the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Domestic Scan 11-02--Best Practices Regarding Performance of ABC Connections in Bridges Subjected to Multihazard and Extreme Events, it was noted that accelerated bridge construction (ABC) techniques have been limited in moderate-to-high seismic regions. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Guide Specifications for Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) Seismic Bridge Design currently prohibit or limit connections that splice longitudinal column reinforcement in plastic hinge regions. To address this limitation, there is a need to identify column connections that are capable of performing in seismic regions. The objective of this research is to develop proposed AASHTO displacement-based design and construction specifications for implementation of ABC column connections in moderate-to-high seismic regions. As a minimum, the specifications should include mechanical bar couplers, grouted ducts, pocket, and socket connections. KW - Anchors (Structural connectors) KW - Best practices KW - Bridge construction KW - Columns KW - Earthquake resistant design KW - Load and resistance factor design KW - Specifications UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3865 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330820 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543361 TI - Recommended Guidelines for the Selection and Placement of Test Levels 2 through 5 Median Barriers AB - Median barriers can be divided into six test levels, as defined by the 2009 AASHTO Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) and NCHRP Report 350, which represent the types of vehicles the barrier is designed to redirect. A test level is defined by impact conditions (speed and angle of approach) and the type of test vehicle (ranging in size from a small car to a fully loaded tractor-trailer truck). The longitudinal barrier is the only classification for which all six test levels are defined at this time. Longitudinal median barriers are also grouped into three general categories: flexible, semi-rigid, and rigid. Although a rigid barrier and a flexible barrier can be designed to satisfy a given test level, they will have different applications. The rigid barrier will produce higher vehicle decelerations and prevent any lateral deflection while the flexible barrier will produce lower accelerations. Less rigid barriers result in less energy dissipated by the vehicle; hence, accelerations imparted to the occupants inside the vehicle during an impact are lower as compared to vehicle impacts with rigid barriers. On the other hand, flexible barriers have been shown to have larger lateral deflections, thus limiting their use in narrow medians. The crash test procedures for median barriers have seen much progress over the years, as evident by the publication of NCHRP Report 230, NCHRP Report 350, and most recently, the MASH. Currently, the AASHTO Roadside Design Guide (RDG) is the primary national guideline available to states in preparing their own policies for roadside design. The RDG offers guidance for the selection of median barriers, citing a higher percentage of heavy trucks in the traffic flow, adverse geometries, and higher accident rates as conditions that may warrant barriers with a performance level higher than Test Level 3. However, thresholds for these values are not provided. Additional guidance on the selection and placement of median barriers would complement recently developed guidance for bridge rails and would help better define these thresholds while helping to balance public funds with improved safety. The objective of this research is to develop, in a format suitable for consideration and possible adoption by American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), proposed guidelines for the selection and placement of Test Levels 2 through 5 median barriers. The guidelines should be based on traffic volumes and characteristics, roadway and median geometry, median barrier placement, in-service performance, cost benefit, risk analysis, and barrier type (i.e., shape, material, rigidity, etc.). The guidelines will also include charts with associated site-specific adjustment factors for the selection of the appropriate median barrier test level and for use in the selection of median barrier type and placement within the median. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Guidelines KW - Impact tests KW - Location KW - Median barriers KW - Risk analysis KW - Traffic volume UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3893 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330722 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543352 TI - Guidelines to Improve the Quality of Element-Level Bridge Inspection Data AB - The introduction of element inspection condition methods in the early 1990s represented a significant advancement in bridge inspection practice and has been adopted by the vast majority of the state transportation departments in the United States. Bridge owners nationwide have recognized the benefits of detailed condition assessments through the use of the raw inspection information, expanded performance measures, and bridge management system deterioration forecasting and evaluation (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials [AASHTO] Manual for Bridge Element Inspection, First Edition, 2013). With the adoption of the AASHTO Manual for Bridge Element Inspection by the AASHTO Subcommittee on Bridges and Structures in 2013, to meet the requirements in the "Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21)" legislation and to ensure the safety of the motoring public, the bridge owners need guidelines to promote (1) consistency in the collection of element-level data for bridges on the National Highway System (NHS) and (2) collection of reliable data that support asset management practices. The objective of this research is to develop guidelines to improve the quality of element-level data collection for the NHS Bridges in reference to the AASHTO Manual for Bridge Element Inspection. At the minimum, the guidelines should include recommendations to: (1) improve consistency in data collection and assessment of bridge element conditions and (2) establish accuracy levels for element conditions and applicable defect quantities to support bridge management system deterioration forecasting and evaluation. KW - Asset management KW - Bridge management systems KW - Bridge members KW - Condition surveys KW - Data collection KW - Inspection KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3864 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330713 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01605794 AU - Carlson, Paul J AU - Leidos AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Synthesis of Pavement Marking Research PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 34p AB - This report provides a synthesis of recent research focused on longitudinal pavement markings. It offers a review of when and where longitudinal pavement markings are used. It also covers two of the most important parameters in terms of increasing the effectiveness of pavement markings: width and retroreflectivity. These items are within the control of owners and operators. By better understanding how width and retroreflectivity impact operational performance, visibility, and safety, highway agencies can increase the effectiveness of their pavement marking policies. This synthesis is intended to provide a reference about what is known on the subject and what questions still remain. The research recommendations are based on the synthesized material. Ongoing or pending research that is known is noted where appropriate. KW - Durability KW - Highway safety KW - Recommendations KW - Research KW - Retroreflectivity KW - Road markings KW - Visibility KW - Width UR - http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/roadway_dept/night_visib/pavement_marking/pvmnt_mrkg_synth.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1415634 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01603653 AU - Volovski, Matthew AU - Bardaka, Eleni AU - Zhang, Zhibo AU - Agbelie, Bismark AU - Labi, Samuel AU - Sinha, Kumares C AU - Purdue University AU - Indiana Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Indiana State Highway Cost Allocation and Revenue Attribution Study and Estimation of Travel by Out-of-State Vehicles on Indiana Highways SN - 9781622603596 PY - 2015/06 SP - 274p AB - This study was commissioned by Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) to investigate the cost responsibility and the revenue contribution of highway users with regard to the upkeep of Indiana’s state and local highway infrastructure (pavements, bridges, safety assets, and mobility assets). The costs consisted of expenditures on construction, preservation, maintenance, and operations of the highway infrastructure. For revenues, user and non‐user sources were considered. The highway users were represented by the 13 Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) vehicle classes, and the study was based on 2009‐2012 data on expenditures and revenues. The study framework duly recognized the dichotomy between attributable and common costs. For allocating the attributable costs to the vehicle classes, equivalent single axle loads (ESALs), American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) loading equivalents, and passenger car equivalents (PCEs) were used; for allocating common costs, vehicle miles traveled (VMT) was used. For each vehicle class, the share of revenue contribution was compared to the share of cost responsibility to determine respective equity ratios and thus to ascertain the extent to which vehicles in each class may be underpaying or overpaying their cost responsibilities at the current time. The study also determined the distribution of fuel purchases and travel by out‐of‐state vehicles on Indiana’s highways; this analysis was required to further refine the results of the cost allocation and also to quantify the magnitude of any imbalance between the out‐of‐state travel and share of consumption on Indiana’s infrastructure and the revenue from such out‐of‐state vehicles.         The outcome of this research is a systematic documentation of the sources and extents of highway revenues and the areas of expenditures at the local and state levels in Indiana. Pavement and bridge expenditures were found to have a dominant share of the overall expenditures on Indiana’s highway system. Classes 2 (automobiles) and 9 (5‐axle combination trucks) were found to have a dominant share of the cost responsibilities. It was determined that the user revenue sources contributed approximately 63.5% of the total state funding for highway expenditures and 36.5% were from non‐user revenue sources. The inability of user revenue sources to cover the total highway expenditure and the consequent partial reliance on non‐user sources seem to constitute a rather unstable funding situation particularly because the non‐user sources are characterized by significant variability. On the basis of the expenditures and revenues associated with the various user groups (vehicle classes) over the analysis period, this study found that inequities exist, albeit in varying degrees, among the highway user groups. Of the 13 vehicle classes, classes 1–4 were found to be overpaying their cost responsibilities while classes 5–13 are underpaying. For example, vehicle class 2 is overpaying its cost responsibility by 10% while vehicle class 9 is underpaying by 19%. The results of the equity analysis are generally consistent with those of studies carried out at other states. Also, it was estimated that the travel by out‐of‐state vehicles on Indiana’s interstates, national highway system (NHS) non‐interstates, non‐NHS and local roads are 21%, 10%, 9%, and 7% respectively, of the total travel as a percentage of VMT on those families of highway systems. KW - Cost allocation KW - Expenditures KW - Highways KW - Indiana KW - Out of state drivers KW - Passenger car equivalence KW - Revenues KW - Vehicle classification KW - Vehicle miles of travel UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.5703/1288284315709 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1411111 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01603541 AU - Nowak, Christopher A AU - State University of New York, Syracuse AU - New York State Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - A Guidebook for Developing Regional and Residency Vegetation Management Plans as Part of Strategic Planning for the New York State Department of Transportation PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 28p AB - A guidebook was developed to help interested organizations in New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) to undertake local strategic plans to strengthen vegetation management. It was developed in a way that reflects general vegetation management best practices for planning and treatment. The information reflected safety, infrastructure preservation, budgetary, environmental and socioeconomic factors that influence roadside vegetation management. The guidebook is a tailored compilation of existing guidebooks and select other planning and performance references applicable to vegetation management planning for roadside management planning at the region or residency level. A separate task addressed the processes and issues with preparing an agency-wide strategic vegetation management plan. However, transportation agencies need plans for shorter time horizons and smaller organizational units than those expected to be in an-agency-wide strategic plan. The guidebook is organized around key components of a resource management plan, principally from the Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation’s 2003 Resource Management Plan Guidebook. Additionally, a variety of other guidebooks and texts were gleaned for salient ideas on rights-of-way and vegetation management planning. A framework for the development of a region/residency vegetation management plan (RVMP) was developed and includes a suggested format that contains certain planning components. This framework, including descriptions and definitions of the planning components, is intended to provide direction, consistency and uniformity in the preparation of an RVMP. A region or residency could use this guidebook to produce the first RVMP, which would test the guide components and their validity and usefulness. A model plan demonstrating how each of the components should be formatted and completed would be a useful companion to this guide in it application. KW - Best practices KW - Handbooks KW - New York State Department of Transportation KW - Right of way (Land) KW - Roadside flora KW - Strategic planning KW - Vegetation control UR - https://www.dot.ny.gov/divisions/engineering/technical-services/trans-r-and-d-repository/C-06-24%20TASK%202%201%20VEGETATION%20MANAGEMENT%20PLAN.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1411106 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01590520 AU - Peckett, Haley AU - Rasmussen, Benjamin AU - Volpe National Transportation Systems Center AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Transit Feasibility Analysis and Recommendations: Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest Transportation System Alternatives Study PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 65p AB - The purpose of the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest Transportation System Alternatives Study is to identify and evaluate the feasibility of potential alternative transportation solutions to improve recreation and resource management at three of the most popular recreation sites in the national forest: Brainard Lake Recreation Area (BLRA), Guanella Pass (GP), and Mount Evans Recreation Area (MERA). This study identifies, verifies, and documents transportation, visitor, and resource concerns; assesses user capacity levels where appropriate; and identifies feasible short-term and long-term alternative transportation and congestion management solutions for these three sites. KW - Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest KW - Congestion management systems KW - Feasibility analysis KW - Public transit KW - Recommendations KW - Shuttle buses KW - Transportation planning UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/56000/56700/56731/Transit_Feasibility_Analysis_ARNF.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/56000/56700/56731/Transit_Feasibility_Analysis_ARNF.pdf?utm_source=GovDelivery&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=January%202016%20newsletter UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1396343 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01587762 AU - Outwater, Maren AU - Bradley, Mark AU - Ferdous, Nazneen AU - Trevino, Steven AU - Lin, Haiyun AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - RSG, Incorporated TI - Foundational Knowledge to Support a Long-Distance Passenger Travel Demand Modeling Framework: Implementation Report PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 92p AB - The goal of this research was to develop a framework for a long-distance passenger travel demand model that can be used to build a national model for the United States, one based on exploring new ways to simulate behavior of long-distance passenger movements. This framework includes model specifications based on statistical analysis of available data, recommendations for data collection that facilitate the development of the national model, and a demonstration that the framework can be reasonably implemented. The objectives of the implementation phase were: (1) To produce a working model for the 2010 base year, including a national highway network and zone system, with multimodal travel times for rail, bus, and air modes, and a highway assignment; (2) To calibrate and validate this model against available national data sources; (3) To test this model and provide assurances that the calibrated and validated models produce reasonable results under a select set of policy scenarios; and (4) To ensure stability and reasonable performance for the application software beyond the original demonstration software in the research phase. KW - Highways KW - Implementation KW - Multimodal transportation KW - Passenger traffic KW - Recommendations KW - Software KW - Statistical analysis KW - Travel demand KW - Travel time KW - Trip length KW - United States KW - Validation UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/modelframework/model_framework.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1378464 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01583579 AU - Campbell, Robert AU - Alexiadis, Vassili AU - Krechmer, Daniel AU - Cambridge Systematics AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Connected Vehicle Impacts on Transportation Planning: Technical Memorandum #3: Analysis of the Need for New and Enhanced Analysis Tools, Techniques, and Data PY - 2015/06 SP - 64p AB - The principal objective of this project, “Connected Vehicle Impacts on Transportation Planning,” is to comprehensively assess how connected vehicles should be considered across the range of transportation planning processes and products developed by states, Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), and local agencies throughout the country. The purpose of this memorandum is to identify the need generated by Connected and Automated vehicle (C/AV) technology for new or enhanced tools, techniques, and data to support various C/AV planning activities and approaches for how to meet those needs. It focuses on identifying enhancements to existing transportation analysis data and tools used in transportation planning that will be needed to extend those tools to accommodate C/AV impacts and outcomes in the future. This report also considers the need for the development of entirely new tools and datasets when the existing ones cannot feasibly be enhanced or extended to enable C/AV analyses. This report follows four major themes, the first of which is a summary of existing data, tools and products currently used in transportation planning processes. The next area includes an evaluation and comparison of existing tools and their suitability for C/AV analysis with respect to input/output interfaces, usability, modeling features and calibration requirements. Following is a gap analysis that identifies the limitations of existing tools and data for use in analysis of C/AV technologies. The results show that data and analysis tools used in traditional long-term transportation planning would potentially be modified or overhauled to accommodate analyses of connected vehicle applications and technology. Finally a roadmap is provided that identifies 19 research topics to target these needs and gaps, identifies which agency would be best suited for addressing these needs, establishes priority levels for each topic, and discusses the expected availability of potential data sources to inform those topics. KW - Analysis KW - Data analysis KW - Evaluation KW - Intelligent vehicles KW - Metropolitan planning organizations KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Research KW - Transportation departments KW - Transportation planning UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55700/55712/FHWA-JPO-16-247.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1376697 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580901 AU - Baldwin, Michael AU - Snyder, Derrick AU - Miller, Chase AU - Hoogewind, Kimberly AU - Purdue University AU - Indiana Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Road Weather Severity Based on Environmental Energy PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 26p AB - Effective and efficient removal of snow and ice from public roadways is a key outcome for winter road maintenance operations. This outcome depends on the severity of the wintry weather as well as the quality and quantity of resources used to treat the roadways. Wintry weather conditions vary substantially from hour‐to‐hour, storm‐to‐storm, and season‐to‐season. Many different transportation departments have used empirical statistical models and machine learning methods based upon weather parameters to develop indices to estimate the severity of winter weather. Many of these previous studies used summary statistics, such as the number of days with certain events (snowfall, freezing rain, frost), to provide a seasonal index of winter severity. While summarizing the winter severity for the entire season is quite useful, providing information over shorter time periods will allow for more precise evaluation of maintenance performance during a winter season. A winter weather severity index has been developed that can be used to evaluate the performance of winter weather maintenance. This project involves the development of a physically‐based analysis of winter severity, using estimates of the hourly rate of deposition of new snow/ice and the energy required to melt it. The “Road Weather Severity Based on Environmental Energy” (RWSBEE) index can be considered an accumulation of energy, beyond that which is available from the environment, needed to melt snow/ice that has been deposited on the road surface on an hourly basis. The energy not provided by the environment that would be required to melt new snow can be thought of as a measure of the work required to remove the new snow from the road surface. The authors expect that RWSBEE will provide a clearer understanding of the severity of the weather, allowing Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) to better evaluate their performance, assist with after‐action review of recent storms, and improve the reaction to future weather events. Measurable improvements in the winter maintenance decision‐making process are expected as a result. Winter weather conditions that occur across different regions vary substantially from hour‐to‐hour, storm‐to‐storm, and season‐to‐season. The methods of road maintenance for fighting snow and ice can also vary between different maintenance units. It is important for organizations that perform road maintenance to be able to quantify the severity of the winter weather conditions, for purposes of monitoring, planning, and evaluating their performance. INDOT currently uses estimates of winter weather hours to quantify the severity of winter weather. The definition of a “weather hour” is fairly straightforward: any hour when wintry precipitation (snow, ice pellets, freezing rain) is falling with air temperatures below 35 °F. While this definition is reasonable, it does not take into account numerous factors that can strongly affect road conditions and subsequent efforts needed for road treatment, such as: precipitation rate, wind speed, and availability of sunshine. Consequently, INDOT has determined that the information provided by the weather hour estimates result in wide variations in roadway treatment expenses across Indiana. In order to more accurately and effectively evaluate the performance of winter maintenance, it is important to have detailed data related to winter weather conditions that provide useful information regarding the impact of winter weather on road conditions. State‐of‐the‐art weather information can provide a clearer understanding of the severity of the weather, allowing INDOT to better evaluate their performance, assist with after‐action review of recent storms, and improve the reaction to future weather events. KW - Energy KW - Ice KW - Indiana KW - Performance measurement KW - Snow KW - Weather conditions KW - Winter KW - Winter maintenance UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.5703/1288284315710 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373332 ER - TY - SER AN - 01580875 JO - Asset Management Financial Report Series PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Saadatmand, Nastaran AU - Gaj, Stephen AU - Varma, Shobna AU - Proctor, Gordon TI - Financial Planning for Transportation Asset Management: Components of a Financial Plan PY - 2015/06 IS - Report 2 SP - 72p AB - Transportation agencies have the responsibility and the challenging task to maintain, preserve and improve infrastructure assets for current and future generations. While maintaining existing assets is an overriding concern for transportation agency officials, most agencies are grappling with funding issues. Considering the fact that assets such as pavements and bridges have long useful lives, a sound asset management practice will necessitate the development of long-term asset management plans. Practices and experiences from other countries with mature asset management processes and also from transportation agencies within the U.S. show that implementing and sustaining the performance and condition of assets requires long-term financial plans that support and are linked to long-term asset management strategies. This report discusses the main components of a financial plan and shows how they can support a sustainable asset management plan for a transportation agency. Contents include: Uses of funds; Transportation agency examples; Examples from Minnesota and Colorado Departments of Transportation transportation asset management plans (TAMPs); Sources of revenue; Risks and assumptions; Gaps and surpluses; and State agency examples. KW - Asset management KW - Colorado KW - Financing KW - Infrastructure KW - Minnesota KW - Revenues KW - State departments of transportation KW - Transportation planning UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/asset/plans/financial/hif15017.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1374341 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580254 AU - Howell, Brian AU - Pigman, Jerry AU - Agent, Ken AU - Kentucky Transportation Center AU - Kentucky Transportation Cabinet AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Work Vehicle Warning Lights: Color Options and Effectiveness PY - 2015/06 SP - 39p AB - The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) reviewed existing regulations, guidance, and practices to assess the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s warning lights program on highway work vehicles. The Kentucky Revised Statutes categorizes KYTC vehicles as “public safety vehicles” and requires their use of amber lights. Because the use of red can be confused with emergency vehicles, KYTC prohibits the use of red on work vehicles. At the national level, standards for warning light colors do not exist. Rather, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) provides guidance on roadway operations equipment and recommends the use of amber and white lights as the primary warning light colors for highway vehicles. AASHTO guidance also prescribes the use of slow, asynchronous flash frequencies; light emitting diode (LED) light sources; and placement of lights at high elevations and against solid-colored backgrounds. The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) provides little guidance in terms of warning light specifications, including color preferences. A review of existing state agencies, including departments of transportation, concluded that amber and white are the primary light colors currently in use across highway operations vehicles. The Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) conducted two external surveys to assess warning light products and practices within the U.S. The first survey reviewed vendor LED products and revealed that LED lights are primarily available in the colors of amber, blue, green, red, and white. Fluorescent yellow-green is not available. The second survey requested state DOT information related to lighting systems’ colors, sources, intensity, and placement; responding agency names and policies; and previous state DOT studies related to warning lights. Survey responses indicated 100 percent use of the color amber (as a color type) as well as use of LED light sources. More than 75 percent of reporting agencies place warning lights on their highway work vehicle’s roof to maximize visibility to motorists. Survey results varied dramatically on the differentiation of warning light colors by vehicle type and the differentiation of light intensities for daytime versus nighttime conditions. KTC researchers recommend the use of amber and white colors for KYTC work vehicles, an asynchronous flashing pattern with slow flash frequencies, and LED bulbs. Other recommendations include placement of warning lights at high elevations on the vehicle, placement of warning lights against a solid-colored background, and investigation on feasibility of yellow-green LED lights. KW - Color KW - Construction and maintenance equipment KW - Kentucky KW - Light emitting diodes KW - Recommendations KW - State departments of transportation KW - Surveys KW - Vehicle lighting systems KW - Warning systems UR - http://www.ktc.uky.edu/files/2015/09/KTC_15_06_SPR15_57_7_1F.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1372977 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580232 AU - Riginos, Corinna AU - Graham, Morgan William AU - Davis, Melanie AU - Smith, Chauncey AU - Johnson, Andrew AU - Teton Research Institute, Teton Science School AU - Wyoming Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Effects of Wildlife Warning Reflectors (“Deer Delineators”) on Wildlife-Vehicle Collisions in Central Wyoming PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 103p AB - The purpose of this study was to provide the Wyoming Department of Transportation with information about (1) the effectiveness of Streiter-Lite wildlife warning reflectors that had been installed in three locations within Wyoming’s District 5, and (2) preliminary analysis of patterns of deer-vehicle collisions across Wyoming and the habitat and road variables associated with collision hotspots. The authors evaluated reflector effectiveness in terms of their ability to reduce deer-vehicle collisions and modify deer road-crossing behavior. Using a series of experimental manipulations of reflectors, the authors showed that reflectors reduced deer-vehicle collisions by 32 percent and significantly reduced the number of high-risk deer road crossings (those in which deer ran into the road as a car was approaching). However, covering reflectors with white canvas bags – initially done with the intent of creating a control treatment that neutralized the reflectors – proved even more effective than leaving the reflectors exposed. White bags on posts resulted in 33 percent fewer collisions than when reflectors were exposed and significantly reduced the number of high-risk deer road crossings. It is likely that the white bags are more visible or reflective to deer than the red wildlife warning reflectors. A cost-benefit analysis suggests that the benefits of reflectors outweigh their initial materials and installation costs, but may not outweigh the net costs once maintenance is taken into account. Analysis of patterns of deer-vehicle collisions across the state showed that traffic volume, proximity to agricultural land, proximity to deer winter range and migration routes, and high speed limits are all strongly associated with high collision rates. On average, areas with a 55 mph speed limit have 36 percent and 55 percent fewer deer-vehicle collisions than areas with speed limits of 65 and 75 mph, respectively. Reducing nighttime speed limits in high collision areas may be a cost-effective strategy for mitigating deer-vehicle collisions in Wyoming. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Crashes KW - Deer KW - Evaluation KW - High risk locations KW - Reflectorized materials KW - Speed limits KW - Warning devices KW - Wyoming UR - http://www.dot.state.wy.us/files/live/sites/wydot/files/shared/Planning/Research/RS05212%201503F%20Effects%20of%20Wildlife%20Warning%20Reflectors%20on%20Wildlife%20Vehicle%20Collisions%20in%20Central%20Wyoming.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373057 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01579226 AU - Bullough, John D AU - Skinner, Nicholas P AU - Brons, Jennifer A AU - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute AU - New York State Department of Transportation AU - University Transportation Research Center AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Analysis of Energy Efficient Highway Lighting Retrofits PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 42p AB - Solid state lighting technology is advancing rapidly to a point where light emitting diode (LED) lighting systems can be viable replacements for existing lighting systems using high pressure sodium (HPS). The present report summarizes analyses conducted to document existing lighting conditions along a parkway (Southern State Parkway, Long Island) and an arterial roadway (Central Avenue, Albany County). Several LED alternative lighting systems were compared using photometric analyses to identify ones that meet light level criteria for each roadway type; several options were available that resulted in energy savings compared to the existing HPS lighting systems. Energy economic analyses confirmed that the initial investment could be paid back in terms of reduced operating costs, and that energy savings were larger for LED systems when compared to HPS systems that produced similar levels to those from the LED alternatives. Further energy cost savings would be expected with the use of adaptive lighting controls specified to take advantage of temporal nighttime traffic patterns on the roadways investigated. The report concludes with considerations for incorporating LED performance characteristics, such as ensuring they do not produce interference with radio equipment, into specifications for LED retrofit alternatives. KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Arterial highways KW - Costs KW - Economic analysis KW - Energy consumption KW - Light emitting diodes KW - New York (State) KW - Parkways KW - Photometry KW - Retrofitting KW - Street lighting UR - http://www.utrc2.org/sites/default/files/Final-Energy-Efficient-Highway-Lighting-Retrofits.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1371709 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01579222 AU - Scopatz, Robert A AU - Lefler, Nancy AU - Peach, Kara AU - Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - State Traffic Records Coordinating Committee Noteworthy Practices PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 123p AB - This State Traffic Records Coordinating Committee Noteworthy Practices Guide was developed under the direction of the U.S. Department of Transportation|Traffic Records Coordinating Committee (USDOT|TRCC) as a way to help State TRCCs become more effective. It includes definitions of successful TRCCs and provides examples of noteworthy practices drawn from six case study States and others. The recommendations provide State TRCC Coordinators and Chairs, TRCC participants, and executive leaders with ideas they can adopt and adapt to their own situation. The recommendations point to TRCC roles and responsibilities well beyond those mandated by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) legislation and grant program requirements. Examples from State TRCC noteworthy practices point to roles for the TRCC in traffic records assessments, self-assessments, strategic planning, and performance measurement. Formal foundational documents and a purposeful focus on relationship building are seen as keys to success. KW - Best practices KW - Case studies KW - Coordination KW - Crash data KW - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) KW - Performance measurement KW - Recommendations KW - Records management KW - Strategic planning KW - Traffic data UR - http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/rsdp/downloads/trcc_noteworthy.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1370741 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01577859 AU - Tayabji, Shiraz AU - Rao, Shreenath AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Hawaii Demonstration Project: Precast Concrete Pavement System along a Section of Middle Street, Honolulu, HI PY - 2015/06//Draft Technical Brief SP - 17p AB - As a part of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Highways for LIFE initiative, a Federal grant of $3,000,000 was awarded to the Hawaii Department of Transportation (DOT) to demonstrate the use of a proven, innovative precast concrete pavement (PCP) system in conjunction with traditional pavement restoration and concrete overlay on an important multilane highway. The project represents Hawaii DOT’s effort to introduce two different PCP systems, a construction option that is easy to build, easy to install, easy to maintain, and will have a long service life. One system to be used is a jointed PCP system, and the second system is a posttensioned PCP system. This demonstration project will provide Hawaii DOT the opportunity to experience two different PCP systems and to compare this innovative paving technology with traditional concrete paving. This progress report details the planning for the project. The project was bid and awarded during 2014, and panel fabrication and panel installation is expected to take place during the summer of 2015. KW - Demonstration projects KW - Highways for LIFE KW - Honolulu (Hawaii) KW - Pavement joints KW - Posttensioning KW - Precast concrete pavements KW - Technological innovations UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/hawaii-pcps-project-draft-06302015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1370471 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576105 AU - Reeder, Garret D AU - Nelson, Gabriel A AU - National Concrete Pavement Technology Center AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Implementation Manual—3D Engineered Models for Highway Construction: The Iowa Experience PY - 2015/06 SP - 60p AB - 3D engineered modeling is a relatively new and developing technology that can provide numerous benefits to owners, engineers, contractors, and the general public. This manual is for highway agencies that are considering or are in the process of switching from 2D plan sets to 3D engineered models in their highway construction projects. It will discuss some of the benefits, applications, limitations, and implementation considerations for 3D engineered models used for survey, design, and construction. Note that is not intended to cover all eventualities in all states regarding the deployment of 3D engineered models for highway construction. Rather, it describes how one state—Iowa—uses 3D engineered models for construction of highway projects, from planning and surveying through design and construction. KW - Construction projects KW - Highway design KW - Highway engineering KW - Implementation KW - Iowa KW - Manuals KW - Mathematical models KW - Road construction KW - Surveying UR - http://publications.iowa.gov/20318/1/IADOT_InTrans_RB33_014_Reeder_Implementation_Manual_3D_Engineered_Models_Highway_Const_2015_Final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1367947 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01575526 AU - You, Taesun AU - Im, Soohyok AU - Kim, Yong-Rak AU - Haghshenas, Hamzeh AU - Nsengiyumva, Gabriel AU - University of Nebraska, Lincoln AU - Nebraska Department of Roads AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Transit Administration TI - Evaluation of Thin Asphalt Overlay Practice Preserving Nebraska’s Asphalt Pavements PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 89p AB - This study examined the current thin asphalt overlay practices implemented in Nebraska. To that end, the mechanical properties and performance characteristics of the two mixtures (i.e., SLX and SPH) were compared by carrying out laboratory tests such as dynamic modulus test, dynamic creep test, static creep-recovery test, semi-circular bending test, and Hamburg wheel tracking test. The laboratory test results were also used to characterize the material properties for pavement performance prediction simulation. Structural performance analysis was conducted using the Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) and finite element method in order to compare the pavement structures with the two different mixtures (i.e., SLX and SPH). In addition, a life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) was performed to compare the economic benefits associated with the thin-lift overlay to the conventional overlay practice. This provided insights into how the thin asphalt overlay with the SLX mixture behaved compared to the previous practice, which replaced the old asphalt with the SPH mixture. Laboratory results clearly showed that the SLX mixture behaved similarly to the SPH mixture in terms of mixture stiffness, rutting potential, and cracking resistance. However, the Hamburg wheel tracking test found that the SLX mixture had greater moisture susceptibility, a result that requires more investigation. Pavement performance simulation results from finite element analysis showed that the rutting and cracking potential of the pavement with SLX thin overlay mixture was lower than the pavement with SPH mixture. MEPDG simulations predicted that both pavements would perform satisfactorily during their expected design life, but the LCCA indicated that the practice of using the thin SLX preservation technique can reduce both the agency’s and user’s costs compared to the conventional SPH rehabilitation practice. Both performance prediction results need to be compared to actual field performance data. Only one-year field performance is available to date, which needs to be continuously monitored to judge how both pavement structures perform. KW - Asphalt pavements KW - Bituminous overlays KW - Finite element method KW - Laboratory tests KW - Life cycle costing KW - Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide KW - Mix design KW - Nebraska KW - Pavement performance KW - Thin overlays UR - http://www.transportation.nebraska.gov/mat-n-tests/research/ACC/Final%20Report%20M015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1367020 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01575492 AU - Puccinelli, Jason AU - Karamihas, Steven AU - Hall, Kathleen T AU - Nichols Consulting Engineers, Chartered AU - University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute AU - Arizona Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Performance Evaluation of Arizona’s LTPP SPS‐9 Project: Strategic Study of Rehabilitation of Flexible Pavement Binder Factors PY - 2015/06 SP - 90p AB - As part of the Long Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) Program, the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) constructed eight Specific Pavement Studies 9 (SPS‐9) test sections on Interstate 10 near Phoenix (04B900). SPS‐9A 04B900 is an overlay project and is accordingly given independent analysis and documentation in this report separate from Arizona SPS‐9B projects (040900 and 04A900) located on US 93, which were new construction and are documented in a separate report. The SPS‐9A project studied the effect of asphalt specification and mix designs on flexible pavements, specifically comparing Superpave binders with commonly used agency binders. Opened to traffic in 1995, the project was monitored at regular intervals until it was rehabilitated in 2005. Surface distress, profile, and deflection data collected throughout the life of the pavement were used to evaluate the performance of various flexible pavement design features, layer configurations, and thickness. This report documents the analyses conducted as well as practical findings and lessons learned that will be of interest to ADOT. KW - Arizona KW - Bituminous binders KW - Deflection KW - Flexible pavements KW - Long-Term Pavement Performance Program KW - Pavement distress KW - Pavement performance KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) KW - Specific Pavement Studies (LTPP) UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55200/55233/AZ396_9A_.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366772 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01575242 AU - Dowling, R AU - Skabardonis, A AU - Barrios, J AU - Jia, A AU - Nevers, B AU - Kittelson and Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Department of Transportation TI - Impacts Assessment of Dynamic Speed Harmonization with Queue Warning PY - 2015/06 SP - 140p AB - This report assesses the impacts of a prototype of Dynamic Speed Harmonization (SPD-HARM) with Queue Warning (Q-WARN), which are two component applications of the Intelligent Network Flow Optimization (INFLO) bundle. The assessment is based on an extensive analysis of the Prototype using a Vissim simulation model for the US 101 freeway corridor in San Mateo, CA as well as an evaluation of a small-scale demonstration that was conducted in Seattle, WA. Results from the simulation analysis found that the Prototype significantly reduces the magnitudes of the speed drops (shock waves) between vehicles, even at the 10-percent market penetration level. This is considered to benefit safety by reducing the probability of collisions where free-flowing traffic meets the back of a queue. The trade-off for the improved safety is that the Prototype increases the geographic impact of existing bottlenecks on freeway speeds by expanding the upstream distance that is affected by congestion. KW - Intelligent Network Flow Optimization (INFLO) KW - Prototypes KW - San Mateo (California) KW - Seattle (Washington) KW - Speed harmonization KW - Traffic queuing KW - Traffic simulation KW - VISSIM (Computer model) KW - Warning systems UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55300/55307/Impact_Assesment_Report_Final_2015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366767 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01575126 AU - McCormack, Sarah M AU - Van Dyke, Chris AU - Kreis, Doug AU - University of Kentucky, Lexington AU - Kentucky Transportation Cabinet AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Jurisdictional Roadside Ditches PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 74p AB - Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (CWA) mandates that state agencies and other entities perform compensatory mitigation when their activities impair jurisdictional waters. In the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) is required to pay in-lieu fees or purchase stream mitigation credits when a roadside ditch is impaired or relocated as part of a road construction project. In-lieu fees and stream mitigation credits are costly, and ditches that have suffered degraded habitat and loss of hydrogeomorphic functionality are treated as total losses when they are impacted by construction and maintenance activities. This raises the question of whether the United States Corps of Engineers (USACE) would be receptive to alternative mitigation and monitoring practices that impose a less stringent financial burden on the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, but which still comply with CWA regulations. This report discusses methodologies used to evaluate the quality of instream and riparian habitat, Section 404 of the CWA and its implications for mitigation of lost or damaged jurisdictional ditches, and the strategies that have been used by other states to fulfill their Section 404 mitigation requirements. The authors highlight mitigation practices that depart from the norm and which place a less onerous financial burden on state transportation agencies. KYTC officials presented this report’s key findings to the USACE Louisville District Office in January 2015 in an effort to receive approval to experiment with novel restoration techniques. The USACE granted KYTC license to implement these techniques on a project-by-project basis. Before implementation on each project, the Cabinet must receive formal approval from USACE officials. Although this was not the blanket mandate that KYTC hoped for, it indicated the Louisville District is willing to study the effectiveness of alternative mitigation strategies. Despite the Cabinet’s request, USACE officials did not approve a plan to reduce post-restoration monitoring requirements. Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) researchers suggested that KYTC perform exhaustive monitoring of the performance of completed projects that used alternative mitigation techniques. Having information on the short-, medium-, and long-term performance of these sites could – if the results are promising – pave the way to the wider adoption of alternative mitigation practices and could eventually reduce the level of post-restoration monitoring required by the USACE. KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Clean Water Act KW - Ditches KW - Evaluation KW - Habitat (Ecology) KW - Implementation KW - Kentucky KW - Methodology KW - Stream restoration KW - Water quality UR - http://www.ktc.uky.edu/files/2015/08/KTC_15_08_SPR13_458_1F-red.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366801 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574086 AU - Olszko, Evan AU - Bender, Donald A AU - Washington State University, Pullman AU - Washington State Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Identification of Test Methods for Determining Wood Guardrail Post Integrity PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 61p AB - Wood guardrail posts are subject to decay and deterioration, yet most Departments of Transportation (DOTs) have minimal or no inspection procedures in place for wood guardrail posts. The objective of this study was to identify nondestructive testing technologies to assess the condition of wood guardrail posts for internal decay. The stress wave timing (SWT) technique was judged most promising, and a prototype device was developed with an industrial partner. The prototype SWT device was validated using wood guardrail posts removed from service. Internal conditions of the posts were accurately detected in 86% of the specimens. The device also successfully detected the internal condition of all posts inspected during a field test. An inspection procedure was recommended for implementation using SWT in conjunction with drilling of posts that identified as suspected decay. KW - Deterioration by environmental action KW - Field tests KW - Guardrails KW - Nondestructive tests KW - Posts KW - Structural analysis KW - Testing equipment KW - Wood UR - http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/research/reports/fullreports/843.1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363893 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574077 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Condition Assessment of Bridge Deck Using Various Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) Technologies PY - 2015/06 SP - 4p AB - On October 6 and 7, 2014, the Long-Term Bridge Performance (LTBP) Program team performed a third round of inspections of the bridge selected for pilot testing of the LTBP Protocols in Virginia “Virginia Pilot Bridge”. The Virginia Pilot Bridge carries U.S. Route 15 over Interstate 66 in Haymarket, Virginia. Nondestructive evaluation (NDE) technologies were used to perform a detailed condition assessment of the deck with respect to corrosion, delamination, and concrete quality. This was the third assessment of this bridge deck over the last 5 years; previous assessments were performed in September 2009 and August 2011. KW - Bridge decks KW - Condition surveys KW - Corrosion KW - Delamination KW - Nondestructive tests KW - Virginia UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/research/tfhrc/programs/infrastructure/structures/ltbp/ltbpresearch/index.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363110 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574010 AU - Moses, Ren AU - Florida A&M University - Florida State University AU - Florida Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Twenty-Four Hour Peaking Relationship to Level of Service and Other Measures of Effectiveness PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 120p AB - Transportation planners and traffic engineers are increasingly interested in traffic analysis tools that analyze demand profiles and performance that go beyond analysis of the traditional peak hours and extend the analysis to other hours of the day. The primary objective of this research was to utilize historical traffic data from telemetered traffic monitoring sites (TTMS) to analyze 24-hour peaking relationship to various performance measures. Data from 26 TTMS sites located in large urbanized areas showed that the 99th percentile hourly volume was close to 2,000 vehicles per hour per lane on limited access facilities, i.e., freeways, toll roads, and HOV lanes. The 99th percentile hourly volume did not reach 1,000 vehicles per hour per lane on divided and undivided arterial roads. Congestion levels in a 24-hour period were analyzed using methodology contained in the 2012 Urban Mobility Report by Texas A&M Transportation Institute in which speed reduction factor (SRF) is calculated by dividing the average combined peak period speed by the free-flow speed. The results of congestion level analysis using permanent count stations data showed that on limited access facilities, severe congestion occurs in only 4 hours of the day, moderate congestion in 10 hours of the day, and relatively free flowing conditions in 10 hours of the day. For divided and undivided arterial roads, severe congestion occurs in 5 hours of the day, moderate congestion in 11 hours and relatively free flowing operations in 8 hours of the day. The results of the linear models for the peak volumes developed from the hourly data analyzed by lane showed that area type was not a significant predicting variable. Gaussian models developed for weekday hourly volumes were able to reasonably replicate the peaking profiles with R-squared values higher than 0.95 for all facility types. The Gaussian hourly volume models can also be used to predict future traffic volumes if the characteristics of future trip making are known. Such characteristics may be used to modify the amplitude, centroid, width and number of peak periods. Estimates of future change in traffic volumes can be obtained by multiplying the average function of the hourly volume by elasticity parameter and the fraction of the change in cost of travel. Estimation of future change in traffic volume can be used by transportation planners to determine if the peak period is expected to spread. KW - Hours KW - Level of service KW - Peak periods KW - Performance measurement KW - Traffic congestion KW - Traffic data KW - Traffic surveillance KW - Traffic volume KW - Urban areas UR - http://www.fdot.gov/research/Completed_Proj/Summary_PL/FDOT-BDV30-977-01-rpt.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55300/55369/FDOT-BDV30-977-01-rpt.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364308 ER - TY - SER AN - 01571968 JO - TechBrief PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Sutter, Lawrence L AU - Michigan Technological University AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Materials-Related Distress: Hardened Cement Paste Best Practices for Jointed Concrete Pavements PY - 2015/06//Tech Brief SP - 6p AB - Concrete is a cemented-aggregate mixture where aggregates are bound together by a cementitious matrix, or hardened cement paste (HCP). Both the aggregates and HCP need to be considered when discussing concrete durability or materials-related distress (MRD). The purpose of this tech brief is to provide pavement engineers with information to help them specify and choose materials that will last for the desired lifetime of the pavement. This tech brief focuses on considerations for the cementitious matrix with respect to paste-related distress mechanisms. KW - Best practices KW - Cement paste KW - Concrete pavements KW - Durability KW - Materials selection KW - Pavement distress KW - Pavement joints UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement/concrete/pubs/hif15018.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363225 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01571957 AU - Daniel, Jo Sias AU - Jacques, Christopher AU - Salehi, Saeid AU - University of New Hampshire, Durham AU - New Hampshire Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Performance of High RAP Pavement Sections in NH PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 56p AB - This report summarizes the University of New Hampshire (UNH) results of test pavements used to determine the effect of using higher amounts of Recycled Asphalt Pavement (RAP) in Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA). The New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) has allowed RAP in HMA for over 20 years but has limited use to 15-20% of the mix. This study evaluated the changes in performance due to increased amounts of RAP as well as evaluating the impact of bumping the binder grade (to a softer binder) for higher RAP contents. The pavements tested were in place for approximately three years. Long-term performance was not evaluated. Binder testing included PG grade, shear modulus master curve, and the multiple stress creep recovery test. Mixture testing included complex modulus, flow numbers, Hamburg Wheel tracking, and fatigue. Test results for both binder and mixes using PG 58-28 demonstrated expected results with high RAP contents having a stiffer modulus, better rutting performance, and lower fatigue resistance. The PG 52-34 binder had unexpected trends. Testing did not include determining the presence of binder additives. The results of this project support the practical limitation of 1% total recycled binder (TRB) in NHDOT surface mixtures. KW - Bituminous binders KW - Hot mix asphalt KW - Mix design KW - New Hampshire KW - Pavement cracking KW - Pavement performance KW - Recycled materials KW - Rutting UR - http://www.nh.gov/dot/org/projectdevelopment/materials/research/projects/documents/15680B-FINALREPORT.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363117 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570611 AU - Kevern, John T AU - Halmen, Ceki AU - Hudson, Dirk P AU - University of Missouri, Kansas City AU - Missouri Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Resistivity Meters for Concrete Quality Assurance PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 181p AB - This research evaluated a series of Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) concrete mixtures to verify existing relationships between surface resistivity (SR), rapid chloride permeability (RCP), chloride ion diffusion, and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) penetrability classes. The research also performed a precision and bias evaluation to provide acceptable limits should SR be implemented for quality assurance and to refine language in the AASHTO test standard. In the precision and bias determination concrete was produced from three field sites and tested at both University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC) and MoDOT labs. Field mixtures included a paving mixture, a bridge deck mixture, and a structural mixture. Eleven other mix designs were produced in the lab and evaluated for RCP correlation and included paving, bridge deck, structural, and repair mixtures per Missouri Department of Transportation requirements. Additional testing included surface resistivity testing on sealed samples and an existing bridge deck. Results showed excellent correlation between SR and RCP which matched existing relationships provided by AASHTO and other state DOTs. The structural mixture containing 50% Class F fly ash had the best performance with “very low” chloride ion penetrability at 90 days. A ternary paving mixture with 20% Class C fly ash and 30% slag replacement for cement also demonstrated low permeability as well as high compressive strength with an average value of over 9,000 psi at 90 days. The two repair mixtures showed moderate to low penetrability readings and high early strength consistent with their desired purpose. Tests were also performed on a series of slab samples to evaluate SR as a tool for evaluating sealer application. The presence of silane and lithium silicate were able to be detected by the SR test. As value added to the laboratory research, field testing was attempted on a bridge deck with the goal of providing non-destructive insight to the steel condition in the field. Due to the condition of the bridge, conclusions could not be drawn other than making recommendations for future bridge deck evaluations. The extensive amount of surface resistivity testing (>4500 tests) on 14 concrete mixtures at ages from 3 hours to 90 days using multiple labs, equipment, operators, and curing conditions has verified RCP relationships and allowed refinement of a testing procedure for a MoDOT standard in the Engineering Policy Guide. Surface resistivity presents an opportunity to improve MoDOT concrete mixtures and specifications to increase durability without adding significant additional testing costs. KW - Admixtures KW - Concrete KW - Durability KW - Electrical resistivity KW - Evaluation KW - Field tests KW - Laboratory tests KW - Missouri Department of Transportation KW - Permeability KW - Quality assurance KW - Rapid Chloride Permeability Test KW - Test procedures UR - http://library.modot.mo.gov/RDT/reports/TR201414/cmr16-001.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55300/55367/cmr16-001.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1361885 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570394 AU - Puccinelli, Jason AU - Karamihas, Steven M AU - Hall, Kathleen T AU - Minassian, Jonathan AU - Senn, Kevin AU - Nichols Consulting Engineers AU - University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute AU - Arizona Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Performance Evaluation of Arizona’s LTPP SPS‐9 Project: Strategic Study of Flexible Pavement Binder Factors PY - 2015/06 SP - 90p AB - As part of the Long Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) Program, the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) constructed eight Specific Pavement Studies 9 (SPS‐9) test sections on Interstate 10 near Phoenix (04B900). SPS‐9A 04B900 is an overlay project and is accordingly given independent analysis and documentation in this report separate from Arizona SPS‐9B projects (040900 and 04A900) located on US 93, which were new construction and are documented in a separate report. The SPS‐9A project studied the effect of asphalt specification and mix designs on flexible pavements, specifically comparing Superpave binders with commonly used agency binders. Opened to traffic in 1995, the project was monitored at regular intervals until it was rehabilitated in 2005. Surface distress, profile, and deflection data collected throughout the life of the pavement were used to evaluate the performance of various flexible pavement design features, layer configurations, and thickness. This report documents the analyses conducted as well as practical findings and lessons learned that will be of interest to ADOT. KW - Arizona KW - Binders KW - Deflection KW - Flexible pavements KW - Long-Term Pavement Performance Program KW - Mix design KW - Pavement design KW - Pavement distress KW - Pavement layers KW - Pavement performance UR - http://apps.azdot.gov/ADOTLibrary/publications/project_reports/PDF/AZ396(9A).pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359771 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570390 AU - Swenty, Matthew K AU - Cousins, Thomas E AU - Roberts-Wollmann, Carin L AU - Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research AU - Virginia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Investigation of Panel-to-Panel Connections and Block-outs for Full-Depth Precast Concrete Bridge Decks PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 73p AB - Experimental tests were performed at Virginia Tech to investigate transverse panel-to-panel connections and horizontal shear connector block-outs for full-depth precast concrete bridge deck panels. The connections were designed for a deck replacement project for a rural three-span continuous steel beam bridge in Virginia. Two reinforced and four post-tensioned connections were designed and tested in cyclical loading. Each connection was tested on a full-scale, two-beam setup in negative bending with a simulated HS-20 vehicle. The block-outs for the horizontal shear connections were also scrutinized during construction and testing. Several surface treatments were investigated to determine the best strategy to limit cracking and leakage at the grout-concrete interface. The strain profile, cracking patterns, and ponding results are presented for all specimens. The reinforced connections and two post-tensioned connections with 167 psi initial stress experienced cracking and leaked water by the end of the cyclic loading regime. In two connections post-tensioned with an initial compressive stress of 340 psi, the tensile stress in the deck under full live load remained below approximately 3√(f'c). These transverse connections did not leak water, did not have full-depth cracking, and maintained a nearly linear strain distribution throughout the design life. Full-depth deck panels may be effectively used on continuous bridges if post-tensioning force is applied to the transverse connections to keep the total tensile stress (remaining prestress minus live load stress) below 3√(f'c). The block-outs with a sand-blasted surface or an epoxy primer combined with a grout that met the requirements recommended by Scholz et al. (2007) had only slight water leakage, and had smaller cracks at the grout-concrete interface than the control samples. These surface treatments are recommended for best long-term performance. KW - Bridge decks KW - Cracking KW - Grout KW - Laboratory tests KW - Load tests KW - Panels KW - Posttensioning KW - Precast concrete KW - Structural connection KW - Surface treating KW - Tensile strength UR - http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/15-r5.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55200/55229/15-r5.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1360033 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570372 AU - Schmalzer, Peter N AU - Karamihas, Steven M AU - Punnackal, Timin AU - Meyer, Hans AU - Senn, Kevin AU - Puccinelli, Jason AU - Nichols Consulting Engineers AU - Arizona Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Performance Evaluation of Arizona’s LTPP SPS‐5 Project: Strategic Study of Rehabilitation of Asphalt Concrete Pavements PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 186p AB - As part of the Long Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) Program, the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) constructed 11 Specific Pavement Study‐5 (SPS‐5) test sections on Interstate 8 near Casa Grande. The SPS‐5 project studied a variety of different rehabilitation methods for asphalt concrete pavements. The project was opened to traffic in 1990 and monitored at regular intervals until it was placed out of study in 2009. Surface distress, profile, and deflection data collected throughout the life of the pavement were used to evaluate the performance of rehabilitation methods using unique combinations of minimal and intensive surface preparation, virgin and recycled asphalt, and thick and thin overlay thicknesses. This report documents the analyses conducted as well as practical findings and lessons learned that will be of interest to ADOT KW - Long-Term Pavement Performance Program KW - Arizona KW - Asphalt concrete pavements KW - Deflection KW - Overlays (Pavements) KW - Pavement distress KW - Pavement performance KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) UR - http://apps.azdot.gov/ADOTLibrary/publications/project_reports/PDF/AZ396(5).pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55200/55232/AZ396_5_.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359784 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570336 AU - Fontaine, Michael D AU - Ma, Jiaqi AU - Hu, Jia AU - Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research AU - Virginia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of the Virginia Department of Transportation Adaptive Signal Control Technology Pilot Project PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 56p AB - Currently, most traffic signals operated by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) use actuated plans that vary by time of day (TOD) and day of the week. These timing plans are typically developed off-line using traffic count information collected in the field and then processed using signal optimization software. This method works well as long as traffic volumes remain consistent with the conditions used to develop the timing plan, but timing plans can become suboptimal if traffic demands deviate from those conditions. Traffic growth over time, seasonal changes in traffic, special events, or incidents can all cause TOD plans to perform poorly, resulting in increased delays to drivers. As a result, VDOT must regularly retime signalized intersections to deal with long-term changes in travel patterns, which incurs costs to VDOT. Even so, non-recurring events can still cause TOD plans to perform poorly. Adaptive signal control technology (ASCT) is one tool that has been proposed to handle variable traffic demand better. VDOT’s Traffic Engineering Division began a pilot program to install the InSync ASCT developed by Rhythm Engineering on 13 corridors around the state beginning in 2011. The InSync system uses enhanced detection along a corridor to adjust signal timing parameters dynamically to meet observed demand in real time, eliminating the need to develop static timing plans. This allows the ASCT system to adjust signal timing parameters to account for variations in flow attributable to special events, seasonal flows, incidents, or simply the increase of volumes over time. In this case, signal timings are not pre-defined based on historic data, so ASCT systems can potentially reduce delays created by outdated static TOD plans. These pilot deployments were evaluated to determine if ASCT created operational and safety improvements large enough to justify the additional costs to install ASCT. Data on mainline traffic operations, side street delays, and intersection crashes were collected with and without ASCT active. The results showed that mainline traffic operations generally improved if (1) the corridor was not oversaturated; (2) the corridor did not have characteristics that encourage platoon dispersion; and (3) the corridor did not already function well. Side street delays generally increased, although net benefits in overall corridor travel time were usually still observed. An empirical Bayes safety analysis of crashes at the intersections where ASCT was installed also found a 17% decrease in total crashes. Overall, ASCT generally produced a favorable benefit/cost ratio. The findings from the pilot tests were used to identify key considerations for future ASCT deployments so that VDOT could better identify future sites that might benefit from ASCT installation. KW - Adaptive control KW - Bayes' theorem KW - Before and after studies KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Pilot studies KW - Traffic crashes KW - Traffic delays KW - Traffic signal control systems KW - Traffic signal timing KW - Virginia Department of Transportation UR - http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/15-r24.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55200/55230/15-r24.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1360032 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570333 AU - Levine, Jonathan AU - Morton, Tom AU - University of Michigan, Ann Arbor AU - University of Illinois, Chicago AU - Woodward Communications AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - The Impact of Automated Transit, Pedestrian, and Bicycling Facilities on Urban Travel Patterns: Summary Report PY - 2015/06 SP - 24p AB - Researchers conducted a survey in four metropolitan Chicago neighborhoods served by commuter rail to explore how residents’ travel preferences might change with the potential addition of (1) an automated community transit (shuttle) service to and from the station and (2) a package of streetscape improvements to facilitate walking and bicycling to the station. The neighborhoods differ in levels of population density, current rail use, land use, and affluence. By using a telephone and mail survey to determine residents’ current travel patterns and preferences with the potential improvements, agent-based modeling, and activity-based modeling, the researchers forecast a possible overall decrease in car use of 39 percent and an increase in commuter rail use of 34 percent with the improvements. The shuttle service produced greater changes in lower density neighborhoods, with forecast of transit use doubling in the lowest density neighborhood. Travelers’ perceptions of cost, time, and safety are explored, and the differences among communities’ responses to the improvements and their implications for the relative effectiveness of each potential improvement are discussed. This report summarizes the Exploratory Advanced Research Program project “Effects of Automated Transit and Pedestrian/Bicycling Facilities on Urban Travel Patterns.” The final project report is available at https://taubmancollege.umich.edu/faculty/ faculty-publications/effects-automated-transit-pedestrian-and-bicycling-facilities-urban. KW - Bicycle facilities KW - Chicago (Illinois) KW - Consumer preferences KW - Forecasting KW - Improvements KW - Pedestrian areas KW - Population density KW - Railroad commuter service KW - Shuttle service KW - Streetscape KW - Surveys KW - Travel patterns UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/advancedresearch/pubs/15015/15015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1361074 ER - TY - SER AN - 01570330 JO - Civil Engineering Studies, Illinois Center for Transportation Series PB - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Tutumluer, Erol AU - Ozer, Hasan AU - Hou, Wenting AU - Mwumvaneza, Vincent AU - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Illinois Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Sustainable Aggregates Production: Green Applications for Aggregate By-Products PY - 2015/06 IS - 15-012 SP - 73p AB - Increased emphasis in the construction industry on sustainability and recycling requires production of aggregate gradations with lower dust (cleaner aggregates) and smaller maximum sizes—hence, increased amount of quarry by-products (QBs). QBs are usually less than 1/4 in. (6 mm) in size. This report provides findings of an industry survey conducted among Illinois aggregate producers on the annual production rate, excess QBs generated, and current application areas of QBs. In addition, a detailed laboratory study was conducted to characterize the engineering properties of QB materials produced in the primary, secondary, and tertiary aggregate production stages from four different quarries operating in the State of Illinois. Since unconfined compressive strength for QB materials was low (less than 11 psi), chemical admixture stabilizers such as Portland cement and Class C fly ash were used to improve the strength properties of QB materials. Significant increases in the strength of stabilized QB materials observed may indicate suitability of QBs for sustainable pavement applications. Recommendations are made on potential strategies to utilize excess fines by incorporating QB materials in pavement construction. KW - Aggregates KW - Compressive strength KW - Fines (Materials) KW - Illinois KW - Laboratory studies KW - Quarries KW - Recommendations KW - Surveys KW - Sustainable development KW - Waste products UR - https://apps.ict.illinois.edu/projects/getfile.asp?id=3507 UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55300/55316/FHWA-ICT-15-012.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1360904 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570267 AU - Lyon, Craig AU - Persaud, Bhagwant AU - Eccles, Kimberly AU - Vanessa Hangen Brustlin, Incorporated AU - Persaud Lyon, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Safety Evaluation of Centerline Plus Shoulder Rumble Strips PY - 2015/06 SP - 64p AB - The Federal Highway Administration organized a pooled fund study of 38 States to evaluate low-cost safety strategies as part of its strategic highway safety effort. One of the strategies selected for evaluation was the combined application of centerline and shoulder rumble strips. This strategy is intended to reduce the frequency of crashes by alerting drivers that they are about to leave the travelled lane. Geometric, traffic, and crash data were obtained at treated two-lane rural road locations in Kentucky, Missouri, and Pennsylvania. To account for potential selection bias and regression-to-the-mean, an Empirical Bayes before-after analysis was conducted, using reference groups of untreated two-lane rural roads with similar characteristics to the treated sites. The analysis also controls for changes in traffic volumes over time and time trends in crash counts unrelated to the treatment. The combined results for all States indicate statistically significant crash reductions for all crash types analyzed. The crash type with the smallest crash modification factor (CMF) (i.e., the greatest crash reduction) is head-on, with a CMF of 0.632. Run-off-road and sideswipe-opposite-direction crashes have estimated CMFs of 0.742 and 0.767, respectively. For run-off-road, head-on, and sideswipe-opposite-direction crashes combined (i.e., lane departure crashes), the estimated CMF is 0.733. For all crash types combined, CMFs of 0.800 for all severities and 0.771 for fatal+injury were estimated. Intersection-related and animal crashes were excluded from the evaluation. Benefit-cost ratios were estimated to range from 20.2 to 54.7, depending on the treatment cost and service life assumption, which varied by State. These results are based on conservative service life assumptions. KW - Bayes' theorem KW - Before and after studies KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Center lines KW - Crash rates KW - Evaluation KW - Kentucky KW - Missouri KW - Pennsylvania KW - Road shoulders KW - Rumble strips KW - Rural highways KW - Two lane highways UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/15048/15048.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1360393 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570262 AU - Lemp, Jason AU - Cambridge Systematics, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) Peer Review PY - 2015/06//Final Report AB - This report details the proceedings of a peer review of the Virginia Department of Transportation’s (VDOT) statewide transportation model. The peer review was intended to provide guidance to the VDOT Transportation and Mobility Planning Division on their statewide model, which is currently under development. KW - Peer review KW - State departments of transportation KW - Transportation planning KW - Travel demand KW - Travel Model Improvement Program KW - Virginia Department of Transportation UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/tmip/resources/peer_review_program/vdot/fhwahep15042.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359986 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01569007 AU - Colgrove, George W AU - Vermont Agency of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Assessment of Jahn Permeable Mortar System in a Historic Bridge Abutment Application PY - 2015/06//Initial SP - 37p AB - Increasingly, the importance of historic preservation is competing with the requirements to enhance structural capacity of older unique structures. Preservation of the functional and aesthetic qualities limits potential change to meet the expanded needs of the traveling public. The Taftsville Covered Bridge in Woodstock, Vermont was deteriorating at a time the public needed increased capacity. Then in 2011, the tropical storm remnant of Hurricane Irene rendered the bridge impassable. Significant damage to the substructure and superstructure occurred. The bridge required a complete deconstruction and reconstruction to correct deficiencies and enhance capacity. Design and construction techniques focused on retention of the historic presence and value the bridge offered for over a century and a half. The Taftsville Covered Bridge has been repaired and improved many times over its life. This project continued that trend by restoring one abutment and pier with added strength by the use of Jahn mortar and grout. The existing laid-up stone was repointed with Mortar with minimal addition of new stone where large gaps were located. Once the shell formed by the existing stone and the new mortar set up, a flowable grout was placed within the stones to bond the stones together, thereby strengthening the substructures. The containment of the stones provided increased reliability in addition to strength. The feature the Vermont Agency of Transportation hoped to maintain was the high permeability of the abutment. The permeability of the Jahn system minimizes damage caused by internal hydrostatic pressures and the effects of chlorides locked within the stone substructures observed in other mortars and grout systems. KW - Bridge abutments KW - Bridge piers KW - Covered bridges KW - Grout KW - Historic bridges KW - Mortar KW - Permeability KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) KW - Woodstock (Vermont) UR - http://vtransplanning.vermont.gov/sites/aot_policy/files/2015%20-%2010%20Assessment%20of%20Jahn%20Permeable%20Mortar%20System%20In%20a%20Historic%20Bridge%20Abutment%20Application.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359325 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01568657 AU - Wilmot, Chester G AU - Li, Wan AU - Glascock, Stephen AU - Graham, Glen AU - Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge AU - Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge AU - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - National Center for Intermodal Transportation for Economic Competitiveness AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Improving Freight Crash Incident Management PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 79p AB - The objective of this study was to determine the most effective way to mitigate the effect of freight crash incidents on Louisiana freeways. Candidate incident management strategies were reviewed from practice in other states and from those published in the literature. Current legislation in the state was also reviewed. A procedure to estimate the cost of delay caused by an incident was developed and used to provide a rough estimate of the cost efficiency of an Instant Tow Dispatch Program and an Expedited Towing Program. Both were estimated to be highly cost-efficient with the estimated cost of delay far exceeding the estimated cost of the programs. Implementation of an Instant Tow Dispatch program and an Authority Removal Law was recommended. KW - Costs KW - Freight transportation KW - Incident management KW - Laws and legislation KW - Literature reviews KW - Louisiana KW - State of the practice KW - Traffic crashes UR - http://www.ltrc.lsu.edu/pdf/2015/FR_542.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359230 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01568656 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Citizen Reporting of Current Road Conditions: Experiences at Five State Departments of Transportation PY - 2015/06 SP - 9p AB - This best practices document reviews, compares, and contrasts citizen reporting programs that capture current weather and road conditions at five state departments of transportation—Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Iowa, and Minnesota. KW - Best practices KW - Case studies KW - Crowdsourcing KW - Idaho KW - Iowa KW - Minnesota KW - Public participation KW - State departments of transportation KW - Traveler information and communication systems KW - Utah KW - Weather conditions KW - Wyoming UR - http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/weather/best_practices/citizenreportingcrc/citizenreportingcrc.pdf UR - http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/weather/best_practices/citizenreportingcrc/index.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359223 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567454 AU - Khattak, Asad J AU - Wang, Xin AU - Son, Sanghoon AU - Liu, Jun AU - Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research AU - Virginia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Data Needs Assessment for Making Transportation Decisions in Virginia PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 85p AB - To better plan, operate, and maintain the transportation system in Virginia, this study identifies Virginia transportation professionals’ planning-related data needs, obstacles to fulfilling those needs, and potential solutions for overcoming those obstacles. Based on interviews with practitioners, a survey of 182 professionals, and a review of data management practices in the literature, the study finds that needs vary by organizational type: whereas only 41% of the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) survey respondents have at least one unmet data need, this percentage climbs to 70% for metropolitan planning organization and local respondents. When all respondents were asked to name, out of 51 databases, those that were needed but not available, almost one-fifth of all respondents cited three databases relating to infrastructure, safety, and operations; in Virginia these databases are known as roadway network system (RNS), Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), and data maintained by the Traffic Operations Center (TOC), respectively. A primary obstacle to meeting data needs is data availability: some proprietary data owned by VDOT cannot legally be shared with external agencies, some datasets are restricted in how they can be shared due to security concerns, and some datasets can be shared but are not known to external partners. Other obstacles include data quality, time required to access datasets, and database diversity as the survey suggested that planners need access to a wider variety of databases than do other types of transportation professionals. Potential solutions documented in the report are to increase user awareness through seminars or the creation of a transportation data map, improve ease of access for select users through the use of virtual private networks, improve ease of use through providing a single location as a starting point for acquiring some publicly available existing data, and integrate databases in instances where common data elements allow such integration. In the short term, two recommended courses of action appear feasible: (1) conduct a workshop to make external partners and VDOT staff aware of some of these diverse databases, and (2) conduct periodic meetings of planning, information technology, and research staff to identify ways to enhance data sharing. KW - Data management KW - Data sharing KW - Databases KW - Information dissemination KW - Literature reviews KW - Needs assessment KW - Surveys KW - Transportation planning KW - Virginia UR - http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/15-r23.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1358921 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567437 AU - Lopez-Bernal, Gabriel AU - Schweiger, Carol AU - Jacobi, Amy AU - Craig, John L AU - Noblis AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Transit Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) Applications: Near Term Research and Development: Transit Traveler Information Infrastructure Mobility Application: Operational Concept PY - 2015/06//Final Report AB - This document serves as an Operational Concept for the Transit Traveler Information Infrastructure Mobility Application. The purpose of this document is to provide an operational description of “how” the Transit Traveler Information Infrastructure Mobility Application may operate. The Transit Traveler Information Infrastructure Mobility Application connects transit vehicles and travelers to nearby infrastructure, such as a smart intersection, smart bus stop and smart parking. For example, transit vehicles would communicate with transit stops to provide travelers information on approaching vehicles, such as passenger loads, available disability seating, bicycle rack availability, fare information, etc. The application would support dynamic trip planning at transit stops. The Operational Concept discusses the following scenarios: Scenario 1: Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) (and Infrastructure-to-Vehicle (I2V)) traveler information and dynamic trip planning at bus stops for travelers without personal information devices. Scenario 2: V2I (and I2V) traveler information and dynamic trip planning at bus stops for travelers with personal information devices. This document is intended to convey at a high-level how the application may work, so others may design and implement systems in the future. As such, the Transit V2I Operational Concept documents are “generalized” and not specific to a geographic area, an operating entity (e.g., transit agency), existing systems that may be in place for a region, agency operating procedures, nor political environment. KW - Advanced traveler information systems KW - Bus stops KW - Mobile applications KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Mobility KW - Public transit KW - Travel demand management KW - Vehicle to infrastructure communications UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55100/55145/FHWA-JPO-15-212_v1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1358318 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567403 AU - Williams, R Christopher AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Oregon Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Premature Asphalt Concrete Pavement Cracking PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 163p AB - Recently, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has identified hot mix asphalt concrete (HMAC) pavements that have displayed top-down cracking within three years of construction. The objective of the study was to evaluate the top-down cracked pavement sections and compare the results with the non-cracked pavement sections. Research involved evaluating six surface cracked pavements and four non-cracked pavement sections. The research included extensive field and laboratory investigations of the 10 pavement sections by conducting distress surveys, falling weight deflectometer (FWD) testing, dynamic cone penetrometer (DCP) testing, and coring from the cracked and non-cracked pavement sections. Cores were then subjected to a full laboratory-testing program to evaluate the HMAC mixtures and binder rheology. The laboratory investigation included dynamic modulus, indirect tensile (IDT) strength, and specific gravity testing on the HMAC cores, binder rheological tests on asphalt binder and aggregate gradation analysis. The FWD and DCP tests indicated that top-down cracked pavement sections were structurally sound, even some of the sections with top-down cracking showed better structural capacity compared to non-cracked sections. The study also found that top-down cracking initiation and propagation were independent of pavement cross-section or the HMAC thickness. The dynamic modulus testing indicated that cores from all the top-down cracked pavement sections except one section (OR 140) possessed stiffer mixtures than that of non-cracked pavement sections. All four non-cracked pavement areas were found to be exhibiting fairly high IDT strength, and low variability in IDT strength and HMAC density when compared to top-down cracked sections as indicated by the IDT strength tests and air void analysis. Asphalt binder rheological test result indicated that asphalt binders from all the top-down cracked sections except OR140 showed higher complex shear modulus (stiffer binder) compared to non-cracked pavement sections. The study concluded that top-down cracking could be caused by a number of contributors such as stiffer HMAC mixtures, mixture segregation, binder aging, low HMAC tensile strength, and high variability in tensile strength or by combination of any. KW - Aggregate gradation KW - Asphalt concrete pavements KW - Cone penetrometers KW - Cracking of asphalt concrete pavements KW - Dynamic modulus of elasticity KW - Falling weight deflectometers KW - Field tests KW - Hot mix asphalt KW - Laboratory tests KW - Pavement distress KW - Rheological properties KW - Tensile strength UR - http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TP_RES/ResearchReports/SPR734_PrematureCracking_FinalReport.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1357778 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567380 AU - Mehary, Selamawit Tesfayesus AU - Dusicka, Peter AU - Portland State University AU - Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium AU - Oregon Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Seismic Retrofit Benefit Considering Statewide Transportation Assessment PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 88p AB - The purpose of this study was to identify and demonstrate a methodology to prioritize bridges for retrofit in the State of Oregon. Given the limited resources available, retrofitting all vulnerable bridges in the foreseeable future would not be impractical. Instead, a retrofit strategy needs to be developed to prioritize the inventory and enumerate the retrofit cost. In this study, a prioritization methodology used a holistic assessment of overall roadway system to consider highway route segments, rather than individual bridges. The overall assessment was based on a cost-benefit analysis including retrofit cost, expected economic loss (with or without retrofit) and social loss caused by system wide travel time delays. A review of 2010 Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) bridge inventory suggested that a continuous concrete girder bridge (CCGS) with three spans could be utilized to represent a sizeable portion of vulnerable inventory for Oregon highways bridges. After reviewing several potential retrofit measures, carbon fiber composite material was selected for retrofit of vulnerable columns representing those built from the 1950s to mid-1970s. Four full-scale typical square columns were tested to failure. The results showed that despite the intentionally selected square geometry of the reinforced concrete columns, the carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite material showed to be an effective retrofit measure and could be deployed for to address this deficiency. The software package REDARS2 was used for seismic risk analysis (SRA) of the highway network in this study. This platform was adopted to simulate the impact of scenario earthquakes in an effort to assess the expected benefit considering direct bridge costs as well as social costs from traffic induced delays resulting from seismic retrofitting of a particular bridge type. The assessment considered three scenario Cascadia Subsection Zone earthquakes of magnitudes 9.0, 8.5 North, and, 8.5 South. The study area included all highway routes west of the I-5 corridor, highway routes in the Portland area, the entire length of US-101 and extending partially east on I-84 Columbia River Highway. Due to the considerations of a single bridge type and other limitations identified in the seismic analysis software (REDARS2), the retrofit assessment outcomes should be regarded as a first order estimate. KW - Assessments KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Columns KW - Continuous girder bridges KW - Earthquake resistant design KW - Highway bridges KW - Oregon KW - Reinforced concrete KW - Retrofitting KW - Risk analysis KW - Traffic delays UR - http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TP_RES/ResearchReports/SRS500_480_FinalReport.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1357777 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567371 AU - Burden, Lindsay Ivey AU - Hoppe, Edward J AU - Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research AU - Virginia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Synthesis of Trenchless Technologies PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 45p AB - The purpose of this study was to examine the current state of the practice of state highway agencies regarding methods and specifications for using trenchless technologies. From the perspective of the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), the paramount concern associated with trenchless construction is the safety of the traveling public. Since such construction typically takes place without the re-routing of traffic, any sudden and substantial surface displacement of the overlying roadway has the potential for catastrophic consequences. Surface monitoring during and after construction is a critical activity to ensure successful installation. The study focused on the most commonly used trenchless methods for new construction, including the selection of the most appropriate trenchless technology for specific applications, the identification of minimum geotechnical investigation requirements, design considerations, construction monitoring, costs, and performance. The study did not address all potentially available methods of utility construction and rehabilitation. To achieve the study objective, two tasks were performed: (1) the literature on the current state of the practice with respect to the use of trenchless technology in other states was reviewed, and (2) identified specifications and design guidelines of various state transportation agencies were analyzed and examined for potential applicability to trenchless construction activities administered by VDOT. The study concluded that trenchless technologies have been widely adopted but design guidelines and construction specifications vary significantly. Accurate subsurface characterization is critical to the selection of the most appropriate technology for a specific project. Obstructions pose a significant risk for all types of trenchless work. In general, the risk of using the directional drilling method increases with pipe diameter. The opposite is usually the case for microtunneling. Unguided trenchless methods are suitable only for short drives. Monitoring of trenchless construction is usually limited to observations of installation procedures and surface monitoring. For the most part, a high level of expertise is required for operators of trenchless equipment. The study recommends that VDOT’s Materials Division, Location and Design Division, and Construction Division jointly develop and approve the criteria for selection of trenchless technologies. Specific technical recommendations for inclusion in VDOT special provisions and the VDOT Materials Division Manual of Instructions are enumerated. KW - Construction KW - Excavation KW - Literature reviews KW - Recommendations KW - Specifications KW - State departments of transportation KW - State of the practice KW - Trenchless technology KW - Virginia Department of Transportation UR - http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/15-r16.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1358567 ER - TY - SER AN - 01567369 JO - TechBrief PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Fitzpatrick, Kay AU - Avelar, Raul AU - Potts, Ingrid AU - Brewer, Marcus AU - Robertson, James AU - Fees, Chris AU - Hutton, Jessica AU - Lucas, Lindsay AU - Bauer, Karin TI - Investigating Improvements to Pedestrian Crossings with an Emphasis on the Rectangular Rapid-Flashing Beacon PY - 2015/06 SP - 11p AB - The goal of this research effort was to improve pedestrian safety at urban and suburban crossing locations by identifying and evaluating low- to medium-cost pedestrian treatments. The treatments were to have the potential to reduce pedestrian crashes at both midblock and intersection locations. While several treatments were considered during early efforts of this project, later tasks focused on the rectangular rapid-flashing beacon (RRFB). The RRFB has received extensive national attention because of high yielding rates observed at multiple installations, and several studies have found increased driver yielding after installing this device. The key research effort for this study included a closed-course study and an open-road study. The objectives of the closed-course study were as follows: (1) Determine whether the shape, size, and placement of flashing beacons/light-emitting diodes (LEDs) affect sign legibility distances and object detection. (2) Determine driver ratings of disability glare for 8-inch circular beacons and LED-embedded signs using a rapid flash pattern. (3) Identify up to two assemblies for field evaluation to be conducted following the conclusion of the closed-course tasks. The objectives of the open-road study were as follows: (1) Determine whether drivers yielded differently to circular or rectangular beacons when used with a rapid-flashing pattern. (2) Determine to what extent, if any, a driver is more likely to yield to a pedestrian when the rapid-flashing beacon is activated than when it is not activated. (3) Determine whether vehicle traffic volume affects driver yielding. KW - Crosswalks KW - Drivers KW - Flashing beacons KW - Glare KW - Intersections KW - Light emitting diodes KW - Midblock crossings KW - Pedestrian safety KW - Yielding UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/15043/15043.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1357481 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567368 AU - Druta, Cristian AU - Alden, Andrew S AU - Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research AU - Virginia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of a Buried Cable Roadside Animal Detection System PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 45p AB - Animal-vehicle collisions (AVC) are a concern for departments of transportation as they translate into hundreds of human fatalities and billions of dollars in property damage each year. A recently published report states that the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) currently spends over $4 million yearly to remove about 55,000 deer carcasses from its roadways. Currently, one of the most effective existing methods to reduce AVCs is the use of animal detection systems, which can detect animals near the roadway and alert approaching drivers accordingly. In order to reduce AVCs in Virginia, VDOT, in collaboration with the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, proposed the evaluation of an innovative roadside animal detection system in naturalistic and controlled conditions. This type of system offers numerous apparent advantages over aboveground animal detection technologies when environmental interferences, such as precipitation and vegetation, and site-specific characteristics, such as topology, subsidence, and road curvature, are considered. The subject animal detection system (ADS), a 300-m-long buried dual-cable sensor, detects the crossing of large and medium-sized animals and provides data on their location along the length of the cable. The system has a central processor unit for control and communication and generates an invisible electromagnetic detection field around buried cables. When the detection field is perturbed, an alarm is declared and the location of the intrusion is determined. Target animals are detected based on their conductivity, size, and movement, with multiple simultaneous intrusions being detected during a crossing event. The system was installed and tested at a highly suitable site on the Virginia Smart Road where large wild animals, including deer and bear, are often observed in a roadside environment. This report describes the installation of the ADS, data collection and analysis methodology, evaluation of the system’s reliability and effectiveness, cost analysis, and implementation prospects. The system used continuous, all-weather and nighttime video surveillance to monitor animal movement and to gauge system detections, and potential non-detections of the ADS. Also, a communication link between the buried ADS and the Virginia Smart Road fiber optic network was established to allow operation and monitoring of the system from a dedicated server in the Virginia Smart Road Control Room. A performance verification of the network communication was successfully conducted through continuous data collection and transfer to a storage unit. Data were collected continuously for a period of 10 months that included winter, and then analyzed to determine overall detection performance of the system. Data analyses indicate that the ADS, if properly installed and calibrated, is capable of detecting animals such as deer and bear, and possibly smaller animals, such as fox and coyotes, with over 95% reliability. The ADS also performed well even when covered by 3 ft of snow. Moreover, the system was tested under various traffic conditions and no vehicle interferences were noted during the same monitoring period. The acquired data can be used to improve highway safety through driver warning systems installed along roadway sections where high wildlife activity has been observed. Additionally, this system may be integrated with the connected vehicle framework to provide advance, in-vehicle warnings to motorists approaching locations where animals have been detected in or near the roadway. KW - Animals KW - Cables KW - Costs KW - Data collection KW - Detection and identification systems KW - Evaluation KW - Highway safety KW - Implementation KW - Installation KW - Virginia KW - Warning systems UR - http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/15-r25.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1358922 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567326 AU - Hossain, M Shabbir AU - Lane, D Stephen AU - Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research AU - Virginia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Development of a Catalog of Resilient Modulus Values for Aggregate Base for Use With the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 45p AB - Base aggregate is one of the intermediate layers in a pavement system for both flexible and rigid surfaces. Characterization of base aggregate is necessary for pavement thickness design. Many transportation agencies, including the Virginia Department of Transportation, assign a layer coefficient for pavement design where consideration for gradation or rock type is not obvious. The mechanistic-empirical pavement design requires base aggregate to be characterized using a resilient modulus value. Therefore, 16 aggregates from different geophysical regions of Virginia were collected and tested for resilient modulus in order to develop a catalog for the implementation of the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG). A wide range of resilient modulus values for base aggregate was found for different sources with different rock types. A catalog was developed with resilient modulus values for 16 aggregates from Virginia. The resilient modulus values ranged from approximately 10,000 to 30,000 psi. In general, limestone showed the higher modulus as compared to granite. An increase in compaction moisture content, even within allowable limits, adversely affected the resilient modulus value for many aggregates. This moisture sensitivity is related to both the percent of material passing the No. 200 sieve and the plastic nature of these fines. These values are recommended to be used as reference values for the MEPDG, but engineering judgment should be applied to account for moisture sensitivity. KW - Aggregates KW - Base course (Pavements) KW - Catalogs KW - Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide KW - Modulus of resilience KW - Moisture content KW - Pavement design KW - Virginia UR - http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/15-r13.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1358568 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567323 AU - Nicks, J E AU - Gebrenegus, T AU - Adams, M T AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Strength Characterization of Open-Graded Aggregates for Structural Backfills PY - 2015/06//Technical Report SP - 154p AB - Open-graded aggregates are common in road and bridge construction because they are easy to place, and they have the advantages of very low fine content, free-draining characteristics, low frost heave potential, and simple quality assurance testing. They are a suitable alternative to well-graded aggregate blends in many applications. Another key benefit is their strength, but this attribute it is often not accounted for in design. This report presents strength characteristics of 16 open-graded aggregates commonly selected as structural backfills and discusses the impact of different test and data interpretation methods. Results of large-scale direct shear and large diameter triaxial tests indicate higher strengths for these materials than typical default values typically assumed in design. It was also observed that the mean grain size, sphericity, angularity, and void ratio play a role in the measured friction angles. This information will help designers better understand these backfills and aid in the cost-effective design of retaining walls and bridge foundations. KW - Backfill soils KW - Bridge foundations KW - Friction KW - Open graded aggregates KW - Retaining walls KW - Shear tests KW - Strength of materials UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/structures/bridge/15034/15034.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1358314 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567317 AU - Howe, Roger W AU - Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research AU - Virginia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Improving Collaboration and Consensus Building in the Coordination of Access Management and Land Use in Corridor Planning PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 48p AB - The success of access management depends on the coordination of access management planning and land use planning, but the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has control over access management in Virginia and cities and counties adjacent to a road in Virginia have control over land use; as a consequence, consensus is needed if access management and land use are to be adequately coordinated. Virginia’s Commonwealth Transportation Board asked that VDOT increase and improve the collaboration with localities along Virginia’s Corridors of Statewide Significance (CoSS) in order to improve the coordination between access management planning and land use planning. The purpose of this study was to determine the approach that VDOT could take to increase collaboration and to improve the quality of collaboration and consensus building in the planning for the CoSS and also for the principal arterials not included in the CoSS. The study examined and analyzed the literature on collaboration and consensus building and examined several case studies of attempts to incorporate collaboration in transportation planning. The study concluded that despite the fact that the incorporation of a fully collaborative process in the negotiations between VDOT and localities along the CoSS and along the principal arterials that are not part of the CoSS is not feasible at this time, collaboration could be incorporated in negotiations wherever it is deemed useful and feasible to do so. The study also concluded that the use of professional facilitators to facilitate meetings would go a long way toward ensuring that the engagement among VDOT, local governments, and all stakeholders along all of these corridors would be as collaborative as possible in the current environment. The recommendations of the study are as follows: (1) At a minimum, where feasible, VDOT’s Transportation and Mobility Planning Division (TMPD) should hire professional facilitators to organize and lead planning meetings for the CoSS and for the principal arterials not included in the CoSS that involve negotiations among VDOT and local governments, stakeholders, and citizens. The TMPD’s on-call transportation planning consultant contracts and, in appropriate situations, contracts for specific studies should include provisions for the consultant to be able to provide professional facilitator services when needed. It is important to ensure that the facilitators used are properly trained and have experience facilitating meetings among state departments of transportation and local governments, stakeholders, and the public. (2) Where feasible, the TMPD should also use professional facilitators to assist in achieving consensus among stakeholders along the principal arterials that are not included in the CoSS. KW - Access control (Transportation) KW - Case studies KW - Consensus KW - Cooperation KW - Land use planning KW - Literature reviews KW - Recommendations KW - Stakeholders KW - Transportation planning KW - Virginia KW - Virginia Department of Transportation UR - http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/15-r20.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1358919 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567279 AU - Dahlberg, Justin AU - Phares, Brent AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Iowa ABC Connections PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 43p AB - For several years the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT), Iowa State University, the Federal Highway Administration, and several Iowa counties have been working to develop accelerated bridge construction (ABC) concepts, details, and processes. Throughout this development, much has been learned and has resulted in Iowa being viewed as a national leader in the area of ABC. However, at this time, the Office of Bridges and Structures does not have a complete set of working standards nor design examples to accompany ABC portions of the bridge design manual (now called the Load and Resistance Factor Design/LRFD Bridge Design Manual). During the fall of 2013, the Iowa DOT constructed a bridge on IA 92 in Cass County using an ABC technique known as slide-in bridge construction. During the design of the Cass County Bridge, several questions were raised about the performance of critical design and construction details: the pile-to-pile cap connection and the polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) coated bearing pads on which the bridge would slide. The timing of this specific need and the initiation of this project offered a unique opportunity to provide significant short- and long-term value to the Office of Bridges and Structures. Several full-scale laboratory tests, which included several variations of the pile-to-pile cap connection and bearing pad slides, were completed. These tests proved that the connection was capable of achieving the desired capacity and that the expected coefficient of friction of the bearing pads was reasonably low. Finally, a design tool was developed for the Office of Bridges and Structures to be used on future projects that might benefit from a precast pile cap. KW - Bridge bearing pads KW - Bridge construction KW - Bridge design KW - Coefficient of friction KW - Design standards KW - Iowa KW - Laboratory tests KW - Pile caps KW - Polytetrafluoroethylene KW - Structural connection UR - http://www.intrans.iastate.edu/research/documents/research-reports/Iowa_ABC_connections_w_cvr.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55200/55288/IADOT_ISU_RB06-013_.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359024 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567272 AU - Bullough, John D AU - Skinner, Nicholas P AU - Brons, Jennifer A AU - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute AU - New York State Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Analysis of Energy Efficient Highway Lighting Retrofits PY - 2015/06//Final Report SP - 38p AB - Solid state lighting technology is advancing rapidly to a point where light emitting diode (LED) lighting systems can be viable replacements for existing lighting systems using high pressure sodium (HPS). The present report summarizes analyses conducted to document existing lighting conditions along a parkway (Southern State Parkway, Long Island) and an arterial roadway (Central Avenue, Albany County). Several LED alternative lighting systems were compared using photometric analyses to identify ones that meet light level criteria for each roadway type; several options were available that resulted in energy savings compared to the existing HPS lighting systems. Energy economic analyses confirmed that the initial investment could be paid back in terms of reduced operating costs, and that energy savings were larger for LED systems when compared to HPS systems that produced similar levels to those from the LED alternatives. Further energy cost savings would be expected with the use of adaptive lighting controls specified to take advantage of temporal nighttime traffic patterns on the roadways investigated. The report concludes with considerations for incorporating LED performance characteristics, such as ensuring they do not produce interference with radio equipment, into specifications for LED retrofit alternatives. KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Arterial highways KW - Costs KW - Economic analysis KW - Energy consumption KW - Light emitting diodes KW - New York (State) KW - Parkways KW - Photometry KW - Retrofitting KW - Street lighting UR - https://www.dot.ny.gov/divisions/engineering/technical-services/trans-r-and-d-repository/C-14-12-Final Report_June 2015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1357767 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580924 AU - Miller, Kevin AU - Bouattoura, Fariel AU - Zingalli, Joe AU - Macias, Roberto AU - Miller, Bryan AU - Dallas Area Rapid Transit AU - Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Transit Administration TI - Test Report, Dallas Integrated Corridor Management (ICM) Demonstration Project PY - 2015/05/29/Final Report SP - 27p AB - The Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is leading the US 75 Integrated Corridor Management (ICM) Demonstration Project for the Dallas region. Coordinated corridor operations and management is predicated on being able to share transportation information on highways, arterials, transit, weather, and incidents. The ICM system will utilize the existing Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Center-to-Center standards based communication infrastructure, and will provide direct connections to agencies not on the Center-to-Center network, via a web-based interface known as SmartNET. The ICM system uses SmartNET as the main graphical user interfaces for the ICM Stakeholders to create, edit, and view events in the corridor and region, view current conditions of field devices and congestion on the roadway network, and coordinate responses to incidents within the corridor. This Test Report covers the test process and results for the various phases of testing for the ICM system. KW - Dallas (Texas) KW - Dallas Area Rapid Transit KW - Demonstration projects KW - Information dissemination KW - Integrated corridor management KW - Stakeholders KW - Systems analysis KW - Test procedures UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/56000/56200/56235/FHWA-JPO-15-211_v2.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373249 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576221 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Accelerated Innovation Deployment (AID) Demonstration Project: High Friction Surface Treatment PY - 2015/05/29/Final Report SP - 34p AB - The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Accelerated Innovation Deployment (AID) Demonstration grant program, which is administered through the FHWA Center for Accelerating Innovation (CAI), provides incentive funding and other resources for eligible entities to offset the risk of trying an innovation and to accelerate the implementation and adoption of that innovation in highway transportation. This report documents the South Dakota Department of Transportation’s (SDDOT) demonstration grant award for Interstate I-229 and US highway 14A using High Friction Surface Treatment (HFST) on four horizontal curves with higher than average accident rates. The report presents details relevant to the employed project innovation(s), the overarching Technology and Innovation Deployment Program (TIDP) goals, performance metrics measurement and analysis, and the status of activities related to adoption of HFST as conventional practice by SDDOT. KW - Demonstration projects KW - Highway curves KW - Ice KW - Performance measurement KW - Snow KW - South Dakota Department of Transportation KW - Surface treating KW - Technological innovations UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/accelerating/grants/pdfs/SD_2014_AID_Grant.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1367849 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01565267 TI - Research Program Design---Administration of Highway and Transportation Agencies. Executive Strategies to Deliver Practical Design AB - Decision making in many agencies responsible for development and management of road networks has come over time to rely substantially on well-defined standards for roadway geometrics and other design details. These standards may be established by the agency itself, by other agencies (concerned, for example, with roadway safety or interstate commerce), or by professional and trade and groups (seeking, for example, to enhance system performance). Such standards are typically intended to provide guidance to design professionals but may over time assume the role of inviolable rules that constrain design decisions. Recognizing that such constraints may increase project costs and have other deleterious effects, some state transportation agencies have adopted design review processes intended explicitly to identify how project objectives might be better achieved, and possibly with faster construction and lower overall costs, through more tailored accommodation to local conditions and other particular characteristics of the project. Agencies have given these processes such labels as Practical Design, Practical Solutions, or Practical Improvements. The National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 443: Practical Highway Design Solutions (published in 2013 and available at http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/nchrp_syn_443.pdf) reviewed a number of these processes. Referred to generally here as Practical Design, such activities are intended to encourage project decisions that more precisely address the project's needs and constraints and avoid unnecessary costs. Proponents claim that Practical Design encourages flexibility, innovation, and multimodal solutions by maintaining the focus on project need throughout all phases of project development and operation. Practical Design principles encourage evaluation of all components throughout project development to decrease the project cost without sacrificing safety, performance, operations, community livability, economic development, or environmental stewardship. While current practices at many state transportation agencies are consistent with the concepts of Practical Design, effective implementation of Practical Design approach can be discouraged or prohibited by strict adherence to standards of practice contained in such documents as the Roadside Design Guide, the Policy on the Geometric Design of Highways and Streets (the "Green Book"), Highway Capacity Manual, or state design manuals. Substantial differences in terminology and procedures among guidance documents and agencies practices hinder consideration of the potential consequences of relaxing these standards in particular instances. Newer analysis tools such as those contained in the Highway Safety Manual entail methodology for analyzing design elements in the context of an individual project and can result in substantively safer designs. Research is needed to assist agencies' efforts to understand and apply such new tools and a Practical Design approach. The objectives of this research are to engage senior state transportation agency leaders in defining a program that will (a) advance a common vocabulary and understanding of Practical Design principles and practices, and (b) identify areas in existing practice manuals and guidelines that may require review by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Official's (AASHTO's) standing committees for possible modification to enable state transportation agencies to take full advantage of Practical Design (PD) principles and practices. The research results are intended to inform discussion within AASHTO's standing committees and may become a basis for additional research to modify design guides or other practice manuals. The research will engage Department of Transportation (DOT) senior staff in defining concepts, definitions, and principles, common vocabulary, and other clarification factors describing practical design (PD). A review of current guidelines, regulations, constraints, legal issues will be made to identify areas in which action by AASHTO, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), or others may be appropriate to remove impediments to PD implementation and a program of action that AASHTO technical committees may take to facilitate DOT implementation of PD. A leadership forum on PD will be held to engage AASHTO board members and other senior DOT officials in discussion of strategies for facilitating PD implementation. KW - Decision making KW - Economic development KW - Highway capacity KW - Highway Capacity Manual KW - Highway design KW - Multimodal transportation KW - State departments of transportation KW - Strategic planning KW - Sustainable development UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3819 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1355849 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01565266 TI - Research Program Design---Administration of Highway and Transportation Agencies. Peer Exchange on Transportation Investment for Economic Development: Making the Case AB - This research is a peer exchange designed to bring together teams comprised of state economic development executives and transportation agency leaders and communications specialists who jointly are responsible for making decisions and communicating with stakeholders to deliver a safe, effective, environmentally responsible, and fiscally sound transportation system that enhances economic well-being and competitiveness. Each state's 2- or 3-person team will present a case example illustrating how transportation investment was used to address an economic development opportunity or challenge. The workshop is scheduled for August, 2015. Workshop discussions will be documented to inform others regarding issues encountered and effective communication strategies that officials may be able to use in working with their various stakeholders. KW - Competition KW - Decision making KW - Economic development KW - Investments KW - Peer groups KW - Workshops UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3820 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1355848 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01565265 TI - Research Program Design---Administration of Highway and Transportation Agencies. Launching U.S. Transportation Enterprise Risk Management Programs AB - This research project has two objectives: (1) Conduct a workshop for senior U.S. transportation agency leaders to help them launch in agency Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) programs that will be generally effective and specifically consistent with the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) requirements; (2) Develop a "roadmap" to make available to departments of transportation (DOTs) the training, tools, and guidance materials agencies can use to develop and maintain effective ERM programs, tailored to the agency's resources and capabilities and responsive as specific MAP-21 requirements become known. The roadmap will assist the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and the Transportation Research Board (TRB) to provide ongoing assistance to states to implement and improve their ERM programs. The research will entail (1) workshop planning; (2) workshop execution, including providing logistics support and facilitating workshop discussions; (3) workshop documentation; (4) roadmap development; (5) a webinar to present the draft roadmap for discussion; and (6) preparation of a final roadmap report. KW - Disaster preparedness KW - Emergency management KW - Emergency response time KW - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) KW - Risk management KW - Workshops UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3912 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1355847 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01575021 TI - Advancing Collaborative Planning among Economic Development Districts and State Departments of Transportation AB - This project, Advancing Collaborative Planning among Economic Development Districts and State Departments of Transportation, will strengthen partnerships among entities responsible for planning and implementing infrastructure improvements and economic conditions, to allow for better leveraging of investments and increased awareness and responsiveness to private sector needs. This project will advance State, metropolitan, regional and local transportation planning capacity building by targeting information to economic development district staff and state department of transportation staff to improve planning and collaboration. In addition, aspects of this work will address areas such as Freight Planning, as this project will include researching the capacity and practice of economic development districts and state departments of transportation to analyze shifting economic flows and private sector trends and economic forecasts. Planning and Environmental Linkages will also be addressed through the provision of resources regarding inclusion of community economic goals and economic analysis in transportation planning, programming, and implementation. KW - Economic development KW - Implementation KW - Investments KW - Partnerships KW - Programming (Planning) KW - State departments of transportation KW - Transportation planning UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1367077 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01574376 TI - Building Capacity among Regional Transportation Planning Organizations AB - This project, Building Capacity among Regional Transportation Planning Organizations, will build capacity among regional transportation planners in rural and small metropolitan regions to be able to identify required tasks of Regional Transportation Planning Organizations, understand what the basic deliverables entail, and find sample documents completed by other regions, and complete regional planning tasks that meet a basic standard of development. This project will advance State, metropolitan, regional and local transportation planning capacity building by providing research and training that identifies potential models for use by regional transportation planners. Because public involvement is a necessary element of transportation planning, this project will secondarily address Public Involvement, Environmental Justice, Visualization in Planning. KW - Environmental justice KW - Local government agencies KW - Metropolitan planning organizations KW - Public participation KW - Regional transportation KW - Transportation planning KW - Visualization UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1367033 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01575239 AU - Newton, Diane AU - Schaefer, Ron AU - Cassady, Jim AU - Black, Chuckerin AU - Roth, Robert AU - Leidos AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Department of Transportation TI - Freight Advanced Traveler Information System (FRATIS) Dallas- Fort Worth – Final Report PY - 2015/05/22/Final Report SP - 45p AB - This is the Final Report for the Freight Advanced Traveler Information System (FRATIS) Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) prototype system. The FRATIS prototype in DFW consisted of the following components: optimization algorithm, terminal wait time, route specific navigation/traffic/weather, and advanced notice to terminals. The high level architecture is described for each of the recommended component options. The Final Report summarizes the lessons learned from the prototype process, presents the analysis of the Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) terminal queue time data, and discusses the opportunities for similar prototypes going forward. KW - Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Area KW - Dedicated short range communications KW - Freight Advanced Traveler Information System (FRATIS) KW - Freight terminals KW - Freight transportation KW - Prototypes KW - System architecture UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55300/55302/fratis_dfw_final_6_23_15.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366763 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01566466 TI - Developing Mitigation Strategies to Reduce Truck Crash Rates on Wyoming Highways AB - The objective of this study is to identify the primary factors behind the high truck crash rates in Wyoming and then develop mitigation strategies to reduce these high crash rates. The recommended strategies might include tools which will help the Wyoming Highway Patrol in allocating their resources to enhance safety at locations where there are high crash rates. Recommendations will be provided to identify any additional resources to: enhance safety by implementing specific safety improvements, concentrate enforcement efforts, expand truck inspection programs, and develop an outreach program for the trucking industry to reduce truck crashes. KW - Crash rates KW - High risk locations KW - Inspection KW - Truck crashes KW - Trucking safety KW - Wyoming UR - http://www.dot.state.wy.us/files/live/sites/wydot/files/shared/Planning/Research/WHP%20Proposal%20final%20Submitted.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1357576 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01565591 TI - Assessment of NHS Passenger Connectors AB - This research specifically examines the role that the National Highway System (NHS), NHS intermodal highways, and NHS intermodal terminals play in linking people to economic opportunities, particularly underserved or economically disadvantaged populations. The objectives of this Task Order are to examine and document the mobility and connectivity aspects of NHS passenger connectors, to show how they facilitate connecting every American to the global economy, and to suggest possible recommendations on how they can be improved. KW - Economic impacts KW - Equity (Justice) KW - Highways KW - Intermodal facilities KW - Intermodal terminals KW - National Highway System KW - Passenger transportation UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1356003 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01581020 AU - Stephens, Denny AU - Timcho, Thomas AU - Schroeder, Jeremy AU - Brown, James AU - Bacon, Paige AU - Smith, Theodore AU - Balke, Kevin AU - Charara, Hassan AU - Sunkari, Srinivasa AU - Battelle AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Department of Transportation AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Intelligent Network Flow Optimization (INFLO) Prototype Seattle Small-Scale Demonstration Report PY - 2015/05/15/Final Report SP - 109p AB - This report describes the performance and results of the Intelligent Network Flow Optimization (INFLO) Prototype Small-Scale Demonstration. The purpose of the Small-Scale Demonstration was to deploy the INFLO Prototype System to demonstrate its functionality and performance in an operational traffic environment and to capture data that can help assess hypotheses pertaining to system functionality, system performance, algorithm performance and driver feedback. In this Small-Scale Demonstration, Battelle and Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) worked with Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to deploy connected vehicle systems in 21 vehicles in a scripted driving scenario circuiting a corridor on I-5 from Tukwila to Edmonds through downtown Seattle, during morning rush hour the week of January 12, 2015. The INFLO Prototype System collected vehicle speed data from both the WSDOT infrastructure-based speed detectors and the connected vehicles during the driving scenario. The System processed the data in real time and delivered queue warning and speed harmonization messages to drivers. The Team captured performance data as well as driver feedback. The Small-Scale Demonstration fully confirmed the functionality of the INFLO Prototype System using both cellular communications and dedicated short-range communications (DSRC). The Demonstration confirmed that the System has the latency, processing speed and communications bandwidth to support INFLO application functionality in an operational traffic environment. KW - Demonstration projects KW - Driver information systems KW - Drivers KW - Intelligent Network Flow Optimization (INFLO) KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Operating speed KW - Performance KW - Real time data processing KW - Seattle (Washington) KW - Systems analysis KW - Traffic queuing UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/56000/56200/56240/FHWA-JPO-15-223.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373248 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576132 AU - Christensen, Donald AU - Morian, Dennis AU - Wang, William AU - Advanced Asphalt Technologies, LLC AU - Quality Engineering Solutions, Incorporated AU - Pennsylvania Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Cost Benefit Analysis of Anti-Strip Additives in Hot Mix Asphalt with Various Aggregates PY - 2015/05/15/Final Report SP - 106p AB - This report documents research on moisture sensitivity testing of hot-mix asphalt (HMA) mixes in Pennsylvania and the associated use of antistrip. The primary objective of the research was to evaluate and compare benefit/cost ratios of mandatory use of antistrip, and of antistrip usage conditional on the results of moisture resistance testing, based upon life cycle cost analyses. A secondary objective was to evaluate a unique version of the modified Lottman procedure used in Pennsylvania between 2003 and October 2014, which involved a relatively low level of saturation in specimen conditioning. This procedure (low-saturation method) typically results in saturation between about 30 % and 67 %, as compared to the 70 to 80 % required in the test version used by Pennsylvania prior to 2003 and after October 2014 (high-saturation method). It was found that the low-saturation method passed all HMA mixes, even those with a documented history of high susceptibility to moisture damage. This procedure therefore had a benefit/cost ratio of zero. For the high-saturation method, it was found that both antistrip usage dependent on the results of testing and mandatory usage for all mixes had benefit/cost ratios that were greater than one and in general much greater than one. The benefit/cost ratios for mandatory antistrip usage were greater than those for conditional usage, because of the high cost associated with the failure of moisture resistance testing to identify all moisture susceptible mixes. KW - Aggregate mixtures KW - Antistrip additives KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Hot mix asphalt KW - Life cycle costing KW - Moisture damage KW - Pennsylvania UR - http://www.dot7.state.pa.us/BPR_PDF_FILES/Documents/Research/Complete Projects/Construction/Cost Benefit Analysis of Anti-Strip Additives.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55300/55393/Final_Report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1367529 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01575489 TI - Advancing Transportation Planning Through Innovation and Research BENEFIT COST ANALYSIS USING ACTIVITY-BASED MODELS AB - The purpose of this research is to develop practical methods and software tools that significantly enhance traditional benefit cost approaches to extend their application to address equity and the distribution of benefits across users; to incorporate more accurate person and context-specific values-of-time; and to attempt to implement innovative expected utility-based approaches using the activity based travel demand model systems used by major United States metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs). Ultimately, the project would demonstrate how the improved methods can support performance based planning in two regions using activity-based models to support long-range planning efforts. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Innovation KW - Long range planning KW - Metropolitan planning organizations KW - Transportation planning KW - Travel demand KW - Value of time UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1367781 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01563666 TI - Nebraska Department of Roads Transportation Asset Management Plan (TAMP) AB - With the passage of MAP-21, the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (P.L.112-141) which was signed into law by President Obama on July 6, 2012, every state transportation agency has to develop a Transportation Asset Management Plan (TAMP) (FHWA 2015). The TAMP is a risk-based asset management plan for the National Highway System (NHS) with a goal to improve or preserve the condition of the assets and the performance of the system. (23 U.S.C. 119(e)(1), MAP-21 § 1106). MAP 21 defines asset management as a strategic and systematic process of operating, maintaining, and improving physical assets, with a focus on engineering and economic analysis based upon quality information, to identify a structured sequence of maintenance, preservation, repair, rehabilitation, and replacement actions that will achieve and sustain a desired state of good repair over the lifecycle of the assets at minimum practicable cost. (23 U.S.C. 101(a)(2), MAP-21 § 1103). The State asset management plan shall, as a minimum, be in a form that the Secretary determines to be appropriate and include (FHWA 2015): (A) A summary listing of the pavement and bridge assets on the National Highway System in the State, including a description of the condition of those assets; (B) Asset management objectives and measures; (C) Performance gap identification; (D) Lifecycle cost and risk management analysis; (E) A financial plan; and (F) Investment strategies. KW - Asset management KW - Economic analysis KW - Highway planning KW - Investments KW - Life cycle costing KW - Maintenance KW - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) KW - National Highway System KW - Risk management UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1354412 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01575023 TI - A Guidebook for Structuring a Tribal Transportation Planning Program for Meaningful Participation in the Federal Transportation Planning Process AB - The objective of this project is to advance the practice and application of transportation planning among State,metropolitan, regional, local, and tribal transportation planning governments in response to significant changes in the planning process and to identify new tools, techniques, and approaches that respond to national priorities. This research meets the BAA objective through the introduction of an instructive Guidebook that presents tools, techniques and methodologies for the successful structuring, administration, management and implementation of tribal transportation planning programs based on surveyed and documented best practices. The intent of research is to increase the capacity of these programs to participate meaningfully in the Federal process. KW - Best practices KW - Guidelines KW - Handbooks KW - Indian reservations KW - Management KW - Transportation planning KW - Tribal government UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1367080 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01562867 TI - Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Problems. Topic 47-02. Alternate Design/Alternate Bid Process for Pavement Type Selection AB - Some state departments of transportation have opted to make decisions about pavement-type selection for highway projects through the Alternate Design/Alternate Bid (ADAB) procedure. ADAB is a procedure that allows bidding contractors to select the pavement type that will be constructed. The bid with the lowest life cycle costs wins the project and determines the pavement type. Ten states (Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee) were noted as having used alternate bidding on at least one project to select pavement type in National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 703, Guide for Pavement-Type Selection, which was published in 2011. Partly based on this report, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) made major changes to its technical guidance on alternate bidding in December 2012 (TA 5040.39), reversing previous guidance that discouraged the procedure. The objective of this synthesis is to document the implementation of NCHRP-developed processes for ADAB and the subsequently issued FHWA technical guidance given to state agencies. This synthesis will be of interest to highway agencies that are interested in using alternate bidding procedures to make the pavement type selection on highway projects. Information to be compiled for this synthesis includes the following: (1) Extent of the use of alternative bidding for pavement type selection by state departments of transportation (DOTs); (2) Factors considered prior to making a decision to use ADAB; (3) Identification of the stages of planning, programming, or project development when agencies decide to use ADAB; (4) Procedures used to reflect risk, costs, and performance of the competing alternatives; (5) Methods for developing equivalent designs; (6) Factors that have led to successful implementation of an ADAB model; and (7) Assessment measures (e.g., return on investment, benefit / cost ratio and net present value). Information for this study will be gathered through literature review, a survey of state DOTs, and follow-up interviews with agencies for case examples of their practices. Lessons learned, gaps in information, and suggestions for future research will be included. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Decision making KW - Design bid build KW - Idaho KW - Kansas KW - Life cycle costing KW - Louisiana KW - Missouri KW - Montana KW - Nebraska KW - North Carolina KW - Ohio KW - Pavements KW - Pennsylvania KW - State departments of transportation KW - Tennessee KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3954 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353337 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01576039 TI - First International Roadside Safety Conference and Peer Exchange AB - Every year, over 17,000 people are killed in roadway departure crashes in the U.S. The primary goal of this conference and peer exchange on Roadside Safety Design is to effect changes that will reduce the frequency and severity of roadside crashes. The ultimate measure of effectiveness is a reduction in the number of fatalities and injuries resulting from run-off-road crashes. To help meet this goal, roadside safety researchers, experts, and U.S./international partners have deemed it highly beneficial to develop and implement a Roadside Safety Conference that would occur every 3 to 5 years. The primary objective for the First International Roadside Safety Conference (IRSC) and Peer Exchange would be to reduce deaths and serious injuries associated with run-off-road crashes. The IRSC would contribute to this objective by: (1) peer exchange and improved dissemination of information within the international roadside safety community; (2) increased collaboration with international roadside safety experts, researchers, government agencies, and engineering consultants; and (3) a more rapid implementation of new technologies, best practices, and products from around the world. Key focus areas may include: (1) Advances in rigid and flexible barrier design; (2) Geometric features - i.e., slopes, ditches, drainage culverts, curbs, pavement edges; (3) Work-zone and temporary traffic control safety; (4) Implementation guidelines for safety treatments; (5) In-service performance evaluations; (6) Barrier compatibility for vehicles and motorcycles; (7) Vulnerable user safety - pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists; (8) Cost-effective safety improvements for low-volume roads; (9) Barrier selection criteria; (10) Narrow hazards - trees, luminaires, utility poles, signs, and traffic signals; (11) New energy-absorbing technologies; (12) Aesthetic safety treatments and practices; (13) Median design and crash prevention; (14) Improved visibility and delineation; (15) Maintenance of existing roadside safety infrastructure; (16) Computer simulation, dynamic component testing, and full-scale crash testing; (17) Road/roadside safety audits or management systems; (18) "Safe System Approach;" (19) Before/after crash data studies; (20) Concepts, products, and methods designed to reduce roadway departure crashes; (21) Strategic Highway Safety Plans and; (22) Rollover crashes. KW - Barriers (Roads) KW - Conferences KW - Crash analysis KW - Design KW - Geometric design KW - Highway safety KW - Medians KW - Prevention KW - Ran off road crashes KW - Roadside KW - Roadside hazards KW - Rollover crashes KW - Traffic crashes KW - Vulnerable road users UR - http://www.pooledfund.org/Details/Study/578 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1369882 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574012 AU - Bielenberg, Robert W AU - Faller, Ronald K AU - Lechtenberg, Karla A AU - Schmidt, Tyler L AU - Rosenbaugh, Scott K AU - Reid, John D AU - Sicking, Dean L AU - Midwest Roadside Safety Facility AU - Nebraska Department of Roads AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Design of an Improved Post for Use in a Non-Proprietary High-Tension Cable Median Barrier PY - 2015/05/07/Final Report SP - 238p AB - The objective of this research study was to develop a revised post section for the non-proprietary high-tension cable median barrier that improved the safety and function of the post by lowering strong-axis forces. A total of twenty dynamic component tests were performed, along with one cable pull test – ten tests with the 7-gauge C-section post, eight with the 10-gauge C-Section posts, and three with the Midwest Weak Post (MWP). The tests were conducted with the posts installed in either a compacted, crushed limestone soil or a rigid sleeve in order to determine the force vs. deflection and energy vs. deflection characteristics of the various post configurations. Although the C-section posts were found to provide up to 58.7 percent and 70 percent reductions in strong-axis forces through 10 in. (254 mm) and 15 in. (381 mm) to that of the S3x5.7 (S76x8.5) posts, the C-section hinged at the location of the keyway when a keyway was punched in the posts and left a 15-in. (381-mm) stub sticking out of the ground. This behavior caused concerns for occupant compartment intrusions. Subsequently, the MWP was designed to bend over at the groundline while maintaining the desired strong- and weak-axis post forces. In dynamic tests, the MWP was found to provide up to 54.3 percent and 64 percent reductions in strong-axis forces through 10 in. (254 mm) and 15 in. (381 mm), as compared to the S3x5.7 (S76x8.5) posts. The weak-axis forces were found to be up to 14.3 percent and 6.7 percent greater than the S3x5.7 (S76x8.5) post through 10 in. (254 mm) and 15 in. (381 mm). These comparisons indicated that the MWP section had significantly reduced strong-axis capacity as compared to the S3x5.7 (S76x8.5) post while maintaining similar weak-axis capacity to the S3x5.7 (S76x8.5) post, as intended. KW - Cables KW - Design KW - Highway safety KW - Impact tests KW - Median barriers KW - Posts UR - http://www.transportation.nebraska.gov/mat-n-tests/pdfs-docs/ARLinks/TRP-03-286-15.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1365280 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01562769 TI - Research for AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways. Task 375. Improvements to the Dry Back Procedure of AASHTO T 209 AB - The objectives of this study are to (1) determine the appropriate trigger measure such as asphalt or water absorption and to identify the appropriate trigger value, which necessitates use of Dry Back procedure, and (2) determine if there are improvements that can be made to the Dry Back procedure to make it less subjective and produce more repeatable and reliable test results. The results of the research shall be used to modify the existing American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) T 209 test procedure. KW - Absorption KW - American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials KW - Asphalt pavements KW - Compaction KW - Measurement of specific phenomena KW - Reliability KW - Specifications KW - Test procedures KW - Trigger mechanism KW - Water UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3921 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353073 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01599252 AU - McCullough, Patrick AU - Shilling, Donn AU - University of Georgia AU - Georgia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Enhancing Extension Education Recommendations to Minimize Spread of Invasive Species and Establish New Grasses for Georgia Roadsides PY - 2015/05/01/Final Report SP - 43p AB - Current Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT) management practices could be contributing to the release of invasive weeds, such as broomsedge and vaseygrass, on Georgia roadsides. The herbicide imazapic, used to reduce mowing requirements of roadside grasses, injured bermudagrass twice as much as broomsedge, an invasive species, in greenhouse experiments. Imazapic provided no control of broomsedge in the field. MSMA applied in fall provided good control of broomsedge for 1 year after initial treatment. However, imazapic tank-mixed with MSMA provided less control than MSMA alone, suggesting imazapic antagonizes efficacy of MSMA on broomsedge. The new herbicides Derigo and Pastora controlled or suppressed vaseygrass populations when applied in late spring. However, these herbicides did not control broomsedge. MSMA will need to be applied in sequential programs when ALS inhibitors are used for controlling other weeds or for growth regulation of roadside grasses. Introducing new grasses for roadside vegetation could reduce the spread of invasive weeds and enhance management. Centipedegrass and zoysiagrass have potential to establish under roadside conditions as alternatives to bermudagrass and fescue in Georgia. These grasses effectively established when planted from sod or plugs. Centipedegrass was the quickest grass to establish from sod. Growth of centipedegrass was comparable to zoysiagrass from plugs, and both species were more competitive than bermudagrass under guardrails. None of the grasses established from seed under simulated roadside conditions. Significant differences in vaseygrass germination were detected by location. Vaseygrass seed germinated in June from collections in south Georgia. Seed germination was detected from July to November in Newnan, but other locations had minimal germination in fall. These results suggest that mowing operations could spread significant amounts of viable seed throughout the state from June to November. KW - Georgia KW - Grasses KW - Herbicides KW - Invasive plants KW - Mowing KW - Roadside flora KW - Seeding UR - http://g92018.eos-intl.net/eLibSQL14_G92018_Documents/12-37.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1405568 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01594255 AU - McCullough, Patrick AU - Shilling, Donn AU - University of Georgia AU - Georgia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Enhancing Extension Education and Recommendations on Vegetation Management for the Georgia DOT PY - 2015/05/01/Final Report SP - 55p AB - The greatest challenge in grassy roadside management in Georgia is weed control. Herbicides are applied for controlling weeds but are also used for growth regulation to reduce mowing requirements and seedhead development of desirable grasses. This research aims to improve efficacy of weed management practices by evaluating herbicide selection and vegetation management practices on emerging weeds on Georgia roadsides. It was found that mowing and herbicide application timing appears to affect bermudagrass release and grassy weed control, but the effects on broadleaf weeds was inconsistent. KW - Education KW - Georgia KW - Herbicides KW - Mobile applications KW - Mowing KW - Vegetation control KW - Weeds UR - http://g92018.eos-intl.net/eLibSQL14_G92018_Documents/12-09.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1398240 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01573300 TI - Practical Design Guidelines for Replacement of Deficient Bridges with Low-Water Stream Crossing in the Rural Midwest AB - This project will produce a report that provides practical engineering guidance for the replacement of deficient bridges with low-water stream crossings in the rural Midwest. The report will address the following issues: (1) site assessment and economics; (2) selection of crossing type -- the two basic types of low-cost low-water crossings are the unvented ford and the vented ford; (3) design of roadway profile and culvert pipes; (4) selection of crossing materials -- low-water crossings can be built of concrete, crushed stone, natural stone, stone reinforced with geogrid or geotextile, stone-filled gabions and other materials; and (5) general design details. The project will provide guidelines for materials selection, provide general design details for unvented fords and vented fords constructed of different materials, and also provide guidance on signage of low-water crossings. KW - Culverts KW - Gabions KW - Geotextiles KW - Guidelines KW - Midwestern States KW - Rural areas KW - Stone KW - Streams UR - http://www.pooledfund.org/Details/Study/567 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366524 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01563695 TI - Effectiveness of a Pneumatic Crack Routing Device - Phase II AB - Cracks in flexible and rigid pavement occur when stress builds up, and is relieved, in surface layers. Various crack sealing and filling methods can be used to repair pavement surfaces, depending on crack sizes and crack types. In "Materials and procedures for sealing and filling cracks in asphalt surfaced pavement" (FHWA-RD-99-147), the Federal Highway Administration recommends crack sealing for small cracks measuring 5 to 19 mm (Smith et al., 1999). However, the traditional methods for preparing roadway joints and cracks for sealing/filling are largely ineffective, labor intensive, and/or dangerous. To address the problems identified in the traditional methods, the PIs' research team has developed an innovative crack/joint cleaning device (CCD) through the two funded projects by the NCHRP IDEA program in 2010 and 2012. Through the previous Nebraska Department of Roads (NDOR) project, "Effectiveness Study of UNL's Pneumatic Crack/Joint Preparation Device," the research team evaluated the performance of the CCD within the NDOR's crack cleaning/preparation operations. The surveys and field tests conducted at the NDOR districts and the city of Omaha demonstrated the effectiveness of the CCD over existing devices. In response to the NDOR's expressed special interest in the routing functions of the CCD and in response to the several NDOR testers' recommendations, the research team has developed a new version of the device that improves routing crack functions. The newly designed crack routing device (CRD) features a stronger motor (4 HP) and more robust, stable structure while retaining the CCD's safety, high quality, and ability to maneuver with ease. This version compliments the multi-functional purposes (e.g. brushing and cutting) of the previous CCD (1.25HP). However, the performance of the new CRD has not been tested and verified by NDOR yet. KW - Cleaning equipment KW - Cracking KW - Flexible pavements KW - Nebraska KW - Pneumatics KW - Rigid pavements KW - Sealing compounds UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1354802 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01561168 TI - Cross-Slope Verification Using Mobile Scanning on SCDOT Interstates AB - The main objectives of this research are: (1) Perform technical and economic comparisons of the alternative mobile scanning technologies and conventional survey methods for cross slope verification; (2) Establish a validation site that contains tangent and curve sections using traditional survey methods that may then be used to qualify mobile scanning vendors; (3) Establish South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) guidelines for testing procedures and data delivery for the vendor rodeo and ultimately statewide data collection; and (4) Provide a survey of the cross slope and other related geometric properties for the entire interstate system in South Carolina with the selected technology which is suitable for future reference on projects. KW - Cross slopes (Pavement surfaces) KW - Data collection KW - Geometric design KW - Interstate highways KW - Pavement design KW - Scanners KW - South Carolina KW - Test procedures UR - http://www.scdot.scltap.org/projects/current/ UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1352020 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01561167 TI - Characterization of Asphalt Concrete Dynamic Modulus in South Carolina AB - The objective of this research is to characterize currently-used South Carolina hot mix asphalt (HMA) mixtures and to develop a catalog for dynamic modulus value inputs to be used in the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) software. The new pavement design methodology has the potential to provide pavement designs that will perform more predictably than current designs and avoid potential issues that might cause premature pavement failure. By appropriately calibrating the new American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) pavement design methodology, the Department will be able to avoid costly premature pavement failures and better optimize its pavement investments. KW - Asphalt concrete KW - Dynamic modulus of elasticity KW - Failure KW - Hot mix asphalt KW - Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide KW - Mix design KW - Optimization KW - Pavement design KW - Pavement performance KW - South Carolina UR - http://www.scdot.scltap.org/projects/current/ UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1352019 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543349 TI - Decision-Making Guide for Traffic Signal Phasing AB - The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has identified intersections as one of four primary focus areas for improving safety and reducing crashes. In the United States, it is estimated that signalized intersections comprise less than 10 percent of the total number of intersections; but more than 30 percent of intersection fatalities occur at signalized intersections. One of the most important factors impacting both the safety and operations at a signalized intersection is signal phasing (the order and manner in which movements are served by a traffic signal). Little research has been done in recent years related to the safety and operational aspects of signal phasing. Although there is some guidance in national manuals (such as the FHWA Signal Timing Manual), much of the information is based on rules-of-thumb with limited empirical underpinning. Selection of an appropriate signal phasing, given the prevailing conditions, can have the benefits of improving safety, decreasing delay, reducing congestion, and reducing emissions. The objective of this research is to develop an engineering decision-making guide that incorporates both safety and operational impacts in evaluating traffic signal phasing alternatives. The phasing alternatives to be addressed in this project are those for left turns, right turns, and pedestrians at conventional intersections. KW - Crashes KW - Decision making KW - Fatalities KW - Guidelines KW - Signalized intersections KW - Traffic safety KW - Traffic signal phases KW - Traffic signal timing UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3853 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330710 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01619074 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Organizing for Reliability-Capability Maturity Model Assessment and Implementation Plans PY - 2015/05//Executive Summary SP - 46p AB - The Second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) L06 research determined that agencies with the most effective transportation systems management and operations (TSM&O) activities were differentiated not by budgets or technical skills alone, but by the existence of critical processes and institutional arrangements tailored to the unique features of TSM&O applications. The significance of this finding has been validated in 40 State and regional self-assessment workshops using the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) process. This report summarizes the general background, process, and outcomes of the CMM self-assessment workshop program. Section 1 describes the basic SHRP 2 research identifying the key dimensions of capability needed to support effective TSM&O, the CMM framework structured around these dimensions, and the criteria for capability self-assessment in each. It describes the SHRP 2 and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) sponsored workshops to date – their structure, process, and participants – and identifies the host State Department of Transportation (DOT) and regional entities. Section 2 presents the general findings on TSM&O state-of-the-practice based on 40 workshops and subsequent implementation plans developed at 23 of those sites. Section 3 presents a separate discussion for each of the six dimensions including: Key findings for the major elements of the subject dimension; Key synergies with other dimensions; and State DOT/Regional implementation plan priorities for the subject dimension. Section 4 uses the common implementation plan priorities for the six dimensions as the basis for determination of a set of potential national activities needed both to disseminate best practice and to support development of certain new business and technical methods and processes. Important roles are seen for FHWA, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), and the National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE). An appendix contains a comprehensive list of implementation plan priorities as indicated in the 23 workshops. KW - Capability Maturity Model KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Implementation KW - State departments of transportation KW - State of the practice KW - Strategic Highway Research Program 2 KW - Transportation operations KW - Transportation system management KW - Workshops UR - http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/docs/cmmexesum/cmmexsum.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1437080 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01587764 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - ATDM Planning Brief: ATM Feasibility and Screening Guide PY - 2015/05 SP - 4p AB - In the context of Active Transportation and Demand Management (ATDM), Active Traffic Management (ATM) strategies focus on influencing travel behavior during a trip with respect to operations and lane and facility choices. ATM strategies have been receiving significant attention of late given the operational benefits that have and can potentially accrue from deploying these strategies thereby helping to achieve one or more regional transportation goals, such as safety, mobility, reliability, environmental, improved transit operations, and accessibility. At the same time, implementing ATM strategies can involve significant capital costs, followed by ongoing operations and maintenance requirements. As such, some or all ATM strategies may not be cost effective for certain segments and links of the surface transportation network. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has developed an ATM Feasibility and Screening Guide (the Guide) to assist agencies in making informed investment decisions by determining the feasibility of ATM strategies before committing significant resources. This brief presents a summary of ATM operational benefits and the recommended process for ATM strategies. KW - Advanced traffic management systems KW - Benefits KW - Decision making KW - Feasibility analysis KW - Highway traffic control KW - Implementation KW - Travel behavior UR - http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop14018/fhwahop14018.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1378521 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01587604 AU - Neudorff, Louis AU - McCabe, Keith AU - CH2M HILL AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Active Traffic Management (ATM) Feasibility and Screening Guide PY - 2015/05//Final Report SP - 130p AB - Active Traffic Management (ATM) concepts, strategies, and supporting technologies have been receiving significant attention given the potential operational benefits that have and can potentially accrue from deploying these strategies. Implementing these ATM concepts and strategies can also involve significant capital costs, followed by ongoing operations and maintenance requirements. As such, some or all ATM strategies may not be cost effective for certain segments and links of the surface transportation network. The Active Traffic Management Feasibility and Screening Guide was developed to assist transportation agencies and planning organizations in making informed investment decisions regarding ATM by determining the feasibility of ATM strategies before committing significant resources towards any subsequent project development and design activities. The Guide was based on an extensive review of literature and This Guide, coupled with interviews with several practitioners who have been directly involved in the feasibility analyses, design, deployment, and/or operation of ATM strategies. It presents a recommended process for agencies to follow as they consider ATM deployment at the feasibility and screening analyses level. Following the guidance will help practitioners to identify specific roadway segments most suited for ATM and the appropriate strategies, and the expected costs and range of benefits. KW - Advanced traffic management systems KW - Benefits KW - Costs KW - Decision making KW - Feasibility analysis KW - Highway traffic control KW - Implementation KW - Transportation planning UR - http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop14019/fhwahop14019.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1378520 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580981 AU - Spasovic, Lazar N AU - Besenski, Dejan AU - He, Yang AU - New Jersey Institute of Technology AU - Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation AU - New Jersey Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Quantifying Impact of Port Truck Traffic on Highway Operations Using GPS-Based Speed Data PY - 2015/05//Final Report SP - 29p AB - The introduction of mega-ships (i.e. post-Panamax vessels) presented an opportunity for ports to be even more competitive and cost-effective. For example, the construction and investment commitment of over $ 3.45 billion between 2013 and 2018 into Port Newark/Elizabeth are being made with a goal of maintaining and improving navigation transportation infrastructure and developing new terminal capacity. In late 2013, The Port Authority of New York-New Jersey (PONYNJ) established a task force to identify challenges to port efficiency and service reliability, and recommend potential solutions. For this reason it is necessary to understand and quantify the effect of the increasing introduction of the mega-ships and related changes in port operations on highway system. Better understanding of these effects will help planners identify the solutions and evaluate their effectiveness in preventing serious disruptions. The developed simulation model is used to analyze “what-if” scenarios that depict the change in truck demand on terminal gate operation. Three developed scenario illustrated the impact of change in truck demand on Port access roadway network. The analysis compared the truck queues and delays at the gate as results of change in truck demand. Two policies, commonly used to control the truck arrival patterns at the gate, the extended gate hours and the gate appointment system, were examined to address the gate operation. Their impact on truck delays and queues at the gate is observed and noted. In addition, analysis investigates the critical truck demand that will cause a queue spillover on a surrounding highway network. The sensitivity analysis identified network deficiencies and truck demand at which queue will reach highway access point. KW - Global Positioning System KW - Highway operations KW - Impact studies KW - Port operations KW - Ports KW - Sensitivity analysis KW - Simulation KW - Traffic delays KW - Traffic queuing KW - Truck traffic UR - https://cait.rutgers.edu/files/CAIT-UTC-023-final.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55300/55334/CAIT-UTC-023-final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1375162 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580339 AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Utah Demonstration Project: Replacement of Manderfield Bridges, Beaver County PY - 2015/05//Final Technical Brief SP - 6p AB - As a part of the Highways for LIFE (HfL) initiative, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provided a $1 million grant to the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) to replace the Manderfield Bridges on I-15 in Beaver County. This project involved the replacement of twin multispan bridge structures (Bridge Number 1D 699 and 3D 699) with an innovative low-weight hybrid composite beam (HCB) in place of the more traditional bridge girder. The UDOT application also included constructing the bridge offsite and sliding it into place. The HCBs and the lateral bridge slide were expected to provide a lightweight superstructure to facilitate a more efficient bridge slide and provide extended service life. However, UDOT could not use HCB due to the procurement challenges. UDOT expended $700,000 and returned $300,000 to the FHWA. UDOT used prestressed concrete beams for the twin bridges. KW - Beaver County (Utah) KW - Bridge construction KW - Bridge replacement KW - Demonstration projects KW - Economic analysis KW - Highways for LIFE KW - Hybrid composite beams KW - Lateral bridge slide KW - Technological innovations UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/Utah-HfL-Manderfield-Bridges-HCB_Techbrief_Final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373002 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580073 AU - Thomas, Libby AU - Ryus, Paul AU - Semler, Conor AU - Thirsk, Nathan J AU - Krizek, Kevin AU - University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Delivering Safe, Comfortable, and Connected Pedestrian and Bicycle Networks: A Review of International Practices PY - 2015/05 SP - 67p AB - The purpose of this study was to identify noteworthy and innovative international designs, treatments, and other practices that have potential to improve bicycle and pedestrian safety and access and increase walking and bicycling in the United States. This report covers treatments and practices from a total of 11 countries, covering six thematic areas: (1) network infrastructure, (2) limited auto traffic areas, (3) signalization, traffic control, and intelligent transport systems, (4) policy change, (5) criteria or methods for prioritizing improvements, and (6) goals and network performance measures. A number of treatments and practices appear to have significant potential to help improve bicycle and pedestrian network safety, comfort, and connectivity in the U.S. Additional study and actions are needed to better understand, test, and refine the most promising designs and practices for use by U.S. jurisdictions. KW - Access KW - Best practices KW - Bicycling KW - Countries KW - Infrastructure KW - Intelligent transportation systems KW - Pedestrian safety KW - Performance measurement KW - Policy KW - Traffic control KW - United States KW - Walking UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bicycle_pedestrian/publications/global_benchmarking/global_benchmarking.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1372822 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01579630 AU - Taylor, Peter AU - Wang, Xuhao AU - National Concrete Pavement Technology Center AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Materials-Related Distress: Aggregates: Best Practices for Jointed Concrete Pavements PY - 2015/05//Tech Brief SP - 6p AB - Concrete is considered, in general, as a cemented-aggregate mixture. In other words, aggregates are central to concrete and are bound together by a cementitious matrix. Aggregates comprise a significant volume in most concrete mixtures, which is generally desirable because aggregates are less expensive than components of the paste, they provide the load-carrying capacity of a concrete mixture, and they provide dimensional stability. However, some failure mechanisms in pavement concretes can be attributed to issues related to the quality of the aggregate. The purpose of this tech brief is to provide pavement engineers with information to help them specify and choose materials that will last for the desired lifetime of the pavement. Paste-related mechanisms are discussed in a separate parallel tech brief. KW - Aggregates KW - Alkali silica reactions KW - Best practices KW - Concrete pavements KW - D cracking KW - Materials selection KW - Mix design KW - Pavement distress KW - Thermal expansion UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement/concrete/pubs/hif15013.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1372403 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01578609 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Goodman, Dan TI - Let’s Ride! PY - 2015/05 VL - 78 IS - 6 SP - pp 2-7 AB - The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is working to encourage walking and biking as forms of transportation while also improving pedestrian and bicyclist safety. Bicycle infrastructure, including bike lanes separated from automobiles, can make cycling safer and make cyclists feel more comfortable on the road. FHWA has released a new publication, Separated Bike Lane Planning and Design Guide to help develop bicycle infrastructure. The document uses case studies and lessons learned to demonstrate the design and usage of separated bike lanes. Introducing separated bike lanes will help increase bicycle ridership. KW - Bicycle facilities KW - Bicycling KW - Case studies KW - Pedestrian safety KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration KW - Walking UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/15mayjun/01.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1371727 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01578598 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Oster, Alexandra TI - Advancing the Triple Bottom Line PY - 2015/05 VL - 78 IS - 6 SP - pp 36-42 AB - The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is working to improve sustainability through a balance of environmental, economic, and social values, in order to provide the best benefits to natural and human environments. FHWA supports research, development, and implementation of sustainability efforts and promotes the responsible use of natural resources. FHWA supports a variety of programs and activities to help organizations with sustainable development. FHWA’s efforts have helped improve public health, increase transportation options and accessibility, and reduce congestion and emissions. The administration will continue to work to advance sustainable development. KW - Economic factors KW - Environmental impacts KW - Natural resources KW - Social factors KW - Sustainable development KW - Transportation departments KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/15mayjun/06.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1371734 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01578538 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - King, Jeffrey A TI - A Pivotal Job for Police PY - 2015/05 VL - 78 IS - 6 SP - pp 30-35 AB - Traffic incident management (TIM) requires a coordinated team of multidisciplinary responders. An area of TIM that is necessary to continue improving is the practice of collection, reporting, and assessment of performance data for secondary crashes and clearance times. The Federal Highway Administration is developing clear guidance and current practices to help law enforcement measure the performance of TIM response. Performance measurement can help assess the strength of TIM response as well as identifying areas for improvement. KW - Emergency management KW - Incident management KW - Law enforcement KW - Performance measurement KW - Traffic incidents KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/15mayjun/05.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1371733 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01578530 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Zammit, Grant AU - Irwin, Ben TI - Smooth Operators PY - 2015/05 VL - 78 IS - 6 SP - pp 8-12 AB - The National Operations Center of Excellence was launched in January 2015. It is a central resource for improving reliability and safety and will help the development of transportation system management and operations (TSM&O) frameworks. The center identifies best practices so individual agencies can benefit from the knowledge gathered. The National Operations Center of Excellence was developed in part through the second Strategic Highway Research Program and is working to address roadway issues such as congestion and safety. KW - Best practices KW - Highway safety KW - Information dissemination KW - Traffic congestion KW - Transportation system management UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/15mayjun/02.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1371729 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01578516 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Bravo, Nelda AU - Yen, Phil AU - Vélez, Agnes TI - Partners Across the Pacific PY - 2015/05 VL - 78 IS - 6 SP - pp 13-19 AB - The United States and Japan have been collaborating for over thirty years on seismic design for bridge engineering. Japan is a leader in research related to earthquakes and wind, due to seismic activity in the region. Some regions of the United States face similar seismic activity, and collaboration improves knowledge and resources. A U.S.-Japan Bridge Engineering Workshop is held every year, where papers are presented and participants attend site visits. Cooperation has allowed the two nations to share information and technology, as well as costs, and has benefitted bridge engineering research greatly. KW - Bridge engineering KW - Cooperation KW - Earthquake resistant design KW - Information dissemination KW - Japan KW - United States KW - Workshops UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/15mayjun/03.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1371731 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01578167 AU - Lee, Hyung AU - Raghunathan, Deepak AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - New Hampshire Demonstration Project: Auburn-Candia Resurfacing Project PY - 2015/05//Final Technical Brief SP - 24p AB - As a part of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Highways for LIFE initiative, a Federal grant of $2,000,000 was provided to the New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) for this project, which was in addition to FHWA’s 80 percent contribution under the Federal-aid highway funding program. The Auburn-Candia project involved resurfacing of a 14.8-mile segment (7.4 miles eastbound and 7.4 miles westbound) of NH Route 101, from the Manchester-Auburn line to the Auburn-Candia line. The project scope primarily included a mill-and-fill operation with a 2-inch intermediate course placed in the two travel lanes, followed by a 1.5-inch wearing course installed over both lanes. Additional work included guardrail upgrade, roadway drainage structures adjustment, and pavement work on the Exit 2 and Exit 3 ramps. The resurfaced highway segment, last paved under the 1999/2000 Federal Resurfacing Program, includes three bridges in each direction. This project incorporated six innovations: recycled asphalt pavement, warm mix asphalt technology, asphalt-rubber wearing surface course, highly modified asphalt wearing surface course, Safety Edge pavement, and smart work zone techniques. The project was let on May 17, 2012, and the construction was completed in October 2013. The NHDOT’s total construction costs on this project, including mobilization and traffic control, were $13.4 million. Although the project could not be evaluated for all of the Highways for LIFE performance goals, NHDOT gained valuable insight into the innovative materials and techniques—both those that were successful and those that need further evaluation. In support of NHDOT’s “green” initiatives, the lessons learned from this project may promote the use of recycled materials, such as the milled asphalt material and the ground rubber tires, while providing pavements with extended service life and reduced tire-pavement noise. KW - Asphalt rubber KW - Costs KW - Demonstration projects KW - Highways for LIFE KW - New Hampshire KW - Recycled materials KW - Resurfacing KW - Safety edge (Pavement safety feature) KW - Technological innovations KW - Warm mix paving mixtures KW - Wearing course (Pavements) KW - Work zone traffic control UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/NH_auburn-candia_resurfacing_project_tech_brief_508.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1371167 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01577854 AU - Bhajandas, Amar AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Idaho Demonstration Project: Replacement of SH 75 East Fork Salmon River Bridges PY - 2015/05//Final Technical Brief SP - 23p AB - As a part of the Highways for LIFE initiative, the Federal Highway Administration provided a $1.38 million grant to the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) to replace two bridges on SH 75 in Custer County. One of the bridge structures crosses over the Salmon River, and the other crosses over the East Fork of the Salmon River, between mile post 226.6 and mile post 227.4. The project’s innovative aspects included the use of precast bridge elements and system (PBES) and accelerated bridge construction (ABC), which enabled completion of construction and opening of the new bridges to traffic in one construction season and provided ITD personnel with valuable experience in this technology. The project was let on January 14, 2014. The construction began in spring 2014 and was completed and open to traffic in fall 2014. The traffic volume on this rural roadway was very small, and because the two bridges were constructed on new alignments, there was minimal impact on the traveling public. The total construction cost incurred by ITD on this project, including mobilization, was $7,367,883. The overall experience of the project was positive, as it enabled completion of two bridges in one construction season with minimal change orders. As a consequence of the experience gained on this project, ITD plans to specify precast abutments and columns where practical in the future. KW - Bridge construction KW - Bridge replacement KW - Costs KW - Demonstration projects KW - Highways for LIFE KW - Idaho KW - Prefabricated bridges KW - Technological innovations UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/ID-HfL-SH75-East-Fork-Salmon-River-Techbrief-Final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1370472 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01577115 AU - Lee, Hyung Suk AU - Raghunathan, Deepak AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Connecticut Demonstration Project: Pavement Preservation on Interstate 95, Towns of Westbrook and Old Saybrook PY - 2015/05//Final Report SP - 42p AB - The Connecticut DOT (CTDOT) initiated a pavement preservation project to resurface a section of I-95. The project limits spanned over 17.8 miles in both the northbound and southbound directions, from mile post 60.65 to mile post 78.45. The innovative technologies deployed on this project included warm mix asphalt (WMA) and Safety Edge pavement. CTDOT’s current standard specification does not allow for the use of WMA or polymer modified binders. Nonetheless, CTDOT is interested in implementing the WMA technology due to its advantages, such as production/compaction of asphalt concrete at reduced temperatures and increased mixture workability especially for polymer modified mixtures. To this end, CTDOT had already constructed five pilot projects that utilized the WMA technology, and the current project will add to CTDOT’s experience in implementing WMA for production use. This project also delivered the first pavement section in Connecticut constructed with Safety Edge. CTDOT has been aware of the benefits of this technology in reducing roadway departure accidents and improving the durability of the outer edge of the pavement. This project will help CTDOT to develop standard guidelines for future projects. Due to the limited crash history that were available from the locations where Safety Edge was installed, analysis on safety was deemed unnecessary. According to the field observations made by the project staff and the results from a user satisfaction survey, the construction activities resulted in minimal queuing of traffic. Although some of the Highways for LIFE goals were not fully evaluated, and those for smoothness and noise were not met, the end product was a smooth riding pavement, as indicated by the user survey and a smoothness bonus to the contractor. KW - Connecticut KW - Demonstration projects KW - Durability KW - Edge lines KW - Pavement performance KW - Resurfacing KW - Surveys KW - Technological innovations KW - Warm mix paving mixtures UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/connecticut-i-95-pavement-preservation-project.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1370100 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01577109 AU - Bledsoe, Jay AU - Mallela, Jag AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Arkansas Demonstration Project: The Use of Roller Compacted Concrete to Reconstruct a Segment of SH 213 in Fayetteville PY - 2015/05//Final Report SP - 45p AB - As part of a national initiative sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration under the Highways for LIFE program, the Arkansas State Highway Transportation Department (ASHTD) was awarded a $420,000 grant to demonstrate the use of roller compacted concrete (RCC) as a durable and cost-effective alternative to traditional treatments. This report documents the rehabilitation/reconstruction of RCC pavement on Highway 213 in Conway County near Hattieville. The project is located in the Fayetteville Shale Play area, which houses more than 4,000 new gas wells. The pavement infrastructure in this area has rapidly deteriorated due to the recent increase in truck volume and loadings from the natural gas exploration activities. This report details the innovation used to rehabilitate two segments of Highway 213 with RCC, cement treated reconstruction base, and SafetyEdge. This project met the Highways for LIFE goals for safety, queuing, and user satisfaction. The use of RCC technology required additional days for construction, but the increased time for road closures/detours during construction will be partly offset by lesser need for future maintenance activities. Using RCC for pavement rehabilitation increased the construction costs, both initial and life cycle costs, over traditional asphalt overlay. However, considering the fact that the future natural gas exploration activities would result in higher truck volumes and heavier loadings, the cost of RCC can be justifiable over a 30-year period. The experience gained on this successful project will help the ASHTD use RCC more routinely on future projects. KW - Costs KW - Demonstration projects KW - Durability KW - Fayetteville (Arkansas) KW - Reconstruction KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) KW - Roller compacted concrete pavements UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/arkansas-hwy-213-rcc-report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1370097 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576121 AU - Chamberlin, Robert AU - Talbot, Eric AU - Lin, Haiyun AU - RSG, Incorporated AU - Utah Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Impact of High Efficiency Vehicles on Future Fuel Tax Revenues in Utah PY - 2015/05//Final Report SP - 31p AB - The Utah Department of Transportation Research Division has analyzed the potential impact of high-efficiency motor vehicles on future State of Utah motor fuel tax revenues used to construct and maintain the highway network. High-efficiency motor vehicle use (including electric, hybrid, compressed natural gas (CNG), and other alternative fuel vehicles) is on the rise in Utah. New light duty vehicles with standard gasoline-powered engines are more efficient to comply with adopted Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. As the motor vehicle fleet in Utah becomes more efficient, using less gasoline per mile traveled, there is a potential for a significant slowing in the growth, or a reduction, of revenue from this source. This research project developed three scenarios for understanding how a variety of factors could combine to affect future fuel tax revenues in Utah. The time horizon of the analysis is 2040. To estimate the effect of high-efficiency vehicles on future fuel tax revenues, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Energy and Emissions Reduction Policy (EERPAT) Analysis Tool was used. EERPAT was parameterized and calibrated to 2010 conditions in Utah, and used to estimate future transportation conditions such as vehicle miles traveled (VMT), fleet mix, fuel choice, fuel consumption, and fuel tax revenues. Future demographic, travel, and income projections, obtained from State of Utah data sources, were used as inputs to the analysis. Key driving assumptions include: 1) future fuel efficiency of heavy duty vehicles; 2) future market penetration of CNG for heavy duty vehicles; 3) future market penetration of alternative drive train vehicles – battery electric, plug-in hybrid, and hybrid – into the light duty vehicle fleet; and, 4) future motor fuel tax rates. The analysis shows that, even with a growing population and increasing VMT, total fuel tax revenues are projected to decline by 29% in constant 2015 dollars when compared to 2010. Assuming very modest penetration of alternative drive train vehicles (hybrid, plug-in hybrid, battery electric) in the Base Case (<1%/year), total revenues decline due to higher efficiency of light duty vehicles, high penetration of CNG in the heavy-duty vehicle fleet, and erosion of the purchasing power of the gasoline tax (0.245 in 2015$) due to inflation. Assuming moderate to aggressive penetration of alternative drive train vehicles in the future, overall fuel tax revenues decline even further. A moderate penetration of alternative drive train vehicles would result in a further 19% reduction from the 2040 Base Case (or, a 42% decline in constant dollar fuel tax revenues compared to 2010); an aggressive penetration of alternative drive train vehicles would result in a further 25% reduction in fuel tax revenues from the 2040 Base Case (or, a 47% decline in constant dollar fuel tax revenues compared to 2010). KW - Alternate fuels KW - Electric vehicles KW - Forecasting KW - Fuel consumption KW - Fuel taxes KW - Revenues KW - Utah KW - Vehicles UR - http://www.udot.utah.gov/main/uconowner.gf?n=24031622150823756 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1369351 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01575494 AU - Williamson, Michael AU - Kersh, Erin AU - Zavagnini, Fabio AU - Hallenbeck, Mark AU - Cambridge Systematics, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Department of Transportation TI - South Florida Freight Advanced Traveler Information System Demonstration Team Final Report PY - 2015/05//Final Report SP - 33p AB - This Demonstration Team Final Report has been prepared to provide an overview of the conduct and qualitative findings of the South Florida Freight Advanced Traveler Information System (FRATIS) development and testing program. More specifically, this document provides: (1) A description of the testing program; (2) Information and lessons learned related to stakeholder/user engagement during the program; (3) Information and lessons learned related to system testing during the program; and (4) Recommendations concerning future FRATIS and freight connected vehicle programs. KW - Demonstration projects KW - Freight Advanced Traveler Information System (FRATIS) KW - Freight transportation KW - Lessons learned KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Recommendations KW - South Florida KW - System testing UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55200/55223/sf_dtfr.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366775 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01575137 AU - Siemers, Jeremy L AU - Wilson, Kenneth R AU - Baruch-Mordo, Sharon AU - Colorado State University, Fort Collins AU - Colorado Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Monitoring Wildlife-Vehicle Collisions: Analysis and Cost-Benefit of Escape Ramps for Deer and Elk on U.S. Highway 550 PY - 2015/05//Final Report SP - 56p AB - Wildlife fencing along highways can lower wildlife-vehicle collision (WVC) rates by excluding animals from the road right-of-way. Still, animals can breach fencing and end up trapped within the fencing along the highway right-of-way, exposing wildlife and motorists to the risk of collision. Wildlife escape ramps (ER) are designed to allow trapped animals safe passage out of the right-of-way. Few recommendations exist on effective design of escape ramps and monitoring data are limited. The authors investigated the usage levels, escape success, wildlife-vehicle collisions, and design of 11 escape ramps and two escape jumps along an eight-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 550 near Ridgway, Colorado. The authors' goals were to 1) relate usage levels and escape success to ER structure design and its surrounding environmental characteristics, 2) describe the animal use of ER in the study area, 3) conduct a cost-benefit analysis for escape ramp construction and 4) provide recommendations regarding ER design and WVC based on data collected. A number of implementation recommendations are made in the report including: installation of additional ramps at specific locations, addition of improved mitigation at the ends of wildlife fencing, and specific improvements to select escape structures. KW - Analysis KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Colorado KW - Deer KW - Design KW - Fences KW - Implementation KW - Ramps KW - Recommendations KW - Traffic crashes KW - Wildlife UR - https://www.codot.gov/programs/research/pdfs/2015-research-reports/monitoring-wildlife-vehicle-collisions-analysis-and-cost-benefit-of-escape-ramps-for-deer-and-elk-on-u-s-highway-550/at_download/file UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366943 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01575129 AU - Kim, Sang-Soo AU - Nazzal, Munir AU - Abbas, Ala R AU - Akentuna, Moses AU - Arefin, Mir Shahnewaz AU - Ohio University, Athens AU - Ohio Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Low Temperature Cracking Resistance of WMA PY - 2015/05//Final Report SP - 121p AB - The use of water injection foamed warm mix asphalt (WMA) has increased rapidly in the State of Ohio for environmental and economic benefits. The purpose of this study was to determine the low temperature cracking potential of WMA in comparison to the conventional hot mix asphalt (HMA) and to determine factors affecting the low temperature performance of WMA and HMA. To achieve these objectives, the low temperature performance of WMA and HMA was determined using the thermal stress restrained specimen test (TSRST) and asphalt concrete cracking device (ACCD). The coefficient of thermal expansion/contraction (CTE) of asphalt mixes was also determined using the Ohio CTE device. In addition, the low temperature performance of asphalt binder was determined using the bending beam rheometer (BBR) and the asphalt binder cracking device (ABCD). Laboratory produced WMAs and HMAs had similar low temperature performance while field WMAs showed an improved low temperature performance. The low temperature performance grading procedure based on BBR graded polyphosphoric acid (PPA) modified binders to colder temperatures than the grades estimated from ACCD mixture test. For Styrene Butadiene Styrene (SBS) modified binders the low end BBR PG grade temperatures were warmer than the grades estimated from ACCD mixture test. This incorrect low temperature BBR PG grading seemed due to changes in the binder strength due to modification. PPA modification tends to reduce the strength and SBS modification tends to increase the strength. ABCD grading temperatures were in better agreement with the ACCD mixture cracking temperatures than the BBR PG grading. The inclusion of 15% recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) and 5% recycled asphalt shingle (RAS) separately in the asphalt mixes resulted in 1 to 2°C colder ACCD cracking temperature than the control mix without RAP or RAS. The effects of RAP and RAS on CTE, strength and the rate of thermal stress development were different, indicating different blending mechanisms with the virgin binder. The use of a high CTE aggregate with 8.4 µε/°C, in comparison to a low CTE aggregate with 4.2 µε/°C, increased mix CTE by about 2 µε/°C and resulted in 1 to 2°C colder ACCD cracking temperature. Binder content did not have a significant effect on the ACCD cracking temperature while a low compaction effort resulted in a colder cracking temperature by producing thicker asphalt binder film between aggregate particles. However, the low level compaction for thicker asphalt film will adversely affect the rutting, fatigue, and stripping resistance of asphalt pavements. KW - Binder content KW - Cracking KW - Evaluation KW - Foamed asphalt KW - Hot mix asphalt KW - Low temperature KW - Ohio KW - Pavement performance KW - Recycled materials KW - Thermal stresses KW - Warm mix paving mixtures UR - http://cdm16007.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p267401ccp2/id/12602#img_view_container UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366892 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574069 AU - Coakley, Richard C AU - Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Integration of Safety in the Project Development Process and Beyond: A Context Sensitive Approach SN - 9781933452852 PY - 2015/05 SP - 148p AB - This report provides information and background to transportation agencies and professionals so that they can apply the most appropriate technical knowledge about quantitative safety performance—crashes, their outcomes, and causal factors—to develop projects for a range of highway and street types and contexts. The process of incorporating safety into design begins with an examination of how an agency fundamentally thinks about safety and a recognition that new approaches for analyzing safety must be adopted as part of an agency’s policies and procedures. Best practices are presented for the various stages of project development, including planning, engineering and design, construction, operations, and system preservation and maintenance. Case studies and project examples have been included to illustrate how the concepts can be tailored to project size, scope, and context. KW - Best practices KW - Case studies KW - Maintenance practices KW - Performance measurement KW - Project management KW - Risk management KW - Traffic safety KW - Transportation operations KW - Transportation planning UR - http://library.ite.org/pub/e4edb88b-bafd-b6c9-6a19-22e98fedc8a9 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1360476 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570514 AU - Kost, Andrew AU - Filz, George M AU - Cousins, Thomas E 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 - Differential Settlement of a Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil Abutment: Full-Scale Investigation: Summary Report PY - 2015/05//Final Report SP - 29p AB - The Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil Integrated Bridge System (GRS-IBS) uses alternating layers of closely spaced geosynthetic reinforcement and well-compacted granular fill to support the bridge superstructure and form an integrated roadway approach. This system offers simple and rapid construction, lower costs than traditional alternatives, and reduction or elimination of the bump at the end of the bridge. However, like all shallow foundations, GRS-IBS can be vulnerable to differential settlements beneath the foundation. This report summarizes the final project report by Kost et al. (2015) that describes research into the behavior of GRS abutments subjected to differential settlements, which may be due to compressible soils beneath the foundation or to scour undermining. A field-scale model was constructed and subjected to carefully controlled differential settlements, and a comprehensive instrumentation program monitored the response of the abutment. The robust response of the abutment under the large differential settlements imposed in these tests indicated that GRS abutments will perform well under the smaller levels of differential settlement that would be expected in field applications. However, if large enough differential settlements occur such that the facing blocks separate, then hydraulic forces could pose a significant hazard to the abutment if the reinforced fill is not adequately protected. Three measures to reduce the vulnerability of the reinforced fill are presented, and a predictive equation was developed to estimate the settlement of the abutment’s facing blocks in response to differential foundation settlement. The predictive equation is specific to the conditions of the field-scale test. The authors recommend that the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Structure and Bridge Division consider GRS-IBS as a viable bridge technology. For crossings over water, the authors agree with the recommendation of Adams et al. (2011) that GRS-IBS should be considered only if scour concerns can be adequately addressed. In addition, the authors suggest that GRS-IBS designers consider additional measures to protect the reinforced fill in the event of unanticipated settlements. KW - Bridge abutments KW - Bridge foundations KW - Bridge superstructures KW - Differential settlement KW - Equations KW - Geosynthetics KW - Mathematical prediction KW - Mechanically stabilized earth KW - Scale models UR - http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/15-r4.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55000/55090/15-r4.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1361253 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570304 AU - Worel, Benjamin AU - Van Deusen, Dave AU - Minnesota Department of Transportation AU - Minnesota Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Benefits of MnROAD Phase-II Research PY - 2015/05//Final Report SP - 68p AB - The Minnesota Road Research Project (MnROAD) is an accelerated pavement test facility owned and operated by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT). The facility, located along Interstate 94, northwest of the Twin Cities metropolitan area, was constructed 1990-1993 and opened to traffic in 1994. This report summarizes the outcome of the many different projects that were completed during MnROAD Phase-II which began in 2007 and is now coming to a close. Detailed information is provided related to the cost of operating the facility, support from MnDOT Office of Materials of Research (OMRR), Minnesota Local Road Research Board (MN LRRB) as well as research funding from MnDOT and external sources. The approach utilized in this report does not take into account economic factors such as the time value of money. Direct calculation of monetary benefits for a specific research project is difficult at best. Assumptions must be made concerning construction costs and pavement performance. However, where feasible, the potential benefits of these research projects are quantified with the assumptions forming the basis for these estimates clearly stated. Based on calculations the benefit of MnROAD Phase-II is estimated to be over $10 million per year. This estimate may be increased by $8 million per year provided that a lowering of the minimum noise level reduction requirements could be realized. KW - Benefits KW - Costs KW - Financing KW - Minnesota KW - Minnesota Road Research Project (MnROAD) KW - Pavement performance KW - Research projects KW - Test tracks UR - http://www.dot.state.mn.us/research/TS/2015/201519.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359702 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567468 AU - Hosteng, Travis K AU - Abu-Hawash, Ahmad AU - Port, Gordon AU - Phares, Brent M AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Laboratory Investigation of Concrete Beam-End Treatments PY - 2015/05//Final Report SP - 83p AB - The ends of prestressed concrete beams under expansion joints are often exposed to moisture and chlorides. Left unprotected, the moisture and chlorides come in contact with the ends of the prestressing strands and/or the mild reinforcing, resulting in corrosion. Once deterioration begins, it progresses unless some process is employed to address it. Deterioration can lead to loss of bearing area and therefore a reduction in bridge capacity. Previous research has looked into the use of concrete coatings (silanes, epoxies, fiber-reinforced polymers, etc.) for protecting prestressed concrete beam ends but found that little to no laboratory research has been done related to the performance of these coatings in this specific type of application. The Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) currently specifies coating the ends of exposed prestressed concrete beams with Sikagard 62 (a high-build, protective, solvent-free, epoxy coating) at the precast plant prior to installation on the bridge. However, no physical testing of Sikagard 62 in this application has been completed. In addition, the Iowa DOT continues to see deterioration in the prestressed concrete beam ends, even those treated with Sikagard 62. The goals of this project were to evaluate the performance of the Iowa DOT-specified beam-end coating as well as other concrete coating alternatives based on the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) T259-80 chloride ion penetration test and to test their performance on in-service bridges throughout the duration of the project. In addition, alternative beam-end forming details were developed and evaluated for their potential to mitigate and/or eliminate the deterioration caused by corrosion of the prestressing strands on prestressed concrete beam ends used in bridges with expansion joints. The alternative beam-end details consisted of individual strand blockouts, an individual blockout for a cluster of strands, dual blockouts for two clusters of strands, and drilling out the strands after they are flush cut. The goal of all of the forming alternatives was to offset the ends of the prestressing strands from the end face of the beam and then cover them with a grout/concrete layer, thereby limiting or eliminating their exposure to moisture and chlorides. KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Anticorrosion coatings KW - Beams KW - Bridge design KW - Expansion joints KW - Iowa KW - Laboratory studies KW - Prestressed concrete bridges UR - http://www.intrans.iastate.edu/research/documents/research-reports/beam-end_treatments_w_cvr.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55200/55290/IADOT_ISU_RB08_013_.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1356191 ER - TY - SER AN - 01567455 JO - TechBrief PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Fitzpatrick, Kay AU - Avelar, Raul AU - Robertson, James AU - Miles, Jeff TI - Comparison of Driver Yielding for Three Rapid-Flashing Patterns Used With Pedestrian Crossing Signs PY - 2015/05 SP - 8p AB - Flashing traffic control devices can help draw drivers’ attention to the traffic control device and to the area around the device. An example of a device that has resulted in significant improvements in increasing driver yielding to crossing pedestrians is the rectangular rapid-flashing beacon (RRFB). Although the RRFB is allowed under interim approval from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), there is growing interest in adding it to the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). The Signals Technical Committee (STC) of the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (NCUTCD), which assists in developing language for chapter 4 of the MUTCD, is interested in research and/or assistance in developing materials on the design, application, and effectiveness of the RRFB. The initial research studies did not address certain issues that the STC believes are important in crafting language suitable for the MUTCD. For example, will other flash patterns be just as effective as the initial flash pattern that was evaluated and approved by FHWA? This TechBrief describes the methodology and results from an open-road study sponsored by FHWA that examined driver yielding behavior at crosswalks with three different flash patterns used with yellow, rapid-flashing beacons. KW - Crosswalks KW - Drivers KW - Flashing beacons KW - Flashing traffic signals KW - Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices KW - Pedestrian safety KW - Yielding UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/15041/15041.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1357480 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567453 AU - Reid, Stephen B AU - MacDonald, Clinton P AU - Alrick, Daniel M AU - Veneziano, David AU - Koon, Leann AU - Pryor, Debra AU - Ginn, Diane AU - Sonoma Technology, Incorporated AU - Arizona Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Communication Plan for Windblown Dust PY - 2015/05//Final Report SP - 156p AB - Windblown dust events occur in Arizona, and blowing dust has been considered a contributing factor to serious crashes on the segment of Interstate 10 (I‐10) between Phoenix and Tucson, as well as on other Arizona roadways. Arizona’s dust events can be regional or localized in scope. Regional events often originate with the influx of monsoonal moisture during the mid‐ to late‐ summer period. Localized events can occur when the passage of cold fronts produces strong pressure gradients that drive high winds across the fronts. Such winds can drive dust “channels” that are difficult to predict or remotely detect. Currently, the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) acquires information about predicted or in‐progress dust events through National Weather Service forecasts and advisories and through field reports from motorists and ADOT personnel. ADOT then communicates this information to the public using a variety of methods, including roadway message signs, e‐mail blasts, and social media outlets (e.g., Twitter). In addition, ADOT has developed the “Pull Aside, Stay Alive” public outreach campaign, which is focused on increasing safe driver behavior during dust events. ADOT has also recently implemented a pilot dust monitoring system on a 26‐mile stretch of I‐10 in the Safford District. During this project, researchers developed a set of recommendations that ADOT can implement to identify the most effective means for acquiring data about windblown dust events, communicating information about these events to the public, and influencing driver behavior during dust storms in the future. KW - Arizona KW - Communication KW - Data collection KW - Dust KW - Highway safety KW - Outreach KW - Recommendations KW - Weather KW - Wind UR - http://apps.azdot.gov/ADOTLibrary/publications/project_reports/PDF/AZ723.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1358917 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567450 AU - Shi, Xianming AU - Ye, Zhirui AU - Muthumani, Anburaj AU - Zhang, Yan AU - Dante, James F AU - Yu, Hui AU - Western Transportation Institute AU - Oregon Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - A Corrosion Monitoring System for Existing Reinforced Concrete Structures PY - 2015/05//Final Report SP - 87p AB - This study evaluated a multi-parameter corrosion monitoring system for existing reinforced concrete structures in chloride-laden service environments. The system was fabricated based on a prototype concrete corrosion measurement system that had been built and patented by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). In a laboratory benchmark test, a chloride concentration vs. potential calibration curve was established and indicated good linearity between 0.01 mol/L and 1 mol/L. The general and maximum localized corrosion rates, as measured by the Multi-electrode Array Sensor (MAS) probe, were all sensitive to the incremental chloride concentration in a simulated pore solution. However, once active corrosion is initiated and a great amount of chloride is present, the MAS probe may no longer serve as a good tool to predict the corrosion rate of rebar unless more research is conducted to establish such prediction or correlation. It was also revealed that in a sensor longevity test, only a fraction of sensors can be considered reliable after eight accelerated weathering cycles. In addition, a laboratory pilot-scale test was done by incorporating an array of three sensing units at different depth of a mortar cylinder to monitor the ingress of chloride and the corrosion rate of rebar at different depths. The results identified many challenges to improve the sensor probe. A detailed guideline along with video documentation was developed as a reference to guide field implementation. A field deployment of the system in an Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) bridge pier was attempted for a few months. However, future research into improvements of the sensor system is needed to achieve a successful field application. KW - Bridge piers KW - Chloride content KW - Corrosion KW - Field studies KW - Laboratory tests KW - Oregon KW - Reinforced concrete KW - Reinforcing bars KW - Sensors KW - Structural health monitoring UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55100/55105/SPR736_CorrosionMonitoring.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1356042 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567447 AU - Schwartz, Charles W AU - Elkins, Gary E AU - Li, Rui AU - Visintine, Beth A AU - Forman, Barton AU - Rada, Gonzalo R AU - Groeger, Jonathan L AU - AMEC Environment & Infrastructure, Incorporated AU - University of Maryland, College Park AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTTP) Climatic Data for Use in Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) Calibration and Other Pavement Analysis PY - 2015/05//Final Report SP - 142p AB - Improvements in the Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) Program’s climate data are needed to support current and future research into climate effects on pavement materials, design, and performance. The calibration and enhancement of the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) is just one example of these emerging needs. A newly emerging climate data source, the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA), developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for its own in-house modeling needs, provides continuous hourly weather data starting in 1979 on a relatively fine-grained uniform grid. MERRA is based on a reanalysis model that combines computed model fields (e.g., atmospheric temperatures) with ground-, ocean-, atmospheric-, and satellite-based observations that are distributed irregularly in space and time. MERRA data are available at an hourly temporal resolution and 0.5 degrees latitude by 0.67 degrees longitude (approximately 31.1 by 37.30 mi at mid-latitudes) spatial resolution over the entire globe. MERRA data were compared against the best available ground-based observations both statistically and in terms of effects on pavement performance as predicted using the MEPDG. These analyses included a systematic quantitative evaluation of the sensitivity of MEPDG performance predictions to variations in fundamental climate parameters. More extensive analysis of MERRA data included additional statistical analysis comparing operating weather station (OWS) and MERRA data, evaluation of the correctness of MEPDG surface shortwave radiation (SSR) calculations and comparison of MEPDG pavement performance predictions using OWS and MERRA climate data for more sections. The principal conclusion from these evaluations was that the MERRA climate data were as good and in many cases substantially better than equivalent ground-based OWS data. Given these many benefits and very few if any significant limitations, MERRA is strongly recommended as the new future source for climate data in LTPP. Recommendations are provided for incorporating hourly MERRA data into the LTPP database. KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Calibration KW - Data analysis KW - Evaluation KW - Long-Term Pavement Performance Program KW - Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide KW - Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Application (MERRA) KW - Pavement design KW - Pavement performance KW - Recommendations KW - Weather and climate KW - Weather stations UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/pavements/ltpp/15019/15019.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1358566 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567445 AU - Shan, Haoyin AU - Shen, Jerry AU - Kilgore, Roger AU - Kerenyi, Kornel AU - Genex Systems, LLC AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Scour in Cohesive Soils PY - 2015/05//Laboratory Report SP - 100p AB - This study of scour in cohesive soils had two objectives. The first was to introduce and demonstrate a new ex situ erosion testing device (ESTD) that can mimic the near-bed flow of open channels to erode cohesive soils within a specified range of shear stresses. The ESTD employs a moving belt and a pump to generate a log-law velocity profile in a small test channel to simulate open channel flow. Successful testing requires careful preparation of soil specimens to avoid slaking. Preparation of erosion test samples by compaction usually leads to soil slaking, which cannot be tolerated to generate meaningful erosion function data. Therefore, cohesive soil specimens with different percentages of clay, silt, and non-uniform sands were mixed and de-aired in a pugger mixer to prevent slaking. The testing confirmed that the ESTD is capable of determining erosion characteristics of cohesive soils for bed shear stresses within the range of 0.063 to 0.31 lbf/ft² (3 to 15 Pa). Its capability of directly measuring bed shear stresses enhances the understanding of the erosion process in cohesive soils. The second objective was to develop a method for estimating the critical shear stress and erosion rates for a limited range of cohesive soils in the context of the Hydraulic Engineering Circular 18 scour framework. The method is based on more easily obtained soil parameters so that direct erosion testing is not needed in all cases. General relations are proposed for both best-fit and design applications. Estimates of critical shear stress are based on the water content, fraction of fines, plasticity index (PI), and unconfined compressive strength. In addition, an equation for estimating erosion rates when bed shear stress exceeds critical shear stress is proposed. For application, the designer must determine the critical shear stress of the soil (from the previous relation), the unconfined compressive strength, and the PI. The guidance may be used for engineering design within limits based on the range of values in the current data set and to a lesser extent the range from Illinois field data on which parts of the methodology were validated. A Texas data set on which additional validation was attempted represents a distinct data set. The recommendations apply to fine grained cohesive soils within a range of plasticity and liquid limit (LL) characteristics. The PI should be within the range of 4 to 25 percent and the LL between 15 and 50 percent. The fraction of fines should fall between 10 and 90 percent. These methods best apply to soils with at least 90 percent saturation but can be used with lower degrees of saturation. KW - Channel flow KW - Cohesive soils KW - Compressive strength KW - Estimating KW - Plasticity index KW - Scour KW - Shear stress KW - Slaking UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/structures/bridge/15033/15033.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1357479 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567424 AU - Williamson, Michael AU - Kersh, Erin AU - Fayez, Sam AU - Zavagnini, Fabio AU - Hallenbeck, Mark AU - Cambridge Systematics, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - South Florida Freight Advanced Traveler Information System: Architecture and Implementation As Built Documentation Report PY - 2015/05//Final Report SP - 36p AB - The primary purpose of the As Built Documentation is to provide a description of any modifications made to the original architecture along with justification as to why the architecture was changed. In addition, this documentation provides the following: software and hardware included in the South Florida Freight Advanced Traveler Information System (FRATIS) system (including versions, models); system usage (how was the system used); level of effort required to develop the system (staff hour estimates for design, development, etc.); system cost information (upfront costs and recurring costs); and scalability of the system (how can the system be expanded). KW - Advanced traveler information systems KW - Costs KW - Freight transportation KW - Implementation KW - Software KW - South Florida KW - System architecture UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55100/55114/sf_asblt.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1358317 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567418 AU - Dougald, Lance E AU - Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research AU - Virginia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of a Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon System at the Belmont Ridge Road and W&OD Trail Mid-Block Crosswalk PY - 2015/05//Final Report SP - 68p AB - On April 8, 2013, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) installed a Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon (RRFB) system at Belmont Ridge Road in Loudoun County that included two units at the Washington and Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail crossing in addition to advance warning units for the northbound and southbound travel directions. Recent studies have shown that the devices elicit a greater response from motorists and significantly increase driver yielding behavior at crosswalks when supplementing standard pedestrian crossing warning signs and markings. In July 2008, the Federal Highway Administration gave interim approval for optional use of RRFBs in limited circumstances. The interim approval allows for use as a warning beacon to supplement standard pedestrian warning signs and markings at a pedestrian or school crossing; where the crosswalk approach is not controlled by a yield sign, stop sign, or traffic-control signal; or at a crosswalk at a roundabout. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the utility, effectiveness, and safety of the RRFB system at the intersection of the W&OD Trail and Belmont Ridge Road over a 1-year period. Of particular interest was (1) the percentage of trail users that pressed the push button to activate the RRFBs and whether this varied by mode (pedestrians vs. bicyclists); (2) motorist behavior when the RRFB system was activated versus not activated; and (3) trail user impressions of the system relating to perceptions of safety. Motorist and trail user data and interactions were collected in three separate video data collection efforts: 3 weeks, 5 months, and 1 year after the RRFB system installation. In addition, individual vehicle speed data were collected with a LIDAR gun, and on-site and online surveys were administered to obtain trail user opinions. The results of the study indicated that the RRFB systems had a positive effect on motorist awareness. This was evidenced by the increased yield rates when the system was activated versus not activated; speed reductions when the system was activated; and trail user perspectives on increased opportunities to cross and increased safety at the crossing location. Additional conclusions were that the RRFB system is perceived by trail users as an enhancement to safety at the Belmont Ridge Road crossing; trail user perceptions of RRFB system benefits grow over time; there is a correlation between trail user activations and the presence of traffic; and trail users remain confused as to who has the right of way at the crossing location. The study recommends the following: (1) VDOT’s Operations Regions should continue to pursue opportunities to install and evaluate RRFB systems; (2) VDOT’s Traffic Engineering Division should develop more specific guidance for RRFB system installations; and (3) the Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research should conduct a crash analysis at Belmont Ridge Road 3 years after installation of the RRFB system. KW - Behavior KW - Crosswalks KW - Cyclists KW - Drivers KW - Evaluation KW - Flashing beacons KW - Highway safety KW - Loudoun County (Virginia) KW - Midblock crossings KW - Pedestrian safety KW - Pedestrians KW - Surveys KW - Traffic speed UR - http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/15-r22.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55000/55092/15-r22.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1356039 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567415 AU - Kost, Andrew AU - Filz, George M AU - Cousins, Thomas E 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 - Differential Settlement of a Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil Abutment: Full-Scale Investigation PY - 2015/05//Final Report SP - 142p AB - The Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil Integrated Bridge System (GRS-IBS) uses alternating layers of closely spaced geosynthetic reinforcement and well-compacted granular fill to support the bridge superstructure and form an integrated roadway approach. This system offers simple and rapid construction, lower costs than traditional alternatives, and reduction or elimination of the bump at the end of the bridge. However, like all shallow foundations, GRS-IBS can be vulnerable to differential settlements beneath the foundation. This report describes research into the behavior of GRS abutments subjected to differential settlements, which may be due to compressible soils beneath the foundation or to scour undermining. A field-scale model was constructed and subjected to carefully controlled differential settlements, and a comprehensive instrumentation program monitored the response of the abutment. The robust response of the abutment under the large differential settlements imposed in these tests indicated that GRS abutments will perform well under the smaller levels of differential settlement that would be expected in field applications. However, if large enough differential settlements occur such that the facing blocks separate, then hydraulic forces could pose a significant hazard to the abutment if the reinforced fill is not adequately protected. Three measures to reduce the vulnerability of the reinforced fill are presented, and a predictive equation was developed to estimate the settlement of the abutment’s facing blocks in response to differential foundation settlement. The predictive equation is specific to the conditions of the field-scale test. The authors recommend that the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Structure and Bridge Division consider GRS-IBS as a viable bridge technology. For crossings over water, the authors agree with the recommendation of Adams et al. (2011) that GRS-IBS should be considered only if scour concerns can be adequately addressed. In addition, the authors suggest that GRSIBS designers consider additional measures to protect the reinforced fill in the event of unanticipated settlements. KW - Bridge abutments KW - Differential settlement KW - Geosynthetics KW - Scale models KW - Soils UR - http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/15-r3.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55000/55089/15-r3.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1356032 ER - TY - SER AN - 01567407 JO - Civil Engineering Studies, Illinois Center for Transportation Series PB - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Slattery, Dianne K AU - Slattery, Kerry T AU - Missouri State University, Springfield AU - Illinois Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Enhancements to Highway Construction Scheduling Expert System PY - 2015/05 IS - 15-011 SP - 88p AB - This research was performed to enhance the software tool (Illinois Construction Scheduling Expert System, ICSES) developed in Phase I of this project (ICT project R27-86) by mining data collected on Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) construction projects and differentiating production rates based on project type and size, and training for IDOT engineers on effective use of the expert system tool. The researchers obtained Illinois COnstruction Record System (ICORS) data from each district and assembled a statewide database of more than 4,000 projects completed from 2003-2014. Rich production rate data was extracted from the ICORS files by analyzing the resident engineers’ daily diaries and other historical records and processing this data for use in the ICSES software. The results of the data analysis give the scheduler templates of a variety of highway construction projects with the controlling items associated with those projects and the order in which the activities typically occur. The ICSES software was updated based on the results of the analysis of the ICORS data. Templates were modified and/or added in the existing Excel-based database. Production rates currently given in the Construction Daily Production Rate table (Bureau of Design and Environment Manual, Table 66-2.B) were updated based on analyses of data generated by the research. Users of ICSES are given information to assist in development of a schedule and engineers’ estimate of time based on project parameters. KW - Construction projects KW - Construction scheduling KW - Data analysis KW - Databases KW - Expert systems KW - Illinois Department of Transportation KW - Road construction KW - Software UR - https://apps.ict.illinois.edu/projects/getfile.asp?id=3482 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1356037 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567385 AU - Elseifi, Mostafa AU - Dhaka, Nirmal AU - Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge AU - Louisiana Transportation Research Center AU - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Mitigation Strategies of Reflection Cracking of Pavement PY - 2015/05//Final Report SP - 131p AB - Reflection cracking is a serious challenge associated with pavement rehabilitation. Practical experience shows that reflection cracking propagates at a rate of 1 in. per year. The primary objective of this synthesis study is to conduct an in-depth literature review of research projects on reflection cracking and a survey of the practices of highway agencies with regard to the types of cracking mitigation strategy used. Based on the results of the literature review and the survey questionnaire, a summarized assessment is presented for each reviewed treatment method. Further, a number of treatment methods were identified for further evaluation. For existing hot mix asphalt (HMA) pavements, crack sealing and overlay, chip seal and open-graded interlayers, full-depth reclamation, and cold-in place recycling are the most promising treatment methods. For existing Portland cement concrete (PCC) pavements, saw and seal, chip seal and open-graded interlayer systems, and rubblization are the most promising treatment methods. Based on the results of this study, the research team recommends that a follow-up study be conducted in order to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the most promising treatment methods and to develop guidelines for the control of reflection cracking. The developed crack control guidelines will present recommended treatment methods for different classes of rehabilitated pavements in order to achieve adequate control of reflection cracking in a cost effective manner. KW - Hot mix asphalt KW - Literature reviews KW - Maintenance practices KW - Pavement maintenance KW - Portland cement concrete KW - Reflection cracking KW - Surveys KW - Transportation departments UR - http://www.ltrc.lsu.edu/pdf/2015/FR_541.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1356189 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567348 AU - Hard, Edwin AU - Bhat, Chandra AU - Chigoy, Byron AU - Green, Lisa AU - Dubey, Subodh AU - Pearson, David AU - Sperry, Benjamin R AU - Loftus-Otway, Lisa AU - Moore, Parker C AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Improved Trip Generation Data for Texas Using Work Place and Special Generator Survey Data PY - 2015/05//Technical Report SP - 190p AB - Travel estimates from models and manuals developed from trip attraction rates having high variances due to few survey observations can reduce confidence and accuracy in estimates. This project compiled and analyzed data from more than a decade of work place and special generator travel surveys in Texas to develop (1) a generic set of trip attraction rates for different metropolitan planning organization (MPO) size categories in Texas, and (2) a Texas trip generation manual similar to the national Institute of Transportation Engineers’ (ITE’s) Trip Generation Manual, but based on local Texas data. The study results revealed that the Texas trip generation rates were generally lower than comparable rates in the ITE manual. The research team reviewed and assessed Texas Department of Transportation current work place survey methods and design. The researchers then made recommendations on changes that would enable ITE-type trip generation data to be collected, in addition to the data collected as part of this survey, to develop trip attraction rates for modeling. The study also used the master database of trip attraction data from Texas work place surveys to develop disaggregate trip attraction rates for modeling using numerous explanatory variables. Here, the data were grouped into 14 employment categories, and linear regression models were (1) developed for non-commercial and commercial trips, and (2) analyzed for various trip purposes and mode combinations. This analysis revealed the following significant indicators of attraction rates: parking availability, MPO area size, traffic analysis zone area type, employment density, and establishment type. These are factors that should be used in future studies. The disaggregate attraction rates could be used as a benchmark or reference for calibrating certain aspects of activity-based models. KW - Activity choices KW - Data collection KW - Employment KW - Institute of Transportation Engineers KW - Linear regression analysis KW - Metropolitan planning organizations KW - Surveys KW - Texas KW - Transportation modes KW - Travel surveys KW - Trip generation KW - Trip purpose KW - Workplaces UR - http://d2dtl5nnlpfr0r.cloudfront.net/tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6760-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1354911 ER - TY - SER AN - 01567329 JO - TechBrief PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Fitzpatrick, Kay AU - Avelar, Raul AU - Robertson, James TI - Impacts of LED Brightness, Flash Pattern, and Location for Illuminated Pedestrian Traffic Control Device PY - 2015/05 SP - 12p AB - Illuminated traffic control devices, such as rectangular rapid-flashing beacons (RRFB), have been shown to increase the number of drivers yielding to crossing pedestrians. There is some concern that the brightness of flashes at or contained within signs at night may make it difficult for drivers to detect and observe the movements of pedestrians at the crossing. To prevent devices from being set at brightness levels that produce disability or discomfort glare, the profession needs to quantify the effect of illuminated traffic control devices on a driver’s ability to detect pedestrians in and around the crosswalk. This TechBrief describes the methodology and results from a closed-course study sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) that addressed brightness, flash patterns, and location of light-emitting diodes (LED). It examined driver detection of cutout pedestrian photographs in the presence of LEDs of various brightness levels and flash patterns, which are placed in different locations within the sign assembly. KW - Brightness KW - Crosswalks KW - Drivers KW - Flashing beacons KW - Light emitting diodes KW - Pedestrians KW - Traffic control devices UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/15042/15042.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1356581 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567321 AU - Boodlal, Leverson AU - Donnell, Eric T AU - Porter, Richard J AU - Garimella, Dileep AU - Le, Thanh AU - Croshaw, Kevin AU - Himes, Scott AU - Kulis, Philip AU - Wood, Jonathan AU - KLS Engineering AU - Pennsylvania State University, University Park AU - University of Utah, Salt Lake City AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Factors Influencing Operating Speeds and Safety on Rural and Suburban Roads PY - 2015/05//Final Report SP - 380p AB - The objective of this project was to develop a technical report that describes treatments that result in driver self-selection of appropriate operational speeds on curve and tangent sections. The study was conducted in two phases. The first phase included a review of literature on design features and current practices associated with safer operating speeds and identification of treatments for field evaluations. The second phase involved evaluating treatments to determine their effectiveness in reducing speeds on two-lane horizontal curves in rural and suburban areas. High-friction surface treatment was evaluated at four treatment sites and three control sites in West Virginia. The speed and encroachment analyses found no consistent differences between the before and after time periods. The friction analysis, however, clearly demonstrated that the friction supply increased. Optical speed bars (OSB) were implemented and evaluated at seven sites in Massachusetts, four sites in Arizona, and eight sites in Alabama. Two different designs were tested as part of this research, and the results yielded inconsistent speed reductions at all the test sites. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the OSB designs used in this research were unsuccessful in reducing vehicle speeds. The safety effects of lane-width–shoulder-width combinations on rural two-lane, two-way road segments in Minnesota and Illinois were also estimated as part of this study. Parameters for lane width indicators showed that, with shoulder width ignored, the expected number of total (i.e., all types and severities) crashes increases as lane width decreases, but it is difficult to distinguish the performance of an 11-ft lane width from that of a 12-ft lane width. The main effect of shoulder width was a decrease in the expected number of crashes as shoulder width increased. In addition, the interaction of the lane width indicator and shoulder width showed that shoulder width has the greatest effect on safety when the lane width equals 10 ft. Shoulder width also has a greater effect on safety when the lane width is 11 ft than when the lane width is 12 ft. KW - Alabama KW - Arizona KW - Evaluation KW - Friction course KW - Highway curves KW - Highway safety KW - Illinois KW - Literature reviews KW - Massachusetts KW - Minnesota KW - Operating speed KW - Optical speed bars KW - Road shoulders KW - Rural highways KW - Speed control KW - Traffic lanes KW - Two lane highways KW - West Virginia KW - Width UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/15030/15030.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1356043 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567297 AU - Jin, Peter J AU - Fagnant, Dan AU - Hall, Andrea AU - Walton, C Michael AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Emerging Transportation Technologies White Papers PY - 2015/05 SP - 48p AB - This document consists of three papers - Volume 1: Autonomous Vehicle Technologies, Volume 2: Connected Vehicle Technologies, and Volume 3: Cloud Computing and Crowdsourcing. Each paper includes an overview of the technology, applications, state of research, state of practice, deployment issues and challenges, and implementation strategies. KW - Cloud computing KW - Crowdsourcing KW - Implementation KW - Intelligent vehicles KW - Mobile communication systems KW - State of the practice KW - Technological innovations KW - Texas UR - http://library.ctr.utexas.edu/ctr-publications/0-6803-P2.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1354418 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567286 AU - Hossain, M Shabbir AU - Ozyildirim, Celik AU - Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research AU - Virginia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Use of Roller-Compacted Concrete Pavement in Stafford, Virginia PY - 2015/05//Final Report SP - 63p AB - Roller-compacted concrete (RCC) is a relatively stiffer hydraulic cement concrete mixture than regular concrete when fresh. Similar to regular concrete, RCC is a mixture of aggregate, cementitious materials, and water, but it is placed using asphalt pavers and compacted by vibratory rollers, and it hardens into concrete. RCC contains a low amount of water, exhibits no slump, and requires asphalt paving equipment for placement rather than expensive slip-form paving equipment. It does not contain reinforcement, tie-bars, or dowels. RCC can be placed and opened to traffic in a short period of time. All of these factors combined make it a relatively low-cost material for roadways compared to asphalt or conventional concrete pavements. However, RCC may lack the smoothness required for high-speed roadways and can undergo raveling and/or cracking; an asphalt overlay may remedy the smoothness and raveling issues. Although cracks might occur in the RCC and potentially reflect through the asphalt layer, such cracks should stay tight because of the low shrinkage of RCC. A composite pavement with RCC and an asphalt overlay has the potential to be a cost-effective long-lasting pavement system. The purpose of this study was to document the construction procedures and provide lessons learned for a RCC project recently completed by the Virginia Department of Transportation that covered about 134,000 ft2, equivalent to 2 lane-miles, at the Park & Ride lot in Stafford County, Virginia. About one-third of the RCC was used to rehabilitate the existing Staffordboro Boulevard (Route 684). The mixture used had 15% fly ash to provide improved durability and sustainability. Batches of the RCC mixture fluctuated in moisture content, and delays in placement sometimes occurred that also resulted in wet and dry mixtures. The compaction, surface smoothness, and road profile were affected by the fluctuations in moisture content. RCC cylinders prepared using a vibratory hammer usually exceeded compressive strengths of 1,600 psi and 4,000 psi at 12 hours and 28 days, respectively. Only a few early cracks were observed in the pavement. Opening to traffic at an early age for a section, i.e., within 5 to 6 hours of placement, did not result in any visual damage to the pavement; most sections were opened in less than 48 hours. RCC overlaid with 2 in of asphalt is performing well after two winters and 18 months of traffic for one section and after one winter and 8 months of traffic for the rest. Based on the observations in this study, for successful construction of RCC, proper compaction and mixing equipment are essential. Achieving the proper level of compaction in the field is key to attaining quality RCC. To avoid early cracks, joints need to be cut deeper than one-fourth depth of the pavement and continuous curing is essential. A continuous paving operation is needed to avoid unplanned and poor-performing cold joints. The Virginia Department of Transportation should consider RCC in future field trials, particularly for applications where fast construction of rigid (concrete) or composite pavement is needed. KW - Bituminous overlays KW - Composite pavements KW - Cracking KW - Durability KW - Fly ash KW - Moisture content KW - Paving KW - Roller compacted concrete pavements KW - Smoothness KW - Stafford (Virginia) KW - Vibratory compaction UR - http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/15-r19.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55000/55091/15-r19.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1356038 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567270 AU - Walsh, Ken AU - Mitchell, Gayle AU - Richardson, Wallace AU - Ohio University, Athens AU - Western Transportation Institute AU - Ohio Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Optimization of Salt Storage for County Garage Facilities PY - 2015/05//Final Report SP - 112p AB - The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) has identified two issues with salt storage at county garage facilities within Ohio: 1) an inability to maximize salt storage in dome structures and 2) an inability to maintain accurate salt inventory using visual estimates. To realize greater efficiency at salt dome facilities, research was performed to identify the state of the practice in salt storage, and evaluate modifications to ODOTs existing salt storage practices. At the conclusion of the first phase of the research, a diesel conveyor with 6-ton hopper was selected as the best option for maximizing salt storage in dome structures, while an acoustic scanning system was selected as the best option for improving salt inventory. During the second phase of the research, the diesel conveyor with 6-ton hopper and acoustic scanner system were evaluated through field trials over a four month period. The diesel conveyor was evaluated through comparison with a PTO conveyor configured in four different loading setups. The results indicate that the diesel conveyor outperformed the PTO conveyor setups when loading rate, cost, and the availability of garage resources are considered. In order to evaluate the acoustic scanner system, groundbased laser scanning was performed and the resulting volumes were compared. In addition, the daily volume of salt in the dome based on ODOT records was compared with the scanner volumes over the duration of the data collection period. It was concluded that the acoustic scanner system should be used in combination with another inventory method, such as visual estimates, for daily salt inventory. Based on the results of the research, ODOT will benefit by having tangible solutions that once implemented, can increase efficiency and safety at salt dome facilities, ultimately saving ODOT time and money. KW - Conveyors KW - Deicing chemicals KW - Field tests KW - Handling and storage KW - Inventory control KW - Ohio Department of Transportation KW - Optimization KW - Salts KW - State of the practice KW - Storage facilities UR - http://cdm16007.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p267401ccp2/id/12503 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1356188 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567264 AU - Middleton, Scott AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Transit Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Cross-Modal Project Prioritization: A TPCB Peer Exchange PY - 2015/05//Final Report SP - 36p AB - This report highlights key recommendations and best practices identified at the peer exchange on Cross-Modal Project Prioritization, held on December 16 and 17, 2014, in Raleigh, North Carolina. This event was sponsored by the Transportation Planning Capacity Building (TPCB) Peer Program, which is jointly funded by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA). As the host agency, North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) requested this peer assistance in response to the Strategic Transportation Investment (STI) Law (House Bill 817) enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly in 2012. The legislation requires that capital expenditures across all modes of transportation compete for State transportation funding. In implementing this legislation, NCDOT’s challenge is to develop an unbiased mechanism for comparing projects from different modes using quantitative data and a common set of criteria. In hosting the peer exchange, NCDOT’s goal was to gain knowledge of national best practices that could be incorporated into NCDOT’s Strategic Prioritization Process. KW - Best practices KW - Capital expenditures KW - Construction projects KW - Legislation KW - North Carolina Department of Transportation KW - Peer exchange KW - Strategic planning KW - Transportation modes KW - Transportation planning UR - http://www.planning.dot.gov/Peer/NorthCarolina/NCDOT_cross-modal_12-16-14.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55000/55082/NCDOT_cross-modal_12-16-14.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1356185 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01565337 AU - University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill AU - Sam Schwartz Engineering AU - Kittelson & Associates AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Separated Bike Lane Planning and Design Guide PY - 2015/05 SP - 148p AB - This Separated Bike Lane Planning and Design Guide outlines planning considerations for separated bike lanes (also sometimes called “cycle tracks” or “protected bike lanes”) and provides a menu of design options covering typical one and two-way scenarios. It highlights different options for providing separation, while also documenting midblock design considerations for driveways, transit stops, accessible parking, and loading zones. It provides detailed intersection design information covering topics such as turning movement operations, signalization, signage, and on-road markings. Case studies highlight best practices and lessons learned throughout the document. The Guide consolidates lessons learned from practitioners designing and implementing separated bike lanes throughout the U.S. It attempts to capture the current state of practice, while still recognizing that the understanding of this facility type is still evolving and that there is a need for design flexibility. To encourage continued development and refinement of techniques, the guide identifies specific data elements to collect before and after implementation to enable future analysis across facilities in different communities. It identifies potential future research, highlights the importance of ongoing peer exchange and capacity building, and emphasizes the need to create holistic ways to evaluate the performance of a separated bike lane. KW - Best practices KW - Bikeways KW - Case studies KW - Design KW - Intersections KW - State of the practice KW - Transportation planning KW - United States UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bicycle_pedestrian/publications/separated_bikelane_pdg/separatedbikelane_pdg.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1355620 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01564437 AU - Gemar, Mason AU - Wafa, Zeina AU - Duthie, Jennifer AU - Bhat, Chandra AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - A Report on the Development of Guidelines for Applying Right-Turn Slip Lanes PY - 2015/05//Technical Report SP - 144p AB - This report serves as a summary of the research process regarding the application of right-turn slip lanes in the state of Texas. The work plan was divided into three phases: a review of available literature on the design and operation of right-turn slip lanes, focus group meetings to discuss the synthesis findings with Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) representatives, and production of design guidelines pertaining to right-turn slip lanes that accommodate mobility as well as pedestrian and bicyclist safety. The new construction guidance provided for urban and suburban roadways is inspired by the City of Ottawa’s “urban smart channel” design that incorporates a sharp angle of entry into the cross street (~70 degrees) and delineates a narrow turning path for passenger cars using pavement markings. This design promotes slower turn speeds and enhances visibility of the pedestrian crossing location. The sharp angle of entry reduces the head turning required of motorists to search for gaps in oncoming traffic and thus, improves driver comfort. The design includes a crosswalk located in the middle of the channelized roadway that is perpendicular to the turning roadway. The rural design guidance mainly centers on facilitating mobility through the slip lane, as regular pedestrian activity is not typical at rural intersections. Accordingly, the design promotes larger sweeping turns, the use of acceleration lanes, unpaved channelizing islands, and a flatter angle of entry into the cross street. The design guidelines also include a section on retrofitting treatments, targeting issues commonly found at right-turn slip lanes: absence of proper refuge for pedestrians, motorist noncompliance in yielding to crossing pedestrians, pedestrian noncompliance with the crosswalk location, high speeds in the channelized roadway, low visibility of crossing pedestrians, and excessive head turning to spot oncoming traffic. KW - Channelized intersections KW - Crosswalks KW - Focus groups KW - Guidelines KW - Highway design KW - Highway safety KW - Literature reviews KW - Pedestrian safety KW - Right turn lanes KW - Texas UR - http://library.ctr.utexas.edu/ctr-publications/0-6810-1.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55000/55086/0-6810-S.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1354419 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563896 AU - Sundstrom, Greg AU - Colorado State Forest Service AU - Colorado Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Assessment and Placement of Living Snow Fences to Reduce Highway Maintenance Costs and Improve Safety (Living Snow Fences) Study No: 047-10 PY - 2015/05//Final Report SP - 103p AB - Living snow fences (LSFs) are designed plantings of trees and/or shrubs and native grasses along highways, roads and ditches that create a vegetative buffer that traps and controls blowing and drifting snow. These strategically placed fences have been shown to be cost effective in reducing highway maintenance associated with blowing and drifting snow conditions. The objective of the study is to equip Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) with the tools and knowledge to expand the use of living snow fences. These tools should provide a roadmap for local CDOT maintenance staff which includes: Identifying the best locations, Identifying land owners and securing their cooperation, Engaging resource agency support of the design and establishment, Insuring initial maintenance, Tracking these assets over time and documenting the benefits To initiate the study the Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS) conducted an informal survey of Colorado Natural Resources Conservation Districts, CDOT Maintenance supervisors, and CSFS field offices to inventory existing LSFs along Colorado state highways. The inventory identified approximately 177 existing LSFs along state highways. Training sessions designed to meet the study objectives were held for CDOT staff in each of five CDOT Regional Offices. A notebook entitled “Colorado Living Snow Fence Guidelines and Short Course” was prepared and provided to attendees at these sessions. The notebook contained a PowerPoint training presentation with notes along with all reference material used for the training. The training sessions were attended by 60 CDOT employees and 7 CSFS foresters. Three methods for CDOT to implement a LSF program at either a local or state wide basis were provided: Conduct a program entirely within CDOT; involve other partners in an interagency cooperative program; or for CDOT to provide funding for another agency to manage and implement a program with this being the preferred alternative due to expertise and landowner relationship needs. KW - Colorado KW - Colorado Department of Transportation KW - Education and training KW - Guidelines KW - Highway maintenance KW - Living snow fences KW - Snow and ice control KW - Vegetation KW - Winter maintenance UR - https://www.codot.gov/programs/research/pdfs/2015-research-reports/assessment-and-placement-of-living-snow-fences-to-reduce-highway-maintenance-costs-and-improve-safety/at_download/file UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55200/55239/Living_Snow_Fences.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1354399 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567393 AU - Bevly, David AU - Murray, Chase AU - Lim, Alvin AU - Turochy, Rod AU - Sesek, Richard AU - Smith, Scott AU - Apperson, Grant AU - Woodruff, Jonathan AU - Gao, Song AU - Gordon, Mikhail AU - Smith, Nicholas AU - Watts, Andrew AU - Batterson, Joshua AU - Bishop, Richard AU - Murray, Daniel AU - Torrey, Ford AU - Korn, Alan AU - Switkes, Josh AU - Boyd, Stephen AU - Auburn University AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - American Transportation Research Institute AU - Meritor WABCO AU - Peloton Technology AU - Peterbilt Trucks TI - Heavy Truck Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control: Evaluation, Testing, and Stakeholder Engagement for Near Term Deployment: Phase One Final Report PY - 2015/04/30/Final Report SP - 135p AB - Under the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Exploratory Advanced Research project “Heavy Truck Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control: Evaluation, Testing, and Stakeholder Engagement for Near Term Deployment” this document provides a summary of Phase I results for evaluating the commercial feasibility of Driver Assistive Truck Platooning (DATP). DATP is a form of Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control for heavy trucks (two truck platoons). DATP takes advantage of increasing maturity of vehicle-vehicle (V2V) communications, plus widespread deployment of DSRC-based V2V connectivity expected over the next decade, to improve freight efficiency, fleet efficiency, safety, and highway mobility, plus reduce emissions. Notably, truck fleets can proceed with implementing DATP regardless of the regulatory timeline for DSRC. Results of Phase I research are provided here. Phase I examined industry perceptions of DATP to provide input to a preliminary business case analysis. Technical investigations addressed system modeling and on track evaluations, aerodynamics modeling, operations research to develop algorithms for platoon formation, initial human-machine interface evaluations, wireless communications examining DSRC aspects specific to tractor-trailer combinations, and traffic modeling to assess traffic flow impacts with various levels of DATP market penetration. Appendices include a DATP Concept of Operations and Requirements document. Phase II plans are also described. KW - Algorithms KW - Autonomous intelligent cruise control KW - Driver vehicle interfaces KW - Evaluation KW - Stakeholders KW - Tractor trailer combinations KW - Traffic flow KW - Traffic models KW - Traffic platooning KW - Trucks KW - Vehicle to vehicle communications UR - http://atri-online.org/2015/05/27/4410/ UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1355694 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01562897 TI - Extended Life Concrete Bridge Decks Utilizing Improved Internal Curing to Reduce Cracking AB - This research project should help the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) prepare a specification that will increase the probability of achieving crack free, long-lasting decks. The research will develop a state-of-the-art bridge concrete that will give a unique consideration to coming up with the best mix characteristics that will ultimately extend bridge life and delay (or eliminate) the need to replace decks prior to superstructure replacement. The two main objectives of this study are: (1) The bridge deck will be crack-free immediately after construction. (2) The bridge deck has the strength and serviceability characteristics that will allow it to perform for up to 75 years of active service. KW - Bridge decks KW - Bridge superstructures KW - Concrete curing KW - Cracking KW - Service life KW - State of the art UR - http://worldcat.org/oclc/921157109/viewonline UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353412 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01598839 TI - Research for the AASHTO Standing Committee on Planning. Task 126. Development of a Risk Register Spreadsheet Tool AB - Since the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) published the AASHTO Transportation Asset Management Guide: A Focus on Implementation in 2011, AASHTO and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) have been funding additional research projects that will add depth the different areas of the guide that need it. The Guide provides important information and guidance on a number of areas -- from developing a Transportation Asset Management Plan (TAMP) to addressing risk to developing a data governance plan. More tools and resources are needed, however, for to aid Departments of Transportation (DOTs) in fully implementing asset management. One of the areas where more tools and guidance are needed is risk. Risk management is a process for identifying sources of risk, evaluating them, and integrating mitigation actions and strategies into the routine business functions of the agency. Risk is associated with uncertainty. Risk management should be viewed as a core business tool that influences all activity and not as an isolated, add-on process. Integration of risk management into transportation asset management is relatively new, and has focused thus far on bridges and tunnels. However, all types of transportation assets have uncertainty and risk factors associated with them. An individual agency's approach to risk management will depend on the agency's goals and objectives and therefore the risks associated with individual assets should translate immediately into risks for the agency; the consequences and effects of all risk events must therefore be considered at the agency level too. Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) requires state DOTs to develop risk-based asset management plans. Developing a risk register spreadsheet tool will help states address risk within their transportation asset management plans. The results of a 2011 international scan conducted on this topic are summarize in the report, Transportation Risk Management: International Practices for Program Development and Project Delivery; the report is available at: http://international.fhwa.dot.gov/scan/12030/. The purpose of this research is to develop a risk register spreadsheet tool that State DOTs can use to assist them in assessing and addressing risk within their transportation asset management plans (TAMP) at the program level. It should be noted that this information should be developed before any IT solutions can be considered. The objectives of this research are to develop a risk register spreadsheet tool(s) that allows the user to (1) define risk categories, and (2) assess the likelihood and consequence of an event occurring, that is applicable at the enterprise and program level. The tool should enable an agency to identify risk types, assess the consequences and probability of risk, and provide guidance on preparing risk statements. Different agencies should be able to modify the tool for their particular needs. The spreadsheet tool(s) should also allow an agency to generate heat maps showing the results of risk responses on other risks within the same category of risk to support decision making relative to selecting risk responses. KW - Asset management KW - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) KW - Risk management KW - Traffic engineering KW - Transportation departments KW - Transportation planning KW - Uncertainty UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3685 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1406518 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01562514 TI - Research for AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways. Task 379. AASHTO Highway Subcommittee on Maintenance Strategic Plan Update AB - The objectives of the project are to (1) recommend review and update Strategic Plan for the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Highway Subcommittee on Maintenance (SCOM) if necessary and (2) review and recommend a revised organizational structure for the Subcommittee, if necessary. The recommended Strategic Plan must ensure alignment with the current AASHTO Strategic Plan and that of the AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways  The recommended Subcommittee organizational structure will reflect current and emerging functions of state department of transportation (DOT) maintenance organizations to ensure a successful activity in the next 5 to 10 years. These objectives will be accomplished through a facilitated workshop of SCOM's Leadership Team. KW - Administration KW - American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials KW - Highway maintenance KW - Leadership KW - Maintenance management KW - State departments of transportation KW - Strategic planning KW - Workshops UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3925 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1352302 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01573296 TI - State Responses to Energy Sector Developments AB - The objectives of this project are to: (1) Provide communication and information sharing among member states related to proactive and reactive responses to energy sector developments, including industry engagement, infrastructure management, funding and financing, safety, planning and forecasting tools, and other related topics. (2) Provide a technology and knowledge exchange forum on the practical applications available to member states to better respond to ongoing demands on the transportation system from energy exploration, extraction, and production. (3) Conduct research on high-priority topics identified by the member states. Examples of possible research topics include methods to forecast future energy development and impact locations, improved asset management methods, infrastructure hardening and resiliency, estimating truck and rail traffic, and addressing safety and environmental concerns. KW - Asset management KW - Energy resources KW - Environmental impacts KW - Exploration KW - Industries KW - Infrastructure KW - Resource extraction UR - http://www.pooledfund.org/Details/Study/576 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366520 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01573295 TI - Strain-based Fatigue Crack Monitoring of Steel Bridges using Wireless Elastomeric Skin Sensors AB - The main objective of this proposed research is to provide state departments of transportation (DOTs) a practical and cost-effective long-term fatigue crack monitoring methodology using a wireless elastomeric skin sensor network. This research is intended to demonstrate the value-added of fatigue crack monitoring of steel bridges using wireless skin sensors over the traditional bridge inspection in the following ways: (1) The ability to collect objective information regarding fatigue crack activity under in-service loading of bridges in a continuous manner, improving the assessment, safety, and reliability of fractural-critical bridges, and providing early warning regarding evolving internal defects; (2) The ability to improve prioritization of bridge repairs (condition-based maintenance) and retrofit for fatigue cracks so as to maximize the effectiveness of limited resources; and (3) The ability to better assess the effectiveness of various fatigue repair and retrofit techniques for steel bridges through long-term crack monitoring. KW - Fatigue cracking KW - Maintenance KW - Monitoring KW - Sensors KW - State departments of transportation KW - Steel bridges KW - Structural health monitoring KW - Validation KW - Wireless communication systems UR - http://www.pooledfund.org/Details/Study/577 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366519 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01567109 TI - The Influence of Vehicular Live Loads on Bridge Performance AB - As truck weights and volumes increase and the bridge infrastructure ages, owners have a vital need to access quality truck and load performance data for bridge management and operations decision-making purposes. The objective of this study is to assess the effect of truck traffic on bridge performance. This multi-year study will collect quality truck traffic and loads data (volumes, classifications, size, weights, and other relevant data) by installing, maintaining, calibrating, and utilizing instrumentation at selected bridge sites nationally, for the purpose of calibrating bridge specifications and quantifying load-induced deterioration of bridge elements and systems to establish bridge performance and serviceability criteria for improved long-term bridge performance, management and operations. KW - Bridge management systems KW - Calibration KW - Deterioration KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Highway bridges KW - Live loads KW - Truck traffic UR - http://www.pooledfund.org/Details/Study/519 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1358893 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01579164 AU - Zheng, Yan AU - Flanagan, Sara V AU - Morabia, Alfredo AU - Queens College of the City University of New York AU - University Transportation Research Center AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Empowering Individuals to Make Environmentally Sustainable and Healthy Transportation Choices in Mega-Cities through a Smartphone App PY - 2015/04/17/Final Report SP - 32p AB - A paradox of industrialized society is the overreliance on unsustainable fossil fuel energy for transportation and insufficient use of sustainable bodily energy for more physically active modes of transport. Different modes of transportation require varying levels of physical activity, with cars being the most sedentary, followed by public transportation, and active transportation (walking and biking). Preference (individual and societal) for sedentary travel modes such as car driving over available physically active travel modes has contributed to air pollution and the epidemic of obesity. Low-carbon transport systems have the potential to improve the health of citizens and to mitigate climate change simultaneously. Among the potential solutions for low-carbon transport systems, innovations in technology and demand reduction have received much attention, with less consideration toward behavioral options that are also critical to a decarbonized transport sector. Currently, behavioral change options are rarely considered in the decision-making process of transportation projects because their efficacy is largely unknown. An example of behavioral option for decarbonizing transport is a non-price-based policy to trigger individual behavioral change using “nudges”, defined as any aspect of a choice set that alters behavior without foreclosing alternatives or significantly changing economic incentives. The intervention should be easy and cheap to implement; for example, a nudge could disclose information. Evidence has emerged that the American public has a knowledge perception bias for energy consumption and efficiency that tends to underestimate carbon emission of day-to-day activities. This study investigates whether insufficient and inaccurate perceptions of carbon emission and bodily energy expenditure in day-to-day travel may be barriers for adopting more physically active and environmentally sustainable travel modes. The authors conducted a randomized controlled trial to assess impacts of a behavioral nudge intervention consisting of a new smartphone app onTrac. The app was developed to report personalized knowledge of carbon emission and calories burned associated with user specified travel modes, with walking and bicycling automatically detected through accelerometer. Undergraduate students of Queens College, City University of New York were recruited to participate in baseline surveys (N=85) designed to evaluate factors that may influence their travel mode preferences and behavior. Although both car and public transit commuters are found to be pro-environment, they are significantly different in that public transit commuters displayed less affection towards driving and were more comfortable using public transit (attitude factors), were more encouraged by their families to use public transit and had more friends who use public transit (norm factors). Transit commuters also had less situational constraints such as owning an automobile for work and managing their schedule than car commuters. Repeat surveys following a three week trial of the onTrac app found significant increases in self-reported consideration for the environmental impact of transportation choice among students who used the app (N=24), compared to the control group (N=26) who did not. Significantly more favorable attitudes towards carpooling post-trial were noted only among the car drivers (N=12) in the app group. Further studies, with larger sample sizes and an improved app that can detect all travel modes automatically using the smartphone's built in sensors are warranted to explore how this elevated environmental cognition may interact with attitude and situational factors, perhaps moderated by perceived control, to influence actual travel choice behavior. KW - Attitudes KW - Behavior KW - College students KW - Commuters KW - Energy consumption KW - Environmental impacts KW - Mobile applications KW - Mode choice KW - New York (New York) KW - Pollutants KW - Smartphones KW - Surveys KW - Transportation modes UR - http://www.utrc2.org/sites/default/files/pubs/Smart-Transportation-Choices-Mega-Cities-Smartphone-App.pdf?utm_source=10-13-15+Final+Reports&utm_campaign=07-06-14+PR-Final+Reports&utm_medium=email UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1371710 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576114 AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Railroad Administration AU - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service TI - Range‐Wide Biological Assessment for Transportation Projects for Indiana Bat and Northern Long‐Eared Bat PY - 2015/04/17 SP - 133p AB - Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) jointly developed this programmatic Endangered Species Act (ESA) Section 7 consultation for common types of transportation actions. The intent of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) and USFWS is to implement a range-wide programmatic consultation for the Indiana bat and northern long-eared bat (NLEB) that streamlines the consultation process and results in better conservation for both bat species. Contents include: Description of the Proposed Action , Action Area, Status of the Species & Critical Habitat, Effects of the Action, and Conclusion/Determination. KW - Bats (Animals) KW - Construction projects KW - Environmental impacts KW - United States KW - Wildlife UR - https://www.fws.gov/MIDWEST/Endangered/section7/fhwa/pdf/FHWA_IBatNLEB_BA.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1368870 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01573299 TI - Transportation Management Center Pooled Fund Study AB - The goal of the Transportation Management Center (TMC) Pooled Fund Study (PFS) is to assemble regional, state, and local transportation management agencies and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to (1) identify human-centered and operational issues; (2) suggest approaches to addressing identified issues; (3) initiate and monitor projects intended to address identified issues; (4) provide guidance and recommendations and disseminate results; (5) provide leadership and coordinate with others with TMC interests; and (6) promote and facilitate technology transfer related to TMC issues nationally. KW - Human factors KW - Information dissemination KW - Management KW - Monitoring KW - Project management KW - Traffic control centers KW - Transportation planning UR - http://www.pooledfund.org/Details/Study/568 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366523 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01566816 TI - Validation of Tsunami Design Guidelines for Coastal Bridges AB - The objective of this study is to develop bridge design guidelines for the estimation of tsunami loads on highway bridges. It is proposed that the work include verification of the guidelines by model testing or comparison with observed results to calibrate the predictive capability of numerical models for analysis of tsunami loads on coastal bridges. Generalized bathymetry and topography parameters will be modeled analytically and replicated experimentally. For example, options may include a shallow submarine shelf case or deep submarine trench as bathymetry and coastal plain or river valley as topography. The resulting data will be analyzed to determine their appropriateness and compared against the numerical predictions. KW - Bathymetry KW - Bridge design KW - Calibration KW - Coastal engineering KW - Guidelines KW - Numerical analysis KW - Tsunamis KW - Verification UR - http://www.pooledfund.org/Details/Study/556 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1358533 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01560565 TI - Research for AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways. Task 370. Development of a Strategic Plan for the Subcommittee on Traffic Engineering (SCOTE) AB - The traffic engineering profession continues to experience radical changes and positive improvements in all aspects of its profession. Of particular interest are the emerging technologies involving connected and autonomous vehicles, active management of arterials, maturity in freeway operations and dynamic optimization of traffic signal infrastructure to improve throughput and increased travel time reliability. While technologies begin to emerge and attract professionals from the core and ancillary industry sectors such as transportation engineers, planners, designers, and automakers, the traditional traffic engineering areas are experiencing consolidation through the expansion of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) to include in-depth coverage of railroad preemption and a nationwide application of bicycle and pedestrian-friendly applications. Needless to say, the traffic engineer must now accommodate multimodalism with the genuine aim to move people, not just vehicles. Given this background, the objective of this research is to develop a strategic plan that includes the full cycle of understanding Subcommittee on Traffic Engineering's (SCOTE) role in providing guidance to the highest decision-making bodies in the transportation profession to develop a comprehensive vision for SCOTE's future activities. KW - Decision making KW - Intelligent vehicles KW - Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices KW - Strategic planning KW - Traffic control devices KW - Traffic engineering KW - Traffic signal preemption KW - Travel time UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3916 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1350636 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01560527 TI - Research for AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways. Task 374. Guidelines for Selecting Sign Sheeting Materials for AASHTO M268 AB - There are two standard specifications for sign sheeting materials in the United States: American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) M268 and American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) D4956. The AASHTO specification is based more on nighttime driver needs and the ASTM specification is based mostly on the performance of different products. While both specifications classify sign sheeting materials, neither specification provides guidance to help agencies select the appropriate sign sheeting materials. ASTM D4956 is more of a product based specification while AASHTO M268 is more of a performance based specification. The AASHTO M268 specification was developed by a team of state departments of transportation (DOTs) so that sign sheeting materials can be classified in a meaningful way. Research is needed to develop guidelines for M268 for selecting the most appropriate sign sheeting materials. The research should include a critical review of previous research related to sign sheeting materials and their effectiveness, identify and evaluate the process currently used for selecting sign sheeting materials and develop guidelines. The guidance should describe the types of sign sheeting materials, the specific design conditions where they perform best, and develop scenarios for sheeting type use for specific sign locations according to driver needs. The guidance will recommend sign sheeting types for sign design, location, and placement while taking into account the retroreflectivity of various sign sheeting types and economics. The primary objective of this project is to develop guidance that can be used by highway agencies in the process for selecting sign sheeting materials using AASHTO M268. This guidance should address current regulations, driver needs, the latest human factors research, cost, availability, durability, ease of use, maintenance, sign type, typical placement and other relevant factors. KW - Costs KW - Design KW - Durability KW - Guidelines KW - Location KW - Materials selection KW - Retroreflectivity KW - Sign sheeting KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3920 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1350544 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543353 TI - Guidance to Predict and Mitigate Dynamic Hydroplaning on Roadways AB - Roadways are designed, operated, and maintained with a goal of achieving the highest possible safety outcomes. With safety as their top priority, transportation officials are responsible for the careful management of public resources and effective risk assessment. Hydroplaning occurs when a tire loses contact with water-covered pavement by the actions of water pressures that build up with increasing vehicle speed. Transportation practitioners have observed that available methods for predicting hydroplaning potential imply a greater likelihood of hydroplaning occurrences than are reported in crash data. Additionally, there is inadequate guidance on how to effectively plan and implement strategies to mitigate the impacts of hydroplaning for site-specific conditions, such as geometric design, and different project types (e.g., new construction, reconstruction, or maintenance/retrofit projects). More thorough and up-to-date guidance is needed to identify the potential for, reduce the occurrence of, and mitigate the impacts of dynamic hydroplaning on roadways. To develop this guidance, research is needed to identify and address the factors contributing to hydroplaning and how these factors interact. These factors may include, but are not limited to, hydraulics, roadway characteristics, vehicle characteristics, and driver behavior. A clearer understanding of how these factors contribute to hydroplaning could result in safety improvements, fewer crashes, and savings. The methods that are widely used to predict hydroplaning potential need to be evaluated and updated. These methods include the PAVDRN program, developed in NCHRP Project 01-29, "Improved Surface Drainage of Pavements" (1998). Changes have occurred since the methods were developed that could either increase or decrease the likelihood of hydroplaning and crashes on roadways, including, but not limited to the following: (1) The number of lanes on roadways have increased; (2) Design and posted speeds on roadways have increased; (3) Vehicles have changed (although vehicles are often lighter which makes them more vulnerable to hydroplaning, recent features reduce the likelihood of hydroplaning such as antilock brakes, stability controls, and front- or all-wheel drive); and (4) Tire designs have improved with increased sizes and wheel widths, higher tire pressures, better tread design, and greater use of radial tires. The objective of this research is to develop guidance to predict and mitigate hydroplaning on roadways. The term "hydroplaning" in this research is limited to dynamic hydroplaning only, and does not include other forms of hydroplaning, such as viscous or rubber reversion hydroplaning. The guidance should be applicable to all types of roadways, including site-specific factors such as geometric design, and be appropriate for new construction, reconstruction, and maintenance/retrofit projects. The guidance should: (1) Address the hydraulics, roadway characteristics, vehicle characteristics, driver behavior, and other factors that contribute to hydroplaning on roadways. (2) Include an updated and validated methodology(s) to predict hydroplaning potential on roadways. (3) Provide methods and strategies for planning and design of roadways to mitigate hydroplaning. (4) Provide methods and strategies to reduce hydroplaning on existing roadways. (5) Identify driver-related factors that contribute to crashes associated with hydroplaning and recommend operational strategies to mitigate these crashes. KW - Behavior KW - Crash data KW - Guidelines KW - Hydroplaning KW - Risk assessment KW - Rolling contact KW - Speed KW - Traffic crashes UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3870 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330714 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01579167 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Developing and Using State-Specific Safety Performance Functions (SPFS) in Virginia: Roadway Safety Data and Analysis PY - 2015/04/13/Case Study SP - 17p AB - The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) emphasizes data-driven decision-making and desires to improve safety and safety data. From this desire, VDOT implemented a comprehensive set of State-specific Safety Performance Functions (SPFs) covering 98 percent of its State-maintained roadway locations. The impetus for VDOT developing their own SPFs and analytical tools arose from the decision that AASHTOWare Safety Analyst™ did not meet their needs. VDOT developed State-specific SPFs using historical crash, traffic, and roadway inventory data. SPF developers worked closely with engineers throughout the development process to see whether each SPF was implementable for all types of improvements (spot, corridor, and systemic). To date, VDOT has developed 24 SPFs covering a majority of roadway facilities, including two-lane roads, intersections, and freeways/multi-lane highways. The purpose of this case study is to describe the successes and ongoing challenges related to developing and implementing a comprehensive set of State-specific SPFs in Virginia. KW - Case studies KW - Crash data KW - Data analysis KW - Freeways KW - Highway safety KW - Implementation KW - Intersections KW - Multilane highways KW - Safety Performance Functions KW - Two lane highways KW - Virginia UR - http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/rsdp/downloads/va_case_study.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1371761 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543421 TI - Enhanced Truck Data Collection and Analysis for Emissions Modeling AB - Goods movement is a vital part of the national economy, with freight movement growing faster than passenger travel. The growth in freight traffic is contributing to urban congestion, resulting in hours of delay, increased shipping costs, wasted fuel, and greater emissions of greenhouse gases and criteria pollutants. The limited national data on urban goods movement are insufficient for a thorough understanding of the characteristics of the trucks operating in metropolitan areas and the complex logistical chains they serve. For instance, there are at least three distinct segments of urban freight - long haul, drayage, and pickup and delivery. It is believed that truck fleet characteristics differ between the segments, but only local registration data exist at a level of detail needed to support regional transportation plans, transportation improvement plans, and state implementation plans. The lack of data to drive model estimation results in inaccurate base year emissions inventories and limits the ability to design and implement effective policies to reduce freight-related emissions. It is critical that research consider all types of commercial vehicles, not just heavy trucks, since small vehicles and vans are estimated to account for 40% of urban truck traffic. While the majority of urban freight travel demand models apply methods similar to passenger forecasting, some agencies are using advanced methods to estimate freight activity. For example, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning has developed a meso-scale freight model and the Southern California Association of Governments has implemented a multimodal modeling framework to support freight transportation decision making. In Canada, TransLink, in partnership with Transport Canada and the British Columbia Ministry of Transport, has developed freight planning data and tools through the Applied Freight Research Initiative (AFRI) for the Metro Vancouver region. Research is needed to build on the existing state-of-the art freight estimation methods in order to improve air quality modeling and transportation planning. The objective of this research is to develop a guide for transportation practitioners on methods, procedures, and data sets needed to capture commercial vehicle activity, vehicle characteristics, and operations to assist in estimating and forecasting criteria pollutants, air toxics, and greenhouse gas emissions from goods and services movement. The guide should address a broad range of issues and needs associated with estimating and forecasting commercial vehicle activity for emission modeling which may include but not be limited to the following: (1) Recent freight and emissions modeling research that complements the current research; (2) Methods to classify various trucking segments for emissions analyses; (3) Methods to collect and evaluate truck activity data by different truck segments; (4) Methods to collect truck vehicle characteristics and truck inventory data; (5) Methods to collect and evaluate truck operational data; (6) Methods to address the data interface and any potential gaps between freight forecasting and emissions modeling. KW - Air quality KW - Data collection KW - Freight traffic KW - Greenhouse gases KW - Pollutants KW - Traffic congestion KW - Trucks KW - Urban areas UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3860 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330818 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01584023 TI - Evaluating the Impacts of Real-Time Information on Subway Ridership in New York City AB - Public transit agencies often struggle with service reliability issues; when a train or bus does not arrive on time, passengers become frustrated and may be less likely to choose transit for future trips. To address reliability issues, transit authorities increasingly provide real-time information (RTI) to riders via countdown clocks in stations and passengers’ mobile devices. Though these new information technologies are now available in many transit systems throughout the country, their impact on overall transit ridership - particularly train ridership - remains unclear. Therefore, the objective of this research is to quantify the impact that providing RTI has on aggregate train ridership. The proposed method is an empirical evaluation of the New York City subway, which is the setting of a natural experiment in which some subway lines currently provide RTI to riders (e.g., 1/2/3, 4/5/6) whereas other subway lines do not (e.g., A/C/E, B/D/F/M). Regression analysis will be used to estimate the effect of RTI on subway ridership while controlling for other factors that affect ridership, such as weather, macroeconomic conditions (e.g., unemployment), and subway service (e.g., frequency). The results of this research are anticipated to have immediate implications for the Metropolitan Transit Authority's (MTA’s) capital program because significant investments are needed to provide RTI on the remaining subway lines. Moreover, the findings will be critical to decision-makers at other transit operators who face pressure to increase ridership under limited budgets, particularly as they seek to prioritize investments in infrastructure, service offerings, and new technologies. KW - Decision making KW - New York (New York) KW - Real time information KW - Ridership KW - Smartphones KW - Subway stations KW - Subways KW - Transit operating agencies UR - http://www.utrc2.org/research/projects/evaluating-information-subway-ridership-nyc UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1378057 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01562662 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Federal Highway Administration Environmental Justice Reference Guide PY - 2015/04/01 SP - 82p AB - Environmental justice (EJ) at the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) means identifying and addressing disproportionately high and adverse effects of the agency’s programs, policies, and activities on minority and low-income populations to achieve an equitable distribution of benefits and burdens. This includes the full and fair participation by all potentially affected communities in the transportation decisionmaking process. FHWA developed this document to provide FHWA staff a single reference to help them ensure compliance with EJ requirements when developing and evaluating FHWA projects; engaging in transportation planning; developing or revising FHWA policies, guidance, and rulemakings; and creating and implementing FHWA programs. Although FHWA staff is the primary audience, the document is also available to State and local practitioners, and the general public. This document clarifies expectations, identifies best practices, and provides links to resources for incorporating EJ principles in FHWA-supported activities. KW - Best practices KW - Compliance KW - Decision making KW - Environmental justice KW - Equity (Justice) KW - Low income groups KW - Minorities KW - Project management KW - Transportation planning KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/environmental_justice/resources/reference_guide_2015/fhwahep15035..pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1352249 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543427 TI - Capturing and Learning Essential Consultant-Developed Knowledge within Departments of Transportation AB - Large organizations depend on the knowledge of their employees to pursue the organization's mission. In a state department of transportation (DOT), responsible staff from any part of the agency--engineering, finance, project management, among others--develop and apply mission-critical knowledge. Increasing DOT reliance on external consultants and contractors challenges an agency's ability to maintain its employees' mission-critical knowledge. Employee knowledge gaps--for example, lack of awareness that contractors are not developing adequate project documentation, unfamiliarity with the reasons for important design decisions, or inability to properly use and maintain software and equipment provided by contractors--can be costly and pose risks to the DOT's ability to fulfill its responsibilities to the public. In this context, the term "knowledge" refers to what exists inside the human brain, as opposed to "information" which can exist on paper or in other formats, independent of any person. Knowledge is built over time through education, work experience, and interactions. It enables people to make good decisions and act in an effective manner. For DOTs, knowledge is critical to accomplishing the agency's objectives. Whether it has to do with the technologies of transportation and infrastructure systems; management and administration of projects for planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of these systems; or the on-the-job experience gained though actual project development, response to emergencies, interactions with the public, and the like--knowledge is essential. DOT employees can gain and maintain mission-critical knowledge through direct experience, interactions with colleagues, reference to codified information in project files, or other sources. Reliance on external consultants and contractors threatens to reduce the agency's knowledge base and, in turn, the agency's performance. In such areas as facilities design and construction (especially under design-build and other such procurement mechanisms), large-scale emergency response, system planning, and large-scale maintenance outsourcing, essential technical and experiential knowledge may be developed and retained by the external contractors unless the agency takes explicit action to ensure knowledge capture and active learning by staff. Knowledge capture is a process for transforming human knowledge into codified information, for example interviewing contractor personnel and summarizing important lessons and techniques these individuals have learned in their work for the DOT; recording these lessons and techniques in various ways; and making them available to others. Active learning occurs when DOT staff work directly with contractors or consultants. Research is needed to provide guidance for DOT leadership on how to use the techniques of knowledge capture and active learning to ensure that essential, mission-critical knowledge is maintained within the agency when the contractor's work is finished, particularly in those program areas that pose the greatest risk to the agency's performance. The objective of this research is to develop guidance for DOTs on how to capture, learn, and maintain essential, mission-critical knowledge from the work of external consultants and contractors. The guidance should be applicable across all DOT program areas, with an emphasis on project development and delivery; and should address knowledge capture, active learning, and overcoming the obstacles to effective use of these techniques. The guidance should identify and focus on those areas that represent the greatest agency risk associated with inadequate staff knowledge of work done by consultants and contractors. KW - Consultants KW - Decision making KW - Design build KW - Knowledge KW - Programming (Planning) KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3883 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330824 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543426 TI - Entrained Air Void System for Durable Highway Concrete AB - Laboratory testing and long-term field experience have shown that highway concrete must be properly air-entrained if it is to resist the action of freezing and thawing, particularly in wet climates. Experience has also shown that the effectiveness of air entrainment in providing resistance to freezing and thawing depends on the characteristics of the air void system. These characteristics are influenced by the materials used in producing concrete (e.g., cement type and composition, supplementary cementitious materials, air-entraining and other admixtures, and aggregate size); the practices for proportioning, mixing, and placing concrete; and field conditions. However in some situations, air entrainment has shown adverse effects on other concrete properties (e.g., strength). Laboratory methods are currently available for characterizing the air void system in hardened concrete and for evaluating the freeze-thaw resistance of concrete. However, the parameters associated with this characterization and the results of these laboratory tests do not always reflect the observed field performance nor do they consider the possible effects on other concrete properties. There is a need to identify the characteristics of the air void system that relate to field performance and develop improved test methods for evaluating the freeze-thaw resistance of highway concrete. Ideally, these methods would evaluate the concrete mixture immediately before placement to allow adjustment of mixture if necessary. This information will help highway agencies prepare specifications for concrete procurement that will provide the air&#8208;void characteristics and freeze-thaw resistance needed for enhanced durability and thus ensure longevity of highway structures and pavements. The objectives of this research are to (1) identify the characteristics of the entrained air void system required for freeze-thaw durability of highway concrete, (2) identify/develop new or modified test methods for measuring these characteristics, and (3) identify/develop new or modified test methods for evaluating freeze-thaw durability. KW - Admixtures KW - Air entrainment KW - Air voids KW - Concrete KW - Freeze thaw durability KW - Laboratory tests KW - Test procedures UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3877 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330823 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543425 TI - Guide for Performance Measures in Snow and Ice Control Operations AB - Monitoring the performance of snow and ice control operations has become an increasingly important task for highway agencies and contractors because of stakeholder expectations. Different performance measures have been used both in the United States and abroad but with varying degrees of success; there is no widely accepted measure applicable to the different roadway classifications, storm characteristics, or traffic conditions. Key components in implementing performance measures are the identification of means for collecting and quantifying relevant information and the methods for establishing level of service targets. Research is needed to develop a guide for applying performance measures to snow and ice control operations that addresses these and other relevant issues. Such a guide will help highway agencies and contractors monitor the level of performance and make appropriate adjustments to effectively manage resources for snow and ice control operations. The objective of this research is to develop a guide for applying performance measures to snow and ice control operations. The guide shall be appropriate for assessing agency and contractor performance with focus on safety, mobility, and sustainability. KW - Highway operations KW - Highway safety KW - Mobility KW - Performance measurement KW - Snow and ice control KW - Sustainable development KW - United States KW - Winter maintenance UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3867 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330822 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543360 TI - Guidance for Development and Management of Sustainable Information Portals AB - State departments of transportation (DOTs) produce and use a variety of data and information to make decisions about development, operation, and upkeep of the systems for which they are responsible. The DOT's personnel, contractors and consultants, and the system's users and other stakeholders seek access to this information for a variety of purposes. Open government initiatives, the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of work within agencies, greater collaboration with external partners, and growing demands for transparency in government agency operations, as well as growing volumes of data and information to be managed are driving increasing demand for access to DOT data and information. (For this research, the terms "data" and "information" are essentially interchangeable; data and information are used in various applications to conduct analyses and provide results of value to decision makers and interested observers.) In recent years, web access has become a primary way of enabling users to get the information they want in a timely and cost-effective manner. Enterprise information portals (EIPs), in particular, have become key tools a DOT can use to make available information about the transportation system and the agency's activities. As used in this project, an EIP is curated; that is, there are people responsible for establishing the portal architecture, ensuring the quality of information and data, and maintaining the reliability of access. Access to an EIP may be provided in various ways, but the primary focus of this research is access via a web interface. Many DOTs have implemented one or more EIPs but face the need to evolve these portals or create new ones to meet both internal and external users' demands for information. Research is needed to enhance agency personnel's understanding of the value, uses, design, and maintenance of EIPs--and the design principles, management practices, and performance characteristics that will ensure that a DOT's EIPs effectively and sustainably serve its users and the agency's mission. The objective of this research is to produce a guide to development and management of effective DOT enterprise information portals. The guide should help both agency business-management personnel to understand the issues to be addressed in making information and data about the state's transportation system and agency operations available to information users and the responsibilities and costs associated with portal development and maintenance. The guide should also help agency information technology managers to develop strategies for evolving existing EIPs and creating new ones to effectively and sustainably deliver information of value to users. The guidance should address at least the following topics: (1) Prototypical portal users and uses of agency information and data. (2) Appropriate architectures and other system design principles for DOT portal structure and web access. (3) Criteria for judging data and information quality. (4) Curator responsibilities and portal-management performance measures. (5) Establishment and maintenance of user engagement and service (6) Relationships of a DOT portal with portals managed by others. (6) Checklists for EIP design, management, and performance monitoring. KW - Data collection KW - Decision making KW - Guidelines KW - Information dissemination KW - Information technology KW - State departments of transportation KW - Sustainable development UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3882 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330721 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543354 TI - Guidelines for Selecting Ramp Design Speeds AB - Many contextual factors should be considered in selecting an appropriate ramp design speed. Selecting a design speed for highway ramps can greatly influence project costs, right-of-way needs, and the potential project environmental and social impacts. General ramp design considerations, including ramp design speeds, are presented in Chapter 10 of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Green Book, but the rationale of the existing guidance is in need of review. Additionally, the application of the design speed along all portions of a ramp and across the spectrum of interchange forms does not sufficiently take into account the inherent speed profiles of different ramp types. Research is needed to provide enhanced guidance on ramp design practices to facilitate the selection of more cost efficient, safer, and contextually appropriate interchange designs in all regions of the United States. The objectives of this research are to develop guidelines for selecting appropriate ramp design speeds, a summary review of the state of the practice, and recommended revisions for the AASHTO Green Book. The guidelines should facilitate the selection of an appropriate ramp design speed based on a combination of contextual considerations and quantitative information. The guidelines should address the definition of ramp design speed, specifically the portion(s) of the ramp to which design speed should be applicable. The guidelines should also address the known safety and operational aspects of ramp design speed selection over a full range of interchange forms, ramp types, and area environments (rural vs. urban). The geometric design dimensions resulting from the suggested ramp design speeds (such as minimum radius of curvature) must also consider driver expectations and behaviors over a range of traffic conditions and the functional classification of the two interchanging roadways. Development of the guidelines may include the examination of field data and site observations supplemented with safety modeling considerations and traffic operational simulations. Speed transitions within ramps should be reviewed for performance and design policy implications. KW - AASHTO Green Book KW - Guidelines KW - Highway design KW - Highway operations KW - Ramps (Interchanges) KW - Right of way (Traffic) KW - State of the practice KW - Traffic safety UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3871 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330715 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543350 TI - Standard Definitions for Comparable Pavement Cracking Data AB - Many state and local agencies collect downward pavement imagery using highway-speed data collection vehicles. The images are subsequently processed using proprietary semi- or fully-automated crack detection and classification software to identify pavement cracking for use in asset management systems. There are multiple methods and software for defining, classifying, and reporting cracking data. In addition, these methods and the cracking data they produce are not always comparable between states, even if similar data collection and detection technologies are used. One outcome of this situation is that vendors must customize the cracking definitions for each client they serve. In order to unify data reporting, sharing, and evaluation, standardization of pavement cracking definitions is needed. Research is needed to produce user and system requirements to aid in the future development of production-grade evaluation software for classifying cracking type, extent, and severity. The standard definitions will aid in sharing information among agencies and vendors as well as reporting to Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and setting national, state, and local performance goals. The objective of this research is to develop standard, discrete definitions for common cracking types in flexible, rigid, and composite pavements. The definitions shall classify cracking type, extent, and severity based on information from images collected by highway-speed data collection vehicles, including orientation, length, density, displacement, location, and other relevant factors. The standard definitions shall be used to facilitate comparable measurement and interpretation of pavement cracking in the highway community. The definitions shall be of sufficient detail to serve as the basis for user and system requirements for cracking evaluation software for automated data collection. Application to both existing and emerging image-based data collection technologies shall be considered. KW - Asset management KW - Cracking KW - Data collection KW - Detection and identification KW - Image processing KW - Pavement performance KW - Probe vehicles KW - Traffic speed UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3855 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330711 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01603555 AU - Nowak, Christopher A AU - State University of New York, Syracuse AU - New York State Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - A Brief Survey of Strategic Planning Elements for Department of Transportation Vegetation Management Programs PY - 2015/04//Final Report SP - 39p AB - Strategic planning, as with all levels of planning, is important for organizations to efficiently and effectively meet their missions and achieve their goals and objectives. In planning, a variety of plan, decision making, and management implementation components are assembled in one or more documents. With documentation, the plan becomes accessible to stakeholders so that shared visions and understanding of organizational management can develop at present, but most importantly across scales of space and time. Sustainable management is predicated on having full and robust management plans. In the current study, strategic vegetation management plans from Departments of Transportation across the country, including New York State, were examined for structure and completeness. A management planning “checklist” of core planning elements was developed for the study, and used to both evaluate and assess existing plans. Departments of Transportation (DOTs) and other organizations can use the results of this study to self-organize their own plans and associated accounts, processes and procedures to define where they are strong, and where they are weak in planning. And with that, future organizational resources can be directed to fill necessary shortfalls. Results of the study indicate that DOTs (including New York) are consistently strong in providing direction for management via statements of mission, goals and objectives, and also in clearly defining desired conditions of the management system. Most significantly and consistently short are descriptions of the current system, and details on monitoring as a basis for management evaluation. KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Landscape maintenance KW - Roadside flora KW - State departments of transportation KW - Strategic planning KW - Surveys KW - Vegetation UR - https://www.dot.ny.gov/divisions/engineering/technical-services/trans-r-and-d-repository/C-06-24%20TASK%201%201%20STRATEGIC%20PLAN%20REPORT.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1411105 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01603538 AU - Nowak, Christopher A AU - State University of New York, Syracuse AU - New York State Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Monitoring Vegetation Response to Operationally-Applied Scythe Herbicide on NYSDOT's Route 80 Right-of-Way Along Otsego Lake, near Cooperstown, New York PY - 2015/04//Final Report SP - 51p AB - Operational treatment of roadside vegetation under and near guiderails in the Route 80 corridor along Otsego Lake was completed by New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) in July 2014 using a natural herbicide – Scythe. A total of 8 miles of roadside right-of-way, and specifically 1.4 acres and 3.8 miles of guiderails, were treated with 296 gallons of herbicide mix with 10% Scythe. Herbicide materials were jointly purchased by the Village of Cooperstown and the NYSDOT at a total cost of $1,954. Vegetation conditions before and after treatment, and percent of plants directly damaged by the herbicide, were monitored by a third-party (SUNY-ESF) using a network of 30 2 x 2 foot measurement plots located across the area. Plots received varying coverage of herbicide treatment due to problems with machinery and spray pattern, with percent of plants directly damaged by herbicide averaging 51 percent, ranging from 0 to 95 percent. Regression analyses were used to test various relationships between end-of-growing plant cover and percent of plant damage. On average and as estimated across all 30 plots using regression techniques, Scythe herbicide was observed to reduce plant abundance to a total cover of 12 percent, compared to 62 percent cover with no Scythe herbicide treatment. Vines or Japanese knotweed were shown to not be affected by Scythe treatment. Operational results are similar to those observed with recent field trials with research in Massachusetts and New York. In contrast to NYSDOT normal, conventional herbicide treatment with glyphosate-based herbicide such as Accord XRT II, which would have had a total materials costs of only $18 and expected 100 percent control of vegetation, the Scythe herbicide cost 100 times more and still left 12 percent cover of plants, with effectively no control of vines or knotweed. KW - Before and after studies KW - Costs KW - Herbicides KW - New York (State) KW - Regression analysis KW - Right of way (Land) KW - Roadside flora KW - Vegetation control UR - https://www.dot.ny.gov/divisions/engineering/technical-services/trans-r-and-d-repository/C-06-24%20TASK%203%202%20OPERATIONAL%20TEST%20OF%20SCYTHE.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1411108 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01592047 AU - Garlich, Michael J AU - Pechillo, Thomas H AU - Schneider, Jason M AU - Helwig, Todd A AU - O'Toole, Mary Anne AU - Kaderbek, Stan-Lee C AU - Grubb, Michael AU - Ashton, John AU - Collins Engineers, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Engineering for Structural Stability in Bridge Construction PY - 2015/04//Reference Manual SP - 670p AB - This manual is intended to serve as a reference. It will provide technical information which will enable Manual users to perform the following activities: (1) Describe typical erection practices for girder bridge superstructures and recognize critical construction stages; (2) Discuss typical practices for evaluating structural stability of girder bridge superstructures during early stages of erection and throughout bridge construction; (3) Explain the basic concepts of stability and why it is important in bridge erection; (4) Explain common techniques for performing advanced stability analysis along with their advantages and limitations; (5) Describe how differing construction sequences effect superstructure stability; (6) Be able to select appropriate loads, load combinations, and load factors for use in analyzing superstructure components during construction; (7) Be able to analyze bridge members at various stages of erection; (8) Develop erection plans that are safe and economical, and know what information is required and should be a part of those plans; and (9) Describe the differences between local, member and global (system) stability. KW - Bridge construction KW - Bridge superstructures KW - Erection (Building) KW - Girder bridges KW - Load factor KW - Manuals KW - Stability analysis KW - Structural analysis UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1398662 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580991 AU - El Howayek, Alain AU - Santagata, Marika AU - Bobet, Antonio AU - Siddiki, Nayyar Zia AU - Purdue University AU - Indiana Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Engineering Properties of Marls SN - 9781622603572 PY - 2015/04//Final Report SP - 109p AB - The term “marl” is used to designate soft, carbonate‐rich, fine‐grained soils, which pose concerns related to both settlement and stability. Despite the prevalence of marls in Indiana and the concerns associated with their behavior, very limited work has been done to study the engineering properties of these soils. This was the motivation for this research project, which involved two primary activities: a) the creation of a map and database of existing information on marl deposits in Indiana; and b) an in‐depth characterization of the properties of a marl deposit in Daviess County, which was considered representative of similar deposits encountered in Indiana. The marl database was generated using ArcGIS 10.0.from information available at the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT), and involved mining data from over five thousand boreholes. The second part of the project involved field tests (seismic cone penetration tests, standard penetration tests, field vane shear tests), and laboratory experiments (index tests, incremental and constant rate of strain consolidation tests, and K₀‐consolidated undrained triaxial tests) conducted on high quality Shelby tubes samples. Additionally, the mineralogy and the microstructure of the soil were studied in detail. The laboratory tests reveal that the deposit was not homogeneous as was initially anticipated, but was, instead, formed by two types of soils that repeat in horizontal thin layers. These two soils, referred to as ‘soil M’ and ‘soil C’, are both characterized by very high calcium carbonate contents but show distinct index and engineering properties, that may be ascribed to differences in mineralogy and composition. This stratification is not detected by the field tests. The consolidation tests show that the deposit has an overconsolidation ratio (OCR) less than 2 and compressibility parameters markedly dependent on stress level, as typical of sensitive soils. K₀‐consolidated undrained compression triaxial tests show that both soils exhibit normalized behavior, and that the relationship between strength and stress history is well described by the SHANSEP equation (although the SHANSEP parameters differ for the two soils). Comparison of the field data and laboratory results provides the means to validate published correlations for interpretation of the geotechnical properties of marls from field results. For the site examined, correlations to estimate shear wave velocity, stress history, and undrained strength from cone penetration test (CPT) results are identified. Implementation recommendations are provided for soil identification, sampling and specimen preparation, interpretation of filed data, and preliminary design. KW - Databases KW - Field tests KW - Indiana KW - Laboratory tests KW - Maps KW - Marl KW - Microstructure KW - Mineralogy KW - Properties of materials KW - Soil consolidation test KW - Soil deposits UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.5703/1288284315533 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373208 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580348 AU - Bledsoe, Jay AU - Tayabji, Shiraz AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Texas Demonstration Project: Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement on FM 1938 PY - 2015/04//Final Report SP - 43p AB - As part of a national initiative sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) under the Highways for LIFE program, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) was awarded a $1,000,000 grant to demonstrate the use of proven, innovative technologies including non-woven geotextile bond breaker between continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP) and cement-treated base, intelligent compaction of subgrade and base materials, optimized aggregate gradation for concrete pavement, improved concrete curing, and texture and grooving of CRCP. This report documents deployment of innovations on the construction of FM 1938 in the cities of Southlake, Westlake and Keller, just north of Fort Worth, Texas. The project involved the construction of the new 2.6 mile freeway with six lanes from SH 114 to Dove Road and four lanes from Dove Road to Randol Mill Road. The purpose of the new roadway was to improve capacity and ease mobility on FM 1709. The construction of the FM 1938 project provided TxDOT with valuable insight to several aspects of the construction process. The use of optimized gradation showed potential cost savings through reduction in cement and pavement thickness requirements. The estimated cost savings with reduced cement requirements was about 60 cents per CY of concrete; however, the reduction in thickness could not be further reduced for this project due to the cover requirements for steel in the continuously reinforced design. The use of a non-woven fabric as a bond breaker was not considered an advantage on this project, especially given the use of continuous reinforcement. The installation was labor intensive and the use of the fabric did not result in any improved attributes. While intelligent compaction was not used under the pavement sections as originally planned, it did show promise as an evolving technology. The lithium based curing compounds were more expensive and require additional research to determine their cost-benefits. KW - Aggregate gradation KW - Continuously reinforced concrete pavements KW - Curing agents KW - Demonstration projects KW - Economic analysis KW - Freeways KW - Geotextiles KW - Highways for LIFE KW - Intelligent compaction KW - Lithium compounds KW - Nonwoven textiles KW - Optimization KW - Road construction KW - Technological innovations KW - Texas UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/Texas-HfL-CRCP-Final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1372999 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580062 AU - Keske, Samuel D AU - Barnes, Robert W AU - Schindler, Anton K AU - Dunham, Emily L AU - Johnson, Brandon R AU - Ellis, Morgan A AU - Auburn University AU - Alabama Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Self-Consolidating Concrete for Prestressed Applications—Phase I: Girder Fabrication and Pre-Erection Performance PY - 2015/04//Technical Report SP - 303p AB - Prior to statewide acceptance of self-consolidating concrete (SCC) in precast, prestressed bridge member production, the Alabama Department of Transportation sponsored an investigation of the material to be performed by the Auburn University Highway Research Center. Two parts of that research are presented in this report: a laboratory investigation of fresh stability test methods to quantify the unique fresh behavior of SCC, and a field investigation of as-built material and pre-erection structural behavior in the first full-scale SCC girders produced in Alabama for an in-service bridge. During the laboratory investigation, the Visual Stability Index, Sieve Stability, and Surface Settlement tests correlated most strongly to multiple measures of hardened concrete uniformity; a testing protocol utilizing these test methods is recommended. Use of SCC in girder production was clearly beneficial. The utilized SCC mixture exhibited practically the same compressive strength, slightly reduced elastic stiffness, and increased time-dependent deformation (creep and shrinkage), at least in representative cylinders. However, the differences were expectable due to differences between the utilized SCC and vibrated concrete (VC). Also, SCC-girder transfer lengths, initial cambers, initial prestress losses, pre-erection time-dependent camber growth, and pre-erection time-dependent prestress force were found to be acceptably similar and at least as predictable as in companion, geometrically identical VC girders. Therefore, pre-erection behavior of SCC should not restrict its use in the production of precast, prestressed girders using current design and production procedures. KW - Alabama KW - Bridge construction KW - Compressive strength KW - Curvature KW - Deformation KW - Elasticity (Mechanics) KW - Field studies KW - Girders KW - Laboratory studies KW - Prestressed concrete bridges KW - Self compacting concrete KW - Vibrated concrete UR - http://eng.auburn.edu/files/centers/hrc/930738selfconsolidatingphasei.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1372837 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01579607 AU - Keske, Samuel D AU - Barnes, Robert W AU - Schindler, Anton K AU - Johnson, Brandon R AU - Ellis, Morgan A AU - Miller, D Eric AU - Neal, Tyler L AU - Auburn University AU - Alabama Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Self-Consolidating Concrete for Prestressed Applications—Phase II: Bridge Construction and In-Place Performance PY - 2015/04//Technical Report SP - 271p AB - Prior to statewide acceptance of self-consolidating concrete (SCC) in precast, prestressed bridge member production, the Alabama Department of Transportation sponsored an investigation of the material to be performed by the Auburn University Highway Research Center. Two parts of that research are presented in this report: an extension of an earlier laboratory investigation of fresh stability test methods to quantify the unique fresh behavior of SCC, and a field investigation of as-built material and long-term structural behavior in the first full-scale SCC girders produced and placed in an in-service bridge in Alabama. During the laboratory investigation, the Visual Stability Index, Sieve Stability, and Surface Settlement tests correlated most strongly to multiple measures of hardened concrete uniformity; a testing protocol utilizing these test methods is recommended. In the field investigation, the utilized SCC exhibited slightly increased time-dependent creep and shrinkage, at least in representative cylinders. Long-term SCC-girder prestress maintenance was found to be practically identical and at least as conservatively predictable as in companion, geometrically identical vibrated-concrete (VC) girders. Full-scale elastic responses to the weight of the cast-in-place deck and to service-level live loads were also practically identical in the SCC and VC girders, and SCC performed more conservatively than expected of VC of the same elastic stiffness. Use of cylinder-measured mechanical and time-dependent property results led to conservative predictions of full-scale behavior, and use of design properties led to highly conservative predictions. Based on these results, SCC is an acceptable alternative to VC for precast, prestressed girders when using current design and production procedures. KW - Alabama KW - Bridge construction KW - Creep KW - Elasticity (Mechanics) KW - Field studies KW - Girders KW - Laboratory studies KW - Prestressed concrete bridges KW - Self compacting concrete KW - Shrinkage KW - Vibrated concrete UR - https://eng.auburn.edu/files/centers/hrc/930799selfconsolidatingphaseii.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1371861 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01579200 AU - Ullman, Gerald AU - Schroeder, Jeremy AU - Battelle AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Guidance for Conducting Effective Work Zone Process Reviews PY - 2015/04 SP - 38p AB - All state highway agencies receiving Federal-aid funds are required to perform work zone process reviews every two years. These reviews are an opportunity for the agency to reexamine how it is meeting federal requirements in 23 CFR 630 Subparts J and K in accomplishing work zone safety and mobility management. These reviews help an agency evaluate its work zone safety and mobility-related policies and procedures as well as the effectiveness of its work zone impacts analyses and monitoring efforts, and ultimately, how well it manages those impacts. The intent of the document is to share good practices and methods that agencies have found worthwhile in conducting their process reviews. The goal is that this focused information will lead to more consistent and targeted improvements in agency work zone policies and procedures. This document includes tips for success in work zone process reviews, effective use of data and performance measures in process reviews, and insight for connecting process reviews with other work zone safety and mobility improvement efforts. KW - Best practices KW - Mobility KW - Performance measurement KW - Policy KW - State highway departments KW - Work zone safety KW - Work zones UR - http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop15013/fhwahop15013.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1371565 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01579187 AU - Hossain, Nur AU - Singh, Dharamveer AU - Zaman, Musharraf AU - Alam, Md Ridwanul AU - Rassel, S M Shazzad S AU - Timm, David AU - University of Oklahoma, Norman AU - Auburn University AU - Auburn University AU - Oklahoma Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Field Performance Monitoring and Modeling of Instrumented Pavement on I-35 in McClain County PY - 2015/04//Final Report SP - 64p AB - Phase 1 of this project was conducted to better understand the cause of pavement failure under actual traffic loading and environmental conditions. A 1,000-ft. long experimental pavement section was constructed on I-35 in McClain County and was instrumented for field data collection. The test section was designed to fail in a relatively short period of time under heavy interstate traffic. After approximately four years (from 2008 to 2012) of exposure to continuous interstate traffic and environment, the test section experienced significant rutting but no fatigue cracking. Therefore, the funding agency decided to monitor the test section for two additional years (from 2012 to 2014) as part of Phase 2 of the project. Additionally, a need for predicting distresses (i.e., rut, based on the site-specific data) using the Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) software was expressed. In Phase 2 of this project, the quarterly field testing (falling weight deflectometer (FWD), rut measurements, roughness measurements, and crack mapping) was performed on a quarterly basis. Also, the weekly downloading of traffic data and data processing were performed to allow updating of the rut prediction models developed in Phase 1 of this study. Site-specific (Level 1) input parameters for traffic, climate and materials were developed in this study. Furthermore, the rut prediction models in the MEPDG software were calibrated using the developed input parameters and measured rut depths from the test section. Laboratory tests (Hamburg rut, four point beam fatigue, volumetric properties, etc.) were performed on the extracted samples from the test section. Moreover, the contribution of different pavement layers to total rutting was assessed by a forensic investigation involving cutting full-depth trenches at three selected locations of the test section. KW - Calibration KW - Cracking KW - Field tests KW - Laboratory tests KW - Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide KW - Oklahoma KW - Pavement layers KW - Pavement performance KW - Roughness KW - Rutting KW - Test sections KW - Traffic loads UR - http://l92018.eos-intl.net/elibsql16_L92018_Documents/FHWA-OK-15-02%202200%20Zaman.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1370758 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01577861 AU - Raghunathan, Deepak AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Louisiana Demonstration Project: Maree Michel & Creek Bridges GRS-IBS Project PY - 2015/04//Final Technical Brief AB - As a part of the Highways for LIFE initiative, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provided a $376,572 grant to the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LADOTD) to replace two structurally deficient bridges over the Maree Michel Creek & Unnamed Creek. The bridge over the Unnamed Creek was a 24.1-foot by 20-foot treated timber trestle bridge, while the bridge over Maree Michel Creek was a 23.9-foot by 59-foot treated timber trestle bridge. The project was located on LA 91 in Vermilion Parish, between Gueydan to the north and the White Lake Conservation Area to the south. The small-scale project was intended to eliminate costs from the use of pile foundations by replacing two structurally deficient bridges over the Maree Michel Creek and Unnamed Creek. This project, selected and included into the Preservation Bridge (On System) Program for fiscal year 2012-2013, was a pilot for geosynthetic reinforced soil-integrated bridge system (GRS-IBS) construction. GRS-IBS and prefabricated bridge elements and systems (PBES) were the two innovations on this project. The project was let on August 14, 2013, and the construction began in November, 2014. The project is expected to be completed by August, 2015. The total construction costs incurred by LADOTD on this project, including mobilization and traffic control, were $3,062,056.10. The mobilization costs were $280,000.00, and the traffic control costs were $20,000. KW - Bridge construction KW - Bridge design KW - Bridge replacement KW - Costs KW - Demonstration projects KW - Geosynthetics KW - Highways for LIFE KW - Integral abutments KW - Louisiana KW - Mechanically stabilized earth KW - Prefabricated bridges KW - Technological innovations KW - Wooden bridges UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/Louisiana-HfL-Vermilion-Parish%20Creeks-Techbrief_Final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1370464 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01577856 AU - Bhajandas, Amar AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Maine Demonstration Project – Hotel Road (Littlefields Bridge) Replacement Using Superstructure Slide-In Technology PY - 2015/04//Final Report SP - 65p AB - As part of a national initiative sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration under the Highways for LIFE program, the Maine Department of Transportation was awarded a $580,000 grant to demonstrate the use of proven, innovative technologies for accelerated bridge removal and replacement. This report documents accelerated bridge construction techniques using prefabricated bridge elements and slide-in technology to replace Littlefields Bridge over Little Androscoggin River in Auburn. This report documents project/site challenges, construction details, use of glass fiber reinforced polymer rebars, use of precast elements for structural components, use of innovative incentive/disincentives to relocate utilities in an efficient and effective manner, and deployment of horizontal slide-in technology that did not require special equipment or specialty subcontractors. Under conventional construction methods, the project would have taken 4 months to build and would have required the construction of a temporary roadway and two-lane temporary bridge to channel traffic during construction. This would have required acquisition of right-of-way and relocation of residents. However, using precast elements and horizontal slide-in technology, the impact of the project’s construction was reduced to 33 days, during which the bridge was closed and traffic detoured. With its broader width, jointless construction, precast materials fabricated in a controlled environment, and high-performance deck reinforcement, the bridge is expected to demand less maintenance, last longer, and provide safer passage to the more than 10,000 daily users, including the many bicyclists who use this road. The project cost was about the same as the expected cost if conventional methods were used, but the innovative option resulted in an additional user cost savings of $59,795. Nonetheless, this experience provides Maine Department of Transportation personnel with an additional tool to rapidly renew and replace bridges. Because of the success of this project, Maine plans to use the horizontal slide-in technology on future projects where it is feasible and appropriate for conditions. KW - Bridge construction KW - Bridge replacement KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Demonstration projects KW - Glass fiber reinforced polymer rebars KW - Highways for LIFE KW - Jointless bridges KW - Lewiston-Auburn (Maine) KW - Maine KW - Prefabricated bridges KW - Slide-in technology KW - Technological innovations KW - Utility relocation UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/Maine-HfL-Littlefields_Final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1370466 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570405 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Improving Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSM&O): Capability Maturity Model Workshop White Paper: Performance Measurement PY - 2015/04 SP - 40p AB - Research done through the Second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) determined that agencies with the most effective transportation systems management and operations (TSM&O) activities were differentiated not by budgets or technical skills alone, but by the existence of critical processes and institutional arrangements tailored to the unique features of TSM&O applications. The significance of this finding has been validated in 40 State and regional self-assessment workshops using the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) and its six dimensions of organizational capabilities. This White Paper focuses on Performance Measurement as one of the central dimensions of capability needed to support effective transportation systems management and operations – including collaboration with public safety agencies, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), local government, and public-private partnerships. The Paper summarizes the TSM&O state-of-the-practice based on the Workshops and subsequent implementation plans developed at 23 sites selected by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) as part of SHRP 2 Implementation. KW - Assessments KW - Best practices KW - Capability Maturity Model KW - Cooperation KW - Implementation KW - Performance measurement KW - State of the practice KW - Strategic Highway Research Program 2 KW - Transportation operations KW - Transportation system management KW - Workshops UR - http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/docs/cmmwhitepapers/perfmeas/perfmea.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55200/55246/perfmea.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359501 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570308 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Improving Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSM&O): Capability Maturity Model Workshop White Paper: Business Processes PY - 2015/04 SP - 44p AB - Research done through the Second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) determined that agencies with the most effective transportation systems management and operations (TSM&O) activities were differentiated not by budgets or technical skills alone, but by the existence of critical processes and institutional arrangements tailored to the unique features of TSM&O applications. The significance of this finding has been validated in 40 State and regional self-assessment workshops using the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) and its six dimensions of organizational capabilities. This white paper focuses on Business Processes as one of the central dimensions of capability needed to support effective TSM&O, including planning, programming, and project development. It summarizes the TSM&O state-of-the-practice based on the workshops and subsequent implementation plans developed at 23 sites selected by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) as part of the SHRP 2 Implementation Assistance Program. KW - Assessments KW - Best practices KW - Business practices KW - Capability Maturity Model KW - Implementation KW - State of the practice KW - Strategic Highway Research Program 2 KW - Transportation operations KW - Transportation system management KW - Workshops UR - http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/docs/cmmwhitepapers/busprocess/buspro.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55200/55242/buspro.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359499 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570298 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Improving Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSM&O): Capability Maturity Model Workshop White Paper: Collaboration PY - 2015/04 SP - 40p AB - Research done through the Second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) determined that agencies with the most effective transportation systems management and operations (TSM&O) activities were differentiated not by budgets or technical skills alone, but by the existence of critical processes and institutional arrangements tailored to the unique features of TSM&O applications. The significance of this finding has been validated in 40 State and regional self-assessment workshops using the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) and its six dimensions of organizational capabilities. This white paper focuses on Collaboration as one of the central dimensions of capability needed to support effective TSM&O, including collaboration with public safety agencies, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), local governments, and public-private partnerships. It summarizes the TSM&O state-of-the-practice based on the workshops and subsequent implementation plans developed at 23 sites selected by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) as part of the SHRP 2 Implementation Assistance Program. KW - Assessments KW - Best practices KW - Capability Maturity Model KW - Cooperation KW - Implementation KW - State of the practice KW - Strategic Highway Research Program 2 KW - Transportation operations KW - Transportation system management KW - Workshops UR - http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/docs/cmmwhitepapers/collaboration/coll.pdf UR - http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/docs/cmmwhitepapers/collaboration/index.htm UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55200/55243/coll.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359504 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570294 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Improving Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSM&O): Capability Maturity Model Workshop White Paper: Culture PY - 2015/04 SP - 42p AB - Research done through the Second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) determined that agencies with the most effective transportation systems management and operations (TSM&O) activities were differentiated not by budgets or technical skills alone, but by the existence of critical processes and institutional arrangements tailored to the unique features of TSM&O applications. The significance of this finding has been validated in 40 State and regional self-assessment workshops using the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) and its six dimensions of organizational capabilities. This white paper focuses on Culture as one of the central dimensions of capability needed to support effective TSM&O including understanding and internalization of the business case, leadership via in-reach and outreach, and development of supporting policy, program and authorities. It summarizes the TSM&O state-of-the-practice based on the workshops and subsequent implementation plans developed at 23 sites selected by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) as part of the SHRP 2 Implementation Assistance Program. KW - Assessments KW - Best practices KW - Capability Maturity Model KW - Culture (Social sciences) KW - Implementation KW - State of the practice KW - Strategic Highway Research Program 2 KW - Transportation departments KW - Transportation operations KW - Transportation system management KW - Workshops UR - http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/docs/cmmwhitepapers/culture/cul.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55200/55244/cul.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359502 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570290 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Improving Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSM&O): Capability Maturity Model Workshop White Paper: Organization and Staffing PY - 2015/04 SP - 44p AB - Research done through the Second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) determined that agencies with the most effective transportation systems management and operations (TSM&O) activities were differentiated not by budgets or technical skills alone, but by the existence of critical processes and institutional arrangements tailored to the unique features of TSM&O applications. The significance of this finding has been validated in 40 State and regional self-assessment workshops using the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) and its six dimensions of organizational capabilities. This White Paper focuses on Organization and Staffing as one of the central dimensions of capability needed to support effective TSM&O – including program status, organizational structure and staff development, and recruitment and retention. It summarizes the TSM&O state-of-the-practice based on the workshops and subsequent implementation plans developed at 23 sites selected by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) as part of the SHRP 2 Implementation Assistance Program. KW - Assessments KW - Best practices KW - Capability Maturity Model KW - Implementation KW - Organization KW - Selection and appointment KW - State of the practice KW - Strategic Highway Research Program 2 KW - Transportation operations KW - Transportation system management KW - Workshops UR - http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/docs/cmmwhitepapers/orgstaff/orgstaf.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55200/55245/orgstaf.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359503 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570250 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Improving Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSM&O): Capability Maturity Model Workshop White Paper: Systems and Technology PY - 2015/04 SP - 36p AB - Research done through the Second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) determined that agencies with the most effective transportation systems management and operations (TSM&O) activities were differentiated not by budgets or technical skills alone, but by the existence of critical processes and institutional arrangements tailored to the unique features of TSM&O applications. The significance of this finding has been validated in 40 State and regional self-assessment workshops using the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) and its six dimensions of organizational capabilities. This White Paper focuses on Systems and Technology as one of the central dimensions of capability needed to support effective transportation systems management and operations – including collaboration with public safety agencies, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), local government, and public-private partnerships. The Paper summarizes the TSM&O state-of-the-practice based on the Workshops and subsequent implementation plans developed at 23 sites selected by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) as part of SHRP 2 Implementation. KW - Assessments KW - Best practices KW - Capability Maturity Model KW - Implementation KW - Intelligent transportation systems KW - State of the practice KW - Strategic Highway Research Program 2 KW - Technology KW - Transportation operations KW - Transportation system management KW - Workshops UR - http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/docs/cmmwhitepapers/systech/systech.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55200/55247/systech.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359500 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567423 AU - Arizona Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - The Collaborative Benefits of Using FHWA’s INVEST – Arizona Department of Transportation Sustainability Implementation PY - 2015/04//Final Report SP - 63p AB - The Federal Highways Administration (FHWA) has developed an online mechanism to aid in the development of innovative sustainable practices within a department of transportation. The Infrastructure Voluntary Evaluation Sustainability Tool (INVEST) may be utilized both on a state and local government level to document current best management practices and further analyze potential sustainable designs focused on achieving the Triple Bottom Line goals of meeting economic, environmental and social needs. The tool’s optimal performance is achieved when a collaborative effort is employed within any particular department of transportation. Through discussion of multiple disciplines, INVEST has the potential to transform an agency which may promote higher thinking and efficient use of funding while reaching or exceeding transportation needs. KW - Arizona Department of Transportation KW - Best practices KW - Cooperation KW - Evaluation KW - Infrastructure Voluntary Evaluation Sustainability Tool (INVEST) KW - Plan implementation KW - State departments of transportation KW - Sustainable transportation KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration UR - https://www.sustainablehighways.org/files/1210.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1358827 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567404 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - 2014 Urban Congestion Trends: Improved Data for Operations Decision Making PY - 2015/04 SP - 8p AB - The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) produces the Urban Congestion Trends report to document the current state of congestion and reliability in the largest urban areas in the United States and to highlight relevant operational strategies and performance management approaches that state and local transportation agencies are implementing successfully. Overall, congestion has increased from 2013 to 2014. The focus of this report is how operating the highway system can help address growing congestion. Understanding how the transportation system is operating through monitoring and measuring performance is a vital aspect of performance management, a new approach that is being implemented in part through the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) Performance Management requirements. UCR and this report demonstrate one approach to calculating these metrics with the newly available National Performance Management Research Data Set (NPMRDS), which includes actual, observed travel times on the National Highway System (NHS) and is available for use by state departments of transportation (DOTs) and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) for their performance management activities. This report includes examples of the use of NPMRDS data for creating the FHWA's Urban Congestion Report (UCR) and in one state DOT as well as case studies that highlight innovative ways states and communities throughout the United States have implemented effective operations and measured the impacts on congestion. This report concludes with a discussion of performance measure scalability and target setting, an important aspect of performance management. KW - Case studies KW - Decision making KW - Highway operations KW - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) KW - National Performance Management Research Data Set (NPMRDS) KW - Performance measurement KW - Traffic congestion KW - Traffic data KW - Traffic mitigation KW - Trend (Statistics) KW - United States KW - Urban areas UR - http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop15006/fhwahop15006.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1356905 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567340 AU - Huang, Yan AU - Wang, Qian AU - University of North Texas, Denton AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Existing Smartphone Applications and Data Needs for Travel Surveys PY - 2015/04//Technical Report SP - 88p AB - Current and reliable data on traffic movements play a key role in transportation planning, modeling, and air quality analysis. Traditional travel surveys conducted via paper-and-pencil or computer-aided are costly, time consuming, and labor intensive for survey conductors; and place significant burden to the survey participants. Furthermore the accuracy and completeness are susceptible to participants’ after-fact memory. On the other hand, smartphones are an integral part of daily life for many people in the world today. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project’s survey, in May 2011, 83% of U.S. adults have a cell phone and 42% of them own a smartphone. Many people today interact with their cell phones constantly to some degree through checking messages or emails, playing games, and talking. Smartphone applications have a great potential to lower the costs, reduce the burden, and increase the accuracy and completeness of travel surveys. This project evaluated existing smartphone applications for conducting travel surveys. The project compiled a list of the pioneering smartphone travel survey efforts and lessons learned, compared them, and analyzed their applicability to serve Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) survey needs. The project identified and installed a list of smartphone travel survey applications to thoroughly evaluate and compare their capabilities. The project summarized and classified the data elements collected by TxDOT surveys and built a prototype smartphone household survey app to validate that all the survey data can be collected using smartphones. The project discussed the opportunities and challenges in fully realizing the potential of using smartphone applications for travel surveys. KW - Data collection KW - Evaluation KW - Mobile applications KW - Smartphones KW - Texas Department of Transportation KW - Travel surveys UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6767-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1356034 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567324 AU - Patnaik, Anil AU - Liang, Robert AU - Musa, Abdisa AU - Marchetty, Srikanth AU - University of Akron AU - Ohio Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Rockfall Concrete Barrier Evaluation and Design Criteria PY - 2015/04//Final Report SP - 278p AB - Rockfall is the movement of rocks down a slope which may be in the form of freefall, bouncing, rolling and sliding based on the characteristics of slopes and nature of rocks. When the rockfalls reach the roadway, they are hazardous to roadway users. Standardized precast concrete barriers (PCB) or cast-in-place (CIP) concrete barriers are commonly used by Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) to protect the affected highways against rockfall hazards. Impact tests were conducted on full-scale PCB and CIP concrete barriers to determine the impact resistance of these types of barriers against rockfall. Manufactured or natural rocks of different sizes and shapes were dropped from ranges of drop heights based on the desired impact energy to capture the performance of these barriers under impact loading. Current ODOT standard details were modified to improve the impact resistance of such barriers. The test results indicated that impact energy absorption capacity of the revised barriers can be increased by more than 100% compared to that of the barriers with the current ODOT standard details. The rollout tests were conducted on three different slopes with CIP concrete barriers constructed at the bottom of these slopes. The first slope was made to an inclination of 30 degrees, the second slope with 45 degrees, and the third slope with 55 degrees. The test rocks were dropped on the top of the slope to roll down and impact the concrete barriers constructed along a ditch at the bottom of the slope. The impacting velocities, the trajectories of the rocks while rolling down the slopes and bounce heights were digitally captured with high speed cameras. The results obtained from rockfall simulation programs such as CRSP were validated using the field measurements obtained from these rollout tests. The results indicated that the predictions obtained from rockfall computer simulation programs generally underestimate the bounce heights and velocities, and consequently the energies delivered by the rocks at the impact location. KW - Barriers (Roads) KW - Cast in place concrete KW - Design KW - Energy absorption KW - Evaluation KW - Field tests KW - Impact tests KW - Ohio KW - Precast concrete KW - Rockfalls KW - Simulation UR - http://cdm16007.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p267401ccp2/id/12501 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1356976 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01565358 AU - Rasmussen, Benjamin K AU - Andrew, James AU - Simmons, Erica AU - Epstein, Alex AU - Colton, Paige AU - Daddio, David AU - Volpe National Transportation Systems Center AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service AU - Bureau of Land Management TI - Integrating Climate Change in Transportation and Land Use Scenario Planning: An Example from Central New Mexico PY - 2015/04//Final Report SP - 81p AB - The Central New Mexico Climate Change Scenario Planning Project, an Interagency Transportation, Land Use, and Climate Change Initiative, utilized a scenario planning process to develop a multiagency transportation- and land use-focused development strategy for the Albuquerque region of New Mexico to achieve a reduction in future greenhouse gas emissions and to prepare for the potential impacts of climate change on the region. The outcomes of this scenario planning process informed and supported the region’s long-range transportation planning and other related efforts as well as the planning efforts of local, State, and Federal agencies. Project members collaborated to document steps and offer observations and recommendations that will inform future applications of the project’s methodology. This information is presented in this report, and the appendices provide supporting documentation. Lead project sponsor was the Federal Highway Administration, with cosponsors the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish & Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service. KW - Albuquerque (New Mexico) KW - Climate change KW - Forecasting KW - Greenhouse gases KW - Land use planning KW - Recommendations KW - Transportation planning UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54900/54982/CCSP_Project_Report_Final_Report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1355718 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01565347 AU - King, William "Bill" AU - Mata, David AU - Cooper, Samuel B AU - Louisiana Transportation Research Center AU - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Rutting Distresses on I-20 Near Minden, LA PY - 2015/04//Technical Assistance Report SP - 29p AB - Noticeable rutting issues have been a problem for many years on a corridor of I-20, in both eastbound and westbound lanes, located near Minden, Louisiana and near the Webster-Bienville parish line. At the request of the Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) designers and District 04 engineers, the Louisiana Transportation Research Center (LTRC) asphalt research group performed a small scale forensic evaluation in December 2014. The request was made because a reconstruction project is planned and scheduled in an attempt to remediate the rutting issues observed. Evaluation of the site and asphalt cores retrieved showed considerable deterioration of the binder course due to its moisture susceptibility and due to inadequate moisture drainage. The support structure of the road was damaged and settling occurred on the surface layers causing severe rut issues. Based on these findings, full depth rehabilitation of the asphalt pavement is recommended. Additional breaking of the original Joint Reinforced Concrete Pavement (JRCP) should be performed in various areas of the old test sections. In addition, it is recommend that the current underdrain system be removed and replaced. KW - Asphalt concrete pavements KW - Binder course KW - Cores (Specimens) KW - Evaluation KW - Minden (Louisiana) KW - Moisture damage KW - Pavement distress KW - Recommendations KW - Rutting UR - https://www.ltrc.lsu.edu/pdf/2015/tar_1402TAB.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1355100 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01565342 AU - Finley, Melisa D AU - Songchitruksa, Praprut AU - Jenkins, Jacqueline AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Ohio Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Alternative Methods of Temporary Traffic Control on Rural One-lane, Two-way Highways PY - 2015/04//Final Report SP - 68p AB - This report describes the methodology and results of analyses performed to identify and evaluate alternative methods for rural, one-lane, two-way temporary traffic control for maintenance operations. Researchers assessed the state-of-the-practice, conducted field studies, compared agency costs and benefits, and conducted a motorist delay analysis. Based on the findings of this research, the research team recommended that the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) use red/yellow lens automated flagger assistance devices (AFADs) and portable traffic signals (PTSs), when appropriate, to control traffic approaching the one-lane section of a two-lane highway. AFADs are most suitable for short-term stationary operations that last a few hours up to one day. Due to their smaller size, AFADs are best suited for narrow roadways with limited to no shoulders. As the work duration increases, PTSs become a viable option. Due to the additional time it takes to deploy and setup PTSs, the work activity should last at least a half a day. Due to their larger size, PTSs are best suited for higher volume roadways with shoulders and relatively flat side slopes. Traditional flagging procedures should still be used at maintenance operations where these devices are not suitable due to work duration or other site/work characteristics. KW - Automated flagger assistance devices KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Evaluation KW - Field studies KW - Flaggers KW - Lane closure KW - Ohio KW - Portable equipment KW - Rural highways KW - State of the practice KW - Traffic control devices KW - Work zone traffic control UR - http://cdm16007.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p267401ccp2/id/12485 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1355565 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563633 AU - Wilson, Bryan T AU - Scullion, Tom AU - Estakhri, Cindy AU - Arellano, Mike AU - Blackmore, Tommy AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Thin Overlay Guidelines: Project Selection, Design, and Construction PY - 2015/04 SP - 16p AB - Thin hot mix asphalt (HMA) overlays are cost-effective, high-performance maintenance treatments. They can be laid at 1.0 to 0.5 inches thick and consist of quality aggregate and binder materials. The costs are generally more (per ton) than conventional overlay mixes; however, due to their thin application they cost less per square yard. This guidebook is based on the publication Austin District’s Guidelines on the Use of Thin Surface Mixes (TSMs). The authors have permission to reuse the content. This publication expands the discussion to other types of thin overlays and incorporates findings from project 0-6742. Sections include: What to look for and avoid in candidate projects; Materials and design; and Tips for successful construction. KW - Austin (Texas) KW - Guidelines KW - Hot mix asphalt KW - Mix design KW - Overlays (Pavements) KW - Pavement design KW - Pavement maintenance KW - Paving UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6742-P1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353212 ER - TY - SER AN - 01563567 JO - TechBrief PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Dylla, Heather L AU - Hansen, Kent R TI - Porous Asphalt Pavements with Stone Reservoirs PY - 2015/04 SP - 11p AB - Porous asphalt pavements with stone reservoirs are a multifunctional low impact development (LID) technology, which integrates ecological and environmental goals for a site with land development goals, reducing the net environmental impact for a project. Not only do they provide a strong pavement surface for parking, walkways, trails, and roads; they are designed to manage and treat stormwater runoff. With proper design and installation, porous asphalt pavements can provide a cost-effective solution for stormwater management in an environmentally friendly way. This Technical Brief provides an overview of the benefits, limitations and applications of porous asphalt pavements with stone reservoirs. Considerations for design and construction, as well as maintenance, are discussed. KW - Asphalt mixtures KW - Pavement design KW - Pavement maintenance KW - Paving KW - Porous pavements KW - Stone UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement/asphalt/pubs/hif15009.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1352935 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563561 AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Transit Administration TI - A Guide to Transportation Decisionmaking PY - 2015/04//Revised SP - 24p AB - This guide discusses the federally required process for transportation decisionmaking. The Federal role is to provide funds, guidance, and standards. State Departments of Transportation, local governments acting through Metropolitan Planning Organizations, and transit operators make transportation investment decisions. This guide is here to inform you how the transportation decisionmaking process uses your input to create a safer, more efficient transportation system that supports your community. Topics covered include the following: how the decisionmaking starts; the basics of transportation decisionmaking; the government and transportation decisionmaking; transportation plans and programs; putting the plans in place; funding transportation projects; communities and the environment in transportation planning; your role in the planning process; the goals of project development and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process; documenting decisions; and your role in project development. KW - Communities KW - Decision making KW - Financing KW - Guidelines KW - Handbooks KW - National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 KW - Public participation KW - Transportation planning UR - http://www.planning.dot.gov/documents/GuidetoTransportationDecisionmaking.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1352936 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563553 AU - Moore, Andrew AU - Williams, Chris AU - Al-Tarafany, Dhiaa AU - Felan, James AU - Massey, Josh AU - Nguyen, Trang AU - Schmidt, Katie AU - Wald, David AU - Bayrak, Oguzhan AU - Jirsa, James AU - Ghannoum, Wassim AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Shear Behavior of Spliced Post-Tensioned Girders PY - 2015/04//Technical Report SP - 219p AB - By its nature a spliced girder must contain a number of post-tensioning tendons throughout its length. The focus of the experimental program described in this dissertation is the evaluation of the strength and serviceability of post-tensioned girders loaded in shear, and, more specifically, how a post-tensioning duct located in the web of a girder affects the shear transfer mechanism of a bulb-tee cross-section. Due to the limited number of tests in the literature conducted on full-scale post-tensioned girders, eleven shear tests were performed on seven prestressed concrete bulb-tee girder specimens. Of these tests, ten were conducted on specimens that contained a post-tensioning duct within their web and additional pretensioning reinforcement in their bottom and top flanges. The remaining shear test was conducted on a control specimen that did not have a post-tensioning tendon but contained the same pretensioning reinforcement as the post-tensioned girder specimens. The behavioral characteristics of these eleven test specimens at service level shear forces and at their ultimate shear strengths were evaluated in regards to five primary experimental variables: (i) the presence of a post-tensioning duct, (ii) post-tensioning duct material (plastic or steel), (iii) web-width, (iv) duct diameter, and (v) the transverse reinforcement ratio. The findings of this experimental study are described in detail within this dissertation, but can be summarized by the following two points. (i) No differences were observed in the ultimate or service level shear behavior in girders containing plastic grouted ducts when compared to those containing steel grouted ducts and (ii) The current procedure of reducing the effective web width to account for the presence of a post-tensioning duct is ineffective because it addresses the incorrect shear transfer mechanism. A method that correctly addresses the reduction in shear strength due to the presence of a post-tensioning duct was developed and verified using the tests performed during this experimental program and tests reported in the literature. KW - Ducts KW - Girder bridges KW - Girders KW - Posttensioning KW - Prestressed concrete KW - Shear strength KW - Shear tests KW - Texas UR - http://library.ctr.utexas.edu/ctr-publications/0-6652-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1352899 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563531 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Initial Stage Reference Search: Behavioral Economics and Transportation PY - 2015/04 SP - 30p AB - The initial stage investigation is the beginning step in the Exploratory Advanced Research (EAR) Program process for exploring ideas across traditional and nontraditional fields of research and stimulating new approaches to problem solving. The process starts with a literature review and reference scanning to get a better understanding of active research in a particular topic area. This reference search identified published literature between 2012 and 2013 focusing on behavioral economics and transportation safety. Topics covered include: behavioral research, congestion, mode choice, monetary inducements for safety, pay-as-you drive insurance, and tolling. KW - Automobile insurance KW - Behavior KW - Exploratory Advanced Research Program KW - Literature reviews KW - Mode choice KW - Research reports KW - Tolls KW - Traffic congestion KW - Transportation safety UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/advancedresearch/pubs/15035/15035.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353191 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563514 AU - Taylor, Adam AU - Tran, Nam AU - National Center for Asphalt Technology AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Comparing Friction Reducers for Use in AMPT Testing PY - 2015/04//Final Report SP - 29p AB - The objective of this study was to evaluate methods of fabricating friction reducers for the flow number test to improve ease of fabrication and reduce variability of the test results. This study evaluated three two-layer latex friction reducers fabricated with paste silicone grease, dry-type silicone spray and wet-type silicone spray, each applied at two application rates, and a one-layer Teflon friction reducer. The results of this study showed that the Teflon friction reducer yielded statistically higher flow number test results than the two-layer latex friction reducers, except for the latex friction reducer using the Permatex wet type silicone spray applied at an application rate of 0.15 ± 0.02 g. The flow number test results for all the latex friction reducers using silicone lubricant were not statistically different. There was no specific trend indicating any effect of friction reducer silicone type or application rate on the variability (coefficient of variation) of flow number test results. In addition, the dynamic modulus testing conducted using the above latex and Teflon friction reducers showed that the effect of the friction reducers on the dynamic modulus test results was not statistically significant. It is recommended that only two-layer latex friction reducers be used for the flow number test as currently specified in American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) TP 79. The two latex layers can be greased using paste silicone, dry-type silicone spray and wet-type silicone spray at an application rate of 0.20 ± 0.05 g. As a result, the type of silicone used for the latex friction reducers (spray or paste) is a matter of preference of the technician running the test. The National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) technician noted she preferred the paste silicone while preparing the specimens for this study. However, this was while attempting to control the silicone application to a tolerance of 0.02 grams. In addition, a friction reducer used for the dynamic modulus test can be made of latex or Teflon material as currently specified in AASHTO TP 79, except that the latex friction reducer can be lubricated with paste or spray silicone grease at an application rate of 0.20 ± 0.05 g. KW - Asphalt Mixture Performance Tester KW - Asphalt mixtures KW - Dynamic modulus of elasticity KW - Flow measurement KW - Friction KW - Laboratory studies KW - Silicones KW - Test procedures UR - http://www.ncat.us/files/reports/2015/15-01.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1352939 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563512 AU - Donaldson, Bridget M AU - Crawley, Michael W AU - Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research AU - Virginia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Determining Animal Mortality Compost Maturity and Suitability for Road Project Applications for the Virginia Department of Transportation PY - 2015/04//Final Report SP - 42p AB - A series of studies on the effectiveness, feasibility, and costs of composting as a means of managing animal mortality removed from roadways has been conducted at the Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research (VCTIR). In these studies, three composting methods were evaluated for use by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and found to be effective: static compost windrows, a forced aeration system, and a rotary drum. Successful pilot studies at VDOT maintenance facilities have led to a growing interest in adopting this method of mortality management. As plans for additional composting vessels are underway, final tests are needed in order to develop guidance on composting procedures that generate mature, or finished, compost that is suitable for road project applications. The purpose of this study was to determine the time and treatment conditions necessary for VDOT compost vessels to generate mature compost and to evaluate the suitability of this compost for potential VDOT applications. Four methods were used to assess compost maturity: temperature monitoring, the Solvita compost maturity test, plant germination and growth tests, and qualitative observations. Tests were conducted on compost generated from the rotary drum and forced aeration system and on compost subsequently transferred to curing areas. The suitability of compost for road project applications was determined by testing compost for a suite of biological, physical, and chemical properties and conducting a demonstration project at a VDOT facility. Of the compost maturity tests, temperature decline was the most conservative indicator of finished compost. As determined primarily by temperature monitoring and supported by the other maturity tests, compost generated from the forced aeration system and rotary drum should be transferred to curing areas to cure for approximately 8 to 9 weeks. Mature compost generated from these vessels met the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s compost specifications for transportation applications. It is recommended that VCTIR and VDOT incorporate the findings of this study into a guidance document for VDOT animal mortality composting. KW - Compost KW - Demonstration projects KW - Evaluation KW - Maintenance practices KW - Road kill KW - Temperature KW - Virginia Department of Transportation KW - Waste management KW - Wildlife UR - http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/15-r21.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353216 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563477 AU - Middleton, Dan AU - Longmire, Ryan AU - Charara, Hassan AU - Bonneson, Jim AU - Geedipally, Srinivas AU - Ko, Myunghoon AU - Texas Transportation Institute AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Field Evaluation of Detection-Control System PY - 2015/04//Final Report SP - 118p AB - In this research, a field evaluation of the Detection-Control System (D-CS) was conducted at eight sites located in four States. D-CS is similar to a traditional advance detector system in that it uses information from detectors located upstream of the intersection to extend the green phase. However, it differs from traditional advance detector systems because it monitors individual vehicles on the intersection approach on a lane-by-lane basis and on a vehicle length basis. It uses this information to predict the best time to end the major-road through phase. The D-CS software continuously evaluates and updates this prediction in real time. The prediction is based on the number of vehicles currently in (or predicted to soon arrive in) the dilemma zone as well as the number of conflicting phases with a call for service. Based on the findings to date, D-CS is successful in reducing crashes in almost all cases where it has been evaluated. Crash surrogate measures of effectiveness provide corroborating evidence for this conclusion. Findings from a regression analysis for 1-h periods indicate that the after study periods experienced 82 percent fewer red-light violations, 73 percent fewer vehicles in the dilemma zone, and 51 percent fewer max-outs than the before study periods. State crash data indicate that by combining angle plus rear-end crashes (because of small sample sizes), D-CS reduced crashes by 9 percent. This result is not statistically significant at the 95-percent level. Given the supportive evidence that D-CS improves safety, other controller manufacturers might be willing to include D-CS as an option in their controllers. The Government is already considering ways to encourage signal controller manufacturers to include the D-CS algorithm in their signal controllers. KW - Before and after studies KW - Crash data KW - Dilemma zone KW - Evaluation KW - Highway safety KW - Regression analysis KW - Signalized intersections KW - Traffic signal controllers KW - Vehicle detectors UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/14058/14058.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353192 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563470 AU - Ceylan, Halil AU - Kim, Sunghwan AU - Gopalakrishnan, Kasthurirangan AU - Steffes, Robert F AU - Yang, Bo AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluating Roadway Subsurface Drainage Practices - Phase II PY - 2015/04//Final Report SP - 210p AB - Well-performing subsurface drainage systems form an important aspect of pavement design by the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT). The recently completed Iowa Highway Research Board (IHRB) project TR-643 provided extensive insights into Iowa subsurface drainage practices and pavement subdrain outlet performance. However, the project TR-643 (Phase I) forensic testing and evaluation were carried out in a drought year and during the fall season in 2012. Based on the findings of IHRB Project TR-643, the Iowa DOT requested an expanded Phase II study to address several additional research needs: evaluate the seasonal variation effects (dry fall 2012 versus wet spring/summer 2013, etc.) on subdrain outlet condition and performance; investigate the characteristics of tufa formation in Iowa subdrain outlets; investigate the condition of composite pavement subdrain outlets; examine the effect of resurfacing/widening/rehabilitation on subdrain outlets (e.g., the effects of patching on subdrain outlet performance); and identify a suitable drain outlet protection mechanism (like a headwall) and design for Iowa subdrain outlets based on a review of practices adopted by nearby states. A detailed forensic test plan was developed and executed for inspecting the Iowa pavement subdrains in pursuit of fulfilling the Phase II study objectives. The observed outlets with blockage and the associated surface distresses in newly constructed jointed plain concrete pavements (JPCPs) were slightly higher during summer 2013 compared to fall 2012. However, these differences are not significant. Less tufa formation due to the recycled portland cement concrete (RPCC) base was observed with (a) the use of plastic outlet pipe without the gate screen–type rodent guard and (b) the use of blended RPCC and virgin aggregate materials. In hot-mix asphalt (HMA) over JPCP, moisture-related distress types (e.g., reflection cracking) were observed more near blocked drainage outlet locations than near “no blockage” outlet locations. This finding indicates that compromised drainage outlet performance could accelerate the development of moisture-related distresses in Iowa composite pavement systems. KW - Concrete pavements KW - Hot mix asphalt KW - Iowa KW - Limestone KW - Pavement design KW - Pavement distress KW - Pavement maintenance KW - Pavement performance KW - Portland cement concrete KW - Seasons KW - Subdrains KW - Subsurface drainage UR - http://publications.iowa.gov/19446/1/IADOT_InTrans_Ceylan_Evaluating_Roadway_Subsurface_Drainage_Practices_Phase_II_2015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1352775 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563441 AU - Farzaneh, Reza AU - Kenney, Megan AU - Prozzi, Jolanda AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Project Consistency with Transportation Plans and Air Quality Conformity Workshops: Technical Report PY - 2015/04//Technical Report SP - 18p AB - This implementation project supports streamlined project delivery, one of the goals outlined by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) leadership to achieve an efficient and effective transportation system in Texas. The project benefits TxDOT divisions, districts, and metropolitan planning organizations during the project development process. This project was developed to help TxDOT implement the findings of TxDOT Project 0-6758: Maintaining Project Consistency with Transportation Plans throughout the Project Life Cycle with an Emphasis on Maintaining Air Quality Conformity. The research team organized and conducted four training workshops in Houston, El Paso, and Dallas District offices; and at the 2014 TxDOT Environmental Conference in Galveston. In addition to the training slides, the participants received the Project Consistency Guidebook, which documents procedures, tools, and recommendations to prevent and address project inconsistencies throughout the project development process. The research team collected and documented feedback from the participants. Researchers then finalized the training materials based on workshop feedback. The research team submitted the final training materials to TxDOT’s Human Resources Training Program for inclusion in the TxDOT employee training catalog and the TxDOT iWay training system. KW - Air quality management KW - Project delivery KW - Texas Department of Transportation KW - Training KW - Transportation planning KW - Workshops UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/5-6758-01-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353211 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563414 AU - Theiss, LuAnn AU - Swindell, Steven AU - Gillette, George F AU - Ullman, Gerald L AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Improved Business Driveway Delineation in Urban Work Zones PY - 2015/04//Technical Report SP - 74p AB - This report documents the efforts and results of a two-year research project aimed at improving driveway delineation in work zones. The first year of the project included a closed-course study to identify the most promising driveway delineation alternatives for further study. In the second year of the research project, the researchers performed a human factors study of alternative business driveway channelizing treatments in real work zones. The purpose of the research was to determine the effectiveness of alternative business driveway channelizing treatments over standard drum treatments. The alternative treatments included combinations of 18-inch tall low-profile longitudinal channelizing devices and 42-inch tall cones (i.e., grabber cones). Using paid participants who drove a instrumented vehicles, the researchers used driver eye-tracking equipment to compare differences in drivers’ visual attention while approaching business driveways with the various channelization treatments deployed. Other measures of effectiveness (MOEs) considered were detection distance, percentage of missed driveways, driver perception/recall of treatments, and driver preferences. While differences in the MOE were less pronounced during the day, the alternative channelizing treatments generally performed better than the standard drum treatment at night. KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Businesses KW - Drivers KW - Driveways KW - Eye movements KW - Human factors KW - Measures of effectiveness KW - Periods of the day KW - Traffic channelization KW - Traffic cones KW - Work zone traffic control UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6781-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1352150 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563410 AU - Schneider, Helmut AU - Newman, Eric AU - Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge AU - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development AU - National Center for Intermodal Transportation for Economic Competitiveness AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Development of a Tool for Documenting, Tracking, Recording, and Analyzing Improvements to Intersection Sites and Roadway Departures in Curve Locations PY - 2015/04//Final Report SP - 119p AB - The principal objectives and scope of this project were to provide a software tracking tool to improve decision-making for highway safety. A literature search revealed that purchasing and customizing existing software was not feasible and a new solution would be developed in-house. Requirement gathering and analysis was conducted and documented. The application was programmed as a web-based solution for collecting data on low-cost safety improvements and analyzing the effectiveness of the improvements. All programming and testing was conducted in house. The application was piloted by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD). Minor changes were programmed, as requested. Upon DOTD’s satisfaction of the final product, the application and user manual were delivered on schedule. KW - Computer program documentation KW - Data collection KW - Decision making KW - Highway curves KW - Highway safety KW - Intersections KW - Literature reviews KW - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development KW - Software KW - Web applications UR - http://www.ltrc.lsu.edu/pdf/2015/FR_540.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353232 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563399 AU - Moruza, Audrey K AU - Donaldson, Bridget M AU - Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research AU - Virginia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - An Evaluation of the Economics and Logistics of Animal Mortality Composting for the Virginia Department of Transportation PY - 2015/04//Final Report SP - 47p AB - Many maintenance facilities of the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) face a decreasing availability of the conventional methods of animal mortality disposal (i.e., landfills and burial of individual mortalities) and have a need for a viable alternative. Others are interested in an alternative means of managing mortality that will save time and labor. Recent studies found that static windrow composting and in-vessel forced aeration composting systems are useful and effective means of managing animal mortality for VDOT, but more information is needed with regard to their cost and feasibility. The purpose of this study was to determine the economic value of implementing a composting program for VDOT. A survey was used to gather general information on animal mortality management from VDOT’s area headquarters (AHQs). Weekly diaries were also collected from eight AHQs and two VDOT residencies over an 8-month period to gather more detailed information regarding their means of mortality management. With the use of these maintenance areas as case studies, cost models were developed that determined the costs or savings incurred from replacing the maintenance area’s current means of disposal with one of three composting methods: static windrows, a rotary drum, or a forced aeration composting system. The study found that even the most expensive composting option currently available to VDOT, the forced air system, is cost-effective when there is sufficient mortality volume. Under the assumptions of the cost models, with regard to the AHQs evaluated, purchasing and operating the current forced air system and rotary drum can save VDOT up to $54,000 and $36,500, respectively, within the lifetime of the vessels. Static windrows are always cost-effective when a free carbon source (i.e., woodchips from vegetative debris removal) is available. As a general rule with regard to the cost-effectiveness of composting, the start-up costs of the current forced aeration composting system should not exceed 22 times the operational savings from composting in the first year and the start-up costs of rotary drum composting should not exceed 14 times the operational savings from composting in the first year. To maximize the cost-effectiveness of composting, maintenance area superintendents who plan to use composting for animal mortality management should try to identify a no-cost carbon source; use finished compost for transportation project applications in place of purchasing comparable material; seek other maintenance areas with which to share composting facilities; and consider using static windrows whenever possible, including to supplement vessel composting during periods of high mortality. In addition, the Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research should pursue the design of a forced air system with a smaller capacity and lower construction costs than the one presently in use. This would increase the cost-effectiveness of composting for AHQs that do not have a readily available no-cost carbon source; that have smaller mortality volumes; and/or for which pooling of mortality with other AHQs is infeasible. VDOT can save costs by replacing current mortality management methods with a composting alternative and adopting supportive business practices. KW - Case studies KW - Compost KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Evaluation KW - Maintenance practices KW - Road kill KW - Surveys KW - Virginia Department of Transportation KW - Waste management KW - Wildlife UR - http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/15-r17.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353215 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01561597 AU - Wilson, Bryan T AU - Scullion, Tom AU - Faruk, Abu AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Design and Construction Issues of Thin HMA Overlays PY - 2015/04//Technical Report SP - 218p AB - While the overall implementation of thin hot mix asphalt (HMA) overlays in Texas has been successful, some issues need to be addressed: appropriate blending of surface aggregate classification (SAC) A and SAC B aggregate to ensure adequate skid resistance; best practices to achieve adequate bonding (surface prep and tack coats); and correct quality assurance test methods to achieve adequate compaction. The purpose of this research, therefore, was to address these concerns through laboratory and field testing. In addition, preliminary work to refine a crack propagation model for thin overlays was performed. Laboratory friction testing considered samples with two gradation types, four aggregates types, and five levels of aggregate blending. Samples were polished with simulated traffic in the lab and tested with the dynamic friction tester. Results show the terminal polish value for all designs with 100 percent SAC B replacement failed, as had designs with 50 and 75 percent blending of one SAC B+ and one marginal SAC B aggregate. SAC B replacement up to 25 percent was acceptable for all aggregates. Shear and tensile strength tests were developed to measure interlayer bond strength. A computer model suggested the maximum shear stress at a bonded thin-overlay interface is 120 psi. Bond strength tests were performed on laboratory samples made with two base mix types, two thin overlay types, 5 tack types (including non-tracking tacks), 3 tack rates, simulated milling, and moisture conditioning. Bond strength was most dependent on the mix type being bonded and compaction effort, and less on tack type and tack rate. In the tensile strength tests and half the shear tests, non-tracking tacks had higher strengths than samples using CSS-1H or no tack. No single non-tracking tack was found to have better performance than others. Variable tack rates of CSS-1H were only significant on dense-graded mixes. Low and moderate levels of tack provided the best bond. Milled samples had higher strength than unmilled samples in shear. A tack tracking test was developed to discern different non-tracking times during curing. Four compaction quality assurance test methods were used on three thin overlay projects. Properties measured were flow time with the current Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) permeability test, surface dielectric with high-frequency ground penetrating radar, mean profile depth (MPD) with the circular-track meter, and bulk density from field cores. Correlations of the tests were strong on a project-by-project basis, but generally not good when combining the data sets. Flow Time-MPD, Flow Time-Core Voids, and Surface Dielectric-Core Voids were best correlations overall. Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) provided support to TxDOT on many new thin overlay demonstration projects, ranging from mix design, performance testing, construction method recommendations, and bonding testing. Hand working of the thin overly mix (TOM)-B project caused problems with mat thickness and compaction uniformity. Using tack did not influence bond strength except for one fine-permeable friction course in shear testing. Thermal segregation problems were noted on two projects. Recommendations are contained in the draft specifications, including aggregate blending guidelines, bond strength testing, micro-milling, and minimum and maximum flow times for compaction quality control. KW - Aggregates KW - Asphalt mixtures KW - Bond strength (Materials) KW - Compaction KW - Evaluation KW - Field tests KW - Hot mix asphalt KW - Laboratory tests KW - Mix design KW - Overlays (Pavements) KW - Skid resistance KW - Test procedures KW - Texas UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6742-1.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54900/54960/0-6742-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1352014 ER - TY - SER AN - 01561595 JO - Civil Engineering Studies, Illinois Center for Transportation Series PB - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Buttlar, William G AU - Chiangmai, Chaiwat Na AU - Al-Qadi, Imad L AU - Murphy, Timothy R AU - Pine, William J AU - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Illinois Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Designing, Producing, and Constructing Fine-Graded Hot Mix Asphalt on Illinois Roadways PY - 2015/04 IS - 15-009 SP - 118p AB - Fine-graded (F-G) asphalt concrete mixtures are composed of an aggregate structure in which the fine fraction controls the load-carrying capacity of the mix. Other states have reported benefits in using F-G mixtures, including improved compaction, lower segregation, and lower permeability—resulting in longer life. Rutting concerns have been mitigated through the use of manufactured sand. This study investigates the feasibility of using F-G mixtures for IL 19.0 mm (3/4 in) asphalt binder courses in Illinois. A careful laboratory investigation, including mix designs guided by the Bailey Method, was conducted, then followed by extensive laboratory performance testing. Performance tests indicated that the F-G mixtures had equivalent or superior rut and crack resistance to a reference coarse-graded (C-G) control mixture. Limited field trials demonstrated the F-G mixtures were easier to compact, led to higher pay factors, and had significantly lower permeability than traditional C-G mixtures, while being similar in cost. Whether designing a coarse- or fine-graded mixture, optimum asphalt content will be the same when using the same materials and targeting the same voids in mineral aggregate (VMA) and voids level, provided asphalt absorption remains constant. Limited full-scale accelerated pavement tests also demonstrated similarity in rutting resistance between the C-G and F-G mixtures investigated. Recommendations for implementation of F-G mixtures are provided, along with a revised draft specification for 19.0 mm mixtures. The revised specification provides upward adjustments to the lower side of the gradation band at the primary control sieve to lessen the likelihood of designing segregation-prone binder mixtures and raises the upper band to permit F-G mixtures to be designed. These principles apply to surface course mixtures as well. KW - Cracking KW - Feasibility analysis KW - Field tests KW - Fine aggregates KW - Hot mix asphalt KW - Illinois KW - Laboratory tests KW - Mix design KW - Performance based specifications KW - Performance tests KW - Recommendations KW - Rutting UR - https://apps.ict.illinois.edu/projects/getfile.asp?id=3444 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1351228 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01561590 AU - Williams, Donald L AU - Jared, David M AU - King, William "Bill" AU - Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research AU - Virginia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Virginia and West Virginia’s Transportation Research Co–Peer Exchange (June 22–26, 2014) PY - 2015/04//Final Report SP - 45p AB - To be eligible for managing State Planning and Research (SP&R) funds, a state must agree to a peer review of its management process with regard to Research, Development, and Technology Transfer (RD&T2) efforts. Specifically, the federal regulation regarding this requirement is 23 CFR 420, Subpart B. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) interpreted the regulation as requiring an exchange of information regarding the various practices a state uses to manage its RD&T2 program. The intent of the regulation was to strengthen weak programs and enhance strong programs with a sharing of ideas. The peer exchange panels are typically composed of state research managers and FHWA, university, or industry personnel, at least two of whom must have received training on peer exchange procedures and guidelines provided by the FHWA and be listed by the FHWA as a qualified peer exchange team member. Peer exchanges are generally conducted in an informal atmosphere and last from two to four days. Techniques used to gather the information needed by the peer exchange panel include discussion of individual state practices and brainstorming sessions on the focus areas of interest to the host state. Open-ended questions are used during the interview sessions to solicit the strengths and weaknesses of the program from the user’s perspective. From June 22 through 26, 2014, the Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research (VCTIR) hosted Virginia and West Virginia’s Transportation Research Co–Peer Exchange (hereinafter co–peer exchange) with state department of transportation (DOT) research managers/directors from Georgia, Louisiana, Virginia, and West Virginia and representatives of the Virginia and West Virginia divisions of the FHWA. The Research and Special Studies Section of the West Virginia Department of Transportation’s (WVDOT) Division of Highways is in the planning stages of developing an innovation center and wished to learn from these states. VCTIR was interested in implementation successes and lessons learned. KW - Georgia Department of Transportation KW - Implementation KW - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development KW - Peer exchange KW - Research management KW - State departments of transportation KW - Virginia Department of Transportation KW - West Virginia Department of Transportation UR - http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/15-r14.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55000/55059/15-r14__1_.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1351427 ER - TY - SER AN - 01561583 JO - Civil Engineering Studies, Illinois Center for Transportation Series PB - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Nixon, Wilfrid A AU - Gerard, Anissa AU - University of Iowa, Iowa City AU - Illinois Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Development of Chloride Reduction Training PY - 2015/04 IS - 15-010 SP - 97p AB - The purpose of this project was to create a training program that could be used for Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) personnel who operated snow plows and spread road salt during winter storms. The training message was built around the three main goals of winter maintenance: safety, mobility, and environmental protection. The concept of winter maintenance operations being a system was introduced early in the training and stressed throughout. Another goal of the project was to develop a method or tool by which the effectiveness of the training could be measured. Achieving that goal requires the ability to compare quantities of salt used by IDOT (or some subset of IDOT, such as a maintenance garage) over winters before and after the training is provided. The method presented herein uses a storm severity index, summed over the whole winter season. This allows for comparison between two winters to be made by use of the index. Thus, as shown in the report, for the Moline maintenance district, the winter of 2012–13 can be compared with the winter of 2013–14. This comparison shows that the cumulative index for the 2012–13 winter was 13.20, while it was 26.88 for the 2013–14 winter. In other words the winter of 2013–14 was significantly worse than the winter that preceded it. KW - Before and after studies KW - Deicing chemicals KW - Illinois Department of Transportation KW - Moline (Illinois) KW - Performance measurement KW - Snow and ice control KW - Snowplows KW - Training KW - Winter maintenance UR - https://apps.ict.illinois.edu/projects/getfile.asp?id=3458 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1352017 ER - TY - SER AN - 01561010 JO - Historic Roads of Virginia PB - Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research AU - Duncan, Patricia B AU - Miller, Ann Brush AU - Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research AU - Virginia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Loudoun County Road Orders 1783-1800 PY - 2015/04//Final Report SP - 568p 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 and other significant areas, also lay the foundation for additional research by local groups over a broad area of Virginia. This volume marks the twenty-ninth entry in the Historic Roads of Virginia series, initiated in 1973 by the Virginia Highway & Transportation Research Council (subsequently the Virginia Transportation Research Council, and now the Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research). Loudoun County Road Orders 1783-1800 is a cooperative effort of the Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research and independent researcher Patricia B. Duncan. This volume furthers the coverage of early northern Virginia transportation records begun in the previously published Loudoun County Road Orders 1757-1783, Fairfax County Road Orders 1749-1800, Frederick County Road Orders 1743-1772, and Orange County Road Orders 1734-1749. This volume covers the period from the years immediately following the end of the Revolutionary War through the end of the 18th century. By the last half of the 18th century, Loudoun County was already one of the most populous and economically important counties in northern Virginia, and it contained major east-west and north-south transportation routes. The county’s early transportation records provide important information relating to transportation connections with not only neighboring counties and other southern counties in Virginia but also with the Washington, D.C., region and the adjoining states of Maryland and what is now West Virginia. This publication will have particular application to the cultural resource research relating to transportation projects in this area of northern Virginia. This information will eliminate the need for further research into the early Loudoun County road order records. If questions arise about early roads once a Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) road improvement project is already underway (or nearly underway), primary historical research of this nature can take 6 to 12 months to complete. Therefore, this volume 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 - Loudoun County (Virginia) KW - Road construction KW - Road orders KW - Roads UR - http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/15-r18.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1351367 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560874 AU - Rupnow, Tyson D AU - Icenogle, Patrick AU - Louisiana Transportation Research Center AU - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Comparison of Conventional and Self-Consolidating Concrete for Drilled Shaft Construction PY - 2015/04//Final Report SP - 48p AB - Many entities currently use self-consolidating concrete (SCC), especially for drilled shaft construction. This project investigated the use of SCC and various test methods to assess the suitability of SCC in underwater placement conditions. Eight mixtures were prepared in the laboratory; the fresh properties of slump-flow, J-ring, set time, and washout characteristics were measured. Hardened properties tested included compressive and flexural strength, modulus of elasticity, and surface resistivity. The fresh concrete results of SCC showed that SCC produced with a No. 8 crushed stone or No. 8 gravel is adequate in terms of workability and strength with the use of a high range water reducer. The L-box test results were varied across all mixtures and the method was abandoned in favor of the washout test. The washout test results showed that for SCC mixtures being placed in an underwater condition, the addition of a viscosity modifying agent (VMA) greatly enhances the resistance of said concrete to washout. Compressive and flexural strengths showed that SCC will be adequate for nearly all structural concrete and drilled shaft applications. The modulus of elasticity values for mixtures tested were slightly increased compared to traditional concrete values showing that the SCC mixtures are particularly suited for drilled shaft construction. Surface resistivity values were slightly depressed for laboratory mixtures at 28-days of age, but field cast SCC mixtures will incorporate, not only additional SCMs but a greater proportion of SCMs, leading to increased resistivity values to meet the specification. Field construction results showed that the mixture was resistant to washout, exhibited excellent workability properties, and had excellent strength characteristics. The authors recommend incorporating SCC into the standards and specifications for Departmental use. At a minimum, Sections VIII and IV should be amended to include appropriate language allowing the use of said mixtures. The use of SCC in an underwater placement condition should require the use of a viscosity modifier. KW - Admixtures KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Bridge construction KW - Electrical resistivity KW - Louisiana KW - Modulus of elasticity KW - Self compacting concrete KW - Shaft sinking KW - Strength of materials KW - Underwater construction KW - Viscosity KW - Workability UR - http://www.ltrc.lsu.edu/pdf/2015/FR_533.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1351359 ER - TY - SER AN - 01560683 JO - TechBrief PB - Federal Highway Administration TI - Lightweight Concrete: Shear Performance PY - 2015/04 SP - 20p AB - This document is a technical summary of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) report "Lightweight Concrete: Shear Performance" (FHWA-HRT-15-022). Concrete with a unit weight between that of traditional lightweight concrete and normal-weight concrete (NWC) is not covered in the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) Bridge Design Specifications. As part of an effort to address this and other perceived shortcomings in how the specification addresses lightweight concrete and how lightweight concrete is deployed in bridges, research was completed to assess the shear performance of these different density concretes. Thirty full-scale precast, prestressed girder tests were completed, and a database of shear performance results was developed that covered a wide range of concrete densities. Proposed revisions to the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications were developed and are presented as part of a framework that addresses the performance of structural concrete as a function of density. KW - AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications KW - Bridges KW - Density KW - Girders KW - Lightweight concrete KW - Prestressed concrete KW - Shear tests UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/structures/bridge/15021/15021.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1350627 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560470 AU - Lorenzini, Karen AU - Bhat, Chandra AU - Geiselbrecht, Tina AU - Overman, John AU - Paleti, Rajesh AU - Narayanamoorthy, Sriram AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute, College Station AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Managing the TDM Process : Developing MPO Institutional Capacity PY - 2015/04//Technical Report SP - 186p AB - Within Texas, the development of urban travel demand models (TDMs) is a cooperative process between the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs). Though TxDOT-Transportation Planning and Programming Division is responsible for developing and validating TDMs for many of the Texas MPOs, the MPOs play an important role in model development by providing the demographic data and regional roadway information required for model development and forecast applications. Like other MPOs nationwide, Texas MPOs struggle with the difficulties of limited resources, time, and staff for the development of accurate and reliable TDMs. Owing to the cooperative process between TxDOT and Texas MPOs, and the different sizes and staff resources among Texas MPOs dedicated to model development, the MPOs in Texas have different needs and challenges in this regard. This project researches current practices, trends, and innovations by MPOs in Texas and nationwide for managing this process. The goal is to assist MPOs in developing institutional capacity to undertake travel-related technical analyses in a complete and timely manner. While the results from the study include tiered recommendations appropriate for MPOs of all sizes, the focus is on small- and medium-sized MPOs with limited staff and data resources for providing information for developing models. In addition to this report, a product of this research includes a training course targeting MPO directors or those leading TDM tasks for an MPO. KW - Metropolitan planning organizations KW - Texas KW - Texas Department of Transportation KW - Transportation planning KW - Travel demand UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6691-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1350337 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01579634 AU - Liu, Xiaoyue Cathy AU - Chen, Zhuo AU - University of Utah, Salt Lake City AU - Utah Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Data-driven Freeway Performance Evaluation Framework for Project Prioritization and Decision Making PY - 2015/03/31/Draft Final Report SP - 59p AB - This report describes methods that potentially can be incorporated into the performance monitoring and planning processes for freeway performance evaluation and decision making. Reliability analysis is conducted on the selected I-15 corridor by employing congestion frequency as the performance measure and hot spots during peak hours are identified through sensitivity analysis. A data-driven algorithm combining spatiotemporal analysis and shockwave theory is developed and applied to historical traffic data and incident records to determine the secondary incidents. The results show that the occurrence of secondary incidents is highly related to weather and roadway conditions. Incident-induced delay is further quantified through spatiotemporal pattern recognition. The average delay induced by incidents aligns well with the incidents’ severity and impact. There were several hot spots suffering from higher delays and these are explored in further details. A statistical mechanism is developed to determine the adverse weather impact on travel. Using the weather records in 2013 and mapping with the PeMS traffic database, the volume and delay under normal condition are estimated and compared with the condition under adverse weather. The analysis of different roadway conditions reveals that the general parabolic pattern of speed and volume disappear under severe adverse weather condition. The mechanism is able to identify the causes for reduced volume under a variety of scenarios through empirical data, either due to roadway capacity reduction or travel demand reduction. KW - Algorithms KW - Decision making KW - Evaluation KW - Freeways KW - Performance measurement KW - Sensitivity analysis KW - Traffic congestion KW - Traffic data KW - Traffic delays KW - Traffic incidents KW - Traffic volume KW - Utah KW - Weather conditions UR - http://www.udot.utah.gov/main/uconowner.gf?n=24706713006892199 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1372569 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01568659 AU - Bohmholdt, Andrea AU - Weiss, Jason AU - AECOM AU - LMI AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Department of Transportation TI - Smart Roadside Initiative Macro Benefit Analysis: User’s Guide for the Benefit-Cost Analysis Tool PY - 2015/03/31/Final Report SP - 48p AB - Through the Smart Roadside Initiative (SRI), a Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA) tool was developed for the evaluation of various new transportation technologies at a State level and to provide results that could support technology adoption by a State Department of Transportation (DOT). The BCA tool provides general guidance on the cost-effectiveness of implementing a freight-related transportation technology and the use of State resources. The BCA tool can be used to evaluate a transportation-related technology after development and prototype testing have been completed. The BCA tool is designed to evaluate the new technology’s economic (to the agency), social (to road users), and environmental impacts. This document has been prepared as a user’s guide to provide analysts with an understanding of how to use the BCA tool. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Computer program documentation KW - Environmental impacts KW - Freight transportation KW - Impacts KW - State departments of transportation KW - Technological innovations UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55000/55003/Revised2_-_SRI_Macro_Benefit_Analysis_Project_Report-March_2015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1358912 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01559061 TI - Research for AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways. Task 364. Revision of AASHTO PP-74 Test Method for Optical Sizing and Roundness Determination of Glass Beads Utilized in Traffic Markings AB - The objective of this study is to revise American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) PP 74 to be applicable for use with optical computerized particle analyzers entered into the market since the development of the test method in 2011. The precision estimates of the test shall also be updated by including the measurements made with the new equipment. KW - Computerized particle analyzer KW - Glass beads KW - Measurement KW - Road markings KW - Size KW - Test procedures UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3810 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1347985 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01599222 AU - Von Quintus, Harold L AU - Darter, Michael I AU - Bhattacharya, Biplab AU - Titus-Glover, Leslie AU - Applied Research Associates AU - Georgia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Calibration of the MEPDG Transfer Functions in Georgia PY - 2015/03/28/Task 4 Interim Report – Task Order #2 SP - 112p AB - The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) currently uses the empirical 1972 American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Interim Guide for Design of Pavement Structures as their standard pavement design procedure. However, GDOT plans to transition to the Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) for designing new and rehabilitated highway pavements. As a part of the transitioning process, GDOT has sponsored an implementation project. One part of the implementation project is to verify the MEPDG global distress transfer functions and calibrate these functions to local conditions, if determined to be necessary. The Georgia Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) and non-LTPP roadway segments were used for this verification-calibration process. As noted above, one objective of the implementation project was to verify or confirm that the MEPDG transfer functions and global calibration coefficients derived from National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) project 1-40D reasonably predict distresses and smoothness in Georgia. The Task 2 interim report focused on using the Georgia LTPP test sections to confirm the applicability of the global calibration coefficients. The Task 2 interim report concluded some of the transfer functions exhibited significant bias between the measured and predicted distress and require local calibration. This report documents the local calibration of the transfer functions using LTPP and non-LTPP roadway segments. The calibration process follows the procedure presented in the 2010 AASHTO MEPDG Local Calibration Guide. Local calibration coefficients were derived to remove that bias for the rutting, fatigue cracking, and thermal cracking transfer functions of flexible pavements, and the faulting and fatigue cracking transfer functions of rigid pavements. The global coefficients of the smoothness degradation regression equation for flexible and rigid pavements were also checked for their applicability to Georgia conditions. KW - Long-Term Pavement Performance Program KW - Calibration KW - Georgia KW - Implementation KW - Mechanistic-empirical pavement design KW - Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide KW - Pavement distress KW - Pavement performance KW - Smoothness KW - Test sections UR - http://g92018.eos-intl.net/eLibSQL14_G92018_Documents/11-17%20Task%20Order%202.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1405569 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01558306 TI - Proposed AASHTO Guide for Bridge Preservation Actions AB - Many transportation departments have significant practical experience with bridge preservation and have developed conclusions regarding the effectiveness of bridge preservation actions based on those experiences. However, limited efforts have been made to identify, measure, evaluate, and document the short- and long-term performance of specific bridge preservation actions. Bridge preservation consists of actions to deter or correct deterioration of a bridge to extend its useful (service) life and does not entail structural or operational improvements beyond the originally designed strength or capacity of the bridge. Often practitioners apply preservation strategies on the basis of judgment or common sense using available resources. However, it is difficult to translate these strategies into coherent and convincing arguments in the absence of a quantitative measurement of bridge preservation effectiveness. The objective of this research is to develop a bridge preservation guide for possible adoption by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). The proposed AASHTO guide shall be developed based on data to be collected from representative agencies. At the minimum, the guide shall include: (1) a catalog of bridge element preservation actions and (2) the criteria and selection methodology of bridge preservation actions with associated costs and benefits for use in life cycle cost analysis and possible integration into a bridge management system. Accomplishment of the project objective will require at least the following tasks: Proposers are asked to develop a detailed research plan for accomplishing the project objective. Proposers are expected to describe research plans that can realistically be accomplished within the constraints of available funds and contract time. Proposals must present the proposers' current thinking in sufficient detail to demonstrate their understanding of the issues and the soundness of their approach to meeting the research objective. The work proposed for each phase must be divided into tasks and proposers must describe the work proposed in each task in detail. PHASE I - Planning: Task 1. Conduct a critical review of existing technical literature, pertinent international and domestic scans, the reports prepared under National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Project 14-23 (see Special Note A), and other NCHRP projects. In addition, the review should include owner and industry practices, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Long Term Bridge Performance (LTBP) Program, and other research findings from both foreign and domestic sources. Task 2. Identify the required data to be collected in order to achieve the research objective and propose 8 agencies for data collection considering diverse service environments. The project panel will select at least 4 agencies for data collections under Phase II. Task 3. Prepare a list of bridge preservation actions to be developed under Phase II. Task 4. Prepare a detailed outline of proposed AASHTO guide. Task 5. Develop the data archiving and sharing plan as described in Special Note C. Task 6.Prepare Interim Report No. 1 that documents Tasks 1 through 5 of Phase I and provides an updated work plan for the remainder of the project no later than 3 months after contract award. The updated plan must describe the process and rationale for the work proposed for Phases II through IV Note: Following a 1-month review by the NCHRP, the research team will be required to meet with the project panel to discuss Interim Report No. 1, if necessary. Work on Phases II through IV of the project will not begin until authorized by the NCHRP. Phase I shall be limited to $15,000. PHASE II - Catalog of Bridge Preservation Actions: Task 7. Collect and perform data mining to achieve the research objective. Information from agencies should be augmented by documented research. Task 8. Develop the catalog of bridge preservation actions focusing on the bridge elements that significantly impact the bridge service life (e.g., bridge deck, joints, coated steel, etc.). At a minimum, the catalog shall include: action type; material; description; cost; and how long the action lasts and when it should be applied based on condition. Task 9. Propose a method, for further analysis in Phase III, to establish the criteria and selection methodology of bridge preservation actions using life cycle cost analysis with supporting examples. Task 10. Prepare an annotated description of each section and subsection of the proposed guide along with the expected level of detail of each subsection. Task 11. Prepare Interim Report No. 2 that documents Tasks 7 through 10 of Phase II and provides an updated work plan for the remainder of the project no later than 6 months after Phase I approval. The updated plan must describe the process and rationale for the work proposed for Phases III through IV. Note: The contractor shall meet with the project panel 1 month after submission of Phase II deliverables. Work on Phase III of the project will not begin until Interim Report No. 2 is approved and the work plan is authorized by the NCHRP. Phase II shall be limited to $85,000. PHASE III - Draft Guide for Bridge Preservation Actions: Task 12. Establish the analysis of the proposed method according to the approved Task 9. Task 13. Prepare the proposed AASHTO guide based on the outcome of previous tasks Task 14. Prepare Interim Report No. 3 that documents the result of Tasks 12 and 13 no later than 8 months after approval of Phase II. Note: Work on Phase IV of the project will not begin until authorized by the NCHRP. PHASE IV - Final Products: Task 15. Update the proposed AASHTO guide after consideration of review comments. Task 16. Prepare a final report that documents the entire research effort. Note: Phases III through IV shall be limited to $200,000. Following receipt of the draft final report, the remaining 3 months shall be for NCHRP review and comment and for research agency response and preparation of the revised final report. SPECIAL NOTES: The agency final deliverables (final report, handbook sections, and Appendix E) prepared under NCHRP Project 14-23 contain information on possible bridge preservation actions. Proposers are encouraged to review these materials and, if appropriate, to consider the described bridge preservation actions as a basis for the bridge preservation actions that will be developed in this research. A. The agency final deliverables are available at: http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/docs/NCHRP14-23_FR-ReportSections.pdf http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/docs/NCHRP14-23_FR-HandbookSections.pdf http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/docs/NCHRP14-23_FR-AppendixETables.pdf B. The research team should anticipate making two presentations to appropriate AASHTO technical committees of the AASHTO Highway Subcommittees. C. To ensure that data produced under this project are accessible, a data archiving and sharing plan shall be prepared by the agency performing research. The plan must be submitted in Phase I and shall include a description of expected activities, schedules, limitations, milestones, and required resources. Researchers should describe briefly the expected schedule for data production and archiving in the NCHRP permanent repository, the format of the final dataset, the documentation to be provided, and whether or not any analytic tools and/or results also will be provided. The plan must include a description of actions planned to ensure quality. Moreover, the plan must specify the resources required to archive and distribute the data expected to be obtained in the course of performing the research. In general, public release of data will not occur before full review and approval by the NCHRP project panel. The data archiving and sharing plan must include the following sections: (1) Background and significance KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Bridges KW - Guidelines KW - Life cycle costing KW - Preservation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3951 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1347744 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01573298 TI - TRB Core Program Services for a Highway RD&T Program - FFY 2015 (TRB FY 2016) AB - The objective of this research project is to provide a mechanism for state transportation departments to support the Transportation Research Board's (TRB's) core program and services. KW - Development KW - Highways KW - Research KW - State departments of transportation KW - Technology KW - Transportation Research Board UR - http://www.pooledfund.org/Details/Study/570 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366522 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01567094 TI - High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV)/Managed Use Lane (MUL) AB - The goal of this study is to assemble regional, State, and local agencies, service providers, and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to: (1) identify issues that are common among agencies that manage roadway lanes as a tool to reduce congestion and optimize facility usage; (2) suggest projects and initiatives to advance practice; (3) select and initiate projects intended to address identified issues; (4) identify recommendations and potential solutions, and (5) disseminate results. KW - High occupancy vehicle lanes KW - Highway operations KW - Managed lanes KW - Optimization KW - Traffic congestion KW - Traffic control KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration UR - http://www.pooledfund.org/Details/Study/571 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1358878 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01563736 TI - Underwater Noise Attenuation Experimental Methods AB - The study objectives are to develop and field test underwater noise attenuation devices in marine and esturine waters to meet thresholds established to protect Ecological Society of America (ESA) listed specials and Marine Mammals. KW - Environmental protection KW - Field tests KW - Marine mammals KW - Noise control KW - Sound attenuation KW - Underwater sound UR - http://www.pooledfund.org/Details/Study/572 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1354918 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01575246 AU - Newton, Diane AU - Leidos AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Department of Transportation TI - Freight Advanced Traveler Information System (FRATIS) Dallas-Fort Worth – As-Built System Architecture and Design PY - 2015/03/20/Final Report SP - 43p AB - This document describes the As-Built System Architecture and Design for the Freight Advanced Traveler Information System (FRATIS) Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) prototype system. The FRATIS prototype in DFW consisted of the following components: optimization algorithm, terminal wait time, route specific navigation/traffic/weather, and advanced notice to terminals. The high level architecture is described for each of the recommended component options. KW - Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Area KW - Freight Advanced Traveler Information System (FRATIS) KW - Freight transportation KW - Prototypes KW - System architecture KW - System design UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55300/55303/fratis_dfw_sad_final_508.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366764 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01600753 AU - Scopatz, Robert A AU - Gross, Francis AU - Himes, Scott AU - Anderson, Steven AU - Jackson, Eric AU - Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Incorporated AU - University of Connecticut, Storrs AU - Connecticut Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Connecticut Department of Transportation Safety Techniques Enhancement Plan PY - 2015/03/18/Final Report SP - 83p AB - The Highway Safety Manual (HSM) defines a six-step cycle of safety management processes. This report evaluates the Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT) on how well it conforms to the six safety management steps. The methods recommended in the HSM require additional skills and analytic tools that ConnDOT will need to acquire through training or external sources. In addition, the HSM (Part C) includes a description of Predictive Methods that ConnDOT should consider adopting for use in alternatives analysis and the design exception process of highway design. This Safety Techniques Enhancement Plan provides recommendations for improvement in each step of the safety management process and a strategic plan for achieving the vision established by the stakeholders: Connecticut has a rigorous, efficient, and automated safety management process coupled with experienced and expert staff that can use the results to improve decision-making on the entire transportation network. The document concludes with an Action Plan that shows the Goals, Objectives, Tasks, and steps to improving ConnDOT’s safety analyses and decision-making processes. The Strategic Plan is designed for easy tracking and maintenance by the involved parties within ConnDOT so that a status report on all action items can be available at any time. KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Connecticut Department of Transportation KW - Decision making KW - Highway design KW - Highway Safety Manual KW - Recommendations KW - Safety management KW - Strategic planning UR - http://www.ct.gov/dot/lib/dot/documents/dpolicy/research/CT-2287-F-15-4.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1408431 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576256 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Road Diet Case Studies PY - 2015/03/18 SP - 52p AB - A Road Diet is generally described as removing vehicle lanes from a roadway and reallocating the extra space for other uses or travelling modes, such as parking, sidewalks, bicycle lanes, transit use, turn lanes, medians or pedestrian refuge islands. Road Diets have the potential to improve safety, provide operational benefits, and increase the quality of life for all road users. Road Diets can be relatively low cost if planned in conjunction with reconstruction or resurfacing projects since applying Road Diets consists primarily of restriping. The aim of this document is to provide State and local agencies and Tribal governments with examples and advice that can assist them in planning and implementing Road Diets in their own jurisdictions. Twenty four case studies highlighting Road Diet implementation throughout the United States are included. KW - Case studies KW - Highway design KW - Highway safety KW - Implementation KW - Road diets KW - Traffic lanes KW - United States UR - http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/road_diets/case_studies/roaddiet_cs.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1367857 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01596747 AU - McGehee, Daniel V AU - Brewer, Mark AU - Schwarz, Chris AU - Smith, Bryant Walker AU - University of Iowa, Iowa City AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Review of Automated Vehicle Technology: Policy and Implementation Implications PY - 2015/03/14/Version 1.0 SP - 41p AB - The goals of this project were to undergo a systematic review of automated vehicle technologies with a focus on policy implications, methods of implementation, regulation by states, and developments occurring on legal fronts, ultimately creating a set of policy recommendations and questions for further research. This report provides the following recommendations for the state of Iowa over the next five years: (1) Encouraging automation by preparing government agencies, infrastructure, leveraging procurement, and advocating for safety mandates; (2) Adjusting long range planning processes by identifying and incorporating a wide range of new automation scenarios; (3) Beginning to analyze and, as necessary, clarify existing law as it apples to automated driving; (4) Auditing existing law; (5) Enforcing existing laws; (6) Ensuring vehicle owners and operators bear the true cost of driving; (7) Embracing flexibility by giving agencies the statutory authority to achieve regulatory goals through different means, allowing them to make small-scale exemptions to statutory regimes and clarifying their enforcement discretion; (9) Thinking locally and preparing publicly; (10) Sharing the steps being taken to promote (as well as to anticipate and regulate) automated driving; and (11) Instituting public education about automated vehicle technologies. KW - Education KW - Implementation KW - Intelligent vehicles KW - Iowa KW - Long range planning KW - Policy, legislation and regulation KW - Recommendations KW - Technological innovations UR - http://publications.iowa.gov/21899/1/IADOT_RB28_015_UIPPC_McGehee_Review_Automated_Vehicle_Technology_Policy_Implementation_Implications_V1_2016.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1403176 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563453 AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Federal Highway Administration Health in Transportation Working Group: 2014 Annual Report PY - 2015/03/13/Final Report SP - 13p AB - The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Health in Transportation Working Group examines the agency’s policies and programs and their impacts on health-related issues such as air quality, active transportation, environmental review, noise, safety, livable communities, and access to health-related facilities. Working Group members lead and participate in many initiatives that aim to encourage the consideration of health in all aspects of transportation. This report provides an overview of the Working Group’s activities and accomplishments in 2014, summarizes other DOT health-related accomplishments, documents its progress toward the recommendations included in the 2013 Annual Report, and offers recommendations for 2015 based on several themes that the Working Group discussed in 2014. KW - Air quality KW - Annual reports KW - Environmental impacts KW - Health care facilities KW - Noise KW - Public health KW - Recommendations KW - Transportation planning UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/health_in_transportation/workgroup/2014_annual_report/fhwahep15037.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353231 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01560342 TI - Orange Work Zone Pavement Marking Midwest Field Test AB - During construction on freeways and other multi-lane high-speed roadways it is frequently necessary to adjust the lateral position of driving lanes. Incomplete removal of old pavement markings and scarring of the surface where old markings have been removed can create ambiguity for drivers. The uncertainty associated with "ghost' or "phantom" markings is particularly acute when lane positions have been moved more than once, especially on facilities that have three or more lanes open to traffic. It can be exacerbated by lighting (e.g. low solar angles), wet pavement, and other adverse conditions. Winter work zones present a particular concern to Midwestern practitioners because salt residue reduces contrast between the "proper" temporary markings and the rest of the pavement surface. Consequently, Midwestern departments of transportation (DOTs) have sometimes found it necessary to mill and overlay the pavement to create a uniform surface-a costly solution to what is typically a temporary problem. A number of international highway agencies address this issue through a less expensive alternative: fluorescent orange pavement markings. This technique has been widely used in Ontario (Canada] and is being made standard for all freeway work zones in Switzerland. The technique has also been used in New Zealand, Germany, and other countries. The goal of this project is to gauge agency, contractor, and public satisfaction with experimental orange work zone pavement markings to be installed by one or more collaborating Midwestern DOTs. The researchers will also conduct direct observation of traffic to attempt to assess whether the orange markings reduce erratic driver behaviors (such as harsh braking and abrupt lane changes) that can be considered crash precursors. KW - Fluorescence KW - Germany KW - Lane lines KW - Midwestern States KW - New Zealand KW - Ontario (Province) KW - Orange KW - Road construction KW - Road markings KW - State departments of transportation KW - Switzerland KW - Traffic paint KW - Traffic safety KW - Winter KW - Work zones UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1350221 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01557308 AU - American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - AASHTO – FHWA Task Force on ET-Plus 4” Dimensions PY - 2015/03/11 SP - 15p AB - The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) assembled a task force to answer the following questions: (1) Is there any evidence that there are multiple versions of the ET-Plus 4” guardrail end terminals on the roadways? For the remainder of this report the term ‘ET-Plus device’ will mean the ET-Plus guardrail end terminal with a 4” feeder channel. (2) Are the ET-Plus devices that were crash tested at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) between December 2014 and January 2015 representative of the ET-Plus devices installed on the roadways? (3) Do any of the variations in the dimensions either individually or in concert with another dimension cause a concern regarding the performance of the ET-Plus device? During the task force’s deliberations, a fourth question was raised based on allegations by Dr. Dean Sicking that the tests did not apply worst-case test conditions to the device: (4) Did the crash tests conducted at SwRI between Dec. 2014 and Jan. 2015 apply worst-case test conditions to the ET-Plus device itself? KW - Guardrail terminals KW - Highway safety KW - Impact tests KW - Performance KW - Size KW - Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/guardrailsafety/dimensionsreport.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1346061 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576195 AU - Lyons, William M AU - Duffy, Catherine AU - Volpe National Transportation Systems Center AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Review of State DOT Approaches to Distribute Federal Metropolitan Planning (PL) Funds to MPOs PY - 2015/03/10 SP - 31p AB - Metropolitan Planning Funds (PL funds) are provided from the Federal Highway Trust Fund and distributed by State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) to Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) to conduct the planning activities required by Title 23 of the U.S. Code 134. Each MPO is responsible for planning to meet the transportation needs within its metropolitan planning area. PL funds are distributed to States based on a ratio of urbanized-area population in individual States to the total nationwide urbanized-area population. State DOTs then distribute this funding to the MPOs in their State based on a formula, agreed to by the MPOs, and approved by their Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Division Office. This report describes a range of different approaches to distribution formulas, and provides observations drawn from the DOT and MPO contacts and the study team’s analysis of the merits of the different approaches. FHWA is providing this information as a resource for DOTs and MPOs nationwide to use in self-assessment of current distribution approaches and to consider alternative approaches. KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Case studies KW - Government funding KW - Highway Trust Fund KW - Metropolitan planning organizations KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55300/55384/fhwahep15024.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1369009 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01556644 TI - Research for the AASHTO Standing Committee on Public Transportation. Task 61. Determine the Degree To Which JARC And New Freedom Activities are Being Continued or Initiated Under Map-21 AB - Under the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), neither Job Access and Reverse Commute Program (JARC) (former Section 5316) nor New Freedom (former Section 5317) funds are not provided as stand-alone programs, as they previously were under SAFETEA-LU. The separate Section 5316 and Section 5317 set-asides that were created, and subsequently distributed for different- size urbanized and non-urbanized areas under SAFETEA-LU was eliminated. JARC activities are eligible for Section 5307 or Section 5311 formula funds, for urban or rural grantees respectively. New Freedom activities are eligible under Section 5310 which is apportioned to state departments of transportation (DOTs) for rural and small urban areas and individual UZAs for large urbanized areas. Since a specified amount of federal funding is no longer provided for JARC or New Freedom activities, it is uncertain whether these activities will continue to be funded, as although they continue to be eligible for federal funding, the source of funding available can also be used for a number of other important operating and capital needs. The objective of this research is to determine the extent to which JARC and New Freedom activities continue under the new MAP-21 funding arrangements. It is proposed that research be conducted to determine: (a) How much federal Section 5307 funding was approved in large and small urbanized areas in federal fiscal year (FFY) 2013/14 specifically for new or continued JARC projects; (b) How much Section 5311 funding was approved in non-urbanized areas in FFY 2013/14 specifically for new or continued JARC activities in FFY 2013/14; and (c) How much federal Section 5310 funding was approved in FFY 2013/14 in large and small urbanized areas and rural areas specifically for new or continued New Freedom projects. Compare the results for the amount of Section 5316 JARC and Section 5317 funding that was approved for large and small urbanized areas and non-urbanized areas by large urbanized areas (UZA) and by state and for the nation as a whole, in FFY 2012/13 under Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for UserS (SAFETEA-LU) with MAP-21 in FFY 2013/14. This research will involve collecting as much of the needed data from Federal Transit Administration (FTA) records and then supplementing with data collected via surveys of State DOTs, Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), and transit agencies that serve large UZA. Prior to conducting any surveys the researcher should collaborate with the researcher that will be conducting research for Task 62. Under Task 62, the researchers will likely be surveying the full range of program stakeholders/customers for the MAP-21 Section 5310 program to gain information about their implementation decisions to date, including the results/success of those decisions and which they would recommend as best practices as well as their perceptions - pre- and post-MAP 21 - with regard to program management practices and program effectiveness. The researchers for Tasks 61 and 62 should determine if there are benefits to coordinating the surveying if some of the same agencies will be asked for information about their implementation decisions for Section 5310 (Task 62) and the funding allocations that have been made under Section 5310 (this task). This research is meant to build on research previously funded by National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) 20-65, specifically combined Tasks 58 and 59. The researcher should obtain all available information from the prior project. The result of this task will be a report that provides the results for each large UZA and for each state (for small urban and rural areas of the state) and for the nation as a whole that details out and summarizes the use of federal funds to support JARC and New Freedom activities under SAFETEA-LU in FFY12/13 and MAP-21 in FFY 13/14. Results will be provided in the form of tables and charts with supporting narrative which summarizes the data. KW - Government funding KW - Highway transportation KW - Job Access and Reverse Commute program KW - Laws and legislation KW - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) KW - New Freedom program KW - Program management KW - Public transit KW - Urban areas UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3941 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345910 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01556643 TI - Research for the AASHTO Standing Committee on Public Transportation. Task 62. The National Perspective - An Assessment of Section 5310 Program Administration Under MAP-21 AB - The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Section 5310 Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities program has had significant changes implemented under the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP 21). These changes have impacted how the program is administered, and therefore, its stakeholders and customers. This research aims to determine how the prescribed changes to the program are being implemented, in particular but not limited to how states and large urbanized areas are administering the program now and how large Urbanized Area (UZA) newly designated recipients are responding. In implementing the program, each state and urbanized area has had to make a number of administrative and program decisions. Documenting and sharing the results of the decisions made may assist as implementation continues and assist in informing potential adjustments to future legislation. Examples of the questions that might be asked and answered with this research include: (1) Some Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) have more than one large UZA within their jurisdiction and have chosen to allow 5310 designated recipient bifurcation. How has this scenario affected program administration for both state transportation departments (DOTs) and the FTA? (2) How are states and the FTA communicating with large and small UZAs and rural areas about transportation coordination? and (3) How are Section 5310 program funds being distributed between local transportation agencies and non-profit organizations under this structure? Have there been impacts to FTA Section 5317 New Freedom projects that are now eligible under the 5310 program - are they getting funded? It might also be useful to document how FTA, DOTs and large UZA designated recipients perceive the success of their implementation decisions to date and which of their administrative approaches they would consider best practices for others. The objective of this research is to inform state and local 5310 agencies and stakeholders of administrative practices used to implement the new program management structure employed by Congress through the FTA under MAP 21. With this information, state and large urban 5310 designated recipients, their local agency/stakeholder peers and perhaps FTA will be able to identify necessary program modifications and/or opportunities. Specifically, the project will promote actions that foster success in meeting the program's current and future administrative structure. The research approach would be guided by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) 20-65 panel with the involvement of program stakeholders and administrators of FTA programs at the federal, state and local level. The following specific research steps are envisioned: Task 1. Determine the final questions to be asked and answered and best way to capture and review existing 5310 program management practices for rural, small urban, and large urban areas. Question should be approved and finalized by the NCHRP 20-65 Project Panel. Task 2. Survey the full range of program stakeholders/customers (a representative sample of state 5310 designated recipients, large UZA designated recipients, subrecipients, direct recipients, FTA, and other relevant stakeholders) to gain information about their implementation decisions to date, including the results of those decisions and which they would recommend as best practices as well as their perceptions - pre-and post-MAP 21 regarding program management practices and program effectiveness. Task 3. Collect objective data to identify which entities applied for Section 5310 funds for large urbanized areas in federal fiscal year (FFY) 2013/14. Task 4. Collect objective data on which agencies applied for Section 5310 funds in FFY 2012/13. Organize the findings from Tasks 1 through 3. Summarize the findings and compile into a final report. KW - Administration KW - Data collection KW - Laws and legislation KW - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) KW - Plan implementation KW - Program management KW - Public transit KW - Rural areas KW - Stakeholders KW - State of the practice KW - U.S. Federal Transit Administration KW - Urban areas UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3942 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345909 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01556642 TI - Research for the AASHTO Standing Committee on Public Transportation. Task 63. DOT Oversight of Facility Projects AB - State Departments of Transportation (DOT's) continue to play a variety of roles when administering federal and state grant programs. Of particular importance is the implementation and oversight of facility type projects both in initial construction and rehabilitation. A resource is needed for guiding State DOT's and their subrecipients through the implementation, oversight and on-going monitoring role which involves complex and often confusing federal requirements. The objective of this research is to develop a reference guide that may be used by State DOT's and their subrecipients to identify and explain the implementation, oversight and on-going monitoring process of administering grants which involve the rehabilitation and construction of facility projects. The guide should be targeted to the projects generally carried out under small urban and rural systems. This reference guide should address the steps associated with design, land acquisition, construction, change orders, federal reporting and asset monitoring. This would include but not be limited to such topics as the following: (1) Independent cost analysis (ICE); (2) Design and A&E Procurement; (3) Land acquisition; (4) Bid development; (5) Selection and award; (6) DBE Goals; (7) Progress monitoring; (8) Federal reporting requirements; (9) DBE monitoring; (10) Change orders; (11) Maintenance plans; and (12) On-going monitoring requirements. This task should consider and complement National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Research Results Digest 381 Guidebook for Construction Management Practices for Rural Projects and the research completed and underway in NCHRP 20-65, Task 53, "Independent Cost Estimates for Design and Construction of Rural and Small Urban Transit Facilities". Additionally other research efforts may provide supplemental information which would not need to be considered under this project, but referenced and explained as to how that research would be utilized under this task. It is equally likely that best practices, checklists, and resource materials exist (especially at the state DOT level). The product of this research should be a reference guide to assist State DOT's, not a summary of survey responses. FTA resources of Project and Construction Management Guidelines, and Construction Project Management Handbook may also prove beneficial. An example of such a resource might be laid out similar to FTA's Triennial or State Management Review workbooks which lists subject areas with questions, answers and resource references. The reference guide should include clear and concise language intended for the general user, not be so technical that it would require special training or knowledge of project and construction management. The primary audience for this reference guide will have limited knowledge in this area so terms and practices should be clearly defined. KW - Administration KW - Construction KW - Grant aid KW - Guidelines KW - Highway facilities KW - Monitoring KW - Project management KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) KW - Rural transportation KW - Small cities KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3943 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345908 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01556641 TI - Research for the AASHTO Standing Committee on Public Transportation. Task 64. Health and Human Services (particularly Medicaid) Revenue as Match AB - Even with published research on a variety of related items surrounding Medicaid transportation and the coordination of such specialized transportation services with traditional public transportation, State Departments of Transportation (DOT's) continue to get questions and make decisions as to how best account for Medicaid revenues, especially if used to match Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funds. A helpful brief to respond to some of the most popular questions and situations will provide State DOT's with a resource they can use for determining and documenting match when an FTA funded subrecipient is also an agency who is coordinating their transportation services with health and human service programs, such as Medicaid. The objective of this research is to develop a report which answers some of the most basic questions regarding match to FTA funds when such match comes from revenues associated with coordinated transportation service provided by an agency which is also a subrecipient for which the State DOT has oversight responsibilities. The report should also outline advantages and disadvantages when there may be multiple approaches to the application of human service contract revenue. Further, the report should provide examples of application and resource references. National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Research Result Digest 353: Identification of Local Matching Fund Requirements for State-Administered Federal and Non-Federal Public Transportation Programs and Research Results Digest 354: A Review of Human Services Transportation Plans and Grant Programs address local match, Medicaid transportation, accounting practices, and similar items. Many transit systems overseen by State DOT's also play various roles, such as the prime contractor or a subcontractor. These roles should also be considered. In developing the report, some items to be addressed where the transit system is the prime or subcontractor might include, but are not limited to, the following: (1) Can the public transit system count Medicaid trips when reporting to National Transit Database (NTD)? (2) Can the public transit system use FTA funded vehicles for Medicaid service? (3) Does the public transit system have to fully allocate my costs? (4) Can the public transit system use revenue from other contracts to satisfy match to FTA funds? And if so, what should be considered when accounting for such match? (5) Since the public transit system is also FTA funded, when providing Medicaid trips, does the public transit system have to adhere to FTA and State DOT rules/regulations? Such as Drug and Alcohol (D&A) and civil rights? (6) If the public transit system provides Medicaid trips, do those have to be within my current public transit service hours/areas and advance reservation requirements? and (7) If the public transit system provides Medicaid trips, can it prioritize those trips over public transit trips? KW - Government funding KW - Medicaid KW - Medical trips KW - Public transit KW - Revenues KW - U.S. Federal Transit Administration UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3944 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345907 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01556640 TI - Research for the AASHTO Standing Committee on Public Transportation. Task 65. Best Practices for State DOTs to Meet Rural Bus Fleet Replacement and Expansion Needs AB - Adequate and timely capital investments to meet core infrastructure needs are two of the most significant challenges faced by many State departments of transportation (DOT's) as they administer the federal formula grant programs. It cannot be stressed enough that maintaining transit assets in a state of good repair is critical for the future of transit providers and to the state, and federal agencies that fund both infrastructure investments and operations costs. Today more than ever, the availability of capital resources to maintain a state of good repair, especially for bus replacement and fleet expansion is an extremely important element of effective and efficient rural transit services. In planning for these challenges, many DOTS' have traditionally relied on timely and consistent access to federal funds as the bulk of the funding to help meet these needs. Recent changes in federal programs (e.g. changes to the Bus and Bus Facilities, Section 5309 program as it traditionally existed) have significantly altered the landscape by greatly reducing the primary funding source for many States and requiring the "banking" of multi-year apportionments to make any significant expenditure. In light of today's tenuous economic and fluctuating service climates, of particular concern is the ability to realistically meet the vehicle needs for Section 5311 and Section 5310 programs statewide. Faced with increased emphasis on state of good repair, decreased federal investment in traditional vehicle acquisition and replacement programs, demands for increased capacity and limited budgets to supplement sub-recipients, there is a need for an understanding of successful options to meet the vehicle needs of these programs. The objective of this research is to provide information that documents the different policies and programs used by State DOT's to help meet statewide bus replacement and fleet expansion needs. The focus will be on options and approaches that address the following: (1) Expanding capacity in light of limited Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funding; (2) Extending the useful life /revenue service of FTA funded vehicles; (3) Methods for allocating federal funds to the competing demands from subrecipients for operating assistance versus capital needs; and (4) Methods used to respond to replacement and expansion needs that include significant nonfederal funding options This will be done through a compilation and comparison of state DOT policies, programs and practices regarding: acquisition methods (e.g. purchase versus lease); extending useful life (e.g. refurbishing, rehabilitation, limited service); asset management practices aimed at keeping vehicles in a state of good repair and funding allocations between subrecipient operating and capital assistance. KW - Asset management KW - Best practices KW - Buses KW - Fleet management KW - Government funding KW - Maintenance KW - Rural transit KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3945 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345906 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01556639 TI - Research for the AASHTO Standing Committee on Public Transportation. Task 66. States and Local Use of Administrative Resources Provided by the Federal Transit Administration AB - States operate administratively under different guidelines allowing certain expenses to be charged to federal programs. Budgetary decision makers are asking questions on how States are currently using Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Administrative Funds identified in 49 United States Code (USC) Chapter 53. Studying how administrative resources are utilized by states could help justify the promotion of more efficient, effective approaches to FTA program management. Research is needed to document current practices on whether or not states are able to use federal funds for various expenses including salaries, travel, operating expenses and contracting. The research should also address the percentages of funding used from FTA programs (i.e., the FTA grant program may allow for 10% for state administrative expenses, but the state only utilizes 5%) and should also detail amount/percentage for the various types of expenses. Results among those managing FTA programs will certainly vary, but findings may show consistent patterns which plant seeds for uniform improvement. If states are not allowed to utilize federal funds or elect to supplement the available federal funds with additional funds from other sources for administrative costs, it would be helpful to know the sources of those funds utilized versus federal. This research would investigate how FTA administrative funds are utilized once passed on to state agencies and the percentage of the total FTA administrative funds that can be used to meet expenses under state requirements. Queries would be conducted to see how FTA administrative funds are used, and comparisons would be drawn across State agencies to document current utilization of the funds. The objective of this research is to inform state FTA program management models employed by state FTA program managers. It would consider the factors mentioned above, in addition to any others deemed important through a review of relevant literature. With this information, state FTA program managers would be able to identify how other states are able to utilize funds to meet the ongoing expenses of appropriate program management including tools, technology, staffing strategies and opportunities. Specifically, the project will result in documentation of the current uses of federal funds at the state oversight level. KW - Administration KW - Budgeting KW - Federal aid KW - Government funding KW - Program management KW - State government agencies KW - State of the practice KW - U.S. Federal Transit Administration UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3946 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345905 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01594324 AU - Battelle Memorial Institute AU - University of Maryland, College Park AU - Capital Wireless Information Net AU - Battelle AU - Department of Transportation AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Transit Administration TI - Prototype Development and Demonstration for Response, Emergency Staging, Communications, Uniform Management, and Evacuation (R.E.S.C.U.M.E.) – Information Broker Framework PY - 2015/03/05 SP - 83p AB - The Dynamic Mobility Applications (DMA) program is designed to enhance deployment of emerging technologies and applications and promote collaboration in research and development of the mobility applications of future surface transportation systems. Response, Emergency, Staging, Communications, Uniform Management, and Evacuation (R.E.S.C.U.M.E.), is one component of the DMA program. Emergency Communications for Evacuation (EVAC) is one of three complementary applications that composes R.E.S.C.U.M.E. This document provides an analysis of the Regional Integrated Transportation Information Systems’ (RITIS) and CapWIN’s ability to serve as an Information Broker that is conceptualized to support various functions of R.E.S.C.U.M.E., in particular the EVAC application. In addition, it provides guidance on minimum functions that are required to enable the Information Broker and EVAC application in other regions nationally. KW - Advanced traveler information systems KW - Disaster preparedness KW - Emergency communication systems KW - Emergency management KW - Evacuation KW - Information systems KW - Mobility KW - Prototypes UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/56000/56900/56965/Rewrite_Final_1.13.16_FHWA-JPO-15-233.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1400138 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01567131 TI - Evaluating MSCR Testing for Adoption in ADOT Asphalt Binder Specifications AB - Asphalt binder is a product of the petroleum refining process and holds asphalt roadway pavements together. The use of modifiers in asphalt, such as polymer, has become more prevalent as a method to improve pavement performance and longevity. Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) engineers require laboratory test parameters that can quantitatively identify the presence of such modifiers and relate asphalt binder test properties to an asphalt mixture's roadway performance. The current ADOT asphalt binder specifications and associated laboratory tests are based on American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) M320, a national specification that grades an asphalt binder based on its performance over a specified ambient temperature range at the pavement site. However, this specification is limited because it does not consider a pavement location's traffic levels and it is based largely on research conducted using non-modified asphalt binders. AASHTO has addressed this concern by developing M332, a new specification that accounts for traffic loads and can grade certain modified asphalt binders. The M332 specification is based on a new test method referred to as the multi stress creep recovery (MSCR) test. There is a nationwide push to adopt the new specification and test standard; according to an Asphalt Institute survey (AI, 2015), 20 states have or will soon implement M332 and another 16 states are considering adoption. Arizona evaluations of the MSCR test are hindered by the fact that some key binder types that Arizona uses were missing from AASHTO's validation work of the MSCR test (D'Angelo 2009, DuBois et al., 2014, Greene et al., 2015). ADOT engineers need to understand the potential benefits and limitations of the MSCR test as it relates to Arizona conditions if ADOT decides to adopt the M332 specification. For example, a preliminary study by Arizona State University (ASU) (Stevens et al., 2014) was unable to predict whether the MSCR test parameter was a better indicator of asphalt pavement rutting resistance than the existing M320 test parameter. Confirming which test parameter is the better indicator of rutting resistance is important because this parameter could lead to the formulation of a stiffer binder than required, which may lead to accelerated pavement damage, such as cracking or fatigue. The ASU study suggested that approximately 30 percent of the time the current M320 specification delivers a stiffer binder than the M332 system would deliver for higher grade binders commonly used in Arizona. The critical information to determine the full implications of using M332 is whether the MSCR test parameter captures the performance potential for ADOT binders (unmodified and modified) better than the M320 test parameter, and if there are undesirable consequences (accelerated pavement aging and fatigue damage) associated with changes in the MSCR test parameter value. KW - Arizona Department of Transportation KW - Bituminous binders KW - Creep tests KW - Pavement performance KW - Polymer asphalt KW - Relaxation (Mechanics) KW - Specifications KW - Traffic loads UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359047 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01556448 TI - Legal Problems Arising out of Highway Programs. Topic 22-01. Legal Requirements for State DOT Participation in Conservation Plans AB - Many State Departments of Transportation (DOT's) highway development projects must mitigate impacts to natural resources. This is frequently done through compensation for loss of wetlands, purchase of land for lost public uses, or complex agreements to avoid impacts to listed endangered species. When these mechanisms are tailored to individual projects or are not developed until late in the project development process, they can be costly and unproductive. They can also lead to public opposition, resulting in expensive and protracted litigation. A number of State DOT's have purchased property to establish wetland mitigation banks to establish "credits" to compensate for wetland losses. Many State DOT's have extensive coordination procedures with their State natural resource agencies to avoid last minute negotiations that can exacerbate expense and negative publicity. A few State DOT's participate in Habitat Conservation Plans (HCP's) designed to avoid adverse consequences resulting from the cumbersome approval procedures associated with Sections 7 and 10 of the Endangered Species Act. HCP's can cover a general area and therefore are not limited to individual transportation projects. Research is needed to describe HCP's and their relation to wetland mitigation banking, regional planning, and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Purchase and sale of wetland bank, habitat, and stream credits may be characterized as real property or personal property transactions. If a "credit" constitutes real property, its purchase or sale in most jurisdictions must be for fair market value. In contrast, purchase or sale of a personal property "credit" may be subject to State procurement laws and Federal funding restrictions. Additional research should cover the mechanism used in California and other States to set up, monitor, and maintain HCP's on private or public property through an endowment fund and/or the use of conservation easements. KW - Conservation KW - Endangered species KW - Environmental impacts KW - Habitat (Ecology) KW - Litigation KW - Monitoring KW - Regional planning KW - State departments of transportation KW - Wetland conservation KW - Wetlands UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3937 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345743 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01556447 TI - Legal Problems Arising out of Highway Programs. Topic 22-02. Liability of State Departments of Transportation for Design Errors AB - How can a State departments of transportation (DOT's) protect themselves from liability arising from infrastructure design and product errors and omissions? State DOTs provide specifications and review, accept and/or approve designs and products. How has litigation defined the DOTs' liability for errors in such infrastructure and product or materials designs? The research should include public and general construction law, professional liability law, and professional liability and comprehensive general liability insurance coverage issues. The research should also include the impact of product warranties. It should also explore any legal distinction between the DOT's liability for accepting or approving a product or design and/or placing a product on an approved products list. The research should define and explore the scope of a DOT's right to ban a product or design which it has previously approved. What is the effect of false representations/lack of disclosure for design defects? KW - Design KW - Infrastructure KW - Liability KW - Litigation KW - Products KW - State departments of transportation KW - Warranty UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3938 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345742 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01556446 TI - Legal Problems Arising out of Highway Programs. Topic 22-03. Primer on Patentability and Use of Ideas Developed by Contractors Performing Work for State and Federal Transportation and Local Planning Agencies AB - The Patent Law provides that inventors can obtain patents on processes, material, or systems which they invent/develop (35 USC 101) . "A patent is essentially a limited monopoly whereby the patent holder is granted the exclusive right to make, use, and sell the patented innovation for a limited period of time." When a product is developed with the use of Federal funds, the inventor can elect to patent the invention. See 35 USC 200-212. The same rule applies to situations involving federal funds distributed to State and local agencies. In such cases, the Federal government receives a nonexclusive, royalty- free license to use the product. If a State or local agency wishes to use the product, it must do so in a contract. Many different issues arise in the interpretation and application of this general rule. For example, non disclosure of the fact that a patent was developed with Federal funds does not render the patent unenforceable. Considerable confusion exists in the interpretation and application of these principles. State and local transportation agencies often use patented products developed under contracts with Federal funds. These agencies are often targeted in patent infringement suits. Confusion exists over the agencies' rights to use the products without a license. 35 USC 200-212 provides the statutory authority for these arrangements. Research is needed so that transportation officials can have guidance on this topic. KW - Government funding KW - Innovation KW - Inventions KW - Local government agencies KW - Patents KW - State government agencies UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3939 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345741 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01556445 TI - Legal Problems Arising out of Highway Programs. Topic 22-04. Summary of Federal Law Restricting Use of Highway Safety Data in Tort Litigation AB - In 1987, Congress enacted a law, 23 U.S.C. § 409, prohibiting the use, in tort litigation, of highway safety data created for purposes related to safety improvements on roads qualifying for federal safety improvement funding. The law has subsequently been amended to clarify and/or expand its scope, and generated a large amount of federal and state case law interpreting its provisions. After 27 years, state and local transportation agencies would be aided by a summary of this law, its application, and the large body of interpretative decisions. The summary should include: (1) The origin of the law reason, the reason for its enactment, and its relationship to other similar statutes such as 23 USC § 402(k) (1). (2) Explanation of the provisions of the law, particularly the safety data governed by the law. (3) The purpose and effect of amendments since 1987. (4) The development of case law interpreting and applying the law. (5) Explanation of the 2003 Supreme Court decision, Guillen v. Pierce County, upholding the constitutionality of the law, and the effect of Guillen on later case law. (6) Current major interpretation and application issues involving the law, including how it is affected by public records law, or how it affects public records law. KW - Data protection KW - Highway safety KW - Laws KW - Litigation KW - Public records KW - Tort liability UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3940 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345740 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01568653 AU - Lee, Stephanie AU - Tremble, Mike AU - Vaivai, Justine AU - Rowangould, Gregory AU - Tayarani, Mohammad AU - Poorfakhraei, Amir AU - Ecosystem Management, Incorporated AU - University of New Mexico AU - Volpe National Transportation Systems Center AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Middle Rio Grande Council of Governments TI - Central New Mexico Climate Change Scenario Planning Project PY - 2015/03/04/Final Report SP - 111p AB - From 2013 to 2015, the U.S. Department of Transportation (US DOT) John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) partnered with the Mid Region Council of Governments (MRCOG) to evaluate how the central New Mexico region could develop in a way that minimizes greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and increases resiliency to climate change. MRCOG, in consultation with stakeholders within the metropolitan planning area and through a series of public meetings, developed land-use and transportation planning scenarios for the region as well as a list of performance measures to comparatively evaluate each scenario. Facilitated by the Volpe Center, a group of representatives from several federal, state, and local agencies provided input and guidance over the course of the project. With the assistance of the University of New Mexico (UNM) and Ecosystem Management, Inc. (EMI) consultant team, MRCOG evaluated these scenarios for their effect on several of the performance measures including regional mobility, accessibility, GHG emissions, and resiliency to climate change. This report describes the development of the scenarios, modeling system, and other evaluation methods as they evolved through the course of the project. The report also summarizes the conclusions reached from the evaluation of the final set of scenarios. KW - Accessibility KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Climate change KW - Forecasting KW - Greenhouse gases KW - Land use planning KW - Mobility KW - New Mexico KW - Performance measurement KW - Stakeholders KW - Transportation planning UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55000/55072/Central_NM_Climate_Change_Scenario_Planning.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1358904 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01560271 TI - Research on Tack Coats in Thin Asphalt Overlay Pavements AB - A tack coat is a thin bituminous liquid asphalt, emulsion or cutback layer applied between asphalt pavement lifts to promote bonding. Adequate bonding between lifts and especially between the existing road surface and an overlay is critical in order for the completed pavement structure to behave as a single unit and provide adequate strength. Inadequate bonding between layers can result in delamination (debonding) followed by slippage cracking, longitudinal wheel path cracking, fatigue cracking, and other distresses such as potholes that greatly reduce pavement life. The effect of tack coats is considered even more significant when a thin lift is overlaid on an existing old (and aged) pavement surface. Due to numerous advantages and benefits, thin asphalt overlays are increasingly adopted in Nebraska as a promising pavement preservation approach and the thin overlay practice is expected to grow for future projects. Based on the significance and expected trend, it is necessary to evaluate the current tack coat practice for the thin lift overlay in Nebraska and to seek potential improvements of the current practice for future applications. To meet the research need, this project proposes an in-depth literature review to survey published studies on tack coat applications in particular for the thin asphalt overlays. This extensive literature review will include regional (e.g., state departments of transportation research reports), national, and international studies. Literature review results will then be compared to Nebraska's current tack coating practices (such as type of tack coats, application rates, construction practices, etc.) to seek any improved applications that can be further evaluated through experimental tests. KW - Adhesion KW - Bituminous overlays KW - Delamination KW - Nebraska KW - Pavement cracking KW - Pavement distress KW - Pavement layers KW - Service life KW - Tack coats UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1349997 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01560270 TI - Range and Habitat Preferences of Northern Long-Eared Bats in Nebraska AB - The proposed listing of the Northern long-eared bat under the United States (US) endangered species act would require projects account for potential "take" (i.e. any mortalities, including inadvertent or accidental and potential habitat destruction) of the species. The distribution and habitat needs of this species within Nebraska are poorly understood but imperative to evaluating potential impacts of road and bridge projects. Current United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) guidelines require all projects that contain suitable habitat (any tree over 3 inches diameter at breast height) to conduct expensive surveys and tracking of bats to evaluate impacts on the Northern long-eared bat. Additionally, bridges, which may be used as roosts, would need surveys before maintenance or demolition. To meet these requirements, the Nebraska Department of Roads (NDOR) would need to hire USFWS qualified biologist to conduct surveys for the endangered bat on most projects throughout the state, a time-consuming and expensive process. KW - Bats (Animals) KW - Bridges KW - Costs KW - Endangered Species Act KW - Environmental impacts KW - Habitat (Ecology) KW - Nebraska KW - Road kill KW - Wildlife UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1349996 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01557193 TI - SCDOT Asset Collection AB - The objectives of this research are to: (1) identify state-of-practice for asset data collection and maintenance at the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) and prioritize data improvements; (2) determine the most accurate and cost effective means of collecting asset data for SCDOT; and (3) provide specifications for database and related data collection methods and/or technologies to respond to Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) and SCDOT requirements. KW - Asset management KW - Data collection KW - Highway maintenance KW - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) KW - South Carolina Department of Transportation KW - Specifications KW - State of the practice KW - Technological innovations UR - http://www.scdot.scltap.org/projects/current/ UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1346853 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01557192 TI - Cost Effective Strategies for Estimating Statewide AADT AB - The objectives of this research are to: (1) review current statewide data collection programs in the U.S. for obtaining, maintaining and estimating annual average daily traffic (AADT) data, and identify best practices; (2) review current data collection practices for obtaining, maintaining, and estimating AADT on different functional classes of roads in South Carolina; and (3) develop and pilot test methods and procedures to improve the statewide AADT data collection program in South Carolina, which includes county and city roads in the state. KW - Annual average daily traffic KW - Best practices KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Data collection KW - South Carolina KW - Test procedures KW - Traffic data UR - http://www.scdot.scltap.org/projects/current/ UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1346852 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543422 TI - Relating Asphalt Binder Fatigue Properties to Asphalt Mixture Fatigue Performance AB - Many pavement engineers and researchers believe that the current Superpave asphalt binder specifications do not adequately predict the contribution of binder properties to asphalt mixture fatigue performance. However, at present there is not a clear alternative method to measure the fatigue performance of asphalt binders and their contribution to mixture fatigue performance. It is widely accepted that the primary factor affecting the fatigue performance of asphalt pavements is structural design: the thickness of the various layers composing the pavement system. However, other factors, including the binder content, binder aging, and the chemical and physical characteristics of the asphalt binders used in the asphalt pavement layers, can significantly affect fatigue performance. If the properties that influence binder fatigue can be identified, characterized, and specified effectively, it may be possible to specify a binder that can improve the fatigue properties of the mixture. A more effective binder specification requires one or more specification tests that do in fact relate to fatigue performance. Research is needed to develop such measures of binder fatigue properties that are indicators of asphalt mixture performance. The objectives of this research are to: (1) Determine asphalt binder properties that are significant indicators of the fatigue performance of asphalt mixtures. (2) Identify or develop a practical, implementable binder test (or tests) to measure properties that are significant indicators of mixture fatigue performance for use in a performance-related binder purchase specification such as American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) M 320 and M 332. (3) Propose necessary changes to existing AASHTO specifications to incorporate the identified binder properties and their specification limits. (4) Validate the binder fatigue properties, test(s), and changes to existing and/or proposed AASHTO test methods and specifications with data from field projects, accelerated loading facilities, or both, supplemented, as necessary, with data from additional laboratory-prepared specimens. KW - Asphalt mixtures KW - Binder content KW - Fatigue (Mechanics) KW - Pavement layers KW - Pavement performance KW - Superpave KW - Thickness UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3862 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330819 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01603667 AU - National Center for Safe Routes to School AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Trends in Walking and Bicycling to School from 2007 to 2013 PY - 2015/03 SP - 46p AB - This report is a follow-up to an initial study entitled Trends in Walking and Bicycling to School from 2007 to 2012, and includes 605,000 parent surveys collected by nearly 5,300 schools throughout the United States starting in 2007 and extending through 2013. Data gleaned from these parent surveys provide a valuable opportunity to analyze school travel patterns and to discern ways in which school- and household-level factors may influence families’ school travel mode choices. To examine student travel patterns and parental perceptions of active school travel over time, the research team estimated multinomial logit models which clustered parents’ survey responses by school. These models estimated the probability of choosing school travel modes as a function of school-level and household-level predictor variables. School-level variables include data maintained by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), such as school income and the Census-defined locale in which schools were located (i.e., cities, suburbs, towns, and rural areas). Household-level variables included: students’ sex and grade in school; distance the student lived from school; parents’ level of education; whether the student asked parents for permission to walk or bicycle between home and school; how much fun parents perceived walking and bicycling to be for their child; how healthy walking and bicycling was for their child; and how much their child’s school supported walking and bicycling to/from school. KW - Bicycling KW - Mode choice KW - Multinomial logits KW - Parents KW - Safe Routes to School (Program) KW - School children KW - School trips KW - Schools KW - Surveys KW - Travel patterns KW - Trend (Statistics) KW - United States KW - Walking UR - http://saferoutesinfo.org/sites/default/files/SurveyTrends_2007-13_final1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1411565 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01592035 AU - Helgeson, Samuel AU - Cramer, Steven M AU - University of Wisconsin, Madison AU - Wisconsin Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Curing Compound Application Time on the Surface Durability of Concrete PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 142p AB - The effect of curing compound application time after concrete finishing was examined in this study. Times of 30 minutes, 2 hours and 4 hours were considered and repeatability was evaluated with comparisons to a Phase I portion of the study. Scaling resistance varied with mix type and curing compound type. None of the curing compounds provided scaling resistance that approached that of wet room curing. The effectiveness of most curing compounds appeared tied to the surface condition of the concrete. The presence of bleed water varied with mix type and if bleed water was present, the effectiveness of the curing compounds were typically compromised. Polyalphamethylstyrene (PAMS) resin based curing compound appeared to be equally effective regardless of application time but this was not true for wax-based, linseed oil and acrylic curing compounds. Generally for these compounds 2 to 4 hours was needed for best results depending on cementitious additives. KW - Concrete curing KW - Concrete pavements KW - Curing agents KW - Durability KW - Evaluation KW - Evaporation KW - Freeze thaw durability KW - Scaling (Concrete) KW - Time duration KW - Wisconsin UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/56000/56200/56228/WisDOT-WHRP-project-0092-11-05-final-report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1398657 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01581022 AU - Bledsoe, James AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Replacement of Bridge in Oklahoma Utilizing Accelerated Bridge Construction and Bridge Sliding Methodology PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 39p AB - As part of a national initiative sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration under the Highways for LIFE program, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) was awarded a $718,000 grant to demonstrate the use of proven, innovative technologies for accelerated bridge construction (ABC). This report documents the use of accelerated bridge construction methods and transverse bridge sliding technology to replace the bridge on SH 51, over Cottonwood Creek in Creek County. The innovations used in this project increased safety, enhanced quality, and resulted in a structure that will provide increased longevity and lower maintenance costs for the people of Oklahoma. While the use of accelerated bridge construction may not have reduced the total time to construct this project, it did result in a road closure of only 11 days, compared to the estimated 180 days for traditional bridge replacement. Using this technology increased the initial construction cost by about $1.6 million, or nearly 84 percent on the project. This increase is attributed mostly to the contracting community’s unfamiliarity with the technology. It is assumed that the experience gained from this project will lower future bids and allow more routine use of this technology going forward. While not a direct savings to the agency, the cost of the innovation was offset by savings in user and safety costs, as discussed in this report. ODOT believes that it is important to gain experience with this technology so that contractors become familiar with the technology, hopefully resulting in lower bids in the future. While the initial cost of ABC is higher, the agency believes that there are situations where it is a good alternative, especially where there would be extended closure of the roadway, long detours, or dramatically increased travel times. This would be especially true in areas with a high traffic volume. KW - Bridge construction KW - Costs KW - Demonstration projects KW - Economic analysis KW - Oklahoma KW - Street closure KW - Technological innovations UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/Oklahoma%20SH51%20Cottonwood%20Creek%20Report%20Draft%20Final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1372963 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01581018 AU - Barrett, Timothy J AU - Miller, Albert E AU - Weiss, W Jason AU - Purdue University AU - Indiana Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Documentation of the INDOT Experience and Construction of the Bridge Decks Containing Internal Curing in 2013 PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 108p AB - The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) constructed four bridge decks utilizing internally cured, high performance concrete (IC HPC) during the summer of 2013. These decks implement research findings from the research presented in the FHWA/IN/JTRP‐2010/10 report where internal curing was proposed as one method to reduce the potential for shrinkage cracking, leading to improved durability. The objective of this research was to document the construction of the four IC HPC bridge decks that were constructed in Indiana during 2013 and quantify the properties and performance of these decks. This report contains documentation of the production and construction of IC HPC concrete for the four bridge decks in this study. In addition, samples of the IC HPC used in construction were compared with a reference high performance concrete (HPC) which did not utilize internal curing. These samples were transported to the laboratory where the mechanical properties, resistance to chloride migration, and potential for shrinkage and cracking was assessed. Using experimental results and mixture proportions, the diffusion based service life of the bridge decks was able to be estimated. Collectively, the results indicate that the IC HPC mixtures that were produced as a part of this study exhibit the potential to more than triple the service life of the typical bridge deck in Indiana while reducing the early age autogenous shrinkage by more than 80% compared to non‐internally cured concretes. KW - Bridge construction KW - Bridge decks KW - Concrete curing KW - Cracking KW - Durability KW - High performance concrete KW - Indiana KW - Laboratory tests KW - Service life KW - Shrinkage UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.5703/1288284315532 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373236 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580977 AU - Barden, Eric AU - Spicer Group AU - Michigan Utility Coordination Committee AU - Michigan Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Michigan Utility Coordination Committee's Geospatial Utility Infrastructure Data Exchange 2014 Pilot Initiative PY - 2015/03 SP - 70p AB - The Michigan Utility Coordination Committee's (MUCC) Geospatial Utility Infrastructure Data Exchange (GUIDE) initiative revolutionizes spatial awareness and spatial quality of underground utility infrastructure information by capturing accurate 3-dimensional geospatial location data on underground utility infrastructure at the time of installation, and storing this information in a highly accessible and secure repository. The ability to share spatial information with all stakeholders will help reduce utility conflicts during project design, reduce utility conflicts during construction, reduce overall utility life cycle costs and enhance the safety of the general public. Through the acquisition, preservation and accessibility of precise spatial data on new underground utility installations, roadway agencies, consultants and utility companies will have the ability to better plan projects, anticipate and identify utility conflicts before construction activities, prevent unexpected utility relocations, and share high-value spatial information among all project stakeholders. This document discusses the 2014 GUIDE pilot initiative and goals, data acquisition strategies, pilot project results, cost benefit, and considerations for the future. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Coordination KW - Data collection KW - Data sharing KW - Geospatial analysis KW - Michigan KW - Public utilities KW - Stakeholders UR - http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mdot/GUIDE_Report_-_2014_Pilot_Initiative_483066_7.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373415 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580879 AU - Rescot, Robert A AU - Qu, Shuo AU - Noteboom, Rebecca AU - Nafakh, Ahmad AU - Purdue University AU - Indiana Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Flashing Yellow Arrow Traffic Signals in Indiana SN - 9781622603497 PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 42p AB - The evaluation of flashing yellow arrow signals for widespread implementation was evaluated. Through the collection of field driver performance data, survey data, crash data, at two test sites in the state, it was concluded that this is a worthwhile practice to be considered for a larger scale deployment. The return on investment includes both increased safety, and improved mobility. Given Indiana’s widespread usage of span and catenary signal supports, installation could be simplified to place a larger four section flashing yellow head in a horizontal orientation while leaving adjacent through lane three section signal heads in a vertical alignment, and not decrease the standard of care provided to the public, given proper engineering judgment. KW - Arrows (Signals) KW - Crash data KW - Driver performance KW - Evaluation KW - Field tests KW - Flashing traffic signals KW - Indiana KW - Return on investment KW - Surveys KW - Traffic safety KW - Yellow UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.5703/1288284315530 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1374364 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580467 AU - Schierholz, Jeanna AU - Raghunathan, Deepak AU - Sadasivam, Suri AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Wyoming Demonstration Project: Diverging Diamond Interchange Project at College Drive PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 51p AB - The Wyoming diverging diamond interchange (DDI) project, which was 90 percent Federally funded and 10 percent State funded, was located at the College Drive Interchange on Interstate 25, approximately 3 miles south of Cheyenne at reference marker 7.85. The project received a Highways for LIFE grant of $400,000 and was the first of its kind in the State. The total length of the project was 1,080 feet, and the total length of the bridge was 220 feet. The project sought to reduce the congestion caused by slow-moving trucks and to increase pedestrian and vehicular safety throughout the interchange. The project converted the conventional diamond interchange into a DDI by incorporating minor structure alterations, ramp realignments, signal installations, and lighting. The construction was carried out in four phases. During these phases, one lane was left open for traffic in each direction, and the traffic was controlled with flaggers and traffic control. Reduced speed limit signs, advanced warning signs, traffic drums, and arrows were also installed. Highways for LIFE safety goals for worker and motorist safety were met on this project. Per Wyoming Department of Transportation’s (WYDOT's) estimates, a typical interchange reconstruction or rehabilitation would have taken, on average, two construction seasons, with a shutdown for the winter season and temporary traffic control for 18 months or longer. In contrast, the DDI was completed within 9 months. Thus, the as-built scenario resulted in 50 percent reduction in the time highway users are impacted, compared to traditional methods, thereby meeting the Highways for LIFE goal for faster construction. During the construction period, WYDOT did not find any significant travel time delays or queuing along the College Drive interchange and ramps of I-25. The use of DDI, which cost $3,056,898.43, is expected to result in an estimated present worth savings of $8,782,000, which accounts for the reduction in user delays over 20 years and the cost of signalizing the interchange. Overall, the traveling public expressed satisfaction with the new facility and the construction approach. KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Demonstration projects KW - Diamond interchanges KW - Diverging diamond interchanges KW - Economic analysis KW - Highway safety KW - Highways for LIFE KW - Reconstruction KW - Technological innovations KW - Work zone safety KW - Wyoming UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/WY%20College%20Drive%20DDI%20%20Report_Final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373010 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580342 AU - Tayabji, Shiraz AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Virginia Demonstration Project: Pavement Rehabilitation Using Roller Compacted Concrete Pavement along a Section of Staffordboro Boulevard, Stafford, Virginia PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 31p AB - As part of a national initiative sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration under the Highways for LIFE program, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) was awarded a grant to demonstrate the use of roller compacted concrete pavement (RCCP) to rehabilitate existing asphalt concrete (AC) pavements. The project selected for the demonstration is located along a section of Staffordboro Boulevard (SR11/SR 53/SR 211) that has heavy commuter traffic. The project also included construction of a new RCCP in an adjacent commuter parking lot. All RCCP along Staffordboro Boulevard was overlaid with 2 inches of hot mix AC surface layer. This report documents the application of the RCCP technology for pavement rehabilitation along the section of Staffordboro Boulevard. Because of the technology focus for this project, no economic analysis was required to be performed. The bid price for the 8-inch-thick RCCP, without the 2-inch-thick AC surfacing, along Staffordboro Boulevard was $41 per square yard. Using the RCCP technology on this project allowed VDOT to evaluate RCCP technology for rehabilitation of distressed AC pavements without requiring extended lane closures and without impacting the daily commute of the road users along a heavily trafficked suburban roadway. VDOT gained valuable experience with design, mixture proportioning, and construction of new RCCP with an AC surface. VDOT evaluated the RCCP application in Stafford to determine the feasibility of applying the technology to the rehabilitation of similarly trafficked urban/suburban roadways without significantly affecting commuter traffic flow. VDOT is expected to move forward with the implementation of RCCP technology for such applications. The rapid pavement rehabilitation strategy used in Stafford is considered successful and can be considered applicable for similar projects in Virginia and other States. KW - Asphalt concrete pavements KW - Demonstration projects KW - Highways for LIFE KW - Parking lots KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) KW - Road construction KW - Roller compacted concrete pavements KW - Stafford (Virginia) KW - Technological innovations KW - Urban highways UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/VA_RCCP_Project_Draft_Final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373007 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580255 AU - Ahmed, Mohamed AU - Sharif, Mirza A AU - Ksaibati, Khaled AU - University of Wyoming, Laramie AU - Wyoming Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Developing an Effective Shoulder and Centerline Rumble Strips/Stripes Policy to Accommodate All Roadway Users PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 205p AB - Lane departure crashes including single-vehicle-run-off-road crashes, opposite direction sideswipe and head-on crashes are considered the most severe crashes and are often dominated by sleep deprivation/fatigue, and distracted driving. According to the Federal Highway Administration, 53 percent of annual fatal crashes are attributed to lane and road departures. In Wyoming, lane departure crashes comprised 72 percent of all severe crashes for the years 2008 – 2010. While lane departure crashes are mostly driven by drivers‘ errors, reduction of the frequency and severity can be achieved by more forgiving roadside and specific countermeasures. Rumble strips/stripes are used by many states as a relatively low cost proven safety countermeasure to reduce or prevent lane departure crashes through providing a vibrotactile and audible warning to inattentive motorists. Although the advantages of rumble strips were generally found to outweigh the disadvantages, several issues and concerns have been identified regarding the implementation of rumble strips; noise, maintenance, and the adverse effects on bicyclists and motorcyclists are among the most recognized concerns. This study demonstrated that despite the fact that rumble strips have been used for many years, there are no standardized practices used in the U.S. A significant number of states are still working on updating their rumble strips policies; their main goal is to enhance motor vehicle safety while accommodating all road users to the highest practical extent. The information provided in this report and the companion Expert System that was developed as part of this study may provide the necessary background for the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) and other transportation agencies when it comes to updating or developing an effective all road users‘ friendly rumble strips policy. KW - Center lines KW - Cyclists KW - Expert systems KW - Literature reviews KW - Motorcyclists KW - Policy KW - Road shoulders KW - Rumble strips KW - State departments of transportation KW - State of the practice KW - Surveys KW - Wyoming UR - http://www.dot.state.wy.us/files/live/sites/wydot/files/shared/Planning/Research/RS04214%201502F%20Developing%20an%20Effective%20Shoulder%20and%20Centerline%20Rumble%20Strips%20Stripes%20Policy%20final%20report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373026 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580237 AU - Bledsoe, James AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - AC Resurfacing of Four Locations in Tennessee Utilizing Intelligent Compaction Technology PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 72p AB - As part of a national initiative sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) under the Highways for LIFE program, the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) was awarded a $1,445,600 grant to demonstrate the use of proven, innovative technologies for intelligent compaction (IC). This report documents the use of intelligent compaction technology to accelerate the resurfacing of four locations in Tennessee. Innovations in these projects increased safety, enhanced quality, and will provide increased longevity and lower maintenance costs for the people of Tennessee. Using the intelligent compaction technology increased the initial construction cost on all four projects by a total of 2.5 percent. As all equipment used on the projects was the same, with or without intelligent compaction technology, the increase is assumed to be entirely due to the rental of intelligent compaction hardware and software installed on the standard compaction equipment. There was no time savings on these specific projects, but it is assumed that the experience gained will allow more routine use of this technology in the future where time savings may be realized. This is especially true in the area of reduced testing. However, it is assumed that the overall quality of the projects was improved, especially with regard to the consistency of the compaction effort. This is expected to reduce the likelihood of early failures and increase the likelihood of reduced maintenance and longer project life. Even a 1-year increase in project life more than offsets the cost of the innovation in after accounting for the present value of future maintenance and early rehabilitation. To promote further interest and use of the innovations included in this project, TDOT, in conjunction with the FHWA, sponsored a 1-day showcase. The general consensus is that IC is a promising technology for the future of paving in Tennessee. KW - Compaction KW - Costs KW - Intelligent compaction KW - Resurfacing KW - Technological innovations KW - Tennessee UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/Tennessee%20Intelligent%20Compaction%20HFL%20Draft%20Final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1372998 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01578187 AU - Bhajandas, Amar AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Replacement of I-190 Bridges over Buffalo Avenue, Niagara Falls, NY PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 68p AB - As part of a national initiative sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration under the Highways for LIFE program, the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) was awarded a $1.407 million grant to replace two bridges on I-190 over Buffalo Avenue in Niagara Falls, NY, to demonstrate the use of proven, innovative technologies. This report documents Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) techniques using modular deck beam technology. Under conventional construction methods, it would have taken three months to replace each bridge, impacting traffic on I-190, Buffalo Avenue, and the portion of Robert Moses State Parkway that connects Niagara Falls State Park to I-190. However, using precast modular deck beam technology, impact to travelers on I-190 was limited to only 72 hours for each bridge replacement. Travelers on the Parkway and Buffalo Avenue were impacted for five weeks, during which time Buffalo Avenue was reconstructed and lowered to correct an under-clearance deficiency. It was projected that by compressing the construction time using ABC, two crashes were avoided at the site. Innovative iCone® technology was used to gather speed data and interpret queuing and incidents in the work zone. The construction cost for the innovative bridge replacement was an estimated $0.276 million less than that for the conventional method, and user delay cost was also reduced by an estimated $2.279 million. When bundled together, there was an estimated total savings of $2.555 million. This represents about 33 percent of the $7.743 million successful bid on the project. A post-construction user satisfaction survey indicated that, overall, more than 88 percent of the respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the ABC techniques used to expedite construction. Because of the success of this project, NYSDOT plans to accelerate bridge construction using modular deck beam technology on future projects where it is feasible and appropriate for conditions. KW - Bridge construction KW - Bridge decks KW - Bridge replacement KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Costs KW - Demonstration projects KW - Highways for LIFE KW - Modular structures KW - Niagara Falls (New York) KW - Precast concrete KW - Technological innovations UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/NY%20I190%20Bridges%20over%20Buffalo%20Avenue%20Project%20Final%20Report_3_27_2015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1371169 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01578164 AU - Rao, Shreenath AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Minnesota Demonstration Project: Rapid Replacement of the Maryland Ave. Bridge over I-35E in St. Paul PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 116p AB - As part of a national initiative sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration under the Highways for LIFE program, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) was awarded a $2 million grant to demonstrate the use of proven, innovative technologies for accelerated bridge removal and replacement. This report documents accelerated bridge construction (ABC) techniques used to remove and replace the Maryland Ave. bridge on County State Aid Highway 31 (CSAH 31) over Interstate 35E in St. Paul over a weekend. This report includes construction details of the bridge superstructure built offsite on temporary abutments and prefabricated and cast-in-place bridge components and substructure built following removal of the existing bridge with minimal intereference to traffic flow on I-35E. It also discusses use of a self-propelled modular transporter (SPMT) to move the new bridge into place. Under conventional construction, the closure of Maryland Ave. was estimated at 4 months, but with the use of accelerated construction techniques, the closure of Maryland Ave. was reduced to 2 months. I-35E lane restrictions were also reduced from 12 days to 3 days. Using an SPMT and other ABC techniques added approximately $0.8 million to the initial construction cost of the project. However, the project saved road users about $2.9 million, resulting in a net savings of $2.1 million. Because of the success of this project, MnDOT has decided to use ABC techniques more routinely on future projects as appropriate. KW - Bridge construction KW - Bridge replacement KW - Bridge substructures KW - Bridge superstructures KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Demonstration projects KW - Highways for LIFE KW - Prefabricated bridges KW - Saint Paul (Minnesota) KW - Self-propelled modular transporters KW - Technological innovations UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/MN%20I35E_MarylandAve_SPMT%20Draft%20Report_Final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1371163 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01578163 AU - Bledsoe, Jay AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Missouri Demonstration Project: The Use of High-Friction Surface Treatments on Missouri Highways PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 48p AB - As part of a national initiative sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration under the Highways for LIFE program, the Missouri Department of Transportation (MODOT) was awarded a $120,000 grant to demonstrate the use of high-friction surfaces as a durable and cost-effective method to increase safety on Missouri highways. This report documents the placement of high-friction surfaces at four locations around the State. A study of the crash history in these areas indicated a need to improve friction to reduce the number of incidents that could be related to friction. This report details the innovation used to rehabilitate two segments of I-44 in Phelps County, one segment of US 54 in Cole County, and several locations on MO 179 near the intersection with US 54, also in Cole County. Although not directly comparable in terms of benefits, the cost of the four high friction surface treatment (HFST) projects was substantially greater than would have been the case with traditional ultra-thin bonded asphalt wearing surface. Costs for the installed HFST ranged from $17 to $21.5 per square yard compared to a cost of $4.12 per square yard for a traditional ultra-thin bonded asphalt wearing surface, resulting in additional cost of more than $520,000 for all four locations. However, the additional costs were significantly less compared to costs associated with realigning the section of the roadway to address run-off-road (ROR) crashes. The friction numbers obtained with this innovation far exceeded those that would be expected with the ultra-thin bonded asphalt wearing surface, which translates to fewer post-construction accident rates. Using crash data from the first year following one of the four projects, the reduction of 27 crashes during the period at just this one location results in a savings of about $966,300, or nearly twice the additional cost of HFST placement at all four locations combined. Using present worth cost of crashes and MODOT’s target of 20 percent reduction in accidents results in a minimum savings of $4,136,000, over the 9-year life of the treatment. The use of high-friction surfaces resulted in extremely high friction numbers, far above those generally recorded for traditional surface treatments. The experience gained on these successful projects will help Missouri use high-friction surfaces more routinely on future projects. KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Costs KW - Crash rates KW - Demonstration projects KW - Friction KW - High-friction surface treatment KW - Highways for LIFE KW - Missouri KW - Ran off road crashes KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) KW - Skid resistance KW - Surface course (Pavements) KW - Technological innovations UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/Missouri%20High%20Friction%20Report%20draft%20Final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1371165 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01577797 AU - Harris, Dwayne AU - Farnam, Yaghoob AU - Spragg, Robert AU - Imbrock, Paul AU - Weiss, W Jason AU - Purdue University AU - Indiana Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Early Detection of Joint Distress in Portland Cement Concrete Pavements SN - 9781622603510 PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 43p AB - Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) (as well as several surrounding states) have observed that certain concrete pavements may show a susceptibility to joint deterioration. Unfortunately, by the time that this joint deterioration is observed it is often too late and costly partial depth repairs are needed. The deterioration is generally occurring in the joint behind the backer rod and joint sealant; as such, it is difficult to detect even if one is standing directly above the joint. This project investigated the use of electrical resistivity and ground penetrating radar as two techniques to detect premature joint deterioration.  The thought process was that if the joint deterioration is determined at an early stage, low cost corrective actions can be taken to extend the life of the concrete. The electrical response was measured for mortars subjected to a temperature cycle from 23 °C to ‐35 °C, with varying degrees of saturation, and varying salt concentrations. The resistivity increased as the degree of saturation was reduced due to the reduction in the volume of the conductive medium and increase in tortuosity. Changes in resistivity were detected when cracking occurred in the sample. The magnitude of these changes was similar to that detected using changes in the ultrasonic wave speed. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) was used effectively to detect fluid accumulation in the saw‐cut joint behind the joint sealant. The typical GPR waveforms are however difficult and time consuming to interpret. A signal processing approach called complexity-invariance distance, referred to as the CID, was used to obtain a single number that reflects the potential for fluid in the joint. Scalar waveform features and the computed CID can be used to estimate which joints may contain fluid thereby providing insights into which joint sealant sections may need to be repaired or when a sufficient number of joints may contain fluid suggesting a larger joint maintenance effort be performed to seal the joints or the concrete. KW - Concrete pavements KW - Deterioration KW - Electrical resistivity KW - Ground penetrating radar KW - Indiana KW - Moisture content KW - Pavement distress KW - Pavement joints KW - Portland cement concrete UR - http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3090&context=jtrp UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1370737 ER - TY - SER AN - 01577574 JO - PATH Research Report PB - University of California, Berkeley AU - Nowakowski, Christopher AU - Shladover, Steven E AU - Lu, Xiao-Yun AU - Thompson, Deborah AU - Kailas, Aravind AU - University of California, Berkeley AU - Volvo Trucks North Amercia AU - California Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC) for Truck Platooning: Operational Concept Alternatives PY - 2015/03 SP - 37p AB - Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC) provides an intermediate step toward a longer-term vision of trucks operating in closely coupled automated platoons. There are important distinctions between CACC and automated truck platooning. First, with CACC, only truck speed control will be automated, using vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communication to supplement forward sensors. The drivers will still be responsible for actively steering the vehicle, lane keeping, and monitoring roadway and traffic conditions. Second, while truck platooning systems have relied on a Constant Distance Gap (CDG) control strategy, CACC has relied on a Constant-Time Gap (CTG) control strategy, where the distance between vehicles is proportional to the speed. For these reasons, a series of trucks using CACC is referred to as a string, rather than a platoon. This report mainly focuses on describing the various CACC operational concept alternatives at the level of individual vehicles, local groups of vehicles and their drivers, and which alternatives should be employed in this research project. These operational concepts can be broken into four categories: string formation, steady-state cruising, string split maneuvers, and faults or abnormal operating conditions. KW - Autonomous intelligent cruise control KW - Dedicated short range communications KW - Speed control KW - Traffic platooning KW - Trucks KW - Vehicle to vehicle communications UR - http://escholarship.org/uc/item/7jf9n5wm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363792 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01577112 AU - Yoon, Soojin AU - Hastak, Makarand AU - Lee, Jusang AU - Purdue University AU - Indiana Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Intelligent Compaction of Asphalt Pavement Implementation SN - 9781622603473 PY - 2015/03 SP - 74p AB - The main purpose of this research is to determine the possibility of substituting in‐place core density (% Gmm) for Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) Quality Assurance (QA) in Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) Specification with Intelligent Compaction (IC) measurements. A questionnaire survey and interviews were conducted to gather information on: (1) the usage of IC technology in other states, (2) the benefits of applying IC technology, and (3) the application of IC technology for Quality Control/ Quality Assurance (QC/QA). Also the data available from IC demonstration performed on US 52 in 2009 was analyzed to identify the relationship between in‐place density values (i.e., Non‐Nuclear Gauge, NNG) and the IC Measurement Values (ICMVs). According to survey responses from 26 agencies, there was no state DOT using IC for QA as of June 2014. Only two DOTs, including Alaska and Vermont have adopted IC in HMA compaction for QC. The reasons for not using IC technology in current QC/QA practices were: (1) satisfaction with existing QC/QA procedure, (2) difficulty of adjustment due to the lack of specifications in determining stiffness in HMA, and (3) lack of availability of IC equipment with contractors. However, it was responded that the most benefits of IC was night time paving and uniform compaction in QC. Analysis of the intelligent compaction measurement value (ICMV) data obtained from a demonstration project on US 52 indicated that a NNG correlation showed an R2 value of 0.67. This finding supports the IC implementation in the current INDOT HMA QC. It should be noted that a correlation between core‐density and ICMV could not be determined due to lack of reliable data. In conclusion, the research could not identify any possibility of adding IC into the INDOT specification for QA based on the survey, phone interviews and analysis of the data obtained from IC demonstration on US 52. KW - Compaction KW - Demonstration projects KW - Hot mix asphalt KW - Implementation KW - In place density KW - Indiana KW - Intelligent compaction KW - Quality assurance KW - Quality control KW - Specifications KW - State departments of transportation KW - Surveys UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.5703/1288284315524 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1370184 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576127 AU - Shan, Jie AU - Ural, Serkan AU - Purdue University AU - Indiana Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Performance Assessment Measure that Indicates Geometry Sufficiency of State Highways: Volume II—Clear Zones and Cross‐Section Information Extraction SN - 9781622603398 PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 35p AB - Evaluation method employed for the proposed corridor projects by Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) consider road geometry improvements by a generalized categorization. A new method which considers the change in geometry improvements requires additional information regarding cross section elements. Part of this information is readily available but some information like the embankment slopes and obstructions near traveled way needs to be acquired. This study investigates available data sources and methods to obtain cross‐section and clear zone information in a feasible way for this purpose. The authors have employed color infrared (CIR) orthophotos, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) point clouds, digital elevation and surface models for the extraction of the paved surface, average grade, embankment slopes, and obstructions near the traveled way like trees and man‐made structures. The authors propose a framework which first performs a support vector machine (SVM) classification of the paved surface, then determines the medial axis and reconstructs the paved surface. Once the paved surface is obtained, the clear zones are defined and the features within the clear zones are extracted by the classification of LiDAR point clouds. SVM classification of the paved surface from CIR orthophotos in the study area results with a classification accuracy over 90% which suggests the suitability of high resolution CIR images for the classification of paved surface via SVM. A total of 21.3 miles of relevant road network has been extracted. This corresponds to approximately 90% of the actual road network due to missing parts in the paved surface classification results and parts which were removed during cleaning, simplification and generalization process. Branches due to connecting driveways, adjacent parking lots, etc., were also extracted together with the main road alignment as by‐product. This information may also be utilized if found necessary with further effort to filter out irrelevant pieces that do not correspond to any actual branches. Based on the extracted centerline and classification results, the authors have estimated the paved surface as observed on the orthophotos. Based on the estimated paved surface centerline and width, the authors have generated cross section lines and calculated the side slopes. The authors have extracted the buildings and trees within the clear‐zones that are also defined based on the reconstruction of the paved surface. Among 86 objects detected as buildings, 14% were false positives due to confusion with bridges or trees which present planar structure. KW - Clear zones KW - Construction projects KW - Data analysis KW - Data collection KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Highway design KW - Indiana KW - Laser radar KW - Methodology KW - Orthophotographs UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.5703/1288284315529 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1367950 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576092 AU - Tarko, Andrew P AU - Dey, Aveedibya AU - Romero, Mario A AU - Purdue University AU - Indiana Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Performance Assessment Measure that Indicates Geometry Sufficiency of State Highways: Volume I—Network Screening and Project Evaluation SN - 9781622603374 PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 68p AB - The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) selects projects for implementation by taking into account several criteria related to cross‐section, alignment and safety to evaluate various geometry improvements to be carried out as a part of projects. The existing practice uses an intuitive point allocation method to score these individual categories. The current study proposes a methodology to evaluate these projects considering the safety and mobility impacts of the improvements which lie in the scope of each project. This methodology is also used to screen roads based on existing geometry deficiencies with respect to a desirable design standard. The road screening process and the project evaluation process form two steps that support the asset management process. The road screening process helps in filtering road segments based on geometry deficiencies and identifies the least adequate road segments. Projects may be further developed with estimated improvements to be carried out on such segments using detailed information regarding these improvements. The asset management components discussed here rely on the evaluation of safety and mobility benefits corresponding to geometry changes. To develop an up‐to‐date method, the safety performance functions used in this method have been calibrated based on the latest crash data available for 2009‐2011. Safety performance functions have been developed for rural two‐lane, rural multi‐lane, urban two‐lane and urban multi‐lane roads in the state of Indiana. The crash modification factors derived from these safety performance functions and speed adjustments from earlier studies, supplemented with data available in Highway Capacity Manual are used to calculate the safety and mobility benefits. KW - Asset management KW - Construction projects KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Highway design KW - Highway safety KW - Indiana KW - Methodology KW - Mobility KW - Safety Performance Functions UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.5703/1288284315528 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1367948 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01575138 AU - North Carolina Executive Committee for Highway Safety AU - North Carolina Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - 2014 North Carolina Strategic Highway Safety Plan PY - 2015/03 SP - 87p AB - This document presents an updated Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) for the State of North Carolina. This SHSP is an important component of North Carolina’s Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP). The need for a SHSP was established by the federal transportation funding legislation, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), and strengthened by the passage of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) in July 2012. MAP-21 specifies that the SHSP must be developed based on safety data on all public roads, be developed in consultation with stakeholders, employ a multidisciplinary approach, describe a program of safety strategies, and consider other highway safety plans and processes. This updated SHSP was developed through the collaborative efforts of diverse safety stakeholders representing the users of the North Carolina highway system and encompassing the 4 E’s of highway safety—education, enforcement, engineering, and emergency services. These safety stakeholders include State, regional, local, and tribal agencies, as well as other public and private partners. This Plan presents a statewide, comprehensive, and collaborative approach for reducing fatalities and serious injuries on North Carolina’s roadways. KW - Fatalities KW - Highway safety KW - North Carolina KW - Stakeholders KW - Strategic Highway Safety Plan KW - Strategic planning KW - Traffic crashes UR - http://www.ncshsp.org/wp-content/themes/SHSP_Custom/pdfs/SHSP_Complete.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366932 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574367 AU - Gibson, Bryan AU - Soulyerette, Reg AU - University of Kentucky, Lexington AU - Kentucky Transportation Cabinet AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Highway Rail Crossing Prioritization PY - 2015/03//Technical Assistance Report SP - 6p AB - Research team members at the University of Kentucky in the Department of Civil Engineering and the Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) worked with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) to develop a high-level mechanism for ranking highway-rail crossings for reconstruction and/or rehabilitation. The Highway Rail Crossing Prioritization implementation study yielded the Rail Crossing Improvement Priority (RCIP), which combined qualitative measures of crossing conditions with quantitative measures including proposed project costs and a valuation of the crossing based on rail and truck traffic. This effort provides a template by which further development can yield prioritization procedures for road-rail grade separation projects. The RCIP resulted in a toolkit for KYTC that consists of several components. Full documentation of the efforts including an evaluation questionnaire, instructions, background, and scoring workbook is available on the KTC website at: http://www.ktc.uky.edu/research/public-transit-rail-water/rail/. A brief summary of each of these documents including example figures is included in this document. KW - Kentucky KW - Maintenance management KW - Railroad grade crossings KW - Ranking (Statistics) KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) KW - Strategic planning UR - http://www.ktc.uky.edu/files/2015/04/KTC_15_03_SPR_57_4_15_1F_.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366864 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570608 AU - Harris, Matthew D AU - Kingsley, Robert G AU - Sewell, Andrew R AU - URS Corporation AU - Pennsylvania Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Archaeological Predictive Model Set PY - 2015/03//Task 7: Final Report SP - 270p AB - This report is the documentation for Task 7 of the Statewide Archaeological Predictive Model Set. The goal of this project is to develop a set of statewide predictive models to assist the planning of transportation projects. Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) is developing tools to streamline individual projects and facilitate Linking Planning and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a federal initiative requiring that NEPA activities be integrated into the planning phases for transportation projects. The purpose of Linking Planning and NEPA is to enhance the ability of planners to predict project schedules and budgets by providing better environmental and cultural resources data and analyses. To that end, PennDOT is sponsoring research to develop a statewide set of predictive models for archaeological resources to help project planners more accurately estimate the need for archaeological studies. The outcome of this project, contained in seven task-specific reports, documents the development of numerous statistical models created to assess the sensitivity of the landscape for the presence of Native American archaeological sites. The seven task reports of this project are organized as follows: Task 1, background literature review; Task 2, organization of study areas by physiography; Task 3, pilot model study; Task 4, models and results for Regions 1, 2, and 3; Task 5, models and results for Regions 4, 5, and 6; Task 6, models and results for Regions 7, 8, 9, and 10; and Task 7, final project synthesis. Each of Tasks 4, 5, and 6 document the bulk of this undertaking by describing the data preparation, model building process, and results for each of 10 regions that constitute the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Task 7 report synthesizes the methodologies, illuminates the model building process, discusses model validation and findings, and offers possible avenues for future research. KW - Archaeological surveying KW - Construction projects KW - Cultural resources KW - Methodology KW - National Environmental Policy Act KW - Pennsylvania KW - Pennsylvania Department of Transportation KW - Statistical analysis KW - Transportation planning UR - http://www.dot7.state.pa.us/BPR_PDF_FILES/Documents/Research/Complete%20Projects/Planning/Archaeological_Predictive_Model.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55300/55315/Archaeological_Predictive_Model.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1361727 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570360 AU - Roberts-Wollmann, Carin AU - Cousins, Tommy AU - Halbe, Kedar AU - Field, Carrie AU - Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg AU - Rutgers University, Piscataway AU - Virginia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Improved Connection Details for Adjacent Prestressed Bridge Beams PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 71p AB - Bridges with adjacent box beams and voided slabs are simply and rapidly constructed, and are well suited to short to medium spans. The traditional connection between the adjacent members is a shear key filled with a conventional non-shrink grout. With time and traffic, many of the joints show signs of cracking and leaking, and eventually, corrosion of the reinforcing and prestressing steel within the beams. The overarching goal of this project was to develop an improved detail for the connection between adjacent members using Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) or Very High Performance Concrete (VHPC). The specific objective of the research presented in this report was to determine the appropriate splice length for No. 4 and No. 6 uncoated reinforcing bars used in a UHPC or VHPC connection. A total of 15 beams were tested to determine the appropriate splice lengths for uncoated No. 4 and No. 6 bars in UHPC and VHPC. The 12 in tall by 10 in wide by 8.5 ft beams were precast with conventional concrete, with a block-out pocket to accommodate a splice. The tension bars were spliced in the pocket, which was then filled with either VHPC or UHPC. The beams were tested to place the splice location in a region of constant moment, and were loaded monotonically to failure. It was found that for an uncoated No. 4 bar in UHPC or VHPC a splice length of 4 in is adequate to develop the yield strength of the bar, but a length of 5 in is recommended to insure ductility. For a No. 6 bar in UHPC a splice length of 5 in is adequate to develop the yield strength, but 6 in is recommended to insure ductility. KW - Beams KW - Ductility KW - High performance concrete KW - Prestressed concrete bridges KW - Reinforcing bars KW - Splicing KW - Structural connection KW - Ultra high performance concrete KW - Yield strength UR - https://cait.rutgers.edu/files/CAIT-UTC-001-final.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55200/55234/CAIT-UTC-001-final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359780 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570318 AU - Amer, Ahmed AU - Roberts, Edwin AU - Mangar, Uzoamaka AU - Kraft, Walter H AU - Wanat, Joseph T AU - Cusolito, Peter C AU - Hogan, James R AU - Zhao, Xiaoliang (George) AU - VHB AU - Advantage Engineering Associates AU - Intelligent Automation Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Traffic Incident Management Gap Analysis Primer PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 90p AB - This document provides guidance to federal, State and local Traffic Incident Management (TIM) programs and their involved partners on the components needed to develop and sustain a successful fullfledged TIM program. The objectives of this primer are to: œ(1) Identify and summarize the current state of TIM practice and activities at the national and State/local levels. (2) Identify and summarize gaps found in TIM activities/information for national and State/local departments and agencies. (3) Identify and outline a framework for achieving a complete TIM program for the different levels of government utilizing national guidelines. (4) Outline the key elements that are contained in successful TIM programs. A key objective for this document is to address the actual challenges that different TIM stakeholders with varied levels of responsibility face in their current TIM practices on a day to day basis. KW - Incident management KW - Levels of government KW - Stakeholders KW - State of the practice KW - Traffic incidents KW - United States UR - http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop15007/fhwahop15007.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359644 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01567972 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Romo, Alicia AU - Yang, C Y David TI - The Science and Art of Putting Drivers under the Microscope PY - 2015/03 VL - 78 IS - 5 AB - Understanding driver behavior is necessary for improving safety and developing effective countermeasures for crashes. The Federal Highway Administration’s Human Factors Team is working on identifying factors to evaluate research methods and help researchers understand the types of data needed for a study. The team assessed a number of methods and determined factors for selecting those methods. The systematic approach helps researchers make informed decisions on the best ways to conduct their research. KW - Behavior KW - Drivers KW - Highway safety KW - Human factors in crashes KW - Research KW - Traffic crashes KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/15marapr/04.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359108 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01567964 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Paniati, Jeffrey AU - Wright, Bud TI - On the Frontlines of Innovation PY - 2015/03 VL - 78 IS - 5 AB - In order to keep up with growing traffic volumes as well as extensive rehabilitation needs, highway agencies in the United States must develop ways of using limited resources efficiently and effectively. A variety of innovative technologies and processes can help agencies improve construction projects, completing them faster while making them safer. State departments of transportation have adopted these innovations, transforming their methods for planning, design, construction, and maintenance of highway projects. National transportation organizations have developed programs to help states implement new technologies and processes, encouraging agencies to try innovations and make them standard practice for developing and delivering highway projects. KW - Construction safety KW - Highways KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) KW - Road construction KW - State departments of transportation KW - Technological innovations KW - United States UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/15marapr/01.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359055 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01567887 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Bergner, Dave AU - Vásconez, Kimberly C TI - Clearing Crashes on Arterials PY - 2015/03 VL - 78 IS - 5 AB - Public works agencies, department of transportation maintenance crews, and safety service patrols all play an important role in traffic incident management (TIM), though it is not always understood what roles they play. The responsibility for an incident is determined by jurisdiction, and state and local maintenance crews do not work the same incidents unless the jurisdictional boundaries overlap. It is necessary to provide workers with training in TIM in order to prepare them to respond to incidents safely and efficiently. KW - Highway traffic control KW - Incident management KW - Maintenance KW - Public works departments KW - Traffic crashes KW - Training UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/15marapr/05.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359109 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01567884 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Torbic, Darren AU - Campbell, John AU - Amjadi, Roya TI - Putting Safety Solutions to the Test PY - 2015/03 VL - 78 IS - 5 AB - The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) launched the Rural Safety Innovation Program in 2008 as a part of the United States Department of Transportation’s Rural Safety Initiative. The Rural Safety Innovation Program awarded funds to agencies to improve safety on rural highways. This article assesses nine highway safety improvement projects implemented as part of the program. Innovative technology, as well as well as signage and speed control devices, helped many departments of transportation. For further improvements, states can improve the quality of data linking crashes to roadway inventory, traffic volume, and safety treatments. KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Financing KW - Highway safety KW - Improvements KW - Rural highways KW - Rural Safety Innovation Program KW - Traffic crashes KW - U.S. Department of Transportation KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/15marapr/03.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359081 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01567824 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Hancock, Michael W TI - Leading with Innovation at the Helm PY - 2015/03 VL - 78 IS - 5 AB - The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) has been working for over a decade to improve facilities and services by focusing on customer service, leadership, performance measurement, and management. Using practical solutions, KYTC has improved the quality of projects with context-sensitive planning. This method has led to the successful implementation of many projects. KYTC is working to develop performance metrics to assist in communication with the public. Public trust will help ensure that the agency is able to allocate resources to critical projects. KW - Context sensitive design KW - Customer service KW - Implementation KW - Improvements KW - Kentucky Transportation Cabinet KW - Leadership KW - Outreach KW - Performance measurement UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/15marapr/02.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359056 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567479 AU - Mander, John B AU - Karthik, Madhu M AU - Hurlebaus, Stefan AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute, College Station AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Guidelines for Analyzing the Capacity of D-Regions with Premature Concrete Deterioration of ASR/DEF PY - 2015/03 SP - 176p AB - When a bridge engineer encounters a design or analysis problem concerning a bridge substructure, that structure will commonly have a mixture of member types, some slender, and some squat. When the structure possesses a mixture of beam (B-) regions and deep or disturbed (D-) regions the dilemma facing the structural engineer is: What method should one use for structural analysis and design? The issue becomes even more murky when a structure already exists, but shows signs of damage and deterioration from the effects of Alkali Silica Reaction (ASR), Delayed Ettringite Formation (DEF), or other deterioration mechanisms. The engineer is faced with a second dilemma: How do deteriorated material properties get incorporated into the analysis? This report includes guidelines for determining the capacity of D-regions without and with premature concrete deterioration, in particular ASR and DEF effects. Beam theory, strut-and-tie analysis, and a compatibility strut-and-tie model are presented. KW - Alkali silica reactions KW - Beams KW - Bridge substructures KW - Concrete bridges KW - Delayed ettringite formation KW - Deterioration KW - Guidelines KW - Reinforced concrete KW - Structural analysis KW - Strut and tie method UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-5997-P2.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353213 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567425 AU - Sneed, Lesley AU - Anderson, Neil AU - Torgashov, Evgeniy AU - Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla AU - Missouri Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Air-Launched GPR Evaluation for Rapid Assessment of MoDOT Bridge Decks PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 59p AB - This study demonstrated the utility of the air-launched ground penetrating radar (GPR) tool in terms of evaluating the condition of Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) bridge decks. The objective was to confirm that the air-launched GPR tool can be implemented as a part of a long-term program that enables faster, better, and more cost-effective assessments of MoDOT bridge decks. Ten bridge decks were investigated using an air-launched GPR system. Four of the bridge decks investigated were previously investigated using a ground-coupled GPR system, and results from those four bridge decks served as ground truth for the air-launched GPR interpretations. Findings show reasonably good spatial correlation between the ground-coupled GPR and air-launched GPR data sets in terms of deteriorated regions and overall percentages of deteriorated regions in terms of bridge deck surface area. Apparent discrepancies between the air-launched and ground-coupled GPR interpretations can be attributed to several factors, including interpolation between adjacent GPR traverses, differences in signal attenuation due to different antenna frequencies, and differences in signal resolution due to different distance from the antenna to the embedded reinforcing steel. Recommendations for optimum acquisition, processing, and interpretation parameters for air-launched GPR reconnaissance-style assessment were provided as part of this study. KW - Bridge decks KW - Deterioration KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Ground penetrating radar KW - Missouri KW - Recommendations KW - Structural health monitoring UR - http://library.modot.mo.gov/RDT/reports/TR201411/cmr15-009.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1356187 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567406 AU - Ruiz, J Mauricio AU - Garber, Sabrina AU - Dick, Jason C AU - Transtec Group, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Computer-Based Guidelines for Concrete Pavements, HIPERPAV IIIⓇ, Version 3.3 User's Manual PY - 2015/03 SP - 88p AB - The Federal Highway Administration’s HIgh PERformance PAVing (HIPERPAV®) software program has been upgraded to include the following new features in its latest version, HIPERPAV III®, version 3.3: The coarse aggregate input now includes an option for use of blast furnace slag aggregate. The user has the ability to download forecasted weather data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service Web site and have that data automatically entered as inputs for ambient temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and cloud coverage. This report serves as the user’s manual for the HIPERPAV III®, version 3.3, software. Users can download the software at the following URL: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/software/research/infrastructure/pavements/hiperpav/ver3-3. KW - Coarse aggregates KW - Computer program documentation KW - Concrete pavements KW - Guidelines KW - HIPERPAV (Computer program) KW - Pavement design KW - Slag KW - Software KW - Weather conditions UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/pavements/14087/14087.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1356041 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567398 AU - Paul, Alvaro AU - Kahn, Lawrence F AU - Kurtis, Kimberly AU - Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta AU - Georgia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Corrosion-Free Precast Prestressed Concrete Piles Made with Stainless Steel Reinforcement: Construction, Test and Evaluation PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 306p AB - The use of duplex high-strength stainless steel (HSSS) grade 2205 prestressing strand and austenitic stainless steel (SS) grade 304 spiral wire reinforcement is proposed as a replacement of conventional prestressing steel, in order to provide a 100+ year service life for prestressed concrete piles located in the Georgia coastal region. The study experimentally investigated 16-in. square, 70-ft. long piles constructed using duplex HSSS 2205 strands and SS 304 spiral wire reinforcement and compared their behavior with identical piles which were built using the conventional strands and spirals. The piles were successfully driven to refusal without visible damage, were extracted and tested in flexure and shear. Transfer and development length of piles using duplex HSSS 2205 strands were 57% and 55%, respectively, of the values predicted by American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) (2013). Transfer length of duplex HSSS 2205 strands was not affected by pile driving and extraction. Flexural and shear strength of piles using duplex HSSS 2205 strands were greater than predicted by American Concrete Institute (ACI) 318-11 and AASHTO LRFD (2013) specifications. Experimental prestress losses at 335 days for piles using duplex HSSS 2205 strands were 82% of the predicted losses by AASHTO LRFD refined method. Prestress losses were not affected by pile driving and extraction. It was concluded that duplex HSSS 2205 can be used for prestressing strands in combination with austenitic SS 304 for the transverse confinement and shear reinforcement for prestressed concrete piles, using the same design requirements and construction procedures used for conventional prestressing strand and wire reinforcement. KW - AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications KW - Georgia KW - High strength steel KW - Load and resistance factor design KW - Pile driving KW - Piles (Supports) KW - Precast concrete KW - Prestressed concrete KW - Reinforced concrete KW - Reinforcing steel KW - Strength of materials UR - http://g92018.eos-intl.net/eLibSQL14_G92018_Documents/11-34.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1357775 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01565340 AU - Dixon, Karen AU - Fitzpatrick, Kay AU - Avelar, Raul AU - Perez, Marcie AU - Ranft, Stephen AU - Stevens, Roma AU - Venglar, Steven AU - Voigt, Tony AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Reducing Lane and Shoulder Width to Permit an Additional Lane on a Freeway: Technical Report PY - 2015/03//Technical Report SP - 104p AB - This research effort identified the operational and safety implications of using reduced lane and shoulder widths for a variety of freeway configurations. The research team used speed, crash, and geometric data for freeways in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. The operational analysis identified an increase of about 2.2 mph in speed for a 12-ft lane as compared to an 11-ft lane. The shoulder width is significant when the adjacent lane is 11-ft wide, but not when it is 12-ft wide which suggests that left shoulder width is more important with a reduced lane width. Operating speeds on Texas freeways are 2 mph lower during night time (with roadside lighting present) than during the day. Speeds were higher (by 1.5 mph) on the weekends (Saturday) than on the weekday studied (Wednesday). The safety analysis determined a crash difference when comparing freeways with 12 ft to 11 ft lanes. There is a reduction in fatal or severe injury (KAB) crashes that ranges from 5% for 2-lane freeways up to 12% for 5-lane freeways, other roadway characteristics equal. Similarly, there are crash reductions associated with each additional lane, increased left shoulder widths, and increased right shoulder widths. While constructing an additional lane is beneficial in terms of safety, a larger safety detriment caused by narrow lanes or shoulders annuls such benefit. However, if it is possible to increase the total paved width when adding a travel lane, the safety model allows the analyst to identify lane and shoulder widths so that the number of crashes along the corridor will expectedly remain unchanged. KW - Crash severity KW - Days KW - Freeways KW - Highway safety KW - Operating speed KW - Periods of the day KW - Road shoulders KW - Texas KW - Traffic lanes KW - Width UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6811-1.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55000/55087/0-6811-1.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55000/55088/0-6811-S.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1355727 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563672 AU - Simmons, Erica AU - Kay, Michael AU - Ingles, Amy AU - Khurana, Monisha AU - Sulmont, Margueritte AU - Lyons, William AU - Volpe National Transportation Systems Center AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluating the Economic Benefits of Nonmotorized Transportation: Case Studies and Methods for the Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program Communities PY - 2015/03//White Paper SP - 34p AB - This report examines potential methods for evaluating the economic benefits from nonmotorized transportation investments. The variety of potential economic benefits of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and programming investments discussed include commute cost savings for bicyclists and pedestrians, direct benefits to bicycle and tourism-related businesses, indirect economic benefits due to changing consumer behavior, and individual and societal cost savings associated with health and environmental benefits. This report reviews potential methods for analyzing these different economic benefits at the project, neighborhood, and larger community scale, highlighting case studies from Minneapolis, Toronto, New York City, and the State of Vermont. A review of previous economic evaluations of nonmotorized transportation investments and available analysis tools suggests that researchers should choose evaluation methods and scales of analysis appropriate to the project or program they intend to evaluate. Researchers should also consider the availability of baseline data and control data when designing an evaluation approach. KW - Bicycles KW - Case studies KW - Economic benefits KW - Economic impacts KW - Investments KW - Minneapolis (Minnesota) KW - New York (New York) KW - Nonmotorized transportation KW - Pedestrians KW - Toronto (Canada) KW - Vermont KW - Walking UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54700/54765/NTPP_Economic_Benefits_White_Paper.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1352970 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563559 AU - Taylor, Peter AU - Wang, Xin AU - Wang, Xuhao AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Concrete Pavement Mixture Design and Analysis (MDA): Evaluation of Foam Drainage Test to Measure Air Void Stability in Concrete PY - 2015/03//Technical Report SP - 22p AB - The stability of air bubbles in fresh concrete can have a profound influence on the potential durability of the system, because excessive losses during placement and consolidation can compromise the ability of the mixture to resist freezing and thawing. The stability of air void systems developed by some air entraining admixtures (AEAs) could be affected by the presence of some polycarboxylate-based water reducing admixtures (WRAs). The foam drainage test provides a means of measuring the potential stability of air bubbles in a paste. A barrier to acceptance of the test was that there was little investigation of the correlation with field performance. The work reported here was a limited exercise seeking to observe the stability of a range of currently available AEA/WRA combinations in the foam drainage test; then, to take the best and the worst and observe their stabilities on concrete mixtures in the lab. Based on the data collected, the foam drainage test appears to identify stable combinations of AEA and WRA. KW - Admixtures KW - Air entrained concrete KW - Air voids KW - Concrete pavements KW - Drainage KW - Evaluation KW - Foams KW - Mix design KW - Stability (Mechanics) KW - Water reducing agents UR - http://publications.iowa.gov/19401/1/InTrans_Taylor_Concrete_Pavement_Mixture_Design_Analysis_MDA_Evaluation_Foam_Drainage_Test_Measure_Air_Void_Stability_Concrete_2015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1352938 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01562668 AU - White, David J AU - Vennapusa, Pavana K R AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Report of the 3rd Workshop for Technology Transfer for Intelligent Compaction Consortium PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 175p AB - This document summarizes the discussion and findings of the 3rd workshop held on September 3–4, 2014 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as part of the Technology Transfer Intelligent Compaction Consortium (TTICC) Transportation Pooled Fund (TPF-5(233)) study. The TTICC project is led by the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) and partnered by the following state DOTs: California DOT, Georgia DOT, Iowa DOT, Kentucky DOT, Missouri DOT, Ohio DOT, Pennsylvania DOT, Virginia DOT, and Wisconsin DOT. The workshop was hosted by the Pennsylvania DOT and was organized by the Center for Earthworks Engineering Research (CEER) at Iowa State University of Science and Technology. The objective of the workshop was to generate a focused discussion to identify the research, education, and implementation goals necessary for advancing intelligent compaction for earthworks and asphalt. The workshop consisted of a review of the TTICC goals, state DOT briefings on intelligent compaction implementation activities in their state, voting and brainstorming sessions on intelligent compaction road map research and implementation needs, and identification of action items for TTICC, industry, and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) on each of the road map elements to help accelerate implementation of the technology. Twenty-two attendees representing the state DOTs participated in this pooled fund study, Vermont DOT, FHWA, researchers from Iowa State University, and industry participated in this workshop. KW - Compaction KW - Implementation KW - Intelligent compaction KW - State departments of transportation KW - Technology transfer KW - Workshops UR - http://www.intrans.iastate.edu/research/documents/research-reports/2014-TTICC-workshop-report-04152015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1352248 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01561008 AU - Zayed, Abla AU - Riding, Kyle AU - Ferraro, Christopher C AU - Bien-Aime, Andre AU - Shanahan, Natallia AU - Buidens, Daniel AU - Meagher, Thomas AU - Tran, Victor AU - Henika, Justin D AU - Paris, Jerry M AU - Tibbetts, Caitlin M AU - Watts, Benjamin E AU - University of South Florida, Tampa AU - Florida Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Long-Life Slab Replacement Concrete PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 306p AB - This research was initiated following reports of high incidence of cracking on Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) concrete pavement replacement slab projects. Field slabs were instrumented for data acquisition from high-early-strength concrete pavement replacement slabs placed on projects funded by FDOT. Data were collected for three slabs located in Jacksonville, Florida, and Gainesville, Florida. A battery of laboratory tests was simultaneously conducted on the FDOT-approved concrete mixture designs used in the instrumented field slabs in addition to mixtures with variable chloride-based accelerator dosage. Temperature and strain data, as well as physical and thermal data, were acquired from slabs from the construction projects. The physical and thermal data acquired from the field were used for modeling description and verification. Subsequent to the field testing and data acquisition, the slabs were inspected for the presence of cracking. Laboratory testing included as-received materials characterization, heat of hydration measurements using isothermal and semi-adiabatic calorimetry for temperature rise assessment, and strength maturity curves for strength assessment. Using ConcreteWorks and HIPERPAV III, the findings indicated that adherence to the approved mixture design is critical. High placement temperatures and concrete placement during the day increased concrete cracking potential. Field additions of accelerator in excess of the approved mixture design were also found to increase the cracking potential. KW - Accelerating agents KW - Concrete pavements KW - Cracking KW - Field tests KW - Florida KW - Laboratory tests KW - Mix design KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) KW - Slabs KW - Temperature KW - Thermal stresses UR - http://www.fdot.gov/research/Completed_Proj/Summary_SMO/FDOT-BDV25-977-01-rpt.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1351100 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01561003 AU - Lin, Shibin AU - Ashlock, Jeramy C AU - Kim, Hanjun AU - Nash, Jeremy AU - Lee, Hosin (David) AU - Williams, R Christopher AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Assessment of Nondestructive Testing Technologies for Quality Control/Quality Assurance of Asphalt Mixtures PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 183p AB - Asphalt pavements suffer various failures due to insufficient quality within their design lives. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) has been proposed to improve pavement quality through quantitative performance prediction. Evaluation of the actual performance (quality) of pavements requires in situ nondestructive testing (NDT) techniques that can accurately measure the most critical, objective, and sensitive properties of pavement systems. The purpose of this study is to assess existing as well as promising new NDT technologies for quality control/quality assurance (QC/QA) of asphalt mixtures. Specifically, this study examined field measurements of density via the PaveTracker electromagnetic gage, shear-wave velocity via surface-wave testing methods, and dynamic stiffness via the Humboldt GeoGauge for five representative paving projects covering a range of mixes and traffic loads. The in situ tests were compared against laboratory measurements of core density and dynamic modulus. The in situ PaveTracker density had a low correlation with laboratory density and was not sensitive to variations in temperature or asphalt mix type. The in situ shear-wave velocity measured by surface-wave methods was most sensitive to variations in temperature and asphalt mix type. The in situ density and in situ shear-wave velocity were combined to calculate an in situ dynamic modulus, which is a performance-based quality measurement. The in situ GeoGauge stiffness measured on hot asphalt mixtures several hours after paving had a high correlation with the in situ dynamic modulus and the laboratory density, whereas the stiffness measurement of asphalt mixtures cooled with dry ice or at ambient temperature one or more days after paving had a very low correlation with the other measurements. To transform the in situ moduli from surface-wave testing into quantitative quality measurements, a QC/QA procedure was developed to first correct the in situ moduli measured at different field temperatures to the moduli at a common reference temperature based on master curves from laboratory dynamic modulus tests. The corrected in situ moduli can then be compared against the design moduli for an assessment of the actual pavement performance. A preliminary study of micro-electromechanical systems- (MEMS)-based sensors for QC/QA and health monitoring of asphalt pavements was also performed. KW - Asphalt mixtures KW - Assessments KW - Density KW - Dynamic modulus of elasticity KW - Electromagnetic devices KW - Field tests KW - Laboratory tests KW - Nondestructive tests KW - Quality assurance KW - Quality control KW - Stiffness KW - Technological innovations UR - http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/intrans_reports/112 UR - http://publications.iowa.gov/19152/1/IADOT_InTrans_UI_TR-653_Lin_Assess_NDT_Techs_QC_QA_Asphalt_Mixtures_2015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1347698 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560995 AU - Ellis, Wendy AU - Vermont Agency of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Assessment of Uretek Deep Injection Process PY - 2015/03//Initial Report SP - 28p AB - This project assesses the capacity of an in-situ urethane stabilized soil mass to halt subsidence on an Interstate highway. An area of subsidence is approximately 100 meters long in the southbound barrel of I-89 from mile marker 0.124 to 0.153 in Hartford, Vermont. The location’s annual average daily traffic is amongst the highest in eastern Vermont, averaging 38,000 vehicles per day. Historically, the roadway section was originally constructed in the 1950s and it is believed that the majority of the fill material used was taken from the rock cut sections in the connecting ramps on the south side of the I-89/I-91 interchange. Project Hartford IM 089-1 (60) was initiated and bids were let on the project in 2013 to stabilize the site and alleviate ongoing maintenance costs. For planning and design purposes, Applied Research Associates (ARA) consultants were contracted to determine the extent of the instability through a variety of noninvasive geophysical and non-destructive testing. This data was utilized to approximate the total amount of injection material that would be needed to stabilize the area through the injection process. URETEK USA was subcontracted through J.A. McDonald to use a patented deep injection method to stabilize the underlying subsurface of the highway. URETEK 486, a family of two-component, lightweight expansive polymers developed by Bayer MaterialScience LLC of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was injected in the base soil in a grid pattern, typically 4-foot by 4-foot to stabilize and compact weaker or loose soils to improve the load bearing capacity. The material was injected in cold temperatures successfully. This report summarizes the installation and first year data. KW - Assessments KW - Injection (Materials) KW - Soil stabilization KW - Subgrade (Pavements) KW - Subsidence (Geology) KW - Urethane KW - Vermont UR - http://vtransplanning.vermont.gov/sites/aot_policy/files/documents/planning/2015%20-%2009%20Assessment%20of%20Uretek%20Deep%20Injection%20Process.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1349905 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560983 AU - Chintakunta, Satish AU - Boone, Shane D AU - Engineering and Software Consultants, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Nondestructive Inspection Protocol for Reinforced Concrete Barriers PY - 2015/03 SP - 50p AB - Reinforced concrete highway barriers serve to prevent errant vehicles from departing the travel way at grade separations. Despite the important role that they play in maintaining safety and their ubiquitous nature, barrier inspection rarely moves beyond visual inspection. In August 2008, a tractor-trailer fatally departed William Preston Lane, Jr., Memorial Bridge after it dislodged a section of the bridge barrier. Investigations following the accident identified significant corrosion of the anchor bolts attaching the bridge railing to the bridge deck. As a result of the information gathered during its investigation of the accident, the National Transportation Safety Board made recommendations to the Federal Highway Administration concerning nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of concrete bridge railings. The Center for Non Destructive Evaluation (NDE) at Turner Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, VA, has evaluated the feasibility of using four technologies—ground penetrating radar (GPR), ultrasonic pulse-echo, digital radiography, and infrared thermal imaging methods—to develop bridge inspection methods that augment visual inspections, offer reliable measurement techniques, and are practical regarding both time and cost for field inspection work. Controlled samples containing predefined corrosion levels in reinforcing steel were embedded at barrier connection points for laboratory testing. All four NDE techniques were used. The methods provided useful and complementary information. Ultrasonic pulse-echo and GPR provided a rapid approach to identify reinforcing steel that has anomalous responses. Full implementation could use both ultrasonic pulse-echo and GPR methods to identify areas of concern providing guidance for maintenance actions. KW - Barriers (Roads) KW - Bridge railings KW - Corrosion KW - Feasibility analysis KW - Ground penetrating radar KW - Inspection KW - Laboratory tests KW - Nondestructive tests KW - Radiography KW - Reinforced concrete KW - Structural health monitoring KW - Thermal imagery KW - Ultrasonic tests UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/structures/bridge/14076/14076.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1347692 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560980 AU - Mander, John B AU - Karthik, Madhu M AU - Hurlebaus, Stefan AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Structural Assessment of "D" Regions Affected by Premature Concrete Deterioration: Technical Report PY - 2015/03//Technical Report SP - 210p AB - The current study is a continuation of the earlier study that investigated the effects of Alkali Silica Reaction (ASR) and Delayed Ettringite Formation (DEF) induced deterioration on the D-Regions of structures. Of the four near full-scale C-Beam specimens that were constructed, and conditioned over time as part of the earlier study, the last specimen (Specimen 3), which was field conditioned through the Texas heat along with supplemental water for a period of five years, is the main focus of this study. With time, additional cracks caused by ASR/DEF swelling were observed in addition to the load induced cracks. Based on the deterioration data collected and observations made on Specimen 3, it was classified to show heavy damage due to ASR/DEF deterioration. The experimental test of Specimen 3 which resulted in a brittle shear failure through the beam-column joint, showed a similar failure mechanism to the other three C-Beam specimens. The heavy deterioration caused by ASR/DEF deterioration also did not seem to have any effect on the load carrying capacity of the specimen. However, the response of the specimen was considerably stiffer and less ductile than the earlier tested C-Beam specimens with no, slight, and moderate amounts of deterioration. This is due to the restraint offered to ASR/DEF swelling strain by the reinforcement, which causes tensile strains in the reinforcement. This effectively put the concrete under a state of active prestress. Although no signs of corrosion are observed in the specimen during the deterioration phase, in terms of concrete cover spalling or rust stains in concrete, a considerable amount of corrosion was observed on the reinforcement bars once the cover concrete was removed. A minimalist semi-empirical analysis technique is developed to model the expansion strains caused by ASR/DEF expansion in reinforced concrete. The proposed model takes into account the effects of compressive and tensile prestrains on the expansion strains caused by ASR/DEF, in addition to the daily variations in temperature and humidity. This enables the model to capture the expansion strains in reinforced concrete structures that are exposed to environmental conditions. The model is validated and applied to simulate the expansion strains observed for the C-Beam specimens. Considering the complex nature of the ASR/DEF phenomena, the nature of the structure considered, and the variability in the field recorded data, the model simulates the expansion strains quite well. The Compatibility Strut-and-Tie Modeling (C-STM) technique, which was developed and verified in Phase I of this report, is used to model the force-deformation behavior of C-Beam Specimen 3. The expansion strains that are obtained from the ASR/DEF model is used to compute the prestress loads to be applied in the C-STM technique to account for the effects of ASR/DEF expansion in the model. The C-STM simulates the overall force-deformation and the internal behavior of the structure quite well. KW - Alkali silica reactions KW - Bearing capacity KW - Bents KW - Concrete bridges KW - Corrosion KW - Cracking KW - Deformation KW - Delayed ettringite formation KW - Deterioration KW - Humidity KW - Reinforced concrete KW - Stiffness KW - Structural analysis KW - Strut and tie method KW - Temperature KW - Texas UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-5997-2.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1350687 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560972 AU - Cohen, Alison M AU - Witte, Adrian AU - Ferranti, Stephen AU - Hernandez, Mauricio AU - Kruse, David AU - Toole Design Group AU - SRF Associates AU - New York State Department of Transportation AU - New York State Energy Research and Development Authority AU - Genesee Transportation Council AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Rochester Area Bike Sharing Program Study PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 182p AB - The Genesee Transportation Council (GTC) commissioned this study to explore the feasibility of implementing a bike share system throughout Rochester and the surrounding area. The report recommends a multi-phase bike share system consisting of a four-phase, 100 station, 1000 bike system in Rochester proper, and a regional system that includes Villages of Brockport, East Rochester, Pittsford, and Fairport, the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Campus, activity centers in the Towns of Greece and Brighton, and the City of Canandaigua. The report identifies opportunities and challenges for a bike share program in the Rochester area, lays out a system map and identifies the revenues and expenses required to implement the program. KW - Bicycle facilities KW - Expenditures KW - Feasibility analysis KW - Financing KW - Implementation KW - Revenues KW - Rochester (New York) KW - Vehicle sharing UR - http://www.nyserda.ny.gov/-/media/Files/Publications/Research/Transportation/Rochester-Bike-Sharing-Program-Study.pdf UR - https://www.dot.ny.gov/divisions/engineering/technical-services/trans-r-and-d-repository/C-13-53%20Final%20Report_3-2015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1351361 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560955 AU - Anderson, Christopher J AU - Claman, David AU - Mantilla, Ricardo AU - Takle, Eugene S AU - Quintero, Felipe AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Iowa’s Bridge and Highway Climate Change and Extreme Weather Vulnerability Assessment Pilot PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 61p AB - The Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) is responsible for approximately 4,100 bridges and structures that are a part of the state’s primary highway system, which includes the Interstate, US, and Iowa highway routes. A pilot study was conducted for six bridges in two Iowa river basins—the Cedar River Basin and the South Skunk River Basin—to develop a methodology to evaluate their vulnerability to climate change and extreme weather. The six bridges had been either closed or severely stressed by record streamflow within the past seven years. An innovative methodology was developed to generate streamflow scenarios given climate change projections. The methodology selected appropriate rainfall projection data to feed into a streamflow model that generated continuous peak annual streamflow series for 1960 through 2100, which were used as input to PeakFQ to estimate return intervals for floods. The methodology evaluated the plausibility of rainfall projections and credibility of streamflow simulation while remaining consistent with U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) protocol for estimating the return interval for floods. The results were conveyed in an innovative graph that combined historical and scenario-based design metrics for use in bridge vulnerability analysis and engineering design. The pilot results determined the annual peak streamflow response to climate change likely will be basin-size dependent, four of the six pilot study bridges would be exposed to increased frequency of extreme streamflow and would have higher frequency of overtopping, the proposed design for replacing the Interstate 35 bridges over the South Skunk River south of Ames, Iowa is resilient to climate change, and some Iowa DOT bridge design policies could be reviewed to consider incorporating climate change information. KW - Climate change KW - Floods KW - Forecasting KW - Highway bridges KW - Iowa KW - Methodology KW - Rainfall KW - Risk analysis KW - Streamflow KW - Weather conditions UR - http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/intrans_reports/118/ UR - http://publications.iowa.gov/19341/1/IADOT_InTrans_HEPN_707_Anderson_Iowas_Bridge_and_Highway_Climate_Change_and_Extreme_Weather_Vulnerability_2015.pdf UR - http://www.intrans.iastate.edu/research/documents/research-reports/IA_climate_change_vulnerability_assess_w_cvr1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1351363 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560954 AU - Bortz, Brandon AU - Hossain, Mustaque AU - Kansas State University Transportation Center AU - Kansas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Accelerated Pavement Testing of Low-Volume Paved Roads with Geocell Reinforcement PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 99p AB - The Midwest States Accelerated Pavement Testing Pooled-Fund Program, financed by the highway departments of Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, and New York, has supported an accelerated pavement testing (APT) project to study the rehabilitation of low-volume paved roads with geocells and different infill materials under real-world traffic on a marginal subgrade, and to simulate this type of rehabilitation numerically so that a design method can be developed. To achieve this study objective, four pavement test sections were constructed at the Civil Infrastructure System Laboratory of Kansas State University. Three out of these four lanes had geocell-reinforced bases with three different infill materials: crushed limestone, quarry by-products, and Recycled Asphalt Pavement. The fourth test lane was the control section consisting of crushed stone base. All sections were heavily instrumented. Repeated loads (80-kN single axle) were applied using an accelerated pavement testing machine. The sections with 50-mm hot-mix asphalt (HMA) layer reached the failure criteria of 12.5-mm rut depth after 10,000 passes due to excessive stress in the subgrade. The redesigned sections with 100-mm HMA layer carried 1.2 million passes without reaching 12.5-mm failure rut depth. The geocells with marginal materials as infills appear to be viable in low-volume paved road applications. KW - Accelerated tests KW - Base course (Pavements) KW - Crushed limestone KW - Geosynthetics KW - Hot mix asphalt KW - Low volume roads KW - Pavement design KW - Reclaimed asphalt pavements KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) KW - Rutting KW - Test sections UR - https://idmweb.ksdot.org/PublicLib/doccontent.dll?LibraryName=PublicDocs^dt00mx38&SystemType=2&LogonId=edf132d48f7db793cd1f78d66ca19348&DocId=003837650 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1347047 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560947 AU - Sebesta, Stephen AU - Taylor, Ross AU - Lee, Sang Ick AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Rapid Field Detection of Moisture Content for Base and Subgrade : Technical Report PY - 2015/03 SP - 50p AB - Mixing and compacting soil and flexible base pavement materials at the proper moisture content is critical for obtaining adequate compaction and meeting construction specification requirements. This project sought to evaluate rapid non-nuclear techniques for measuring the moisture content on roadway base and subgrade materials. This report presents results from the final stages of testing in this project, which included 3 non-nuclear approaches, the nuclear gauge for comparison, and the oven dry gravimetric moisture as the reference value. Researchers evaluated each test for bias, precision, and sensitivity, and then scored the devices according to bias, precision, sensitivity, cost, turnaround time, suitability for uncompacted materials, and suitability for compacted materials. With these scoring parameters, the data showed the moisture analyzer most suitable for implementation. The report presents a draft test method for measuring moisture content with the moisture analyzer. The test turnaround time is typically between 15 and 30 minutes. KW - Base course (Pavements) KW - Measuring instruments KW - Moisture content KW - Nuclear moisture gages KW - Subgrade (Pavements) KW - Test procedures UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6676-2.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1348918 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560940 AU - Grejner-Brzezinska, Dorota A AU - Toth, Charles AU - Wu, T H AU - Shakoor, Abdul AU - Ohio State University, Columbus AU - Ohio Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Probabilistic Use of LiDAR Data to Detect and Characterize Landslides PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 179p AB - Landslide hazard and its consequences in the transportation network are well-understood, yet current methods of identifying and assessing landslide conditions are inefficient, as they are mostly based on labor-intensive field surveys. This research was performed as a feasibility study, where the potential of airborne Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) data for landslide detection was investigated. The primary objective of this pilot study was to develop, implement and validate computer models for automatic detection and assessment of landslides using time-series of airborne LiDAR data. Models have been developed using LiDAR data obtained from SR 666 in Muskingum County (District 5) and independently tested on LiDAR data covering southern Ohio. In this research effort, two techniques, one using single and the other based on multi-temporal surface models, obtained by airborne LiDAR, were proposed, implemented and tested for landslide susceptibility and hazard mapping. Based on a single dataset, 84% of the landslides from the reference inventory map of SR 666 were correctly identified, while using two datasets acquired four years apart, the proposed technique was able to identify 66% of the mapped landslides that are experiencing temporal changes susceptible to slides. KW - Detection and identification technologies KW - Feasibility analysis KW - Landslides KW - Laser radar KW - Ohio KW - Validation UR - http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/Planning/SPR/Research/reportsandplans/Reports/2015/Geotechnical/134609_FR.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1351360 ER - TY - SER AN - 01560933 JO - TechBrief PB - Federal Highway Administration TI - Construction Quality Assurance for Federally Funded Local Public Agency Projects PY - 2015/03 SP - 6p AB - The purpose of this TechBrief is to summarize a comprehensive investigation of current construction quality assurance (QA) practices from both State Highway Agencies (SHA) and Local Public Agencies (LPA) perspectives undertaken in 2012 and to present recommendations from this analysis. The review included a content analysis of current SHA and LPA QA procedures, a national SHA/LPA survey of construction QA practices, and indepth interviews of a selected cross-section of State and local agency representatives. The recommendations resulting from this review focused on the current state of practice, issues or challenges, and best practices to improve construction QA. Some of the specific areas identified in prior reviews and the project surveys and interviews include the development of LPA-specific guidelines and manuals, quality management by the SHAs, use of consultants, certification programs, and training. Related topics such as communication, specifications and standards, and risk-based tiered systems for LPA projects were also raised and analyzed as part of this review. KW - Best practices KW - Construction projects KW - Highways KW - Local government agencies KW - Quality assurance KW - Recommendations KW - State highway departments KW - State of the practice KW - Surveys UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/15009/15009.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1347691 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560922 AU - Jenkins, Andrew AU - Kansas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Surface Resistivity as an Alternative for Rapid Chloride Permeability Test of Hardened Concrete PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 39p AB - Kansas experiences harsh winters that require frequent use of de-icing salts, making it critical to the long-term durability of concrete structures that the permeability is kept under control. Under current Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) specification, the Rapid Chloride Permeability (RCP) test, as described in ASTM Standard C1202 (2012), or the Volume of Permeable Voids method, described in ASTM Standard C642 (2013), more commonly known as the boil test, must be performed to evaluate concrete permeability. Surface resistivity testing was investigated as an alternative to these tests. Testing for surface resistivity was set up to evaluate the correlation of surface resistivity with RCP and boil tests, the effect of loss of saturation on the sample, and the repeatability of surface resistivity testing. Results indicate a strong relationship (R-squared value of 0.84) between 28-day surface resistivity and 56-day C1202 RCP testing. Results also correlate well to a mathematical relationship derived through Ohm's Law. Surface resistivity did not have a strong relationship (R-squared value of 0.37) with C642 boil testing. Cylinders were cast to evaluate the effect of saturation levels and differential sample drying. Cylinders were allowed to dry for varying lengths of time at different ages. Results indicated that allowing the samples to dry, regardless of the length of drying time and the age at which the samples were drying, increased the surface resistivity results by an average of 15%. Through the course of this study, including all samples tested, the standard deviation and coefficient of variation on any given set of cylinders is 1.4 and 4.9%, respectively. If only samples used for the correlation of 28-day surface resistivity to 56-day RCP are used, the coefficient of variation is 4.2%. A cost-benefit analysis was performed to evaluate the monetary savings resulting from this research. A triennial analysis indicates a total cost savings by KDOT and contractors of approximately $980,000 and a cost-benefit ratio of 9.2. As a result of this research, recommended specification limits have been developed for surface resistivity testing. As of January 2014, surface resistivity testing has been added to KDOT Standard Specifications as an alternate test method for concrete permeability. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Concrete tests KW - Electrical resistivity KW - Kansas KW - Permeability KW - Rapid Chloride Permeability Test KW - Specifications UR - https://idmweb.ksdot.org/PublicLib/doccontent.dll?LibraryName=PublicDocs^dt00mx38&SystemType=2&LogonId=edf132d48f7db793cd1f78d66ca19348&DocId=003837652 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1347048 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560913 AU - Abu-Odeh, Akram Y AU - McCaskey, Katherine M AU - Bligh, Roger P AU - Menges, Wanda L AU - Kuhn, Darrell L AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Crash Test and MASH TL-3 Evaluation of the TxDOT Short Radius Guardrail PY - 2015/03//Test Report SP - 422p AB - When a roadway intersects a highway with restrictive features such as a bridge rail and canal, it becomes difficult to fit a guardrail with the proper length, transitions, and end treatment along the highway. Possible solutions include relocating the constraint blocking the placement of the guardrail, shortening the designed guardrail length, or designing a curved guardrail. Curved, or short radius, guardrails typically present the most viable solution for these areas. However, no previously designed short radius guardrails meet National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 350 Test Level 3 (TL-3) guidelines. Now, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) has updated crash testing criteria. The new guidelines supersede NCHRP Report 350 and increased the size of test vehicles and changed the test matrices to include more impact conditions. Therefore, meeting new impact standards for short radius guardrails has become more challenging. Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) researchers investigated, modeled, and simulated an optimized short radius design under this project. Subsequently, TTI researchers crash tested this system successfully to MASH 3-33, 3-32, 3-31, and 3-35 test conditions. This innovative design utilizes an energy dissipation component plus a cable anchor that provides tension capacity to the rail section on the primary roadway, though an anchor breakaway cable terminal (BCT) post on the secondary road portion of the system. These new innovative design details made the system very effective in capturing the vehicles in short distances while using readily available components. KW - AASHTO Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware KW - Breakaway supports KW - Crashworthiness KW - Design KW - Evaluation KW - Guardrails KW - Impact tests KW - Radius KW - Simulation KW - Texas UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6711-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1350676 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560912 AU - Roy, Bryan AU - Windover, Paul AU - Energetics Incorporated AU - New York State Department of Transportation AU - New York State Energy Research and Development Authority AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Idle Reduction Assessment for the New York State Department of Transportation Region 4 Fleet PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 99p AB - Energetics Incorporated conducted a study to evaluate the operational, economic, and environmental impacts of advanced technologies to reduce idling in the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) Region 4 fleet without compromising functionality. The fleet actively addresses fleet efficiency and reducing petroleum consumption by using more efficient light-emitting diode hazard warning signs and encourages personnel to turn off vehicles when stationary. However, with a fleet of 328 on-road vehicles and a duty to serve the more than one million customers in seven western New York counties, NYSDOT Region 4 wanted to ensure they were reducing idling at every opportunity. Onboard data collection modules gathered details on the route, engine, vehicle and driver operational characteristics from ¾-ton pickups, 6-passenger pickups, stake rack trucks, and small dump trucks. Monitored parameters included engine speed, vehicle speed, fuel rate, global positioning system data, and a variety of vehicle state and environmental conditions as available. The diversity of vehicle functions during cold- and warm-weather seasons contributed to significantly different operational characteristics throughout the year. Energetics Incorporated used the collected data to develop vehicle profiles from which an implementation plan of idling reduction solutions was developed. Overall, the results showed that the vehicle’s use is extremely varied throughout the fleet and there is not a “silver bullet” approach that will work for the entire fleet. However, many vehicles in the fleet showed favorable estimated savings and are good candidates for idle reduction technology. KW - Data collection KW - Economic impacts KW - Engine idling KW - Environmental impacts KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - New York State Department of Transportation KW - Seasons KW - Technological innovations KW - Trucks KW - Vehicle fleets UR - https://www.dot.ny.gov/divisions/engineering/technical-services/trans-r-and-d-repository/C-13-01%20Final%20Report_3-2015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1347461 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560907 AU - Gross, Frank AU - Eccles, Kimberly AU - Carter, Daniel AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Crash Modification Factors Needs Assessment Workshop PY - 2015/03//Summary Report SP - 45p AB - The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) hosted a Crash Modification Factor (CMF) Stakeholder Meeting to provide a forum for CMF stakeholders to communicate ongoing efforts and identify opportunities for future collaboration. CMF stakeholders represent two primary groups: the CMF user community (transportation agencies and practitioners) and the CMF research and development community (individuals and agencies who plan, fund, direct, and carry out CMF research). Bringing these stakeholders together provided an opportunity to share insights and resources to further advance the research and development of CMFs and related activities. The meeting was arranged around five primary topic areas. The first was current CMF-related activities, which allowed time for each stakeholder to identify their roles, responsibilities, and current efforts with respect to the development and application of CMFs. The second topic of discussion was CMF research needs, which included a summary of the results of a CMF gap analysis. The third topic focused on resources (e.g., data) to support the development of CMFs. The fourth topic, advancing highway safety, focused on research methods, technologies, and innovation. The final discussion was a recap of the overarching themes and focused on future opportunities to advance the state of the practice. The remainder of this section provides further details on each of the topic areas, summarizing current CMF development efforts and highlighting key opportunities for the future. KW - Crash modification factors KW - Highway safety KW - Needs assessment KW - Stakeholders KW - State of the practice KW - Traffic crashes KW - Workshops UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/15020/15020.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1347693 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560904 AU - Carlson, Paul J AU - Higgins, Laura L AU - Pratt, Michael P AU - Finley, Melisa D AU - Theiss, LuAnn AU - Williams, William F AU - Iragavarapu, Vichika AU - Ko, Myunghoon AU - Nelson, Alicia A AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Traffic Control Device Evaluation Program: Technical Report PY - 2015/03 SP - 120p AB - This project provides the Texas Department of Transportation with a mechanism to quickly and effectively conduct high-priority, limited scope evaluations of traffic control devices. Work during the 2013–2014 fiscal year included three main tasks: updating the Texas Curve Advisory Speed (TCAS) program, testing alternatives to the existing exit gore sign requirements, and evaluating pilot vehicles and portable traffic control signals with and without a flagger. The TCAS program was developed to assist practitioners in the implementation of the guidelines for setting curve advisory speeds and choosing curve traffic control devices. Researchers updated the calculations contained within the TCAS program to reflect the guidelines in the Texas Manual on Traffic Control Devices (TMUTCD). Researchers also added a new set of calculations so that users have the choice of applying either the TMUTCD or the Procedures for Establishing Speed Zones. Exit gore signs are often hit and require constant maintenance, which puts maintenance crews at risk. The study’s objective was to develop potential alternative(s) to provide the road user the same level of information but reduce or eliminate the risk during maintenance. Researchers selected alternative exit gore treatments to test in Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s (TTI’s) driving simulator. The vertical chevron paired with chevron pavement markings performed consistently well, but none of the alternative treatments performed notably poorly. Typically, flaggers direct traffic when a lane on a two-lane, two-way road is closed for construction or maintenance, but Texas also uses portable traffic control signals and pilot vehicles to control operating speeds within the lane closure. Researchers conducted field studies to test driver compliance, and overall, only 3 percent of drivers did not comply with the portable traffic control signals and pilot vehicle for both conditions studied (with and without a flagger). Researchers also developed a tool to help pilot vehicle drivers estimate the minimum green time needed to clear the vehicle queue at the portable traffic signal. The report also discusses two ongoing tasks: coordinating state asset data collection efforts and evaluating rumble devices. KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Driving simulators KW - Evaluation KW - Field studies KW - Flaggers KW - Gore area KW - Road markings KW - Rumble strips KW - Texas KW - Traffic control devices KW - Traffic signs UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/9-1001-14-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1348933 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560882 AU - McFalls, Jett AU - Yi, Young-Jae AU - Li, Ming-Han AU - Senseman, Scott AU - Storey, Beverly AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Generic and Branded Herbicides: Technical Report PY - 2015/03 SP - 64p AB - As with other generic brand products in the marketplace, generic herbicides often have a lower initial product cost than their brand-name counterparts. While the purchase price of herbicides is important to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), it is essential to look at more than just initial costs to determine whether generic or branded products is the best practice. One should consider safety, effectiveness, and application rates/procedures as well as product availability and equipment requirements. This project focused on three herbicides (Roundup PROMAX®, Escort® XP and Transline®) that TxDOT currently uses. The multi-disciplinary research team conducted a literature review, survey of practice, and cost/benefit analysis to determine whether generic herbicides meet equivalent performance, toxicology, environmental impact, and safety requirements as branded herbicides with significant cost-savings. This study found that generic products with the same or similar formulation often proved equivalent to branded products in human/wildlife effects, performance, and equipment requirements. However, the potential lack of quality control was identified as a concern because many of the generic herbicides were produced overseas. The uncertainties of inert ingredients also made assessments of risks and performance unclear. Meanwhile, the cost-saving benefit by using generic products was not proven, particularly for projects requiring a large amount of herbicide. The generic product may have a cheaper price but may not include the same amount and quality of active ingredient as the brand-name product. Therefore, to achieve an equivalent rate of active ingredient, more of the generic material may need to be used, thereby potentially eliminating whatever cost savings was realized at the initial purchase of the generic product. Other concerns identified with generic herbicides include the lack of availability, and lack of diverse discounts offered by branded herbicide manufacturers. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Environmental impacts KW - Field tests KW - Herbicides KW - Literature reviews KW - Surveys KW - Texas KW - Toxicology UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6733-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1348934 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560870 AU - Estakhri, Cindy AU - Kassem, Emad AU - Arambula, Edith AU - Scullion, Tom AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Improving DMS 9210 Requirements for Limestone Rock Asphalt PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 34p AB - Limestone Rock Asphalt (LRA) mixtures have been produced and placed for several decades using specification requirements currently listed under DMS 9210. Several districts have had placement issues and premature failures at the beginning of 2010. These issues and failures have been attributed to material properties. Requirements for DMS 9210 have not changed for several years and need to be evaluated to possibly produce a higher quality material to reduce the occurrence of premature failures and to minimize placement issues. The objectives of the study are to (1) evaluate specification requirements of Item 330 and DMS 9210, (2) conduct field evaluations and lab testing to determine workability and acceptability as stockpile material for use as needed in pavement maintenance, and (3) consider improvements to the specification requirements to ensure an acceptable and workable stockpile material for up to 6 months. The Hveem stability was determined to be a good indicator of rutting resistance of LRA but it does not indicate when a mix is too dry and susceptible to raveling. The Cantabro test was able to identify dry mixtures with insufficient flux oil as well as poor quality flux oil. A Cantabro loss of 15 percent maximum is being proposed as a new specification test and limit. KW - Asphalt mixtures KW - Asphalt pavements KW - Asphalt rock KW - Evaluation KW - Field tests KW - Laboratory tests KW - Limestone KW - Pavement maintenance KW - Performance based specifications KW - Rutting KW - Texas KW - Workability UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6686-2.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1348920 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560684 AU - Silvertooth, Jason R AU - Huang, Hsiao-Wen AU - Provolt, Justin J AU - Nason, Jeffrey A AU - Oregon State University, Corvallis AU - Oregon Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Assessment of Copper Removal From Highway Stormwater Runoff Using Apatite II™ and Compost: Laboratory and Field Testing PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 139p AB - Stormwater runoff introduces heavy metals to surface waters that are harmful to aquatic organisms, including endangered salmon. This work evaluates Apatite II™, a biogenic fish bone based adsorbent, for removing metal from stormwater. The metals removal by Apatite II™ is compared to that of compost. Compost is commonly used in stormwater best management practices (BMPs). At equilibrium and in column tests, both compost and Apatite II™ removed copper and zinc to trace levels.. The introduction of natural organic material (NOM) rendered both adsorbents less effective in all tests. There was indication that dissolved copper in the effluent was fully complexed with NOM, effectively removing the bioavailable, free copper (Cu+2). In field testing Apatite II™ removed copper for three of seven storms with efficiencies ranging from 16.1% to 59.8%. Compost removed copper in three of five storms sampled, with efficiencies ranging from 24.7% to 45.4%. Ion leaching was observed for both media types. At the field level, steady state phosphate release of approximately 1.5 mg/L was observed for Apatite II™. For compost, field levels of leaching trend of nitrate and phosphate had not yet stabilized after approximately 7,300 gallons of flow through the filter. Due to the superior performance of compost, the steady state leaching of phosphate from Apatite II™, and the potential for Apatite II™ to release copper back into solution, compost is viewed as the more promising adsorbent for stormwater applications. KW - Apatite KW - Compost KW - Copper KW - Filters KW - Heavy metals KW - Leaching KW - Phosphates KW - Runoff UR - http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TP_RES/ResearchReports/SPR730_Final_CopperRemoval.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1350628 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560678 AU - Merritt, David K AU - Chang, George K AU - Rutledge, Jennifer L AU - Transtec Group, Incorporated AU - Southeast Transportation Consortium AU - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Best Practices for Achieving and Measuring Pavement Smoothness, A Synthesis of State-of-Practice PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 58p AB - Pavement smoothness specifications have evolved significantly over the past decade. More and more states are moving away from profilograph-based smoothness specifications to International Roughness Index (IRI)-based specifications. Unfortunately, a limited history with the usage of IRI-based specifications has led to some confusion over how best to structure a specification in terms of test methods and profiling equipment, thresholds for full pay/incentive/disincentive, and requirements for localized roughness or “must correct” areas. This limited history has also led to contractors who were used to profilograph-based specifications struggling to achieve the same level of quality under IRI-based specifications. This synthesis summarizes the current state-of-the-practice for IRI-based pavement smoothness specifications in the U.S. It highlights recent and current research related to pavement smoothness and provides general best practices for construction to help achieve requirements for IRI-based specifications. KW - Best practices KW - International Roughness Index KW - Pavement design KW - Paving KW - Smoothness KW - Specifications KW - State of the practice UR - http://www.ltrc.lsu.edu/pdf/2015/FR_550.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1350409 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560473 AU - Agurla, Mahesh AU - Lin, Sean AU - Engineering and Software Consultants, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Long-Term Pavement Performance Ohio SPS-1 and SPS-2 Dynamic Load Response Data Processing PY - 2015/03//Research Report SP - 174p AB - The dynamic load response (DLR) Study Team reinterpreted 4,290 Ohio Specific Pavement Studies (SPS)-1 (asphalt concrete pavements) raw traces and 9,240 Ohio SPS-2 (portland cement concrete pavements) raw traces, correcting the data issues identified by Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) data analysis/operations feedback reports and the technical memorandum, "Investigation of Ohio DLR data in LTPP Database" for LTPP Standard Data Release (SDR) 22.0, including trace peak time lag shifts, incorrect sensor locations, and wheelpath offsets. The team calibrated and smoothed the SPS-1 and SPS-2 raw traces before categorizing those traces into three categories: good, maybe, and not good. For the SPS-1 data, approximately 24 percent of strain gauge traces, 55 percent of linear variable differential transformer (LVDT) traces, and 99 percent of pressure cell traces were categorized as good. For the SPS-2 data, only smoothed traces were categorized due to significant noise in the raw traces. Approximately 61 percent of strain gauge traces and 15 percent of LVDT traces were categorized as good. Only good traces were used for further extraction of trace peaks and valleys for SDR 27.0. In addition, the sensor locations and the corresponding wheelpath offsets were also corrected. The reinterpreted DLR data resolved the data issues and have been published in SDR 27.0. To aid future DLR data users in identifying the layout and status of each sensor from one test visit or run to another, appendices A through E show the sensor layouts in the Ohio SPS-1 and SPS-2 DLR test sections as well as the results of the 23 Ohio SPS-1 DLR tests and the 24 Ohio SPS-2 DLR tests. KW - Asphalt concrete pavements KW - Calibration KW - Concrete pavements KW - Data files KW - Data smoothing KW - Dynamic loads KW - Linear variable differential transformers KW - Load cells KW - Location KW - Long-Term Pavement Performance Program KW - Ohio KW - Sensors KW - Specific Pavement Studies (LTPP) KW - Strain gages UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/pavements/ltpp/14088/14088.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1350274 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560469 AU - Trevino, Manuel AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Lightweight Noise Barrier on IH-30 Bridge Structure in Dallas, Texas PY - 2015/03//Technical Report SP - 118p AB - The Texas Department of Transportation commissioned a study to analyze the feasibility and effectiveness of a lightweight noise barrier on Interstate Highway 30, near downtown Dallas. The highway segment in question, an elevated structure next to a creek, has presented noise problems for the adjacent neighborhood ever since its expansion in the early 2000s. The highway carries substantial commuter traffic as well as heavy trucks. The neighborhood is hilly and sits at a higher elevation relative to the highway, except for a few residences on the street adjacent to the creek. The material for the noise barrier needed to be lightweight in order to be supported by the existing bridge structures without having to retrofit them. A 10-ft tall transparent acrylic noise barrier was designed to be installed on top of the existing 8-ft concrete wall. Residential sound pressure level tests were performed at various locations for five months before the transparent wall installation, and continued for nine months after the wall was completed. A portable weather station was used to monitor the conditions at the time of the tests. Measurements were conducted three times a day—morning, afternoon, and evening—and test days occurred once or twice a month. A statistical analysis of the various weather variables and their influence on the noise levels was performed. The results indicate that the wall is effective for certain receivers; although the acoustic benefits appear to be small, they are statistically significant, showing that the barrier has an effect on noise levels. The neighbors are satisfied with its performance and with its aesthetic appearance. KW - Aesthetics KW - Before and after studies KW - Dallas (Texas) KW - Highway bridges KW - Lightweight materials KW - Noise barriers KW - Noise control KW - Retrofitting KW - Sound level KW - Traffic noise KW - Weather conditions UR - http://library.ctr.utexas.edu/ctr-publications/0-6804-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1350338 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560468 AU - Williams, Chris AU - Moore, Andrew AU - Al-Tarafany, Dhiaa AU - Massey, Josh AU - Bayrak, Oguzhan AU - Jirsa, James AU - Ghannoum, Wassim AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Behavior of the Splice Regions of Spliced I-Girder Bridges PY - 2015/03//Technical Report SP - 265p AB - Spliced girder bridge technology continues to attract attention due to its versatility over traditional prestressed concrete highway bridge construction. Relatively limited data are available in the literature, however, for large-scale tests of spliced girders, and few studies have examined the behavior of the cast-in-place (CIP) splice regions of spliced girder bridges. In addition to limited knowledge on CIP splice region behavior, a wide variety of splice region details (e.g., mild reinforcement details, shear interface details, overall geometry, etc.) continue to be used in the field. In response to these issues, the research program described in this report was developed to (i) study the strength and serviceability behavior of the CIP splice regions of spliced I-girders, (ii) identify design and detailing practices that have been successfully implemented in CIP splice regions, and (iii) develop design recommendations based on the structural performance of spliced I-girder test specimens. To accomplish these tasks, an industry survey was first conducted to identify the best practices that have been implemented within the splice regions of existing bridges. Splice region details were then selected to be included within large-scale post-tensioned spliced I-girder test specimens. Two tests were conducted to study splice region behavior and evaluate the performance of the chosen details. Consistent with their design, the failure mechanisms of both test girders were characterized by a shear-compression failure of the web concrete with primary crushing occurring in the vicinity of the top post-tensioning duct. Most significantly, the girders acted essentially as monolithic members in shear at failure. The web crushing extended across much of the test span and was not localized within the splice regions. Based on the results of the tests, design recommendations were developed, including recommended CIP splice region details. KW - Best practices KW - Cast in place concrete KW - Compressive strength KW - Design KW - Failure analysis KW - Girder bridges KW - Posttensioning KW - Shear properties KW - Spliced girders UR - http://library.ctr.utexas.edu/ctr-publications/0-6652-2.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1350336 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560360 AU - Kalabon, Amy AU - Hedges, Lauren AU - Delatte, Norbert AU - Cleveland State University AU - Ohio Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Development, Field Testing, and Implementation of Improved Bridge Parapet Designs PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 126p AB - A total of 22 test parapets was constructed as part of this project to evaluate different approaches to address premature cracking. The experiments included the use of deeper saw cuts through glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) reinforcement or field cut steel reinforcement, with the saw cut depth increased from 1 ½ inches (38 mm) to 3 ½ inches (89 mm). Another experimental modification was the use of polypropylene fibers in the mixture at two different dosage rates, 1 lb/yd (0.59 kg/m³) and 2 lb/yd³ (1.19 kg/m³). The research team monitored bridge parapets during and immediately after construction. This included instrumentation with embedded maturity sensors to capture temperature history of the parapets, using Command Center technology. Researchers also observed and documented parapet construction. It was important to note any constructability issues that may arise that may be related to the proposed solutions, since they would potentially impact the cost of implementation. Crack surveys were performed once formwork was removed and sawcutting had been completed. The stiffness gain of parapets and joint cracking were monitored using ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) technology. While all of the eight control bridges showed mid-panel cracking, only four of the twelve experimental bridges had mid-panel cracking. Both parapets with Vandal Protection Fence (VPF) posts showed cracks near the posts. The main purpose of using GFRP or field cut steel reinforcement with the 3.5 inch (89 mm) deep saw cut is to create a weakened plane at the control joint through the gap provided in the reinforcement, in order initiate cracking at the joints and reduce the risk of cracking elsewhere on the parapet. From the data gathered, this modification allowed more joints to crack at early stages, and prevented uncontrolled cracking. The parapets with fibers showed no measurable improvement over the parapets without fibers in regards to preventing shrinkage and temperature cracking. Reducing the joint spacing over negative tension areas was found to reduce uncontrolled bridge parapet cracking. However, since the experimental parapets with the reduced joint spacing were coupled with another modification of either the polypropylene fibers or the deeper saw cut, it was hard to determine if this alone would solve uncontrolled bridge parapet cracking. KW - Bridge construction KW - Bridge decks KW - Bridge design KW - Case studies KW - Cracking KW - Cutting KW - Fiber reinforced concrete KW - Joints (Engineering) KW - Ohio KW - Parapets UR - http://worldcat.org/oclc/905705593/viewonline UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1348903 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560356 AU - Gibson, J Bryan AU - Wallace, Candice AU - University of Kentucky Research Foundation AU - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development AU - Southeast Transportation Consortium AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Transportation Funding Sources and Alternatives in the Southeastern States Now and in the Future PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 81p AB - Most states collect the majority of transportation revenues from sources such as fuel taxes and vehicle registration fees, while relying on the federal government via the Federal Highway Trust Fund (HTF) for additional monies. More often than not, fuel taxes have proven the most resilient source of revenue, yet concerns over increasing fuel efficiency eroding this traditional source of revenue have magnified funding concerns. When examining total revenues adjusted for inflation, most states saw little or no growth in total revenues from 1995 through 2012. Additionally, the HTF has run a deficit in recent years and legislators have utilized general funds to replenish it, leaving future federal funding levels uncertain. Revenue alternatives examined in the literature included vehicle miles travelled fees (VMT fees), tolls, and public private partnerships. The feasibility of implementing an alternative revenue source is likely to depend upon public acceptance. Various surveys that were conducted are summarized on a number of alternative revenue options. Public opinion was often driven by a perception of benefits received, and many options, including tolling, received majority support. Current legislative initiatives are briefly discussed including fees for electric and hybrid vehicles, tolls, and an increased emphasis on local government involvement in transportation. Based on the public opinion surveys reviewed and the alternative revenue options, there are several steps that states may consider. Conducting public outreach to gauge various revenue options will assist in implementation and public understanding of new revenue regimes, should they be deemed necessary. Pilot projects to test various administrative methods for a chosen revenue alternative will also assist in determining an alternative’s viability and potential administrative costs. At the very least, it would be prudent for states to consider potential revenue alternatives to fund the transportation infrastructure of the future. KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Federal Highway Trust Fund KW - Financing KW - Fuel taxes KW - Government funding KW - Policy making KW - Public opinion KW - Revenues KW - Southeastern United States KW - States KW - Strategic planning KW - Syntheses KW - Transportation policy UR - http://www.ltrc.lsu.edu/pdf/2015/FR_544.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1348902 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560240 AU - Philips, Brian AU - Morton, Tom AU - University of Iowa, Iowa City AU - Woodward Communications AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Making Driving Simulators More Useful for Behavioral Research - Simulator Characteristics Comparison and Model-Based Transformation: Summary Report PY - 2015/03//Final Summary Report SP - 26p AB - A central issue in making simulators useful for highway and traffic engineers concerns how well driver behavior in the simulator corresponds to driver behavior in the real world. Simulator fidelity plays a central role in matching behavior in the simulator to behavior on the road. Simulator fidelity often refers to the features and appearance of the simulator. The degree to which behavior in the simulator matches behavior on the road defines behavioral fidelity. This project characterized the physical fidelity and behavioral fidelity of four simulators. These four simulators represent a road range of fidelity and cost. Data collected from these four simulators begin to address the question of how simulators can support highway and traffic engineers. Overall, the results show that simulators with high physical fidelity demonstrate high behavioral fidelity and are likely to provide good estimates of mean speed in typical engineering applications such as roundabouts and roadway treatments designed to moderate drivers' speed. A detailed analysis of both physical fidelity and behavioral fidelity suggests the need to carefully assess the match between simulator features and the properties of the roadway design issue. A model-based transformation was developed to relate data collected in the simulators to data collected on the road. Future research should examine physical fidelity in more detail and its relationship to behavioral fidelity across a broader range of driving behavior parameters. KW - Accuracy KW - Behavior KW - Data analysis KW - Driver performance KW - Driving simulators KW - Human factors KW - Performance measurement KW - Virtual reality UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1348783 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01558262 AU - Colgrove, George W AU - Vermont Agency of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Assessment of Mechanically Fastened Fiber Reinforced Polymer (MF-FRP) Strips for Extending Bridge Service Life PY - 2015/03//Initial SP - 34p AB - The enhancement of load rating concrete structures by the installation of Fiber reinforced polymer strips (FRP) is becoming a preferred short-term action. The addition of supplemental tensile capacity to concrete beams by applying high tensile strength FRP strips to the exterior of concrete structures provides immediate increase in live load capacity. This study assessed the installation, theory and effectiveness of adding external FRP reinforcement. The assessment of the connections of the FRP strip to the concrete structure warrant further study to determine development strengths and bearing capacity. Analysis of the system confirmed that it is a cost effective technique to increase load rating for concrete pier cap applications. Supplemental detailing to include improved shear connection at the bolting points may provide an improved in-place performance of the FRP. KW - Assessments KW - Bearing capacity KW - Bridge piers KW - Fiber reinforced polymers KW - Reinforcement (Engineering) KW - Service life KW - Structural connection UR - http://vtransplanning.vermont.gov/sites/aot_policy/files/documents/planning/2015%20-%2008%20Assessment%20of%20Mechanically%20Fastened%20Fiber%20Reinforced%20Polymer%20%28MF-FRP%29%20Strips%20for%20Extending%20Bridge%20Service%20Life.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1347044 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01558257 AU - Taylor, Peter AU - Yurdakul, Ezgi AU - Wang, Xuhao AU - Wang, Xin AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Concrete Pavement Mixture Design and Analysis (MDA): An Innovative Approach To Proportioning Concrete Mixtures PY - 2015/03//Technical Report SP - 52p AB - Mixture proportioning is routinely a matter of using a recipe based on a previously produced concrete, rather than adjusting the proportions based on the needs of the mixture and the locally available materials. As budgets grow tighter and increasing attention is being paid to sustainability metrics, greater attention is beginning to be focused on making mixtures that are more efficient in their usage of materials yet do not compromise engineering performance. Therefore, a performance-based mixture proportioning method is needed to provide the desired concrete properties for a given project specification. The proposed method should be user friendly, easy to apply in practice, and flexible in terms of allowing a wide range of material selection. The objective of this study is to further develop an innovative performance-based mixture proportioning method by analyzing the relationships between the selected mix characteristics and their corresponding effects on tested properties. The proposed method will provide step-by-step instructions to guide the selection of required aggregate and paste systems based on the performance requirements. Although the provided guidance in this report is primarily for concrete pavements, the same approach can be applied to other concrete applications as well. KW - Admixtures KW - Concrete pavements KW - Mix design KW - Pavement performance KW - Performance based specifications KW - Proportioning UR - http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/intrans_reports/106 UR - http://publications.iowa.gov/19126/1/FHWA_TPF_5_205_InTrans_Taylor_Concrete_Pavement_MDA_Proportioning_Mixtures_2015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1347223 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01558244 AU - Taylor, Peter AU - Wang, Xuhao AU - Wang, Xin AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Concrete Pavement Mixture Design and Analysis (MDA): Development and Evaluation of Vibrating Kelly Ball Test (VKelly Test) for the Workability of Concrete PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 46p AB - Due to the low workability of slipform concrete mixtures, the science of rheology is not strictly applicable for such concrete. However, the concept of rheological behavior may still be considered useful. A novel workability test method (Vibrating Kelly Ball or VKelly test) that would quantitatively assess the responsiveness of a dry concrete mixture to vibration, as is desired of a mixture suitable for slipform paving, was developed and evaluated. The objectives of this test method are for it to be cost-effective, portable, and repeatable while reporting the suitability of a mixture for use in slipform paving. The work to evaluate and refine the test was conducted in three phases: (1) Assess whether the VKelly test can signal variations in laboratory mixtures with a range of materials and proportions; (2) Run the VKelly test in the field at a number of construction sites; and (3) Validate the VKelly test results using the Box Test developed at Oklahoma State University for slipform paving concrete. The data collected to date indicate that the VKelly test appears to be suitable for assessing a mixture’s response to vibration (workability) with a low multiple operator variability. A unique parameter, VKelly Index, is introduced and defined that seems to indicate that a mixture is suitable for slipform paving when it falls in the range of 0.8 to 1.2 in./√s. KW - Concrete pavements KW - Evaluation KW - Field tests KW - Mix design KW - Slip form paving KW - Test procedures KW - Validation KW - Vibration tests KW - Workability UR - http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1104&context=intrans_reports UR - http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/intrans_reports/105/ UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1347226 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01557763 AU - Gomez, Brian W AU - Dewoolkar, Mandar M AU - Lens, John E AU - University of Vermont, Burlington AU - University of Vermont, Burlington AU - Vermont Agency of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Verification of Abutment and Retaining Wall Design Assumptions PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 125p AB - The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), along with some other federal and state guidelines, suggest a maximum soil fines (particles finer than 0.075 mm) content in granular structural backfill be used behind bridge abutments and retaining walls. This fines content limit is currently set at 6% (by weight) by the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) and is usually between 5 and 12% in most states, according to a canvassing of state Department of Transportation (DOT) practices. The fines content limit is an attempt to assure a free-draining backfill condition so water is not retained behind the structure, thereby eliminating the need to design the abutments and retaining walls for hydrostatic pressures. It appears that this maximum fines content is adopted largely as a rule-of-thumb considering that hydraulic conductivity of a soil is expected to decrease with increasing fines content. In Vermont and many other regions the availability of high-quality structural backfill with naturally low fines content is declining, which warrants an evaluation of whether granular backfill materials with greater than 5% fines content could be successfully used in practice. This research project was set up with two broad over-arching goals. The first goal was to verify that the backfill and drainage details currently used in cast-in-place concrete cantilevered retaining walls and bridge abutments on VTrans projects perform as expected and that the backfill has the engineering properties assumed in the design. The second goal was to find the most cost effective backfill details. To evaluate the above two overarching goals, the specific objectives of this research were to: (1) survey other state Departments of Transportation on their practices for abutment and retaining walls; (2) study the effects of fines on a typical granular structural backfill by performing hydraulic conductivity and shear strength tests at varied non-plastic fines contents; (3) monitor differential water levels between the stream and the backfill at two field sites; (4) analyze the collected data and develop specific recommendations for VTrans; and (5) prepare this final report. To assess if any differential water pressures exist in existing cast-in-place reinforced concrete retaining walls installed by VTrans, a field monitoring program was implemented at two sites in Vermont. The laboratory investigation included flexible wall, hydraulic conductivity tests on a granular structural backfill with 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25% non-plastic fines content at 41, 83, and 124 kPa (6, 12, and 18 psi) confining pressures followed by consolidated drained triaxial compression tests for obtaining associated drained shear strength parameters of these gradations. The 15.2 cm (6 in.) diameter specimens were prepared at optimum moisture content and 95% of maximum standard Proctor density. Some tests were conducted at 90% of maximum standard Proctor density. To enable a comparison with respect to modified Proctor maximum densities, modified Proctor tests were also performed for all base soil-fines content mixtures. The experimental results were compared with relevant studies found in the literature. The results of the field monitoring program were inconclusive. The results of the laboratory investigation indicated that a non-plastic fines content up to 10% may be justified in structural backfill specifications for retaining walls and abutments. KW - Backfill soils KW - Bridge abutments KW - Cast in place concrete KW - Fines (Materials) KW - Laboratory tests KW - Permeability coefficient KW - Recommendations KW - Retaining walls KW - Shear strength KW - Specifications KW - State departments of transportation KW - Vermont UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54700/54779/2015_-_06.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1346844 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01557582 AU - Liljedahl, Anna AU - Debolskiy, Matvey AU - Youcha, Emily AU - Arendt, Anthony AU - Davis, Jennifer AU - Hock, Regine AU - Roth, Aurora AU - Wolken, Gabriel AU - Zhang, Jing AU - Alaska University Transportation Center AU - Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Estimating Future Flood Frequency and Magnitude in Basins Affected by Glacier Wastage PY - 2015/03//Final Report SP - 41p AB - The authors present field measurements of meteorology, hydrology and glaciers and long-term modeled projections of glacier mass balance and stream flow informed by downscaled climate simulations. The study basins include Valdez Glacier Stream (342 km²), Jarvis Creek (634 km²) and Phelan Creek (32 km²), Alaska, that represent distinctly different climates and glacier coverage. At Phelan Cr., the decadal-averaged peak annual mean daily runoff was projected to increase 114% from 14 (2000-2010) to 30 cms (2090-2099) with an 87% increase by mid-century (2050-2059). At Jarvis, the decadal-averaged peak annual mean daily runoff was projected to decrease 14% from 24 (2000-2010) to 21 cms (2066-2075), while the glacier contribution increased (from 37% to 43%). However, at Jarvis Cr., the flow at the 1% exceedance probability level was projected largest (~30 cms) during the mid-century time period (2035-2050). The highest flood events tended to have less glacier contribution, indicating that rainfall or snowmelt generated events may have a greater influence than glacier melt during peak flows (only Jarvis analyzed). The differing trends in projected runoff between the Jarvis and Phelan Cr. may be attributed to the differing climate forcing and glacier coverage representation, i.e. dynamic and static for Jarvis and Phelan Cr., respectively. KW - Alaska KW - Climate KW - Floods KW - Forecasting KW - Glaciers KW - River basins KW - Runoff KW - Simulation KW - Trend (Statistics) UR - http://tundra.ine.uaf.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Liljedahl_FINAL-REPORT_v2015-03-101.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1346365 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01557574 AU - Ellis, Wendy M AU - Vermont Agency of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Centerline Rumble Stripes on Rural Roads PY - 2015/03 SP - 35p AB - This report documents the site characteristics, constructability, summary of audibility testing, and maintenance response of centerline rumble stripes (CLRS) at two locations: US Route 4 in Mendon-Killington and Vermont (VT) Route 105 in Sheldon. The primary objective of this research initiative was to evaluate the effectiveness of centerline rumble stripes in reducing lane departure crashes and improving the safety of undivided roadways. Ease of installation was documented along with the design of the rumble stripes in conjunction with the adjacent pavement markings. In addition, the long-term performance of rumble stripes is assessed. Criteria included overall durability and wear resistance in new or aged pavement. Differing snowfall environments as well as winter maintenance practices were identified as contributing factors. Results at the Mendon-Killington location are promising, showing a reduction of crossover crashes and associated injuries. Crossover crashes decreased from an annual average of 12.86 to 7.2, a 44 percent reduction. Injuries decreased from an average of 7.8 to 4, a 48.6 percent decrease. Sheldon saw a slight decrease in the annual average of crossover crashes of 2.63 to 2.25. Due to the small pool of data for evaluation at the site, the data is not statistically significant. Sound level readings were recorded in the A-weighted decibel scale using a Pass-by evaluation method detailed in this report. All values were under Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA's) Permissible Exposure Limits (PEL) of 90 dBA. The noise levels did not decrease as the rumbles wore down. Readings in Mendon-Killington were approximately 10 dB higher than in Sheldon, possibly due to pavement age and CLRS dimensions. As expected the tandem dump truck produced the largest readings, averaging 89.7 dBA in Mendon-Killington, followed by the pick-up at 84.3 dBA and the passenger car at 81.0 dBA. The same vehicle types in Sheldon produced readings of 80 dBA, 77.5 dBA, and 73 dBA respectively. The maintenance districts response is positive. Although it is reported that it does take more effort to clear snow from the CLRS, it does help keep drivers off the centerline and in their own lane. District contacts noted that no complaints have been received from area residents regarding noise and although both locations have worn in areas, rumble stripes still provide the awareness that motorists need if they hit the centerline. No repairs have been required at either location. KW - Center lines KW - Crash data KW - Durability KW - Evaluation KW - Highway safety KW - Maintenance KW - Performance KW - Rumble strips KW - Rural highways KW - Sound level KW - Vermont UR - http://vtransplanning.vermont.gov/sites/aot_policy/files/documents/planning/2015%20-%2007%20Evaluation%20of%20the%20Effectiveness%20of%20Centerline%20Rumble%20Stripes%20on%20Rural%20Roads_0.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1346947 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01582872 TI - Women in the ADOT Workforce AB - Through its Office of Human Resources and Equal Opportunity (HR), The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) strives to ensure that processes and opportunities for employment and advancement are fair and transparent, and that ADOT employees have positive experiences that encourage them to develop careers at the agency. Federal regulations require ADOT to develop and implement an Affirmative Action Plan (AAP), prepared by the Civil Rights Office, a section within HR, and submitted to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The AAP documents the diversity of ADOT's workforce and notes if the workforce composition is proportionate to the available civilian labor force of women and other minorities according to U.S. Census data. Currently, women and minorities are underrepresented in specific ADOT job classifications. This research project will collect data to aid in identifying high-priority HR issues relevant to women in the ADOT workforce, and in developing programs to address those issues. KW - Affirmative action KW - Arizona Department of Transportation KW - Data collection KW - Employment KW - Females KW - Human resources management KW - Minorities UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1377164 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01608599 AU - New Mexico Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - New Mexico DOT Transportation Asset Management Implementation Plan PY - 2015/02/23/Final Plan SP - 32p AB - The mission of the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) is to provide a safe and efficient transportation system for the traveling public, while promoting economic development and preserving the environment of New Mexico. To further this mission, NMDOT is committed to integrating a risk-based asset management approach into its business practices, the primary objective being to improve the management of its transportation assets over time, increase transparency in agency decision-making, and promote accountability with New Mexico taxpayers. Of critical importance, the approach will allow the department to transition to policy-driven management strategies that clearly define what assets need to be improved, timeframes for effective improvement, and realistic priorities for the department given available resources. In support of the improvement process, NMDOT conducted a transportation asset management (TAM) gap assessment for highway assets as part of a Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) project. The FHWA is assisting 10 state DOTs with this type of assessment. NMDOT’s objectives for the assessment were to compare current practices with state-of-the-art best practices used in other states, identify and prioritize gaps in these practices, and define a set of activities to address the most significant gaps. This report documents the results of the gap assessment and provides guidance for implementation. NMDOT manages a wide range of assets to meet the public’s transportation needs. However, as an initial step, this implementation plan focuses only on NMDOT’s bridges and pavements. KW - Asset management KW - Best practices KW - Bridges KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Implementation KW - New Mexico Department of Transportation KW - Pavements KW - Risk management KW - Transportation planning UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/asset/gap/nmgap.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1416913 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01560695 TI - Base Funding for the North Central Superpave Center AB - This pooled fund project will provide for continued operation of the North Central Superpave Center (NCSC) to assist agencies and industry with Superpave implementation and hot mix asphalt issues. The NCSC will provide technical assistance, training, communication, and research and development work to meet the needs of the region. KW - Financing KW - Hot mix asphalt KW - Implementation KW - North Central Region KW - Superpave KW - Technical assistance KW - Training UR - http://www.pooledfund.org/Details/Study/569 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1351258 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01613012 TI - Underwater Pile Driving Noise Study AB - Alaska DOT&PF and JASCO Applied Sciences partnered to characterize underwater noise from pile driving activities to inform the assessment of the potential impact of such noise on marine mammals. JASCO measured underwater sounds at the Kake, Auke Bay, Kodiak, and Ketchikan ferry terminals during ferry terminal improvement construction projects and characterized sound levels associated with pile extraction, vibratory pile driving, impact hammer pile driving, and rock socket drilling. Source levels and transmission loss coefficients were determined for each activity at each site. Background sound levels were also characterized at each site for comparison with pile driving sounds. Distances from the piles to behavioral disturbance sound pressure level thresholds were calculated for each source type and compared with source and environmental characteristics. Distances to injurious cumulative sound exposure level thresholds were calculated based on frequency-weighted data to account for hearing sensitivity of marine mammal groups. KW - Field tests KW - Monitoring KW - Noise KW - Pile driving KW - Test piles KW - Underwater structures UR - http://www.dot.state.ak.us/stwddes/research/assets/pdf/4000-135.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1425918 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01603523 AU - Fang, Howie AU - Gutowski, Matthew AU - Palta, Emre AU - Kuvilla, Daniil AU - Baker, Ryan AU - Li, Ning AU - University of North Carolina, Charlotte AU - North Carolina Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Performance Evaluation of 29-inch and 31-inch W-beam Guardrails on Six-lane, 46-foot Median Divided Freeways PY - 2015/02/18/Final Report SP - 141p AB - This report summarizes the research efforts of using finite element modeling and simulations to evaluate the performance of single-faced and double-faced North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) W-beam guardrails for different heights under Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) Test Level 3 (TL-3) impact conditions. A literature review is included on performance evaluation of W-beam guardrails as well as applications of finite element modeling and simulations in roadside safety research. The modeling and simulation work was conducted on fourteen single-faced and double-faced NCDOT W-beam guardrails (with placement heights of 29 and 31 inches) placed along a six-lane 46-foot median divided highway with 2.5H:1V and 4H:1V slopes. The single-faced guardrails were also evaluated with a horizontal median curvature of three degrees and the double-faced guardrails were also modeled and evaluated with a lower backside rail. The guardrails with 29- and 31- inch placement heights were impacted by a 1996 Dodge Neon and a 2006 Ford F250 at 62 mph (100 km/hour) and an impact angle of 25°. Two additional Dodge Neon simulations, one at each guardrail height (i.e., 29 and 31 inches), evaluated the single-faced guardrail without horizontal curvature with an impact speed of 70 mph (112.6 km/hour). The guardrails performance was determined by evaluating the vehicular responses based on MASH exit-box criterion, MASH evaluation criterion F, exit angles, yaw, pitch, and roll angles, transverse displacements, and transverse velocities. The simulation results demonstrated the effectiveness of the 29- and 31-inch single-faced and double-faced guardrails placed on a median divided freeway under MASH TL-3 impact conditions. Under small angle vehicular impacts (i.e., 25°), the guardrails with 29- and 31-inch placement heights were shown to be effective at retaining the impact vehicle but exhibited a high likelihood for tire snagging and vehicle spin-out. Finite element modeling and simulations were shown to be both effective and efficient and can be used to study crash scenarios that are difficult and/or extremely expensive to conduct with physical crash testing. KW - AASHTO Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware KW - Divided highways KW - Finite element method KW - Guardrails KW - Highway safety KW - Impact tests KW - Literature reviews KW - North Carolina KW - Performance measurement KW - Simulation UR - https://connect.ncdot.gov/projects/planning/RNAProjDocs/2014-14FinalReport.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1409557 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01553707 TI - Tack Coat Performance and Materials Study AB - Tack coats provide a bond between asphalt layers so they can act monolithically as one pavement section. Studies have shown that pavement layers that are not fully bonded fail significantly earlier than fully bonded sections. Conversely, application of too much tack material can result in flushing of the new mat or slippage failures. Currently the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) typically specifies SS-1H, rubberized tack or Trackless Tack as the tack coat for paving layers. Application rates are typically between 0.04 to 0.075 gallons of emulsion per square yard. Some limited information tends to show that higher rates of tack may have delayed longitudinal cracking in pavements. Even when tack is properly placed, projects have significant issues with tack being picked up by construction traffic prior to paving. The Department has seen a need for specification of a new Trackless Tack product due to construction issues that arise with other tack coat materials on certain projects. While the benefits during placement of Trackless Tack can be immediately noted, the premium cost and unknown long term performance of the material has limited its use. A study to analyze the pavement performance of different tack materials, application methods, and spray rates is needed. This would allow better decisions about the value of more costly tack materials and the rates at which they should be applied. The goal of the Department for this research is to evaluate the current practice as well as new equipment and application rates with regard to tack coat. KW - Asphalt pavements KW - Best practices KW - Longitudinal cracking KW - Ohio KW - Pavement joints KW - Pavement layers KW - Pavement performance KW - Tack coats UR - http://worldcat.org/arcviewer/9/OHI/2014/10/28/H1414523602145/viewer/file1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1344124 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01557191 TI - Best Practices for Accessing Culvert Health & Determining Appropriate Rehabilitation Methods AB - The overarching goal of this research project is to provide technical guidance to the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) in effectively managing their culvert infrastructure. Four specific objectives identified are: (1) Develop guidance on selecting reliable and cost-effective condition assessment techniques by SCDOT; (2) Develop a risk-based model for prioritizing culvert rehabilitation based on the condition rating data recorded by SCDOT; (3) Develop a deterioration model to predict the future condition of culverts in order to optimally spend limited resources available on inspecting and repairing only those culverts that are critical and closer to failing; and (4) Develop a decision-making tool for selecting an economical and most effective culvert repair method based on condition rating and other culvert characteristics such as age, material, diameter and etc. KW - Best practices KW - Condition surveys KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Culverts KW - Deterioration KW - Guidelines KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) KW - South Carolina Department of Transportation UR - http://www.scdot.scltap.org/projects/current/ UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1346851 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01559062 TI - Research for AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways. Task 368. Development of a Roadmap for Use of SHRP2 Safety Data to Enhance Existing Publications AB - The Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP)2 safety research effort has created a naturalistic driving database as well as a roadway inventory database for the roads on which study participants traveled. These two databases are currently being linked together and will allow research on a wide range of safety and other topics. Lists of potential research projects have been developed by the SHRP2 program and through conversations with numerous stakeholders. In addition, several American Association for State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) committees and the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) were surveyed for suggestions for research topics. The wealth of information from the Naturalistic Driving Study (NDS) database on driver behavior as it relates to interaction with the roadway environment will be able to enhance guidelines and policies in use by state departments of transportation (DOTs) and other practitioners. Publications such as the Green Book, Roadside Design Guide, Highway Safety Manual, Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), and Human Factors Guide (NCHRP Report 600) geared toward road-user interaction with the roadway environment could be enhanced by research performed using the NDS database. An NCHRP 20-7 project to evaluate the opportunities for using NDS data for research related to these publications would help demonstrate the value of the database to AASHTO committees, practitioners, and researchers, as well as provide direction to these groups interested in using NDS data to maximize the safety, operational, or other impacts of decisions about the roadway environment. Documenting these opportunities in a roadmap will support coordination of the potentially involved committees. Though AASHTO, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and Transportation Research Board (TRB) have been performing a significant amount of research on the SHRP2 safety data, a description of the data needs for general categories of safety research questions most likely of interested to the highway agencies would provide a resource for committees and researchers evaluating the feasibility of performing specific research using SHRP2 data. Since there are opportunities for researching non-safety topics, such as operations or environmental issues, information in this resource could help with coordinating research outside the safety field as well. The primary objective of this research project would be to determine opportunities for using SHRP2 safety data to enhance AASHTO and other publications frequently used by state DOT and other practitioners. The research should also provide guidance to AASHTO committees developing research problem statements using the SHRP2 data to allow for appropriate funding and time estimates. The report would ideally provide an overview of the available data and a description of data access, to serve as an introduction to AASHTO committees and researchers who have not been involved in the SHRP2 study for a long period. KW - Automatic data collection systems KW - Databases KW - Highway safety KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3814 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1347986 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01605731 AU - Pierce, B AU - Zimmer, R AU - Battelle AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Transit Administration TI - Transit Bus Stop Pedestrian Warning Application: Concept of Operations PY - 2015/02/04/Final Report SP - 137p AB - This document describes the Concept of Operations (ConOps) for the Transit Bus Stop Pedestrian Warning (TSPW) application. The ConOps describes the current state of operations with respect to the integration of connected vehicle technology in transit vehicles and at transit stops, establishes the reasons for change, and describes the TSPW application in terms of its features and operations. KW - Bus stops KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Pedestrian detectors KW - Pedestrian safety KW - Pedestrians KW - Public transit KW - Transit safety KW - Warning systems UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/59000/59100/59194/FHWA-JPO-16-332.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1415766 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01588714 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Building Climate Resilient Transportation PY - 2015/02/04 SP - 3p AB - State and regional transportation agencies across the country are facing extreme weather events that damage roads and bridges and cost large sums to repair, not to mention the cost to the economy from disrupted travel. Extreme weather events—including heat waves, drought, tropical storms, high winds, storm surges and heavy downpours—are becoming more frequent and severe as the climate changes. This document looks at how States are using the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA's) vulnerability assessment framework to build climate resilience. KW - Climate change KW - Risk assessment KW - State departments of transportation KW - Transportation planning KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration KW - Weather and climate UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/climate_change/adaptation/publications_and_tools/bcrt_brochure.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1395304 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01571973 AU - Ballestero, Thomas P AU - Houle, James AU - University of New Hampshire, Durham AU - New Hampshire Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Design and Maintenance of Subsurface Gravel Wetlands PY - 2015/02/04/Final Report SP - 47p AB - This report summarizes the University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center (UNHSC) evaluation of a review of Subsurface Gravel Wetlands design and specifications used by the New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT or Department). Subsurface Gravel Wetlands (SGW) are a stormwater management system that provides nutrient reduction by allowing runoff to flow through a buried horizontal layer of gravel which allows anaerobic microbial treatment of surface runoff. UNHSC evaluated the Department’s SGW design parameters for the application of SGWs on linear projects (i.e., roadways) including: underdrain systems for seasonally-high groundwater (SHGW); forebays; multiple inlets; low-flow conveyance and orifices; and leaching chambers (hydraulic inlets). Results of the cost assessment indicates potential construction savings greater than $5,000 per contributing impervious acre. KW - Costs KW - Design KW - Gravel KW - Maintenance KW - Runoff KW - Specifications KW - Subdrains KW - Wetlands UR - http://www.nh.gov/dot/org/projectdevelopment/materials/research/projects/documents/15680W-FINALREPORT.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363115 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01556726 AU - Tung, Leonard J AU - Florida State University, Tallahassee AU - Florida Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Development of Automated Testing Tools for Traffic Control Signals and Devices (NTCIP and Security) Phase 2 PY - 2015/02/02/Final Report SP - 18p AB - Through a coordinated effort among the electrical engineering research team of the Florida State University (FSU) and key Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) personnel, a National Transportation Communications for Intelligent Transportation System Protocol (NTCIP)-based automated testing system for NTCIP-compliant actuated signal controller (ASC) has been developed and constructed. The testing system developed consists of the following: (1) A laptop running Window 7 operating system with proper ports and software, (2) A total of 20 NTCIP-based automated testing programs covering all the functionalities of an NTCIP-compliant ASC, (3) An executable C# Windows Console application to execute all the automated testing programs:NTCIP_TEST2.exe, and (4) A user manual for the NTCIP-based automated ASC testing system. In the area of security for traffic control systems, extensive literature search has been conducted. A set of guidelines detailing the Best Practices for the Security of Traffic Control Systems has been developed. KW - Actuated traffic signal controllers KW - Automatic test equipment KW - Best practices KW - Computer program documentation KW - Literature reviews KW - National Transportation Communications for Intelligent Transportation Systems Protocol KW - Security KW - Traffic control devices UR - http://www.fdot.gov/research/Completed_Proj/Summary_TE/FDOT-BDV30-977-05-rpt.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345500 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01552192 TI - Bridge Trough Maintenance Evaluation on Finger Joint Bridges AB - Highway maintenance crews within the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) are tasked with cleaning debris that accumulates in the drainage trough underneath the bridge expansion joints. These troughs are often too high to reach with standard equipment. Without an access panel the trough is difficult to reach and clean. ODOT District 12 is interested in finding an efficient, cost effective and time saving way to accomplish this maintenance task. The purpose of this research is to determine if design changes or equipment may be available to provide a better way of performing this important task. KW - Drainage KW - Finger joints KW - Highway bridges KW - Highway maintenance KW - Ohio KW - Road crews KW - Troughs (Geology) UR - http://worldcat.org/arcviewer/9/OHI/2014/10/28/H1414523602145/viewer/file1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1342338 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01552203 TI - Identification of State and Local Policy and Planning Actions that Could Facilitate Implementation of CV and AV Systems AB - Connected and automated vehicle systems are likely to have societal benefits that are not captured in market decision making about acquiring and operating systems based on private cost-effectiveness considerations. State and local governments need to know what policy and planning actions they can take to stimulate the development of markets for CV and AV systems so that the societal externalities can be internalized in market decisions. This project should follow a basic flow from identification of impediments to market-based deployment of connected vehicle (CV) and automated vehicle (AV) systems to identification of possible policy and planning actions to overcome those impediments to prioritization of policy and planning actions based on their expected impact and feasibility: Task 1. Identify the mismatches between societal benefits and individual private actor benefits from implementation of CV and AV systems, based on the project team's knowledge of the literature on CV and AV systems and interviews with key experts and stakeholders. Task 2. Identify a broad range of policy and planning actions that state and/or local agencies could use to better align the interests of private actors (individuals and corporations on both the supplier and user sides of the markets) with the broader public interest in achieving benefits in traffic safety, traffic congestion reduction, and savings in energy and criteria pollutant emissions. These are expected to include actions such as: (1) Preferential access to high occupancy vehicle/high occupancy toll (HOV/HOT) lanes (including reduced toll rates). (2) Tax and other financial incentives (waiving taxes on incremental costs for AV systems or subsidizing their purchase). (3) Providing connected vehicle communication infrastructure. (4) Improving road markings and signage. (5) Developing or facilitating technology incubators or testing facilities. (6) Encouraging new forms of public-private partnerships. (7) Sponsoring pilot testing or deployment programs. (8) Acquiring AVs for state fleet operations. (9) Changing laws regarding direct vehicle sales by manufacturers versus sales only by dealers. Task 3. Assess each of the suggested policy and planning actions for cost, political feasibility and likely impact on market decisions that could accelerate deployment of CV and AV systems. KW - Externalities KW - High occupancy toll lanes KW - High occupancy vehicle lanes KW - Incentives KW - Intelligent vehicles KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Policy analysis KW - Public private partnerships KW - Social benefits UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3934 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1342365 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01552202 TI - Impacts of Transit System Regulations and Policies on CV/AV Technology Introduction AB - Connected vehicle/automated vehicle (CV/AV)technologies offer potential benefits to improve safety and increase efficiency of transit systems for owners and operators. Closed, fixed-guideway transit systems could be re-imagined as lower cost services with rubber-tire vehicles that operate with less infrastructure protection. In addition, AV systems will impact transit services in qualitative ways. First- and last-mile AV services to bring riders to line-haul modes could significantly increase ridership. Dynamic taxi-like services could improve coverage of transit service to rural and suburban areas, however, relatively few state departments of transportation (DOTs) have significant involvement or influence over transit systems and there are many issues associated with transit operations that DOT and local agency staff need to better understand as CV/AV applications emerge. For example, extensive regulations and rules govern the operating parameters and characteristics of transit systems, some of which may be incompatible with CV and/or AV technologies, such as provisions to avoid elimination of current jobs regardless of the potential to create new jobs. The role of the driver will need to change, which will require significant coordination with labor unions. New procedures for certification of the safety of automated transit systems that are not confined to fixed guideways may be needed and insurance models for transit operators may need adjustment. These issues need to be better understood and next steps identified to enable widespread adoption of CV/AV technologies in transit systems. The research team will develop a primer on the regulatory and policy landscape of transit system planning, development, funding, and operations and identify the pain points or areas where any policy changes are necessary to accommodate (or facilitate) deployment of different types of CV/AV technologies. In particular, this project should explore how the existing procedures for certifying and testing fixed-guideway transit systems can be modified to apply to CV and AV systems that are not confined to fixed guideways. The team will then develop and deliver a set of recommendations and a plan of future work for adjusting the current regulatory and policy landscape of transit safety regulation. KW - Guideways KW - Intelligent vehicles KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Policy analysis KW - Regulations KW - Rural areas KW - State departments of transportation KW - Technological innovations UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3935 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1342364 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01552201 TI - Critical Next Steps for AV/CV Applications in Freight Operations AB - Connected vehicle/automated CV/AV technologies offer potential benefits to improve safety and increase efficiency of freight and goods movement in North America. The freight industry is extremely important to the economic vitality of the nation. Trucking is a strong component of this, as over 70% of all freight is carried by truck at some stage in the supply chain. The trucking industry faces critical challenges in maintaining adequate workforce. AV/CV technologies could be useful to fill in the unmet needs with automated resources, raise the status of a career in trucking, and reduce the workload of the driver in long-haul (and other) operations. Truck parking and rest areas are often strategically located to align with hours-of-service limitations. If hours-of-service were modified due to AV systems, national planning for rest areas and en-route facilities could be modified. Truck platooning is commonly identified as a near term application, but to make that a reality a variety of platooning protocols and procedures need to be defined and verified. Automated drayage and automated docking are frequently noted as highly desirable by the trucking industry. The regulatory, policy, and technical aspects of AV technologies on the trucking and freight operations industry need to be evaluated and recommendations developed for state departments of transportation (DOT) and local agencies that are involved with freight operations. The research team will review existing literature and develop a list of key issues and challenges in the regulatory, policy, and operations landscape of freight system operations and identify the pain points or areas where policy and operations strategy changes are necessary to accommodate (or facilitate) CV/AV deployment. In particular, truck platooning concepts should be explored and a list of near-term actions should be developed to answer the key research and policy questions. KW - Drayage KW - Freight traffic KW - Intelligent vehicles KW - Mobile communication systems KW - North America KW - Parking facilities KW - Policy analysis KW - Roadside rest areas KW - Traffic platooning KW - Trucking UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3936 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1342363 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01597250 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Incorporating Travel-Time Reliability into the Congestion Management Process: An Informational Brief PY - 2015/02 SP - 4p AB - This informational brief addresses the following questions: What is travel-time reliability? Why does reliability matter? Why should reliability be incorporated into congestion management plans (CMPs)? Examples of some regions that have begun to address travel time reliability in their CMPs are highlighted. Also discussed are performance measures for travel-time reliability. Steps are presented for metropolitan planning organization staff who would like to incorporate travel-time reliability into their CMPs. Resources are listed which provide guidance for incorporating travel-time reliability into CMPs. KW - Congestion management systems KW - Metropolitan planning organizations KW - Nonrecurrent congestion KW - Performance measurement KW - Traffic congestion KW - Travel time reliability UR - http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop14035/fhwahop14035.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1401543 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01597248 AU - Von Quintus, Harold AU - Mergenmeier, Andy AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Case Study: Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's High Friction Surface Treatment and Field Installation Program PY - 2015/02 SP - 32p AB - Roadway departure fatalities account for approximately 65 percent of all fatalities in Kentucky. One of the methods the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) identified to meet the roadway departure goal was the application of high friction surface treatments (HFSTs). HFST provides a durable and long-lasting solution to specific and defined roadway locations where a contributing factor in crashes is that the roadway friction demand exceeds the available pavement surface friction. This document provides an overview of Kentucky’s efforts to establish an HFST program for reducing roadway crashes and fatalities as well as the State’s standards, guidance, and specifications for using this safety treatment strategy as a practice to reduce roadway departures at select road sections. It also identifies and discusses the various elements to consider when selecting candidate roadway segments for placing HFSTs and lists some of the important insights and lessons learned from the Kentucky program. KW - Accident countermeasure KW - Case studies KW - Friction KW - High friction surface treatments KW - Highway safety KW - Kentucky KW - Ran off road crashes KW - Surface course (Pavements) UR - http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/roadway_dept/pavement_friction/case_studies_noteworthy_prac/kytc/ky_hfst_15_038.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1401799 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01596782 AU - Roalkvam, Carol Lee AU - Washington State Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Creating a Resilient Transportation Network in Skagit County: Using Flood Studies to Inform Transportation Asset Management PY - 2015/02//Final Report SP - 52p AB - This report presents the results of a Climate Resilience Pilot Project conducted by Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and sponsored in part by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). WSDOT received a grant from FHWA to develop options for improving the resiliency of transportation facilities or systems to climate changes and/or extreme weather events. The pilot project set out to meet FHWA’s goal of helping further the state of the practice in applying vulnerability assessment results into decision making. This study builds on WSDOT's earlier pilot by examining adaptation options in an area of the state previously identified as highly vulnerable: the Skagit River Basin (Basin). WSDOT chose this Basin because it is the focus of a major flood study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). WSDOT knew important decisions about how and where to invest in levees and other flood risk reduction projects were being actively evaluated by the Corps and the local sponsor, Skagit County. WSDOT also knew that state transportation assets were likely to be affected but were not the focus of their study. WSDOT’s pilot presented the opportunity to actively engage with the flood study and search for compatible long-term solutions that create a more resilient transportation system throughout the Basin. WSDOT’s pilot shows transportation planners and asset managers how to leverage a federal flood study, like the Corps’ Skagit River Flood Risk Management General Investigation Study (GI study), to improve the resiliency of the highways. The pilot demonstrates how WSDOT’s Vulnerability Assessment results, used in combination with federal flood study data, can reaffirm known vulnerabilities and reveal other vulnerable assets. The pilot identifies adaptation strategies for the Basin and highlights future partnership opportunities with the Corps and local governments. This report includes a series of recommendations and lessons learned that will help other DOTs and regional transportation planning entities reach across jurisdictions and sectors to create integrated asset management strategies. KW - Asset management KW - Climate change KW - Floods KW - Recommendations KW - Risk assessment KW - Skagit River (Washington) KW - Transportation planning KW - Washington State Department of Transportation KW - Weather and climate UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/climate_change/adaptation/resilience_pilots/2013-2015_pilots/washington/skagitriverreport.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1403123 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01591980 AU - Fratta, Dante AU - Kim, Kyu-Sun AU - University of Wisconsin, Madison AU - Wisconsin Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Effective Depth of Soil Compaction in Relation to Applied Compactive Energy PY - 2015/02//Final Report SP - 236p AB - The determination of appropriate lift thickness used in the embankment construction has important economic and engineering implications in the design, construction, and performance of transportation systems. Department of Transportations (DOTs) across the United States require lift thicknesses ranging from 0.2 to 0.3 m (8 to 12 in.) depending on soil types, regardless of compaction equipment used. However, modern earthmoving and compaction equipment with much larger footprints and weight could potentially compact thicker soil layers without sacrificing the mechanical performance of embankments while reducing construction costs. This research program presents a series of field monitoring, testing, and numerical studies used to evaluate the response of coarse and fine-grained soils during compaction operations at various soil depths under the action of the smooth-drum vibratory roller, rubber-tired roller, padfoot roller, and scraper. Different soil property profiles were used to assess the effectiveness of different compaction methods, including shear-induced displacement and rotation monitoring, dynamic cone penetrometer (DCP), soil stiffness gauge (SSG), pressure plate, sand cone, nuclear density gauge (NDG), and P-wave propagation. Numerical modeling using a hardening soil model was used to expand the results of the compaction effectiveness in depth. The experimental and numerical results provided ranges to evaluate the compaction effectiveness of increasing lift thickness for different compactive energies. The results provide a better understanding of the compaction effectiveness as a function of depth and showed an evidence of the potential for an increase in the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT)’s lift thickness specification. The results indicate that 0.3-m (12-in) loose lifts for coarse-grained and fine-grained soils could be implemented when using Quality Management Program (QMP). If standard compaction is used, 0.2-m (8-in) loose lifts for coarse-grained and fine-grained soils should remain the state of practice for WisDOT. These recommendations should be further studied by WisDOT officials before they are implemented in embankment construction projects. KW - Coarse grained soils KW - Depth KW - Embankments KW - Field tests KW - Fine grained soils KW - Laboratory tests KW - Numerical analysis KW - Rollers KW - Soil compaction KW - Wisconsin UR - http://www1.wisconsindot.gov/documents2/research/WisDOT-WHRP-project-0092-08-11-final-report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1398658 ER - TY - SER AN - 01580886 JO - Asset Management Financial Report Series PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Saadatmand, Nastaran AU - Gaj, Stephen AU - Varma, Shobna AU - Proctor, Gordon TI - Financial Planning for Transportation Asset Management: An Overview PY - 2015/02 IS - Report 1 SP - 88p AB - Transportation agencies have the responsibility and the challenging task to maintain, preserve and improve infrastructure assets for current and future generations. While maintaining existing assets is an overriding concern for transportation agency officials, most agencies are grappling with funding issues. Considering the fact that assets such as pavements and bridges have long useful lives, a sound asset management practice will necessitate the development of long-term asset management plans. Practices and experiences from other countries with mature asset management processes and also from transportation agencies within the U.S. show that implementing and sustaining the performance and condition of assets requires long-term financial plans that support and are linked to long-term asset management strategies. This document discusses financial planning for transportation asset management. Contents include: Why develop a financial plan?; The importance of financial sustainability; Transparency and Credibility; Elements of a financial plan; Examples of recent financial plans; Asset valuation; Financial risks; and Metrics. KW - Asset management KW - Financing KW - Infrastructure KW - Metrics (Quantitative assessment) KW - Transportation departments KW - Transportation planning KW - Valuation UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/asset/plans/financial/hif15018.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1374340 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01579614 AU - Turochy, Rod E AU - Timm, David H AU - Mai, Derong AU - Auburn University AU - Alabama Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Development of Alabama Traffic Factors for use in Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design PY - 2015/02//Technical Report SP - 95p AB - The pavement engineering community is moving toward design practices that use mechanistic-empirical (M-E) approaches to the design and analysis of pavement structures. This effort is embodied in the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) that was developed over the last several years through the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) and accompanying AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design® software. As Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) moves toward implementation of M-E pavement design, the need to evaluate the effects of differences among the many types of traffic data on pavement design became apparent. This research project examined the differences among national-level traffic inputs developed through the aforementioned NCHRP studies (and now included as the default traffic data in the Pavement ME Design® software), state-level traffic inputs developed from data collected at ALDOT’s weigh-in-motion (WIM) sites, and site-specific data. The full range of traffic inputs considered in the M-E design process was divided into 13 groups; the effects of the three levels of data were evaluated separately for each group. A rational, unbiased, quality control procedure for ALDOT WIM data was developed and applied to the data. Traffic inputs at levels 1 (national), 2 (state or regional), and 3 (site-specific), as specified in the design software, were then developed. The sensitivity of the pavement thickness required to not exceed a specified set of allowable pavement distresses, for both flexible and rigid pavements, to different levels of traffic data in Alabama was then determined. Finally, axle load spectra recommendations for flexible and rigid pavement design were made for future use by ALDOT. KW - Alabama KW - Axle loads KW - Data collection KW - Data quality KW - Flexible pavements KW - Implementation KW - Mechanistic-empirical pavement design KW - Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide KW - Rigid pavements KW - Thickness KW - Traffic data KW - Weigh in motion UR - http://eng.auburn.edu/files/centers/hrc/930793developmentofalabamatrafficfactors.turochy.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1372297 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576124 AU - Schultz, Grant G AU - Mineer, Samuel T AU - Hamblin, Cody A AU - Halliday, David B AU - Groberg, Christopher C AU - Burris, Mark W AU - Brigham Young University AU - Utah Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - I-15 Express Lanes Study Phase II: Recommendations PY - 2015/02//Final Report SP - 219p AB - The primary objective of this research was to recommend actions that will improve average speeds in the Express Lanes (ELs) such that the lanes meet Utah‘s goal of 55 mph. To accomplish this objective it was important to investigate the current usage of both the ELs and the General Purpose (GP) lanes along the Wasatch Front. This involved an evaluation of EL and GP lanes by user type (e.g., single-occupant vehicle (SOV), high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) 2, HOV 3+, ―C‖ decal, Express Pass user, motorcycle, bus, freight vehicle, and emergency vehicle) to better understand the breakdown of vehicles in the lanes and to calculate average vehicle occupancy (AVO). A second objective was to examine violation data to determine ways to reduce violator rates. The third objective of the research was to recommend ways to control Express Pass traffic and to evaluate changes to toll rates and to estimate the impacts on speed of specific toll increases along the corridor. The final objective of the research was to analyze ―C‖ decals in the state to evaluate the impacts of increasing the number of ―C‖ decal permits issued statewide. The data collected were examined to better understand the speed-flow relationship on the ELs and to estimate the impact of volume changes on speeds in the lanes. All of this information allowed the researchers to estimate the impact on EL and GP lane volumes and speeds under a combination of EL education campaigns, increased EL enforcement, increased EL peak period toll rates, and the impact of increasing the ―C‖ decal cap. Depending on the scenario analyzed, it was determined that the speeds in the ELs could be expected to increase as a result of the recommendations. The extent of the increase is dependent upon the scenario chosen and the response of the traffic to the increases and was projected to range from -4.7 mph (for an increase in ―C‖ decal vehicles) to a maximum of 7.8 mph for a combination of education, enforcement, and increased tolls. KW - Express lanes KW - General purpose lanes KW - Permits KW - Recommendations KW - Tolls KW - Traffic flow KW - Traffic speed KW - Traffic violations KW - Traffic volume KW - Utah KW - Vehicle occupancy UR - http://www.udot.utah.gov/main/uconowner.gf?n=23089114360013981 UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55300/55301/UDOT_Report_UT-15.03.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1369250 ER - TY - SER AN - 01575019 JO - PATH Research Report PB - University of California, Berkeley AU - Shladover, Steven E AU - Campbell, Robert AU - Kailas, Aravind AU - Boyd, Stephen AU - Torrey, Ford AU - University of California, Berkeley AU - California Department of Transportation AU - Volvo Technology of America AU - Cambridge Systematics, Inc. AU - Peloton Technology AU - American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Industry Needs and Opportunities for Truck Platooning PY - 2015/02 SP - 85p AB - Representatives of the trucking industry have been surveyed to try to identify their needs and concerns related to truck platooning systems. The surveys revealed the need to provide clearer and more comprehensive descriptions of the truck platooning concepts to ensure that the drivers and fleet managers understand what it is and how it works. The fleet managers tended to be more receptive to truck platooning than the drivers. Even those drivers who had some prior experience driving trucks with adaptive cruise control (ACC) and forward collision warning systems were no more receptive to truck platooning than those who lacked such experience. One group of respondents received a more complete description of the truck platoon concept and their responses were significantly more positive regarding driver acceptance of the system. KW - Autonomous intelligent cruise control KW - Costs KW - Driver support systems KW - Fleet management KW - Fuel conservation KW - Surveys KW - Traffic platooning KW - Truck drivers UR - http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/6723k932 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363794 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574085 AU - Nodine, Emily AU - Stevens, Scott AU - Najm, Wassim G AU - Jackson, Chris AU - Lam, Andy AU - Volpe National Transportation Systems Center AU - Federal Transit Administration AU - Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Independent Evaluation of the Transit Retrofit Package Safety Applications PY - 2015/02//Final Report SP - 157p AB - This report presents the methodology and results of the independent evaluation of retrofit safety packages installed on transit vehicles in the Safety Pilot Model Deployment—part of the United States Department of Transportation’s Intelligent Transportation Systems research program. The Model Deployment included approximately 2,800 vehicles, equipped with designated short-range-communication-based vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure technology in a real-world driving environment. The goals of the independent evaluation were to assess system performance, safety impact, and driver acceptance of the vehicle-to-vehicle safety applications based on the naturalistic driving of 75 drivers who drove the equipped transit buses during the Model Deployment. The results of the analysis suggest that the TRP safety applications have the potential to improve driver behavior and increase driver safety, but improvements in accuracy are needed. Results from the Model Deployment will help shape future research direction. KW - Attitudes KW - Automatic data collection systems KW - Behavior KW - Crash avoidance systems KW - Drivers KW - Evaluation KW - Intelligent transportation systems KW - Methodology KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Pilot studies KW - Retrofitting KW - Transit buses KW - Vehicle safety UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54800/54839/FHWA-JPO-14-175_v1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363632 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574025 AU - Bucci, Gregory AU - Rainville, Lydia AU - Volpe National Transportation Systems Center AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Benefits and Costs of Programmatic Agreements PY - 2015/02//Final Report SP - 33p AB - The performing organization, on behalf of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Office of Planning, Environment, and Realty, conducted a benefit-cost assessment of programmatic agreements and approaches. The assessment consisted of a case study approach that evaluated three agreement types within seven States. The results of the analysis indicate that programmatic agreements and approaches are advantageous methods for streamlining process and generating time and cost savings for stakeholders. The case studies focused on: (1) the Endangered Species Act of 1973; (2) the Clean Water Act/National Environmental Policy Act Merger Process; and (3) the National Historic Preservation Act Section 106. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Case studies KW - Clean Water Act Section 404 KW - Endangered Species Act KW - Environmental protection KW - Interagency relations KW - National Environmental Policy Act KW - National Historic Preservation Act KW - Program management KW - Programming (Planning) KW - Stakeholders KW - States UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55000/55024/DOT-VNTSC-FHWA-15-07.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363631 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570380 AU - Dowling, Richard G AU - Parks, Kamala L AU - Nevers, Brandon AU - Josselyn, Jessica AU - Gayle, Steven AU - Kittelson & Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Incorporating Travel-Time Reliability into the Congestion Management Process: A Primer PY - 2015/02 SP - 62p AB - This primer explains the value of incorporating travel-time reliability into the Congestion Management Process (CMP) and identifies the most current tools available to assist with this effort. It draws from applied research and best practices from regional agencies nationwide. It emphasizes the importance of expanding the scope of the CMP to include monitoring and addressing non-recurrent congestion utilizing Planning for Operations strategies. It is intended for use by state and metropolitan planning organization (MPO) planners as well as operations managers and analysts who are planning and programming transportation investments to better manage congestion in urban areas. KW - Best practices KW - Congestion management systems KW - Nonrecurrent congestion KW - Travel time KW - United States KW - Urban areas UR - http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop14034/fhwahop14034.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55200/55248/fhwahop14034.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359505 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570270 AU - Yan, Guirong (Grace) AU - Zhou, Linren AU - University of Texas, El Paso AU - Rutgers University, Piscataway AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Highly Efficient Model Updating for Structural Condition Assessment of Large-Scale Bridges PY - 2015/02//Final Report SP - 33p AB - For efficiently updating models of large-scale structures, the response surface (RS) method based on radial basis functions (RBFs) is proposed to model the input-output relationship of structures. The key issues for applying the proposed method are discussed, such as selecting the optimal shape parameters of RBFs, generating samples by using design of experiments (DOE) and evaluating the RS model. The RS methods based on RBFs of Gaussian (GA), inverse quadratic (IQ), multiquadric (MQ) and inverse multiquadric (IMQ) are investigated. Results have demonstrated that RS methods based on RBFs can achieve a high approximation accuracy and better performance than the RS method based on polynomial function. The proposal method has been validated numerically and experimentally on a cable-stayed bridge model. KW - Algorithms KW - Bridges KW - Cable stayed bridges KW - Condition surveys KW - Quadratic equations KW - Structural analysis UR - https://cait.rutgers.edu/files/CAIT-UTC-016-final_0.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55200/55236/CAIT-UTC-016-final_0.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359778 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567345 AU - Dixon, Michael P AU - Abdel-Rahim, Ahmed AU - Bacon, Christopher J AU - Gonzalez, Angel AU - University of Idaho, Moscow AU - Idaho Transportation Department AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Measures to Alleviate Congestion at Rural Intersections - Case Study: Intersection of State Highway 55, Banks-Lowman Road, and Banks-Grade Way PY - 2015/02//Final Report SP - 52p AB - Many rural highways experience a surge in traffic flow levels on certain “high-travel” days during national holidays. Due to the platooned nature of the high volume traffic on the main highway, vehicles on the minor approach attempting to turn to the major highway are subjected to excessive delays. This research focuses on alternative intersection treatments to alleviate congestion at rural intersections during increased traffic volume on high-travel days. Specifically, the case study the authors investigated is the intersection of State Highway 55 (SH55), Banks-Lowman Road, and Banks-Grade Way. The high hourly traffic volume on SH55 during Memorial Day, Independence Day, and other summer weekends causes excessive delay for vehicles on the Banks-Lowman Road. Traffic flow trends for the intersection were obtained from data collected from several Automatic Traffic Recorders (ATR) continuously monitoring traffic near the intersection. In addition, field data was collected at the intersection during the 2014 Memorial Day and Independence Day weekends. The results of the study showed that signalization of the intersection along with some geometry alternation are the recommended treatments to alleviate the congestion and provide safe, efficient movement for both vehicular and pedestrian traffic at this intersection. KW - Case studies KW - Highway design KW - Holidays KW - Idaho KW - Intersections KW - Rural highways KW - Signalization KW - Traffic congestion KW - Traffic flow UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55100/55104/RP242Final03052015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1356215 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563563 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Road Diet Desk Reference PY - 2015/02 SP - 16p AB - Four-lane undivided highways have a history of crashes as traffic volumes increase due to the inside lane being shared by higher-speed through vehicles and left-turning vehicles. One option for addressing this concern is a Road Diet. A typical Road Diet is the conversion of an undivided four-lane roadway to a three-lane undivided roadway made up of two through lanes and a center two-way left-turn lane (TWLTL). The reduction of lanes allows the roadway cross section to be reallocated for other uses such as bike lanes, pedestrian refuge islands, transit uses, and/or parking. The Road Diet Desk Reference is a resource to assist transportation agencies during their decision-making process in regards to considering, implementing, and evaluating Road Diet conversions. The information in the document is derived from the Road Diet Informational Guide. KW - Evaluation KW - Highway design KW - Highway facilities for nonmotorized users KW - Highway safety KW - Implementation KW - Road diets KW - Three lane highways KW - Two way left turn lanes UR - http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/road_diets/desk_ref/ UR - http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/road_diets/desk_ref/sa_15_046.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353217 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563522 AU - Dissanayake, Sunanda AU - Ortiz, Logan AU - Kansas State University, Manhattan AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Highway Work Zone Capacity Estimation Using Field Data from Kansas PY - 2015/02//Final Report SP - 114p AB - Although extensive research has been conducted on urban freeway capacity estimation methods, minimal research has been carried out for rural highway sections, especially sections within work zones. This study attempted to fill that void for rural highways in Kansas, by estimating capacity of rural highway work zones in Kansas. Six work zone locations were selected for data collection and further analysis. An average of six days’ worth of field data was collected, from mid-October 2013 to late November 2013, at each of these work zone sites. Two capacity estimation methods were utilized, including the Maximum Observed 15-minute Flow Rate Method and the Platooning Method divided into 15-minute intervals. The Maximum Observed 15-minute Flow Rate Method provided an average capacity of 1469 passenger cars per hour per lane (pcphpl) with a standard deviation of 141 pcphpl, while the Platooning Method provided a maximum average capacity of 1195 pcphpl and a standard deviation of 28 pcphpl. Based on observed data and analysis carried out in this study, the suggested maximum capacity can be considered as 1500 pcphpl when designing work zones for rural highways in Kansas. This proposed standard value of rural highway work zone capacity could be utilized by engineers and planners so that they can effectively mitigate congestion at or near work zones that would have otherwise occurred due to construction/maintenance. KW - Estimating KW - Field studies KW - Highway capacity KW - Kansas KW - Rural highways KW - Traffic flow rate KW - Work zone traffic control KW - Work zones UR - http://publications.iowa.gov/19404/1/KSU_SWZDI_Dissanayake_Highway_Work_Zone_Capacity_Estimation_Using_Field_Data_Kansas_2015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1352955 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563448 AU - Harris, Dwayne AU - Purdue University AU - Indiana Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Extending the Life of Paint and Reflective Markers by Using Partial Rubber Plow Blades SN - 9781622603275 PY - 2015/02//Final Report SP - 31p AB - Winter roadway maintenance in Indiana typically involves the removal of snow and ice from the roadway with metal plow blades. The interaction of the wearable metal portion of the plow and the roadway causes damage to raised pavement markers (RPMs) and painted line markings. Partial rubber snow plow blades (PRPBs) are currently available as an alternative to full metal blades. The purpose of this project was to conduct a limited study to evaluate the decrease in damage to the RPMs and pavement markings, and rate the snow removal performance of the PRPB verses the traditional steel carbide blade. Overall there was no solid evidence supporting the premise that the PRPB equipped with rubber wingtips damaged RPMs and striping less than the traditional plow equipped with a steel cutting edge. Overall the PRPB did not perform nearly as well as the steel blade based on the opinions of Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) plow operators.   KW - Blades (Machinery) KW - Evaluation KW - Indiana KW - Road markings KW - Rubber KW - Snow removal KW - Snowplows KW - Winter maintenance UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.5703/1288284315519 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1352896 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01562768 JO - Transportation Research E-Circular PB - Transportation Research Board AU - Perez, Benjamin TI - Surface Transportation Financing: Innovation, Experimentation, and Exploration. Summary of the Fifth International Conference, July 9–11, 2014, Arnold and Mabel Beckman Conference Center, Irvine, California PY - 2015/02 IS - E-C193 SP - 88p AB - Since 1997, the Transportation Research Board has conducted five conferences as part of a series addressing the evolution of transportation finance and funding. This report summarizes the fifth TRB conference on surface transportation financing, Innovation, Experimentation, and Exploration, which took place in Irvine, California, in July 2014. It occurred against the sober backdrop of transportation funding gaps at the federal and state levels and the ensuing expiration of the 2-year Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) transportation authorization act. The discussions focused on migrating surface transportation funding from the motor fuel tax to mileage-based user fees and on strategies to increase state and local revenues. It was recognized that funding challenges will only be overcome through education and by making the case for transportation funding at the local level. From value capture strategies to local sales tax initiatives—along with indexing existing motor fuel taxes to inflation, expanding tolling applications, and working with private development partners—the conference explored the strategies that states and regions around the nation are beginning to implement to overcome funding gaps. U1 - Surface Transportation Financing: Innovation, Experimentation, and Exploration. Fifth International ConferenceTransportation Research BoardReason FoundationFederal Highway AdministrationAmerican Association of State Highway & Transportation OfficialsInternational Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike AssociationNossaman LLPUniversity of California Transportation CenterMineta Transportation InstituteProfessional Engineers in California GovernmentParsons BrinckerhoffOrange County Transportation AuthorityHDR, Inc.American Public Transportation AssociationIrvine,California,United States StartDate:20140709 EndDate:20140711 Sponsors:Transportation Research Board, Reason Foundation, Federal Highway Administration, American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials, International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association, Nossaman LLP, University of California Transportation Center, Mineta Transportation Institute, Professional Engineers in California Government, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Orange County Transportation Authority, HDR, Inc., American Public Transportation Association KW - Cost control KW - Finance KW - Financing KW - Government funding KW - Managed lanes KW - Public private partnerships KW - Revenues KW - Technology KW - Tolls KW - Value capture UR - http://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/172085.aspx UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353050 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01561602 AU - Lazarte, Carlos A AU - Robinson, Helen AU - Gómez, Jesús E AU - Baxter, Andrew AU - Cadden, Allen AU - Berg, Ryan AU - Ryan R. Berg & Associates, Incorporated AU - Schnabel Engineering AU - National Highway Institute AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Soil Nail Walls Reference Manual PY - 2015/02 SP - 425p AB - This document presents information on the analysis, design, and construction of permanent soil nail walls in highway applications. The main objective is to provide practitioners in this field with sound and simple methods and guidelines that will allow them to analyze, design, construct, and inspect safe and economical structures. This document updates the information contained in FHWA0-IF-03-017 (Lazarte et al. 2003). The focus is on soil nailing techniques that are commonly used in U.S. practice. The contents of this document include: an introduction; chapters on applications and feasibility, construction materials and methods, information required for design, analysis and design of soil nail walls, corrosion protection; and chapters on contracting approach, technical specifications and design examples. This manual introduces a framework for the design of soil nail walls that takes into account factors of safety used in the allowable stress design (ASD) method while integrating load and resistance factor design (LRFD) principles. KW - Construction KW - Design KW - Geotechnical engineering KW - Guidelines KW - Load and resistance factor design KW - Retaining walls KW - Soil nailing KW - Specifications KW - United States UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/engineering/geotech/pubs/nhi14007.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1352016 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560961 AU - Dong, Jing AU - Makaiwi, Micah AU - Shafieirad, Navid AU - Huang, Yundi AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Mid-America Transportation Center AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Iowa State University, Ames TI - Modeling Multimodal Freight Transportation Network Performance under Disruptions PY - 2015/02//Final Report SP - 48p AB - To facilitate a region’s freight transportation systems planning and operations and minimize the risk associated with increasing multimodal freight movements, this study presents a modeling framework for evaluating and optimizing freight flows on a multimodal transportation network under disruption. Unexpected events such as earthquakes, floods, and other manmade or natural disasters would cause significant economic losses. When parts of the transportation network are closed or operated at a reduced capacity, the delay of commodity movements would further increase such losses. Shifting to an alternative route or mode might help to mitigate the negative impacts. In this study, a multimodal freight transportation network was developed to simulate commodity movements, evaluate the impacts of disruptions, and develop effective emergency operation plans. A fluid-based dynamic queuing approximation was used to estimate the delays at classification yards and locks caused by disruption. Using the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Freight Analysis Framework version 3 (FAF3) database, a case study was constructed to model the transportation of cereal grains from Iowa to other states. Three hypothetical disruption scenarios were tested: a reduced service level at locks along the Mississippi River, a bridge outage on I-80 at the Missouri River, and severe weather in central Iowa closing the Union Pacific tracks in the area. The impacts of these disruptions were quantified and analyzed using the presented freight network model. KW - Case studies KW - Commodity flow KW - Freight Analysis Framework KW - Freight transportation KW - Multimodal transportation KW - Optimization KW - Simulation KW - Traffic delays KW - Traffic flow KW - Traffic incidents KW - Traffic queuing UR - http://www.intrans.iastate.edu/research/documents/research-reports/multimodal_freight_disruption_w_cvr.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1349609 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560945 AU - Agurla, Mahesh AU - Lin, Sean AU - Engineering and Software Consultants, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Long-Term Pavement Performance Automated Faulting Measurement PY - 2015/02//Research Report SP - 40p AB - This study focused on identifying transverse joint locations on jointed plain concrete pavements using an automated joint detection algorithm and computing faulting at these locations using Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) Program profile data collected by the program’s high-speed inertial profilers (HSIP). This study evaluated two existing American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials R 36-12 automated faulting measurement (AFM) models: ProVAL (Method-A) and Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) PaveSuite (Method-B). A new LTPP AFM was developed using LTPP profile data. The LTPP AFM is an automated algorithm to identify joint locations where faulting is also computed for each joint identified to replicate the manually collected faulting data using the Georgia Faultmeter (GFM), which has been used on LTPP test sections since the program’s inception. The study compared the LTPP manual faulting measurements collected using the GFM with the ProVAL AFM and the LTPP AFM using LTPP profile data. Similarly, the FDOT GFM measurements were compared with the FDOT PaveSuite AFM and the LTPP AFM using the same FDOT profile data. The initial results for six LTPP test sections show that the LTPP AFM can identify joint locations with a joint detection rate (JDR) ranging from 95 to 100 percent. ProVAL’s JDR range is from 58 to 99 percent for the same six LTPP test sections. Similarly, for the one FDOT test section available, the LTPP AFM’s and FDOT PaveSuite’s JDRs are approximately 96 percent. This study outlines the LTPP AFM algorithm, discusses the comparison of the three AFM results, and recommends future research needs in this area. KW - Long-Term Pavement Performance Program KW - Algorithms KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Concrete pavements KW - Faulting (Pavements) KW - Flaw detection KW - Measurement KW - Pavement joints KW - Pavement performance KW - Recommendations UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/pavements/ltpp/14092/14092.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1347695 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560378 AU - Sobanjo, John O AU - Tawfiq, Kamal S AU - Twumasi-Boakye, Richard AU - Inkoom, Sylvester AU - Gibbs, Sheldon AU - Florida State University, Tallahassee AU - Gibbs Group Engineers AU - Florida Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Ground Tire Rubber (GTR) as a Component Material in Concrete Mixtures for Paving Concrete PY - 2015/02//Final Report SP - 123p AB - This research was done to investigate if the problems associated with flexibility and temperature sensitivity (expansion and contraction) in roadway concrete pavements can be addressed by replacing some of the fine or coarse aggregate component with crumb rubber, specifically, Ground Tire Rubber (GTR). The research also intended to find out the general effects of adding the GTR to the conventional pavement concrete, in terms of the mechanical properties and workability, requiring several laboratory tests to be conducted as part of the study. Finally, the research was required to evaluate the practical implementation at a ready mix plant, of the proposed use of GTR as a component in the concrete. It was found from the study that the modulus of elasticity of concrete is reduced when GTR is used in concrete, thus the pavement concrete becomes more flexible. Based on the results of the tests for the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), it was not conclusive from this study, that adding GTR will significantly affect the expansion and contraction in the concrete pavement. Many valuable findings from this study include the following: the optimal content for GTR for use as a component in the paving concrete mixture is 15% by weight of the fine aggregate; at a water/cementitious ratio of 0.44, concrete with GTR of 15% by weight of the fine aggregate, using water-reducing admixtures, can achieve a 28-Day compressive strength of about 3000 psi as well as reasonable values of the flexural strength and split tensile strength; slump was observed to typically decrease with addition of GTR but use of the water-reducer will eliminate this problem; the unit weight of the GTR concrete is less than that of the conventional concrete; air content will always increase with addition of GTR to the concrete but the use of a defoaming agent will reduce the foam and air content; GTR concrete has a non-brittle mode of failure in compression and flexure; examining GTR concrete under the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) indicated that there is good bonding between the rubber particles and the cement matrix in the concrete; pretreatment of GTR by simple washing and drying may improve the compressive strength of the GTR concrete; GTR concrete has very good plastic and dry shrinkage attributes, with the ability to resist shrinkage cracking; the ready mix plant operations will require dry-safe storage of the GTR, customized packaging (bag sizes or bag material) of the GTR for convenient batching, and a less duration for mixing before placement (when compared to the 90 minutes mixing duration allowed for conventional concrete); the GTR concrete can be used in the following applications: Class I pavement; sidewalks; curbs and inlets; or applications where the compressive strength of 3000 psi or less is adequate and also where shrinkage may be a problem. KW - Coefficient of thermal expansion KW - Compressive strength KW - Concrete KW - Crumb rubber KW - Laboratory tests KW - Mechanical properties KW - Modulus of elasticity KW - Ready mixed concrete KW - Shrinkage KW - Workability UR - http://www.fdot.gov/research/Completed_Proj/Summary_SMO/FDOT-BDV30-977-08-rpt.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1349908 ER - TY - SER AN - 01560361 JO - Civil Engineering Studies, Illinois Center for Transportation Series PB - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Kelly, Constance A AU - University of Illinois, Chicago AU - Illinois Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Options and Recommendations for a Web Database of Material and Construction Inspection PY - 2015/02 IS - 15-003 SP - 85p AB - The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has been using software developed in-house for their materials management and construction project management needs. The primary packages under review MISTIC (Materials Management) and ICORS (Construction Project Management) were developed at a time when there were no suitable commercial offerings. These packages have continued to provide functionality for decades, but due to personnel changes, hardware improvements, and additional software requirements; the packages should be replaced before they fail and create an untenable situation in IDOT. The purpose of this project is to determine if there are commercial packages available that will meet the ongoing needs of IDOT in these two areas. KW - Construction management KW - Databases KW - Illinois Department of Transportation KW - Materials management KW - Needs assessment KW - Recommendations KW - Software packages UR - https://apps.ict.illinois.edu/projects/getfile.asp?id=3406 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1348904 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560352 AU - Jeong, H David AU - Gransberg, Douglas D AU - Shrestha, K Joseph AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Mid-America Transportation Center AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Framework for Advanced Daily Work Report System PY - 2015/02//Final Report SP - 152p AB - A significant amount of time and effort is invested to collect and document various field activity data of a highway project in Daily Work Report (DWR). Although there are many potential benefits of DWR data, the current use of the data is very limited. The objective of this study is to develop an ideal framework for an advanced DWR system to improve the DWR data collection and utilization practices. A literature review and two surveys were conducted to investigate the current practices of collecting DWR data, utilization of the data, and challenges associated with advanced collection and utilization of DWR data. The study found that there is a huge gap between the current and potential level of benefits of DWR data. The challenges for better collection and utilization of DWR data were identified and classified. An ideal framework for an advanced DWR system was developed to overcome those challenges. The ideal framework consists of seven major components: a) data attributes and its relations, b) integration with existing systems, c) visualization of data, d) advanced data collection systems, e) automation of DWR data analysis and reporting, f) human factors, and g) other technical aspects. The framework can be used by state DOTs to improve an existing DWR system or to develop a new system. The implementation of the framework is expected to improve the level of DWR data collection and utilization practices in state DOTs. KW - Construction management KW - Construction projects KW - Data analysis KW - Data collection KW - Databases KW - Recordkeeping KW - Reports KW - State departments of transportation KW - Technology assessment UR - http://www.intrans.iastate.edu/research/documents/research-reports/framework_for_advanced_daily_work_report_system_w_cvr.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1348905 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01558574 AU - Arrington, Dusty R AU - Theiss, LuAnn AU - Zimmer, Richard A AU - Menges, Wanda L AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute, College Station AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Development of Delineator Testing Standard PY - 2015/02//Technical Report SP - 108p AB - The objective of this project was to develop a new test method for evaluating the impact performance of delineators for given applications. The researchers focused on developing a test method that was reproducible and attempted to reproduce failure modes witnessed through field observations. The researchers also attempted to optimize the testing standard to minimize the cost and effort to evaluate the products. The researchers feel that the process was successful, and a balanced testing standard meeting all requirements has been developed. KW - Costs KW - Field studies KW - Highway delineators KW - Impact tests KW - Optimization KW - Reflectivity KW - Standards KW - Test procedures UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6772-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1346362 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01558317 AU - Liu, Yue AU - Li, Xin AU - Hu, Yi AU - University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - A Smartphone-Based Prototype System for Incident/Work Zone Management Driven by Crowd-Sourced Data PY - 2015/02//Final Report SP - 138p AB - This project develops a smartphone-based prototype system that supplements the 511 system to improve its dynamic traffic routing service to state highway users under non-recurrent congestion. This system will save considerable time to provide crucial traffic information and en-route assistance to travelers for them to avoid being trapped in traffic congestion due to accidents, work zones, hazards, or special events. It also creates a feedback loop between travelers and responsible agencies that enable the state to effectively collect, fuse, and analyze crowd-sourced data for next-gen transportation planning and management. This project can result in substantial economic savings (e.g. less traffic congestion, reduced fuel wastage and emissions) and safety benefits for the freight industry and society due to better dissemination of real-time traffic information by highway users. Such benefits will increase significantly in future with the expected increase in freight traffic on the network. The proposed system also has the flexibility to be integrated with various transportation management modules to assist state agencies to improve transportation services and daily operations. KW - 511 (National Travel Information Number) KW - Advanced driver information systems KW - Crowdsourcing KW - Incident management KW - Real time information KW - Smartphones KW - Traffic congestion KW - Work zone traffic control UR - http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1110&context=intrans_reports UR - http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/intrans_reports/111 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1347303 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01557579 AU - Stanley, Laura AU - Manlove, Kezia AU - Peck, Alyssa AU - Western Transportation Institute AU - Montana Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Assessing the Effectiveness of Montana’s Vehicle Occupant Protection Programs PY - 2015/02//Final Report SP - 66p AB - The purpose of this project was to quantitatively evaluate the relationships between Montana Department of Transportation's (MDT's) occupant protection program activities and seat restraint usage throughout Montana, in an effort to clarify how MDT's occupant protection programs may affect seat restraint use. Quantitative evaluations of program effectiveness are critical to optimizing program impacts, yet performing evaluations of these programs is challenging. Here, a cross-disciplinary research team worked in collaboration with MDT to produce a quantitative evaluation of four programs (Office of Public Instruction driver education programs, Selective Traffic Enforcement Programs, Buckle Up Montana coalitions, and media campaigns) aimed at improving seat belt use rates in the state of Montana. Program impacts were measured using National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) data from 2010 to 2012. The evaluation suggested that MDT’s programs largely operate independently of one another. Buckle Up Montana program presence was associated with increased seat restraint use rates, and this was especially true in areas that were not in large media catchment areas. Selective traffic enforcement programs showed a strong relationship with increased seat restraint use, but this relationship disappeared in models that included all programs. Driver education program completion rates were not associated with increased seat belt use. There was no saturating effect of program impacts, except for media campaigns, where additional dollars lead to improved occupant protection rates only to a point. Detecting program-specific effects was challenging using the NOPUS data, and the team suggested additional data collection for isolating particular program effects in the future. KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Montana KW - National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) KW - Occupant protection devices KW - Public information programs KW - Safety campaigns KW - Seat belt use KW - Traffic law enforcement UR - http://www.mdt.mt.gov/other/research/external/docs/research_proj/mt_seatbelt/Final_Report_15.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1346220 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01557456 AU - Hallmark, Shauna AU - Oneyear, Nicole AU - Center for Transportation Research and Education AU - Smart Work Zone Deployment Initiative AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Modeling Merging Behavior at Lane Drops PY - 2015/02//Final Report SP - 51p AB - In work-zone configurations where lane drops are present, merging of traffic at the taper presents an operational concern. In addition, as flow through the work zone is reduced, the relative traffic safety of the work zone is also reduced. Improving workzone flow-through merge points depends on the behavior of individual drivers. By better understanding driver behavior, traffic control plans, work zone policies, and countermeasures can be better targeted to reinforce desirable lane closure merging behavior, leading to both improved safety and work-zone capacity. The researchers collected data for two work-zone scenarios that included lane drops with one scenario on the Interstate and the other on an urban arterial roadway. The researchers then modeled and calibrated these scenarios in VISSIM using real-world speeds, travel times, queue lengths, and merging behaviors (percentage of vehicles merging upstream and near the merge point). Once built and calibrated, the researchers modeled strategies for various countermeasures in the two work zones. The models were then used to test and evaluate how various merging strategies affect safety and operations at the merge areas in these two work zones. KW - Countermeasures KW - Lane drops KW - Merging traffic KW - Traffic models KW - Traffic safety KW - Work zone safety KW - Work zone traffic control UR - http://www.intrans.iastate.edu/research/documents/research-reports/merging_behavior_at_lane_drops_w_cvr.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345874 ER - TY - SER AN - 01557307 JO - Civil Engineering Studies, Illinois Center for Transportation Series PB - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Fries, Ryan AU - Yousefzadehfard, Pouya AU - Bahaaldin, Karzan AU - Fadoul, Antoun AU - Ghale, Karna AU - Atiquzzaman, Md AU - Chowdhury, Mashrur AU - Petersen, Scott AU - Minge, Erik AU - Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville AU - Illinois Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Real-Time Information Dissemination Requirements for Illinois per New Federal Rule PY - 2015/02 IS - 15-004 SP - 126p AB - Travelers on U.S. freeways could now be better-informed than ever before, because of a new federal legislation. The Final Rule 23 CFR 511 has mandated that after November 8, 2014, states provide real-time traveler data along all limited-access roadways, and that traveler information must also be provided along routes of significance in all metropolitan areas (with populations exceeding one million) two years after that. Furthermore, this law requires information be available 90% of the time, with an 85% rate of accuracy. This study was conducted, with the collaboration from the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), to provide guidance on meeting the new rule effectively and quantifiably. To amass the necessary data, the authors reviewed published documents on the topic and conducted interviews and conference calls with stakeholders throughout the rural and urban transportation districts of Illinois to identify the routes that require real-time information, information sharing needs and possible changes and updates to intelligent transportation systems (ITS) architectures. Moreover, an online survey was conducted to gather information on different practices addressing the requirements of 23 CFR 511 in other state departments of transportation (DOTs). After gathering information from these sources, researchers recommended best strategies to satisfy the real-time traveler information dissemination requirements in Illinois. Accordingly, the routes requiring real-time information and the measures of effectiveness were identified, including methods to quantify accuracy and availability. Revisions to the ITS architectures relating to Illinois were proposed along with new interfaces that need to be added. The outcome of this study includes methods by which the quality of travel information for Illinois roadways can be measured by IDOT. In addition, this study proposed recommendations for archiving data, revising policy documents, updating ITS architectures, reviewing compliance with 23 CFR 511, and deploying infrastructure, all of which provide guidance towards complying with the 23 CFR 511 requirements. KW - Advanced traveler information systems KW - Illinois KW - Information dissemination KW - Information processing KW - Intelligent transportation systems KW - Laws and legislation KW - Performance measurement KW - Real time information KW - Recommendations KW - Stakeholders KW - State departments of transportation KW - Surveys UR - https://apps.ict.illinois.edu/projects/getfile.asp?id=3403 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1346219 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01557298 AU - Wu, Jonathan TH AU - Ooi, Phillip S K AU - University of Hawaii, Manoa AU - University of Colorado, Denver AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Synthesis of Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil Design Topics PY - 2015/02 SP - 89p AB - This report synthesizes six topics related to geosynthetic reinforced soil (GRS) design: embedment length, pullout check, eccentricity, lateral pressures, the W-equation for GRS capacity and required reinforcement strength, and geosynthetic reduction factors. The synopsis for each topic includes a summary of the relevant research and a review of pertinent issues. The intent is not to provide recommendations but to explain the methodology behind the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) composite design for GRS, which is different than that for geosynthetic mechanically stabilized earth. The synopses support the FHWA’s GRS Integrated Bridge System (IBS) Interim Implementation Guide, (FHWA-HRT-11-026). KW - Design KW - Durability KW - Earth pressure KW - Earth walls KW - Eccentricity KW - Geosynthetics KW - Mechanically stabilized earth KW - Methodology KW - Pull out test KW - Research projects UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/bridge/14094/14094.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345862 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01557293 AU - Merritt, David K AU - Lyon, Craig A AU - Persaud, Bhagwant N AU - Transtec Group, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Pavement Safety Performance PY - 2015/02//Final Report SP - 158p AB - The intent of this study was to isolate the effects of various low-cost pavement treatments on roadway safety. This was a retrospective study of pavement safety performance, looking back at crash data before and after treatments were installed. Both flexible and rigid pavement treatments were analyzed, with the majority typically used for pavement preservation or minor rehabilitation purposes. Although State highway agencies recognize that most of these treatments generally improve pavement friction, they are not typically installed explicitly for safety improvement, with one exception, high-friction surfacing, which is typically applied as a spot safety treatment. The research was conducted as part of Phase VI of the Federal Highway Administration Evaluation of Low-Cost Safety Improvements Pooled Fund Study (ELCSI–PFS). This pooled fund study (PFS) was established to conduct research on the effectiveness of the safety improvements identified by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program Report 500 guides as part of implementation of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Strategic Highway Safety Plan. The intent of the work conducted under the various phases of the ELCSI-PFS is to provide a crash modification factor (CMF) and benefit-cost (BC) economic analysis for each of the targeted safety strategies identified as priorities by the PFS States. Under the effort described herein, CMFs and BC ratios were developed for various low-cost pavement treatments. KW - Before and after studies KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Crash data KW - Flexible pavements KW - Friction KW - Highway safety KW - Pavement performance KW - Rigid pavements KW - States KW - Surface treating UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/14065/14065.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345863 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01557046 AU - Gaspard, Kevin AU - Zhang, Zhongjie AU - Louisiana Transportation Research Center AU - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Assessment of Mitigating Transverse Joint Faulting on Portland Cement Concrete Pavement with Polyurethane Foam on LA 1 Bypass, State Project Number 034-30-0023 PY - 2015/02//Technical Assistance Report SP - 87p AB - A case study was conducted by the Louisiana Transportation Research Center (LTRC) to assess the effectiveness of reducing faulting on jointed concrete pavement (JCP) with polyurethane foam (PF) on LA 1 Bypass, S.P. 034-30-0023. The PF fault correction process entailed reducing faults to approximately 0.25 inches by saw cutting full depth through the joints and lifting the slabs with PF whose free rise density was 6 pcf. A sampling plan was established where the entire project was measured for faulting and roughness by a high speed profiler before treatment with the PF fault correction process and 0.6, 2.1, 3.4, and 4.4 years after treatment. Three test sections with 11 slabs each were assessed with the falling weight deflectometer (FWD), ARRB walking profiler, and manual fault measurements. Seventeen cores were taken at various locations to obtain in-place PF samples. Statistical hypothesis testing was conducted comparing the density and strength of PF before and after it was injected into the pavement. Testing results indicated that repair goals of reducing faults were realized by the PF fault correction process, but at the sacrifice of severely reducing load transfer efficiency (LTE) at the transverse joints. Service life extensions of approximately 6.0 and 8.3 years on the north and south bound roadways, respectfully, for fault height reduction were discovered. Unfortunately, the PF fault correction process severely impacted the LTE with 80 percent of joints having poor load transfer, 20 percent increase of joints needing load transfer improvement, and 0 percent of the joints in good condition. Deflections at the joints and center-intermediate slab locations were increased as much as 46 percent by the PF process indicating lower strength conditions. Void potentials were increased slightly (8 percent) by the process. The estimated service life extension based on the international roughness index (IRI) parameter was 3.1 years and 5.7 years for the north and south bound roadways, respectively. Taking into account all the parameters analyzed in this study, the PF fault correction process was not recommended as a pavement preservation treatment for fault correction or ride quality improvement due to the detrimental effects discovered in this study. KW - Deflection KW - Load transfer KW - Louisiana KW - Pavement distress KW - Pavement joints KW - Polyurethane foams KW - Portland cement concrete KW - Ride quality KW - Roughness KW - Service life KW - Test sections UR - http://www.ltrc.lsu.edu/pdf/2015/TAR_13-02-TAP.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345765 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01557040 AU - Clifton, Kelly J AU - Gehrke, Steven R AU - Currans, Kristina M AU - Portland State University AU - Oregon Department of Transportation AU - National Institute for Transportation and Communities AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Understanding Residential Location Choices for Climate change and Transportation Decision Making: Phase 2 Report PY - 2015/02//Final Report SP - 140p AB - This research builds on the related Phase 1 project. In this second phase, the authors continue to study neighborhood and housing preferences that shape the residential location decision process. An online experimental survey tool is developed to investigate lifestyle preferences and tradeoffs that households make in their location decisions. This computer-aided experimental survey draws upon stated preference methods to engage participants in questions about residential location and transportation options. The survey infrastructure was extensively piloted (6-10% response rate). The 10-minute survey can be deployed for future investigations. This infrastructure is a contribution for the integration of visualized neighborhood typologies, or concepts, which were objectively defined using data from 25 of the most populous metropolitan regions from around the United States. The construct of neighborhoods is based upon national data to account for potential options not currently available in Oregon. These visualizations help ground the survey respondents in the same reality and were carefully crafted to convey various attributes of the built and transportation environment. The initial analysis of the preference data collected in this survey (N=1,035) indicates that the preferences for neighborhood, housing, and transportation characteristics have a greater influence on the preferred neighborhood concept than the more typically used socioeconomic characteristics (income, household size, age). Another interesting preliminary finding is that 27% of respondents would prefer to live in a more urban neighborhood than they currently reside. These “urban seeking” respondents had no particular demographic trend, providing little evidence that specific socioeconomic markets had specific preferences for the built environment. KW - Climate change KW - Decision making KW - Neighborhoods KW - Oregon KW - Residential location KW - Stated preferences KW - Surveys UR - http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TP_RES/ResearchReports/SPR745_Phase2_1-5-15FINAL_012715LP.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1344680 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01557034 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Assistive Technologies for Visually Impaired Persons PY - 2015/02 SP - 2p AB - There are approximately 2 million adults with reported vision loss in the United States. Independent travel and active interactions with the surrounding environment present significant daily challenges for these individuals, ultimately reducing quality of life and compromising safety. To begin to address these challenges, the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA’s) Exploratory Advanced Research (EAR) Program funded three research projects to examine new technology solutions for wayfinding and navigation guidance for people with vision impairment and other disabilities. This document gives an overview of the three projects: “Intelligent Situation Awareness and Navigation Aid for Visually Impaired Persons”, “Navigation Guidance for People with Vision Impairment”, and “Extended Event Horizon Navigation and Wayfinding for Blind and Visually Impaired Pedestrians in Unstructured Environments.” KW - Assistive technology KW - Navigational aids KW - Research projects KW - Technological innovations KW - United States KW - Visually impaired persons KW - Wayfinding UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/advancedresearch/pubs/15040/15040.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345654 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01557020 AU - Wang, Kelvin C P AU - Li, Joshua Q AU - Chen, Cheng AU - Oklahoma State University, Stillwater AU - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development AU - Louisiana Transportation Research Center AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Traffic and Data Preparation for AASHTO DARWin-ME Analysis and Design PY - 2015/02//Final Report SP - 93p AB - Pavement Mechanistic Empirical (ME) Design (MEPDG/DARWin-ME) is a significant advancement in pavement design, but requires much more inputs from various sources. Through the transportation pooled fund study TPF-5(242), a full-production software Prep-ME with comprehensive database features has been developed to assist state departments of transportation (DOTs) in data preparation and improve the management and workflow of Pavement ME Design input data. Prep-ME is capable of pre-processing, importing, checking the quality of raw Weigh-In-Motion (WIM) traffic data, and generating three levels of traffic data inputs with in-built clustering analysis methods for Pavement ME Design. A number of additional modules in Prep-ME may be useful to any highway agency, including those for climate, materials and Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD). The ultimate goal of Prep-ME is to be the companion tool that can seamlessly communicate with Pavement ME Design in a full production environment for the local calibration and implementation. This tool can be used by pavement design engineers to prepare input for Pavement ME Design, but also traffic engineers to collect better traffic data and manage those data for other applications. In addition, the 1-mm 3D laser imaging PaveVision3D Ultra technology developed by the research team has been demonstrated for the potential use of calibrating Pavement ME Design. KW - Cluster analysis KW - DARWin-ME (Computer program) KW - Databases KW - Information processing KW - Mechanistic-empirical pavement design KW - Software KW - State departments of transportation KW - Traffic data UR - http://www.ltrc.lsu.edu/pdf/2015/FR_538.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345766 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01556734 AU - Sheppard, D Max AU - Dompe, Philip E AU - Gosselin, Mark S AU - Demir, Hȕseyin AU - Ocean Engineering Associates, Incorporated AU - Louisiana Transportation Research Center AU - Louisiana Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Development of Wave and Surge Atlas for the Design and Protection of Coastal Bridges in South Louisiana PY - 2015/02//Final Report SP - 260p AB - This report summarizes the work performed by Ocean Engineering Associates, Inc. (OEA), a division of INTERA Inc. (OEA/INTERA), for Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) on (1) the development of a Wave and Surge Atlas for coastal Louisiana and (2) the determination of the vulnerability of selected DOTD coastal bridges to design storm surge and wave loads. In this study, the bridge is considered to be vulnerable if the surge/wave forces and moments (with the appropriate load factors) exceed the resistive forces and moments created by the dead weight of the superstructure for any of the spans. A Level III storm surge/wave analysis was performed to provide the design water level and wave parameters needed to compute the loads. This analysis entailed (1) the hindcasting of 50 of the most severe tropical storms and hurricanes that have affected Louisiana coastal waters over the past 160 years, and (2) performing extreme value analyses on water elevation and wave heights throughout the area covered by the model to obtain 100-year design met/ocean conditions. To increase the data set for the extreme value analyses, a select number of the hindcasted storm paths were shifted to the right and left of the actual path and the modified-path storms hindcasted. This resulted in 124 hindcasts to perform. The results from the extreme value analyses were used to create a Wave and Surge Atlas. The atlas is presented in a geographic information system (GIS) database for ease of access and use. The information in the GIS database has many applications beyond that of providing the conditions needed for computation of surge/wave loads on the bridge superstructures. KW - Analysis KW - Bearing capacity KW - Bridges KW - Coasts KW - Geographic information systems KW - Hurricanes KW - Louisiana KW - Storm surges KW - Water waves KW - Wave height UR - http://www.ltrc.lsu.edu/pdf/2015/FR_528.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345486 ER - TY - SER AN - 01556733 JO - Civil Engineering Studies, Illinois Center for Transportation Series PB - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Mahmoud, Enad AU - Perales, Gabriela AU - University of Texas - Pan American AU - Illinois Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Investigation of Relationships between AIMS Shape Properties and VST Friction Values PY - 2015/02 IS - 15-006 SP - 47p AB - A thorough analysis was conducted for Aggregate Imaging System (AIMS) shape properties measured for virgin aggregates, aggregates polished in the Micro-Deval (MD) for 105 and 210 minutes, and variable speed test (VST) friction samples. Excellent repeatability of AIMS angularity and texture measurements was observed. Investigating the relationships between AIMS-MD angularity and texture, a strong relationship was found between VST friction values and AIMS after Micro-Deval 105 minutes (AMD-105) angularity and a combined angularity and texture of AIMS measurements also for AMD-105. This indicates that VST friction values are a function of both texture and angularity. Furthermore, the strong correlation between AIMS AMD-105 texture and the surface texture of VST friction samples indicated that MD is a viable option for replacing VST as a polishing mechanism and that current VST procedure might not be long enough to achieve terminal texture. Further analysis indicated that AIMS AMD-105 shape properties could potentially replace AMD- 210 for selecting and ranking aggregates for friction properties. However, the recommendation is to keep testing at both polishing intervals. Finally, clustering analysis was conducted to obtain threshold for classifying aggregate angularity and texture into acceptable and non-acceptable zones (i.e., defining the criteria for qualifying aggregates for friction purposes). In this study, two types of clustering were used: two-step cluster analysis and the K-means cluster analysis. The final outcome of this analysis was that an aggregate source with texture AMD-105 >140 and angularity AMD-105 >1240 is recommended for friction purposes. KW - Aggregates KW - Angularity KW - Cluster analysis KW - Friction KW - Micro-Deval KW - Polishing (Aggregates) KW - Texture UR - https://apps.ict.illinois.edu/projects/getfile.asp?id=3415 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345508 ER - TY - SER AN - 01556725 JO - Civil Engineering Studies, Illinois Center for Transportation Series PB - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Matthews, Jeffrey W AU - Pociask, Geoffrey E AU - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Illinois Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Tree Establishment in Response to Hydrology at IDOT Wetland Mitigation Sites PY - 2015/02 IS - 15-005 SP - 36p AB - The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has compensated for unavoidable impacts to wetlands in transportation project corridors by restoring and creating wetlands throughout Illinois. As part of the IDOT Wetlands Program, monitoring of performance measures is conducted by the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) and the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS). The goals of this research were to determine the effect of flood events on the establishment of planted and naturally recruiting trees in IDOT mitigation wetlands and to make specific recommendations for tree planting and the establishment of mitigation performance standards. The authors compiled and analyzed existing data from INHS and ISGS monitoring reports and conducted additional field surveys to determine long‐term planted tree survival and assess natural tree recruitment. Based on the compilation of data from INHS wetland monitoring reports, the authors determined that the number of planted trees alive at mitigation wetlands by the end of mitigation monitoring was, on average, 57% the number of trees planted originally. The authors revisited ten older mitigation wetlands in 2014 and recounted surviving planted trees, and found that survival rate continued to decline beyond site monitoring periods. Tree mortality was clearly related to site exposure to flood disturbance during individual years, through the end of site monitoring, and beyond site monitoring periods. Depth and duration of inundation were more important than flood frequency in determining tree survival. Natural colonization greatly exceeded planting in terms of both stem density and basal area. However, natural colonization was not clearly related to site flood exposure. In sites that are exposed to long‐duration or deep flooding, planted tree survival is likely to be low regardless of species planted or the degree of on‐site management of plantings. The authors recommend that realistically attainable mitigation performance standards be developed on a site‐specific basis, considering the likely hydrologic regime of the site. In some situations, faster‐growing species provide tangible environmental benefits. In addition, natural tree colonization can supplement planting, even in sites where planted hard mast species are unlikely to persist. KW - Field studies KW - Floods KW - Hydrology KW - Illinois KW - Trees KW - Wetlands UR - https://apps.ict.illinois.edu/projects/getfile.asp?id=3408 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345507 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01556723 AU - Olsen, Michael J AU - Ashford, Scott A AU - Mahlingam, Rubini AU - Sharifi-Mood, Mahyar AU - O'Banion, Matt AU - Gillins, Daniel T AU - Oregon State University, Corvallis AU - Oregon Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Impacts of Potential Seismic Landslides on Lifeline Corridors PY - 2015/02//Final Report SP - 238p AB - This report presents a fully probabilistic method for regional seismically induced landslide hazard analysis and mapping. The method considers the most current predictions for strong ground motions and seismic sources through use of the U.S. Geological Survey (U.S.G.S.) seismic hazard curves in conjunction with topographic, geologic, and other geospatial information. Probabilistic landslide triggering analysis is performed based on Newmark’s sliding block theory. Because strength parameters are difficult to obtain in detail for a large regional area, friction angles for each lithological unit are estimated from histograms of the terrain slope at locations of previously mapped landslides within the unit. Afterwards, empirical models are used to predict the probability of a landslide triggering and the probability of horizontal displacement from a landslide exceeding specific thresholds (i.e., 0.1, 0.3, 1.0 m) relevant to engineering and planning purposes. The probabilistic landslide-triggering map is evaluated by comparing its predictions with previously mapped landslides from the Statewide Landslide Inventory Database of Oregon (SLIDO). Over 99.8% of the landslides in SLIDO are located in areas mapped with very high probability (i.e., 80-100%) of a landslide triggering. The created landslide hazard maps are suitable for regional resilience and planning studies by various agencies, as well as integration with maps of other types of hazards for probabilistic-based multi-hazard calculations and risk assessment. The maps should not be used in place of site-specific analyses, but may be used to prioritize where site-specific analyses and new geotechnical investigations are most needed. Finally, the maps can be used to identify which sections of the highway corridors would likely be least affected by landslides, enabling it to serve as a lifeline route. KW - Forecasting KW - Highway corridors KW - Landslides KW - Lifelines KW - Mapping KW - Maps KW - Oregon KW - Risk assessment KW - Seismicity UR - http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TP_RES/ResearchReports/SPR740SeismicLandslides.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345501 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01556721 AU - Miller, Christopher M AU - Custer, Philip B AU - Donnelly, Shanon AU - Kennedy, Marla J AU - University of Akron AU - Ohio Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Box Culvert Maintenance Methods PY - 2015/02//Final Report SP - 145p AB - Traditional methods, such as using a vactor truck, for clearing culverts greater than 48 inches of debris and accumulated sediment may be inefficient and costly. A survey of states outside of Ohio has shown several regularly use remote controlled equipment for cleaning large culverts. A MicroTraxx MT 3234 was purchased from Rohmac, Inc. and evaluated on culverts in Ohio over the months of July and August of 2014. Performance statistics show that the MicroTraxx unit cleared culverts as fast as traditional methods using half as many man-hours. An analysis of the Ohio culvert database shows that close to 8,600 culverts across the state can be accessed by the MicroTraxx MT 3234 unit and could provide Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) cost savings in the future if the MicroTraxx were deployed for this purpose. KW - Box culverts KW - Evaluation KW - Maintenance KW - Maintenance equipment KW - Ohio KW - Performance UR - http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/Planning/SPR/Research/reportsandplans/Reports/2015/Maintenance/134839_FR.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345490 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01556717 AU - Gambatese, John A AU - Zhang, Fan AU - Oregon State University, Corvallis AU - Oregon Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Safe and Effective Speed Reductions for Freeway Work Zones Phase 3 PY - 2015/02//Final Report SP - 49p AB - Freeway pavement preservation projects typically require construction workers to conduct their work in close proximity to ongoing traffic and often reduce traffic flow to a single lane while work is undertaken in an adjacent lane. During the lane closures, the paving operations place workers on the roadway within a protected work zone. The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) conducted a research study to investigate the impact of 35mph advisory signs, located periodically in the work zone, on vehicle speeds within highway paving project work zones. The research study, which follows two similar studies that addressed other traffic control devices (SPR-751 and SPR-769), centered around one case study on a multi-lane paving project in Oregon. On the case study, the researchers implemented the 35mph advisory signs along with other traffic control devices (“Speed 50” signs with radar speed display, and Portable changeable message signs (PCMS) signs on rollers) and evaluated the impact of the 35mph signs on vehicle speed and speed variability. The research findings indicate that using the 35mph signs leads to lower vehicle speeds within the work zone. The reduction in speed is greater for passenger cars than for trucks. Use of 35mph advisory signs in future ODOT work zones is recommended to help reduce vehicle speeds through the work zones. KW - Case studies KW - Freeways KW - Lane closure KW - Oregon KW - Speed limits KW - Speed signs KW - Traffic control devices KW - Traffic speed KW - Work zone traffic control UR - http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TP_RES/ResearchReports/SPR302_SpeedReduction_Phase3.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345488 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01556467 AU - Ellis, Wendy AU - Tremblay, Jason AU - Sanborn, Devon AU - Colgrove, George W AU - Ahearn, William E AU - Vermont Agency of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Assessment of Design Parameters and Construction Requirements for Full Depth Reclamation Projects with Cement PY - 2015/02//Final Report SP - 55p AB - The ability to efficiently rehabilitate and maintain the State of Vermont’s Highway infrastructure in a cost-effective manner is a daunting task. Historically, pavement overlay treatments were specified because it was a rapid low cost solution to poor ride conditions. While effective at correcting surface defects, thin overlays are unable to address inadequate road base strength and thicker overlays are cost prohibitive. The Agency of Transportation (VTrans) has employed a reclaimed stabilized base method to add strength to the highway base as a cost effective approach to highway rehabilitation. The Agency has a growing interest in using non-destructive evaluation (NDE) methods as a means to evaluate the quality of the reclaiming process. NDE can also provide a more rapid test result depending on the technology applied. The results of this research have shown that the Clegg Impact Soil Tester (CIST) proved to be a reliable means to test the quality of the reclaimed stabilized base quickly without causing damage. The other non-destructive testing methods utilized also proved to have value in certain circumstances. Where the Agency has used cores to test for the compressive strength of the subbase material, the quality of the coring can be poor, providing a wide variation with the testing results. The testing results obtained from the non-destructive methods used in this research proved to have less variation than that of the cores. KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Base course (Pavements) KW - Cement KW - Full-depth reclamation KW - Nondestructive tests KW - Pavement design KW - Pavement maintenance KW - Soil tests KW - Vermont UR - http://vtransplanning.vermont.gov/sites/aot_policy/files/documents/planning/2015%20-%2005%20Assessment%20of%20Design%20Parameters%20and%20Construction%20Requirements.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1344649 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01555757 AU - Maser, Ken AU - Carmichael, Adam AU - Infrasense, Incorporated AU - Washington State Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Ground Penetrating Radar Evaluation of New Pavement Density PY - 2015/02//Final Report SP - 20p AB - The objective of this project was to map pavement surface density variations using dielectric measurements from ground penetrating radar (GPR). The work was carried out as part of an Asphalt Intelligent Compaction demonstration project on SR 539 in Lynden, Washington. This demonstration was part of a larger Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) project entitled, "Lynden-Aldergrove Port of Entry Improvements." The research found that comparing the GPR dielectrics and core air void data showed no significant correlation. It was speculated this lack of correlation could be due to a density gradient within the 4-inch asphalt depth, and the fact that the GPR equipment only captures the properties of the top 1-1.5 inches. By focusing on the thinnest asphalt sections, the correlation was significantly improved, with an R² of 0.77. KW - Air voids KW - Asphalt pavements KW - Density KW - Dielectric properties KW - Ground penetrating radar KW - Washington (State) UR - http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/research/reports/fullreports/839.1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1344398 ER - TY - SER AN - 01555384 JO - LTPP TechBrief PB - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of LTPP Climatic Data for Use in Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) Calibration and Other Pavement Analysis PY - 2015/02 SP - 8p AB - This TechBrief describes evaluating the use of the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) product as an alternative climatic data source for the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) and other transportation infrastructure applications. The research was conducted from 2011 to 2014. KW - Long-Term Pavement Performance Program KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Calibration KW - Climate KW - Data collection KW - Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide KW - Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Application (MERRA) KW - Pavement design KW - Pavement performance UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/pavements/ltpp/15026/15026.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1344149 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560085 AU - Lyons, William AU - Andrew, James AU - Nash, Logan AU - Volpe National Transportation Systems Center AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Performance-Based Planning for Small Metropolitan Areas PY - 2015/01/31/Final Report SP - 52p AB - This report provides insights on effective practices in performance based planning by Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) that plan for Urbanized Areas with populations less than 200,000. It references existing best practices research on performance based planning for MPOs in general, and presents key themes from interviews with small MPOs and Department of Transportation (DOT) partners across the country that are engaged with metropolitan performance based planning in varying ways. Finally, the report includes two case studies of small MPOs that are currently leaders in implementing performance based planning. KW - Best practices KW - Case studies KW - Charlottesville (Virginia) KW - Chittenden County (Vermont) KW - Metropolitan areas KW - Metropolitan planning organizations KW - Performance based planning KW - Transportation planning UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54500/54586/fhwahep15015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1344666 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01597416 AU - Osei-Asamoah, Abigail AU - Jackson, Eric AU - University of Connecticut, Storrs AU - Connecticut Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Development of the ConnDOT Horizontal Curve Classification Software- Phase II PY - 2015/01/28/Final Report SP - 50p AB - Horizontal curves are an integral part of roadway design; they provide a transition between tangents on a roadway. While many types of horizontal curves can be used in the geometric design of a roadway, simple circular curves are typically used. Other curve types that can be used include compound and spiral curves. The development of a quick, reliable, and efficient method for identification of horizontal curves and extraction of their geometric parameters from road inventory data is of immense benefit to transportation agencies and traffic safety. Efficient and reliable identification of horizontal curves and extraction of geometric parameters like radius, degree of curvature, point of curvature, and point of tangency can be used by transportation agencies to set advisory speeds, perform design and safety audits, select placement of curve warning signs, and evaluate vehicle crashes that occur at or near horizontal curve locations on the roadway. Phase II of this project attempts to create a software package that can automate the process of identifying the point of curvature and point of tangency of every curve on the state network in Connecticut. Using five designed curves and the reverse run of the same stretch of roadway a software package was developed. Each curve on the state system was identified and the roadway geometry for each curve was calculated. KW - Classification KW - Connecticut KW - Data files KW - Geometry KW - Highway curves KW - Horizontal curvature KW - Software packages KW - Tangent point KW - Traffic safety UR - http://www.ct.gov/dot/lib/dot/documents/dresearch/CT-2291-F-15-3.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1402166 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567375 AU - Mertz, Christoph AU - Ehrlichman, Courtney AU - Kozar, John AU - Varadharajan, Srivatsan AU - Carnegie Mellon University AU - Pennsylvania Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Road Condition Reporting PY - 2015/01/27/Final Report SP - 16p AB - This report documents the findings of the road condition reporting project where the feasibility of live reporting of the road conditions with an Android camera and computer vision algorithms was tested. An app was developed that can collect videos or images and tag them with global positioning system (GPS) and other information. During the 2013/14 snow season the system was mounted on two snow plows and data from several snow events was collected. With this data a computer vision algorithm was developed and tested that is able to detect the percentages of snow, slush or normal road in the images. From these percentages the road condition can be calculated. Overall this project demonstrated that it is feasible to develop a road condition monitoring system. KW - Cameras KW - Computer vision KW - Condition surveys KW - Feasibility analysis KW - Global Positioning System KW - Mobile applications KW - Real time information KW - Smartphones KW - Snowplows KW - Winter maintenance UR - http://www.dot7.state.pa.us/BPR_PDF_FILES/Documents/Research/Complete%20Projects/Operations/Road_Condition_Reporting_Final_Report.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55100/55100/Road_Condition_Reporting_Final_Report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1356040 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01567099 TI - National Accessibility Evaluation AB - This project has two main objectives. First, it will create a new, national Census block-level accessibility dataset that can be used by partners in local transportation system evaluation, performance management, planning, and research efforts. Second, it will produce and publish a series of annual reports describing accessibility to jobs by driving and by transit in metropolitan areas across America. This project will create a national Census-block level dataset describing accessibility to jobs from locations across the county, updated annually. Accessibility calculations will rely on detailed travel time calculations for both driving and transit, which will be implemented using commercially-available, global positioning system (GPS) based speed measurements and published transit schedules. Each Access Across America partner will have direct digital access to the accessibility datasets covering the jurisdictions of all partners. The annual Access Across America report will provide summaries of the detailed accessibility datasets for the 50 largest metropolitan areas across America. This report will be released to national and local media outlets and supported by publicity and communications efforts. Partners will be recognized in the report for their sponsorship and support. KW - Accessibility KW - Data files KW - Evaluation KW - Highway transportation KW - Local transportation KW - Metropolitan areas KW - Public transit KW - United States UR - http://www.pooledfund.org/Details/Study/564 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1358883 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01566736 TI - Accelerated Performance Testing for the NCAT Pavement Test Track AB - The primary objectives of the pooled fund project described herein will be: (1) Constructing 200 ft test sections on the existing 1.7 mile National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) test oval and Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnRoad) that are representative of in-service roadways on the open transportation infrastructure; (2) Applying accelerated performance truck traffic in the 2 years following construction; (3) Assessing/comparing the functional and structural field performance of trafficked sections on a regular basis via surface and subsurface measures; (4) Validating/calibrating new and existing mechanistic-empirical (M-E) approaches to pavement analysis and design using pavement surface condition, pavement load response, precise traffic and environmental logging, and cumulative damage; September 2, 2011 (5) Determining the life cycle cost of various pavement preservation alternatives in a highly controlled experiment that will provide state departments of transportation (DOTs) with the financial foundation to begin to build a decision tree for their own maintenance program. These types of programs are then refined over time using actual pavement management performance data; (6) Correlating field results with laboratory data for both mechanistic and preservation applications. Laboratory performance data that can predict preservation outcomes would provide DOTs with an additional mechanism for making rational selection decisions; and (7) Answering practical questions posed by research sponsors through formal (i.e., reports and technical papers) and informal (e.g., one-on-one responses to sponsor inquiries) technology transfer. For example, can high recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) content mixes provide the same level of performance as virgin mixes? If so, can they be used in both deep and shallow layers? Although warm mix is better for the environment, will it provide the same level of rut and moisture damage resistance as conventional mixes? KW - Life cycle costing KW - Minnesota KW - Minnesota Department of Transportation KW - National Center for Asphalt Technology KW - Pavement design KW - Pavement maintenance KW - Pavement performance KW - Preservation KW - Recycled materials KW - Test tracks KW - Truck traffic UR - http://www.pooledfund.org/Details/Study/496 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1358392 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01610791 AU - Ogle, Jennifer H AU - Sarasua, Wayne A AU - Davis, William J AU - Clemson University AU - South Carolina Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Operational and Safety Characteristics of Lane Widths PY - 2015/01/15/Final Report SP - 268p AB - The primary goal of this study was to investigate and assess the effect of lane widths on the safety and operation of highways in South Carolina. Because of the many site conditions that affect safety and operations on roadways, this type of research is critical to the development of appropriate road design standards. An analysis of crash records, in combination with a geometric inventory of existing highways in South Carolina, allowed for the development of models describing the effect of lane width on crashes. This research also takes into consideration the other confounding variables that affect crash rate, including paved shoulder width, speed limit, and traffic volume. A second phase of the research utilized a driving simulator to assess lane width scenarios that were not available in significant numbers in the field. Findings of this research take the form of design recommendations regarding more flexible selection of applicable lane and shoulder widths for new projects in South Carolina. These recommendations are closely aligned with the 2010 American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Policy on the Geometric Design of Highways and Streets. This research also provides improvement suggestions regarding how crash records are recorded and reported by police officers as well as how geometric roadway characteristics are inventoried and maintained by the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT). These research findings will prove beneficial as changes are considered for lane width standards in SC. KW - Crash data KW - Crash rates KW - Crash records KW - Data analysis KW - Driving simulators KW - Geometric design KW - Highway design KW - Highway operations KW - Highway safety KW - Recommendations KW - South Carolina KW - Traffic lanes KW - Width UR - http://www.scdot.scltap.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/FHWA-SC-15-01-Final.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/59000/59800/59816/FHWA-SC-15-01-Final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1420974 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01550050 TI - Research for AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways. Task 376. Framework to Support ITS Infrastructure Decisions Considering the Deployment of Connected Vehicles AB - The objective of this project is to develop a framework to support agency intelligent transportation systems (ITS) investment decisions. It is expected that the project will include the following tasks: Task 1. Identify and document methods currently used to support the decision making processes of transportation agencies when investing in ITS infrastructure. Task 2. Determine the anticipated impacts of connected vehicles on the investment decisions. Task 3. Develop a framework to support a transportation agency's decisions in investing in ITS technologies, considering the expected growth of connected vehicles over the life of the technologies. Where possible, existing materials should be included and expanded upon to offset the need for development of new concepts. Task 4. Conduct up to one workshop and two webinars to review and improve the product(s) of task 3. Task 5. Submit final deliverables that are suitable for dissemination through the National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE). The deliverables should include the final framework, a plan for pilot application of the framework, presentation materials, and a plan for peer exchanges. Task 6. Conduct a webinar on the project using either the NOCoE or Transportation Research Board (TRB). Task 7. Provide limited telephone support for up to three agencies in pilot applications of the framework. The pilot agencies will be identified by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Subcommittee on Transportation Systems Management and Operations (STSMO) Committee's Operations Strategies Technical Working Group. KW - Decision making KW - Infrastructure KW - Intelligent transportation systems KW - Investments KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Transportation departments UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3922 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1340681 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543621 TI - Developing a Context-Sensitive Functional Classification System for More Flexibility in Geometric Design AB - Since 1984, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) "Green Book" (A Policy on the Geometric Design of Highways and Streets) and other roadway design criteria have been based on a functional classification system of a hierarchical roadway network composed of arterials, collector roads, and local roads. This classification is further broken out by an urban or rural designation. This system is described in Highway Functional Classification Concepts, Criteria and Procedures (FHWA-PL-13-026). This system of highway classification has been under increasing scrutiny and discussion due to some incompatibilities with context-sensitive design, practical design, and other innovative approaches. The following are some concerns: (1) Designation as urban or rural is insufficient to adequately account for the range of contexts for a roadway. (2) The current system is focused on the needs of vehicle drivers and does not help in serving the needs of other types of users (e.g., transit riders, pedestrians, bicyclists). In particular, it does not help with design decisions that must balance benefits for one mode against disbenefits for another (e.g., narrower lanes that benefit pedestrians but make it harder for trucks to use the road). (3) Classification leads to recommended or limited design choices that may not be optimal for the particular roadway. These restrictions promote "designing to standards" rather than a careful consideration of the safety, operational, and other impacts of design decisions. (4) The public often questions the use of these classifications as the basis for design decisions. The current functional classification system has implications on many aspects of transportation agency functions (e.g., http://goo.gl/ah3fER). Research is needed that is not constrained by the traditional functional classification system and explores potential consequences to uses other than geometric design. The objective of this research is to identify potential improvements to the traditional functional classification system to better incorporate the context, user needs, and functions of the roadway facility. The potential improvements should lead to a flexible framework that can be used by planners and designers in the development of optimal geometric design solutions. KW - AASHTO Green Book KW - Context sensitive design KW - Decision making KW - Geometric design KW - Highway design KW - Highway operations KW - Highway safety UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3656 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1331574 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01575240 AU - Stephens, Denny AU - Schroeder, Jeremy AU - Brown, James AU - Bacon, Paige AU - Campbell, John AU - Smith, Theodore AU - Balke, Kevin AU - Charara, Hassan AU - Sunkari, Srinivasa AU - Battelle AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute, College Station AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Department of Transportation TI - Intelligent Network Flow Optimization (INFLO) Prototype Seattle Small-Scale Demonstration Plan PY - 2015/01/05/Final Report SP - 41p AB - This report describes the Intelligent Network Flow Optimization (INFLO) Prototype Small-Scale Demonstration to be performed in Seattle, Washington. This demonstration is intended to demonstrate that the INFLO Prototype, previously demonstrated in a controlled environment, functions well in an operating highway traffic environment and can provide a basis for planning a more comprehensive field deployment and test of the technology. The purpose of the small-scale demonstration is to deploy the INFLO system to demonstrate its functionality and performance in an operational traffic environment and to capture data that can help assess hypotheses pertaining to INFLO system functionality, INFLO system performance, INFLO algorithm performance, measured driver behaviors, and driver feedback. This document is organized into two key components and deliverables for the project: INFLO Prototype Small-Scale Demonstration Site Plan and INFLO Prototype Small-Scale Demonstration Experimental Plan. The Site Plan describes the plans, logistics and schedule for conducting the small-scale demonstration and the Experimental Plan describes the plan for data capture and analysis. KW - Data collection KW - Demonstration projects KW - Intelligent Network Flow Optimization (INFLO) KW - Prototypes KW - Seattle (Washington) UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55200/55283/JPO-15-210_INFLO_Prototype_Seattle_Small-Scale_Demonstration_Plan_508C.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366769 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01549627 TI - Freight Trip Generation and Land Use (Jointly Funded as NCFRP 25) AB - The objective of this research is to develop a handbook that provides improved freight trip generation rates, or equivalent metrics, for different land use characteristics related to freight facilities and commercial operations to better inform state and local decision making. Trip generation rates shall include all modes of freight transport, except pipelines. The research should also include a CD-ROM tutorial for applying the handbook. KW - Decision making KW - Freight transportation KW - Handbooks KW - Land use KW - Trip generation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=2709 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1339856 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01549551 TI - Software for Bidding Alternative Drainage Pipe Systems AB - The objective of this research is to develop and test a web application for the design and selection of drainage pipe systems for gravity applications. The web application will be a software implementation of the proposed American Association of State Highway and Transportation officials (AASHTO) recommended practice for bidding alternative drainage pipe systems developed in National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Project 10-86. KW - Competitive bidding KW - Database schemas KW - Design KW - Drainage structures KW - Gravity structures KW - Pipe KW - Software UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3906 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1339705 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543092 TI - Evaluation and Design of a TL-3 Bridge Guardrail System Mounted to Steel Fascia Beams AB - For structures with concrete bridge decks, the railing system is typically connected to the deck. However, for bridges on Ohio's local road system, non-concrete bridge decks (e.g. timber, asphalt filled steel stay-in-place forms, fiber reinforced composite, etc.) are very common and require the railing connection to be located on the fascia beam. Although this fascia mounted system is performing well on the local system, a crash tested version is not available and it is ineligible for use on federal aid projects. Research is needed to evaluate and, if necessary, improve the design of a bridge guard rail system with steel bridge posts mounted to steel fascia beams. The goal of this two-phased research project is to analyze and design a steel fascia beam mounted railing system for use on Ohio's local transportation system. The objective is to obtain MASH TL-3 approval of the designed system to allow for its use on federal aid and credit bridge projects. Since the connection would occur at the beam as opposed to the deck, the application of the system would be suitable with a myriad of bridge deck types. The ability to utilize materials other than concrete for bridge decks results in substantial cost savings for locals. Furthermore, the use of an approved railing system will enhance the overall safety of the traveling public and confidence in Ohio's local transportation system. KW - Beams KW - Bridge decks KW - Bridge railings KW - Guardrails KW - Impact tests KW - Mounting systems KW - Ohio UR - http://worldcat.org/arcviewer/9/OHI/2014/10/28/H1414523602145/viewer/file1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1329823 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01549641 TI - Laser Measurement Accelerated Retrofit System AB - This project was aimed at demonstrating the application of an advanced laser measurement technology to improve the bridge retrofit process by rapidly and accurately making field measurements of components and automatically producing engineering drawings. Work in the initial phase involved an assessment of the measurement process along with initial developmental testing and consisted of two main tasks. Task 1 defined the optimal method to integrate physical measurements into the retrofit process while Task 2 focused on implementing the system for actual field measurements. Task 1 included development of custom measurement plans and steps to automate measurements and data processing. Task 2 involved field measurements on bridges as well as preparation of custom hardware for implementing the system, including development of special mounts and fixtures for the laser system for optimal measurements. Work was coordinated with steel bridge fabricators and end-users to better understand the required measurements and to develop specifications and measurement processes. The system was implemented on multiple bridges with common retrofit issues. Specialized mounting fixtures to aid in measurements were designed, fabricated, and evaluated in laboratory and shop environments. The fixture design allows measurements under difficult hard-to-access situations under field conditions. Work in the final phase focused on field measurements with the system and using the new custom-designed mounting fixtures. Field tests were coordinated with suitable retrofit projects in collaboration with state departments of transportation (DOTs) in order to validate and refine measurement procedures. The bridge retrofit laser system is driven to a bridge site in a vehicle, quickly setup, and used to make measurements on the bridge. No special targets are needed and the structure does not need to be directly accessed. Very accurate measurements can be made over very large distances. The laser system will measure the exact dimensions and spatial location of bridge details, including splice hole locations based on measurements of bolt or rivet heads. Based on the physical laser measurements, Computer aided design (CAD) design drawings will be automatically produced. These drawings can be used by an engineering design firm and fabricator to rapidly produce retrofit parts. High accuracy measurements are essential for retrofit measurements (gusset plates, trusses) where precise location of splice holes is needed. The system has the potential to significantly reduce the time between the initial identification of a problem on a bridge and the repair and resumption of service of the structure. The system saves time and money by streamlining steps in the retrofit process in that laser field measurements can be used to automatically produce CAD drawings for fabricators. The system provides specifically processed engineering data and not just a cloud of points. The proposed system can make measurements with minimal impact at the bridge site. Measurements can typically be made without altering traffic under the structure (i.e. no lane closure). The system can make measurements over water or other difficult access conditions, such as rail lines. The final report provides project data and guidelines for field implementation of the technology. KW - Bridges KW - Computer aided design KW - Design KW - Fabrication KW - Lasers KW - Measurement KW - Retrofitting KW - Technological innovations UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3236 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1339870 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01549561 TI - Research for AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways. Task 324. NCHRP's Role in Maintaining AASHTO Guidelines and Specifications AB - Many of the current American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) guidelines and specifications are a result of research conducted in the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP). After these products have been in use for a number of years, they may require additional research to incorporate the current state of knowledge or practice or additional work may have been completed that should be incorporated into the AASHTO product. Concerns have been raised over the timeliness of updates and over the "piecemeal" approach to updating manuals. The objective of this study is to document the process currently used to update manuals and guides and to make recommendations for needed improvements (including appropriate funding sources). KW - American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials KW - Guidelines KW - Handbooks KW - Knowledge KW - Specifications KW - State of the practice UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3279 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1339715 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01560702 TI - Implementation of the AASHTO Mechanistic-Empirical Design Guide for Pavement Rehabilitation Design AB - The objective of this research project is to facilitate the implementation of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) design guide procedures for rehabilitation design of existing flexible, composite, and rigid pavement structures for the local condition. The project will primarily assist the state departments of transportation (DOTs) pavement design personnel in implementation of the new Guide for the overlay design and life cycle cost (LCC) analysis. KW - Composite pavements KW - Flexible pavements KW - Life cycle costing KW - Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide KW - Overlays (Pavements) KW - Pavement design KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) KW - Rigid pavements KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://www.pooledfund.org/Details/Study/560 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1351265 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01557194 TI - Operational and Economic Analysis of Access Management AB - The objectives of this research are to: (1) quantify operational impacts of different access management strategies along selected corridors in South Carolina; (2) quantify economic impacts of different access management strategies along selected corridors in South Carolina; (3) compare operational, and economic benefits of different access management strategies along selected corridors in South Carolina; and (4) develop policy recommendations and potential changes to the next editions of the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) Access and Roadside Management Strategies (ARMS) and Highway Design Manuals to improve access management strategies based on the findings of this research. KW - Access control (Transportation) KW - Economic benefits KW - Economic impacts KW - Highway corridors KW - Highway design KW - Highway operations KW - Manuals KW - South Carolina UR - http://www.scdot.scltap.org/projects/current/ UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1346854 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01549255 TI - Development of a Small Specimen Geometry for Asphalt Mixture Performance Testing AB - This project will develop a small specimen geometry for uniaxial dynamic modulus and fatigue testing in the Asphalt Mixture Performance Tester (AMPT). Work in Stage 1 will focus on developing the set-up for small specimen testing in the AMPT and evaluating the effects of specimen geometry for mixtures with varying nominal minimal aggregate mass (NMAS) to determine whether or not representative volume element (RVE) requirement is satisfied for dynamic modulus and fatigue testing. Limitations on the applicability to large NMAS will be determined. Working with industry partner, Instrotek, several devices will be developed to facilitate small specimen geometry in the AMPT. Specimen geometry effects on dynamic modulus and both cyclic and monotonic direct tension test results will be evaluated to determine the applicability of small specimen geometries to testing field cores. Next, anisotropy effects in small specimens extracted from laboratory gyratory compacted specimens will be evaluated. Work in the next stage will focus on developing American Association of State highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) specifications and standards for dynamic modulus and fatigue testing of asphalt concrete. Finally, the research team, in collaboration with industry partner and North Carolina Department of Transportation (DOT) will work on implementing the IDEA product. The product will be initially implemented at the North Carolina DOT's laboratory's materials and test unit. The final report will provide all test results and conclusions along with plans for implementation and/or commercialization of the Ideas Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) product. A draft AASHTO standard will also be provided for evaluation and possible adoption by the AASHTO's materials subcommittee. KW - Aggregates KW - Asphalt concrete KW - Asphalt mixtures KW - Compaction KW - Fatigue tests KW - Gyratory testing machines KW - Pavement performance KW - Specimens KW - Tension tests UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3914 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1336470 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01610890 AU - Khan, Abdul A AU - Atamturktur, Huriye S AU - Clemson University AU - South Carolina Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Real Time Measurement of Scour Depths Around Bridge Piers and Abutments PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 231p AB - Scour is one of the most significant threats to bridge infrastructure and is the leading cause of failure within the United States. Scour monitoring is an approved countermeasure as reported by the Federal Highway Administration. As the monitoring techniques available range from simple devices that rest on or in the channel bed to advanced scanning systems that provide a bed contour profile, a concise study of the state of the art in real time scour measurement capabilities is required. The available techniques for monitoring scour are reviewed to highlight the governing physics, to evaluate field performance, and to identify the effect of environmental factors on accuracy and reliability. From this assessment, two devices are selected for further study: a sonar fathometer and a Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) device. A novel device, called a Vibration-based Turbulent Pressure (VTP) sensor, is proposed which exploits the turbulence in open channels to locate the bed level. This sensor vibrates at significantly higher amplitude when in the channel flow relative to an identical sensor located in the sediment. The vibration-based method, time domain reflectometry, and sonar devices are evaluated against simulated field conditions in order to determine their relative sensitivities to environmental conditions. These tests reveal that sonar and time domain reflectometry devices can be influenced by channel salinity and temperature. In addition, the sonar device is shown to be sensitive to the suspended sediment concentration in the channel, its height relative to the bed, and bed topography within the sonar beam. The vibration-based method is shown to be the least sensitive to environmental factors in the channel. In addition, the VTP device can provide reliable results in highly misaligned flows. Finally, the performance of TDR, sonar, and the vibration-based technique is evaluated under field conditions. The field tests reveal that all instruments perform at their accuracy level. The sonar must be deployed close to the bed to guarantee that the beam will be contained within the scour hole and would not have large width. In addition, the site should not have high suspended load concentration. The TDR is insensitive to suspended sediment; however, salinity greater than 0.5 parts per thousand renders the instrument inoperable. The VTP is proven to be insensitive to all the environmental factors. However, field deployment reveals that debris accumulation may cause the instrument to report false bed location. KW - Accuracy KW - Bridge abutments KW - Bridge piers KW - Field tests KW - Measuring instruments KW - Monitoring KW - Real time information KW - Scour KW - Sensors KW - State of the art KW - Time domain reflectometers KW - Turbulence UR - http://www.clemson.edu/t3s/scdot/pdf/projects/SPR692-report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1420975 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01605659 AU - Salgado, Rodrigo AU - Prezzi, Monica AU - Ganju, Eshan AU - Purdue University AU - Indiana Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Assessment of Site Variability from Analysis of Cone Penetration Test Data PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 132p AB - Soil property values for use in geotechnical design are often estimated from a limited number of in situ or laboratory tests. The uncertainty involved in estimating soil properties from a limited number of tests can be addressed by quantifying the variability within individual soundings and of the collection of soundings at a site. It has been proposed that factors of safety or resistance factors used in design be linked to site variability. Site variability can be assessed by studying the correlation structure of in situ test data. The cone penetration test (CPT), which is a reliable and widely‐accepted in situ test, can be used for this purpose. Soil behavior type (SBT) charts are often used to obtain the subsurface soil profile from CPT parameters such as the cone resistance and the sleeve friction. A soil profile generation algorithm was developed in this research to generate a soil profile from an individual CPT sounding using two modified SBT charts. Soils are variable in both the vertical and horizontal directions. A vertical variability index (VVI) was defined to quantify variability in a CPT sounding. The average of the VVIs for all CPT soundings performed at a site is the site VVI. A site horizontal variability index (site HVI) was also developed, based on cross‐correlation between cone resistances, the cone resistance trend differences and the spacing between every pair of CPTs considered, to quantify the soil variability of a site in the horizontal direction. A site variability rating (SVR) system, integrating the vertical and horizontal site variability, was developed to assess the overall site variability. Depending on the SBT chart selected, the soil profile generated using the soil profile generation algorithm may be slightly different; however, the SBT chart effect on the variability indices that compose the SVR index is small. Close agreement was found between the SVRs obtained using the two SBT charts selected for this research. In order to illustrate the use of the algorithms for VVI and HVI calculations and SVR of sites, CPTs from across the state of Indiana were analyzed. CPT data were obtained from Purdue's own database, Indiana Department of Transportation's (INDOT’s) data repository and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) website. Site variability is calculated for specific depths of interest. For example, that depth of interest will be shallower for shallow foundations than for deep foundations. Site variability rating maps (SVR maps) for various depths of interest were constructed for the state of Indiana, illustrating the potential use of the site variability assessment methodology. An optimal sounding spacing calculation methodology was also developed to make the site investigation process more efficient, cost‐effective and reliable. KW - Algorithms KW - Cone penetrometers KW - Indiana KW - Methodology KW - Soil penetration test KW - Soil profiles KW - Sounding UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.5703/1288284315523 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1414705 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01596792 AU - Anderson, Thor AU - Beck, Charles AU - Gade, Kris AU - Olmsted, Steven AU - Cambridge Systematics, Incorporated AU - Arizona Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Extreme Weather Vulnerability Assessment PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 124p AB - This study, as part of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Climate Change Resilience Pilot program, assessed the vulnerability of Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT)-managed transportation infrastructure to Arizona-specific extreme weather. ADOT elected to focus on the Interstate corridor connecting Nogales, Tucson, Phoenix, and Flagstaff (I-19, I-10, and I-17). This corridor includes a variety of urban areas, landscapes, biotic communities and climate zones, which present a range of weather conditions applicable to much of Arizona. The project team examined climate-related stressors including Extreme Heat, Freeze-Thaw, Extreme Precipitation, and Wildfire, considering the potential change in these risk factors as the century progresses. This assessment qualitatively addresses the complex, often uncertain interactions between climate and extreme weather, land cover types, and transportation facilities—with an ultimate focus on potential risks to infrastructure by District. KW - Arizona Department of Transportation KW - Climate change KW - Fires KW - Highway corridors KW - Infrastructure KW - Risk assessment KW - Weather and climate UR - https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/climate_change/adaptation/resilience_pilots/2013-2015_pilots/arizona/final_report/arizonafinal.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1403115 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01596772 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - 2013 Urban Congestion Trends PY - 2015/01 SP - 2p AB - This quarterly report is published by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Office of Operations in Washington, D.C., to (1) provide timely congestion and travel reliability information to FHWA, U.S. Department of Transportation, and state and local agencies; (2) promote state and local performance monitoring to support transportation decisions; and (3) demonstrate the use of the National Performance Management Research Data Set (NPMRDS) for performance monitoring. In 2013, the average duration of congestion (speeds less than 90 percent of free-flow speed) was 4 hours and 30 minutes on interstates. The travel time index (TTI) on interstates in 2013 was 1.32, and the planning time index (PTI) on interstates was higher at 2.65. KW - Interstate highways KW - National Performance Management Research Data Set (NPMRDS) KW - Performance measurement KW - Time duration KW - Traffic congestion KW - Traffic data KW - Travel time KW - Trend (Statistics) KW - United States KW - Urban areas UR - http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop15005/fhwahop15005.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1402004 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01596735 AU - Cambridge Systematics, Incorporated AU - ICF International AU - Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization AU - City of Austin AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Central Texas Extreme Weather and Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment of Regional Transportation Infrastructure PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 220p AB - This report presents the results of a Climate Resilience Pilot Project conducted by the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO), the City of Austin Office of Sustainability, and sponsored in part by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The specific purpose of this study was to assess the potential vulnerability of a limited selection of critical transportation assets in the CAMPO region to the effects of extreme weather and climate; to highlight lessons learned in the process, and to outline potential next steps toward enhancing the resilience of the region’s transportation infrastructure. The assets evaluated include roadways, bridges, and rail, and the climate-related stressors considered were flooding, drought, extreme heat, wildfire, and extreme cold (icing). Commensurate with the region’s Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) – under development at the time of writing), the year 2040 was selected as the analysis horizon. KW - Bridges KW - Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (Texas) KW - Climate change KW - Drought KW - Fires KW - Floods KW - Highways KW - Railroads KW - Risk assessment KW - Weather and climate UR - http://www.campotexas.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CAMPOExtremeWeatherReport.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1403116 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01587658 AU - Muench, Stephen T AU - Caraballo, Eva Martinez AU - Lin, Yen Yu AU - University of Washington, Seattle AU - Washington State Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Determining Changes in Greenhouse Gas Emissions (1990-2010) due to Pavement Technology PY - 2015/01//Research Report SP - 66p AB - This research quantifies the changes in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy consumption from Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) between 1990 and 2010 associated with (1) using warm mix asphalt (WMA), reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP), fly ash and slag in pavement materials, (2) use of the dowel bar retrofit (DBR) as a portland cement concrete pavement (PCCP) rehabilitation practice, (3) improvements in WSDOT pavement network roughness, and (4) adoption of a long-life asphalt concrete pavement (ACP) strategy. Findings show: (1) Use of WMA, RAP, fly ash and slag can result in GHG emissions and energy consumption savings of 4-44% depending upon the scenario. (2) DBR use can save on the order of 15% in GHG emissions and energy consumption if it extends the life of existing PCCP by 15 years. (3) WSDOT’s overall pavement network has actually gotten rougher from 1990 to 2010; therefore no savings associated with GHG emissions or energy consumption has been realized. Reducing WSDOT pavement network roughness as a means to reduce GHG emissions may cost on the order of $44/MTCO₂e, which is quite expensive by any measure. (4) There is no discernible trend towards long-life asphalt ACP from 1990 to 2010. Therefore, no savings associated with GHG emissions or energy consumption can be identified. In context with the GHG emissions and energy consumption associated with WSDOT fleet operations and vehicles driving on WSDOT pavement, total savings is on the order of 0.2-0.3%. KW - Dowel bar retrofit KW - Energy consumption KW - Fly ash KW - Greenhouse gases KW - Perpetual pavements KW - Pollutants KW - Portland cement concrete KW - Reclaimed asphalt pavements KW - Roughness KW - Slag KW - Warm mix paving mixtures KW - Washington State Department of Transportation UR - http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/research/reports/fullreports/838.1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1395640 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01583620 AU - Krechmer, Daniel AU - Osborne, James AU - Bittner, Jason AU - Jensen, Mark AU - Flanigan, Erin AU - Cambridge Systematics AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Connected Vehicle Impacts on Transportation Planning: Technical Memorandum #2: Connected Vehicle Planning Processes and Products and Stakeholder Roles and Responsibilities PY - 2015/01//Revision 1 SP - 60p AB - The objective of this project, “Connected Vehicle Impacts on Transportation Planning,” is to comprehensively assess how connected vehicles should be considered across the range of transportation planning processes and products developed by States, Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO), and local agencies throughout the country. While the focus is primarily on Connected Vehicle (CV) technology Automated Vehicle technology is considered as well. As a result, the subject of this effort is referred to as Connected/Automated Vehicle (C/AV) technology. The overall research objective of Task 2 is to develop a typology matrix that cross-references transportation planning processes and products to facilitate the advancement and deployment of C/AV. Transportation planning involves a wide range of projects, activities, tools, products, stakeholders, and timeframes. In addition, these elements vary depending on the size, location, and political context in which they exist. These factors generate a high level of complexity in identifying and evaluating C/AV impacts. The purpose of this Technical Memorandum is to help document and organize these factors to provide a framework for both the typology to be developed in Task 2 and the overall project. This Technical Memorandum further documents the range of planning activities and products that may be impacted by CV technology using the results of both a C/AV literature review and stakeholder feedback to catalog the impacts of C/AV technology on different transportation planning activities. The typology matrix covers a range of other planning agency characteristics and activities including type of agency, goal area, category of agency product, type of project, tools and processes required (data processing, modeling, etc.) and new or improved skills required. The report identifies how C/AV-related planning processes and products may be accommodated in a coordinated fashion in the next few years as agencies begin to incorporate these technologies into their planning and programming functions and identifies how C/AV technology can support and enhance performance-based planning and programming and reporting requirements imposed by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21). The report also identifies elements and activities required to support the integration of C/AV technology into planning, including how C/AV should be considered, roles and responsibilities of stakeholders, both existing and new, and existing DOT planning guidance and tools that can provide support. KW - Intelligent vehicles KW - Literature reviews KW - Metropolitan planning organizations KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) KW - Stakeholders KW - Transportation departments KW - Transportation planning UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55700/55711/FHWA-JPO-16-246.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1376696 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580960 AU - Ashur, Suleiman AU - Alhassan, Mohammad AU - Purdue University AU - Indiana Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Selection of Pedestrian Crossing Treatments at Controlled and Uncontrolled Locations PY - 2015/01 SP - 59p AB - Designers and traffic engineers have to make decisions on selecting a pedestrian treatment whenever designing a new pedestrian facility or retrofitting an existing one. The goal is either to provide or improve pedestrian safety at pedestrian crossing facilities, including controlled locations of signalized intersections and approaches with stop and yield signs, and uncontrolled locations of intersections and midblock sites. Currently, the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) has limited resources on pedestrian treatment selection that does not take into consideration key elements such as number of lanes and the existence of a raised median. Therefore, there is a need to find a more detailed and comprehensive approach to providing guidelines when deciding on a pedestrian crossing treatment. The approach has to be practical and can be easily utilized by traffic and design engineers, planners, and other constituents. Most of the State DOTs developed their guidelines on pedestrian crossing treatment based on several resources. However, the 2002 Federal Highway Administration FHWA-RD-01-075 study titled “Safety Effects of Marked Vs. Unmarked Crosswalks at Uncontrolled Locations” was adopted by several states either “as is,” with some modifications, or referenced as a source on pedestrian crosswalk selection. State DOTs mainly use standards and guidelines from the National Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), Part 3 and National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 672 for roundabout crosswalk markings. In general, there are no clear warrants for grade separation treatment. In addition, there is a need for a national and comprehensive study to develop practical guidelines on pedestrian crossing treatments, especially on multilane roadways, complex intersections, and when the speed is 45 mph or more. This study proposed guidelines on crosswalk markings and treatment selection of pedestrian crossings based on a synthesis of federal and state reports, guidelines, design manuals, polices, and other relevant publications. It is recommended to adopt these guidelines as a reference for pedestrian treatment selection at INDOT. The results of a survey on pedestrian crossing treatments indicate that the most effective and most frequently used treatments by the different states represented in the survey are advanced signs, crosswalk signs and pavement markings, countdown displays at signalized intersections, curb extensions, high-visibility signs and markings, and median refuge islands. The least effective and least frequently used treatments are automated detection, in-roadway warning lights, overhead flashing beacons (passive), pedestrian crossing flags, pedestrian railings, and split midblock signals. In addition, the main recommendation on high-speed divided highway pedestrian crossings is to provide enough time for pedestrian to cross the entire width of the intersection without a median whenever there is a demand. KW - Crosswalks KW - Decision making KW - Guidelines KW - Indiana KW - Intersections KW - Literature reviews KW - Pedestrian safety KW - Surveys UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.5703/1288284315522 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1374365 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580926 AU - Ganju, Eshan AU - Prezzi, Monica AU - Salgado, Rodrigo AU - Siddiki, Nayyar Zia AU - Sommer, Kurt AU - Purdue University AU - Indiana Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - QA/QC of Subgrade and Embankment Construction: Technology Replacement and Updated Procedures SN - 9781622603411 PY - 2015/01 SP - 82p AB - The Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DCP) is a device that is used for the estimation of in situ compaction quality of constructed subgrades and embankments. It is a relatively inexpensive, light-weight and easy to use device that measures the dynamic penetration resistance of the compacted soil, from which an estimate of soil strength and stiffness characteristics can be made. Owing to its ease of use, many Departments of Transportation (DOTs) in the U.S. have employed the DCP in their compaction quality control procedures, and over the past few decades, extensive research has been carried out on the development of correlations between the results of the DCP test and the results of strength and stiffness tests performed on compacted soils (e.g., California bearing ratio, and resilient modulus). The objectives of this research are to refine DCP-based quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) correlations for compaction quality control developed by previous research studies carried out at Purdue for the Indiana Department of Transportation, especially focusing on i) grouping of the soils based on their mechanical response to the DCP loading, and ii) limiting the in situ moisture range of the soils used for development of correlations within -2% of the optimum moisture content of the tested soil. The factors outlined above are studied, and in particular, soil grouping is examined critically. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) (‘A-based’) classification employed previously for classification of soils is replaced by a new classification criteria specifically developed for the DCP test. Soils are grouped into one of the two categories of coarse-grained or fine-grained soils on the basis of the size of the dominant particle in the soil. The criteria developed for the classification of soil into one of these two categories is based on index properties of the soil, such as the standard Proctor maximum dry density, optimum moisture content, plasticity index (PI) and fines content (percentage passing 0.075 mm sieve size). For the purpose of refinement of the QA/QC correlations, extensive field and laboratory tests (more than 750 DCP tests) were carried out on soils found in Indiana to add to the existing database of DCP test results. The database was then statistically analyzed for extraction of the representative DCP test value (number of DCP blows required for a specific depth of penetration into the compacted soil) for different types of soil. Results show that the DCP test results for fine-grained soils have a good correlation with the PI, which is indicative of the clay content of the soil, while the DCP test results for coarse-grained soils have good correlations with the optimum moisture content of the soil, which is indicative of the targeted in situ density of the soil. Furthermore, a statistical analysis of the distribution of DCP blow counts in the field revealed that the mean of a minimum of 7 closely spaced tests is required to get a representative blow count of the compacted soil at a given location. More targeted testing is needed to assess the frequency of DCP testing required for larger areas. KW - Classification KW - Coarse grained soils KW - Cone penetrometers KW - Embankments KW - Field tests KW - Fine grained soils KW - Indiana KW - Laboratory tests KW - Moisture content KW - Plasticity index KW - Quality assurance KW - Quality control KW - Soil compaction KW - Statistical analysis KW - Subgrade (Pavements) UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.5703/1288284315521 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373828 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01579898 AU - Smart Growth America AU - State Smart Transportation Initiative AU - Rockefeller Foundation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - The Innovative DOT: A handbook of policy and practice PY - 2015/01//Third Edition SP - 250p AB - This handbook collects the innovative approaches that state transportation leaders are using to make systems more efficient and effective in today’s challenging economy. Thirty four transportation system reforms are outlined along with examples of States that have put these ideas into practice. The handbook is divided into eight focus areas: Revenue Sources; Revenue Allocation and Project Selection; Pricing; Increasing Transportation System Efficiency; Improving Options for Mobility and Access; Providing Efficient, Safe Freight Access; Integrating Transportation and Land Use Decision-Making; and Improving State Departments of Transportation (DOT) Processes. Sections include implementation, detailed steps, case studies, and resources. KW - Access KW - Case studies KW - Freight transportation KW - Implementation KW - Land use planning KW - Mobility KW - Pricing KW - Revenues KW - State departments of transportation KW - Transportation planning KW - Transportation policy UR - http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/documents/the-innovative-dot-third-edition.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1360402 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01577113 AU - Fordham, Damon AU - Norris, John AU - Proudfoot, Joshua AU - Cadmus Group, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Feasibility and Implications of Electric Vehicle (EV) Deployment and Infrastructure Development PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 241p AB - Vehicle manufacturers and the traveling public are increasingly investing in plug-in hybrid and other electric vehicle (EV) technologies. The increased use of these technologies promises to yield multiple benefits, but it is also likely to affect the mission and programs of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and other U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) modal administrations, state DOTs, and local transportation agencies. FHWA commissioned the Feasibility and Implications of EV Deployment and Infrastructure Development project (the FHWA EV project) to help evaluate the prospects and expectations for short- and long-term deployment of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs). The FHWA EV project analyzed the potential deployment of PEVs in the U.S. and their potential impact on the mission of FHWA, including financial implications for available highway revenues. KW - Electric vehicles KW - Feasibility analysis KW - Financial analysis KW - Hybrid vehicles KW - Revenues KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration KW - United States UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/climate_change/mitigation/publications_and_tools/ev_deployment/fhwahep15021.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1370093 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576035 AU - Hossain, Zahid AU - Zaman, Musharraf AU - Ghosh, Debaroti AU - University of Oklahoma, Norman AU - Oklahoma Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Creep Compliance and Percent Recovery of Oklahoma Certified Binders Using the Multiple Stress Creep Recovery (MSCR) Method PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 209p AB - A laboratory study was conducted to develop guidelines for the Multiple Stress Creep Recovery (MSCR) test method for local conditions prevailing in Oklahoma. The study consisted of commonly used binders in Oklahoma, namely PG 64-22, PG 70-28, and PG 76-28. The testing program also included binders recovered from four reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) samples and Sasobit®-modified virgin binders. Non-Recoverable Creep Compliance (J sub nr) and MSCR %Recovery, obtained from the MSCR test data, were analyzed for the MSCR grading. In addition, the Asphalt Institute (AI) recommended Polymer and Quadrant methods were followed in interpreting the test data. Analyses of test results showed that the AASHTO T 350 and AASHTO T 332 recommended J sub nr criteria could be followed in the MSCR-based grading for conditions prevailing in Oklahoma. It was observed that 97% of the tested polymer-modified binders met the Asphalt Institute (AI) recommended minimum %Recovery and stress sensitivity. Acceptable %Recovery limits are proposed for both PG 70-28 and PG 76-28 binders without penalizing a significant number of suppliers or users. It was also found that an addition of 3% Sasobit® would reduce the rut depth by half compared to other binders. It is expected that these guidelines will assist the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) in a successful transition to the latest MSCR specifications for binders. KW - Bituminous binders KW - Compliance KW - Creep KW - Laboratory tests KW - Multiple Stress Creep Recovery KW - Oklahoma KW - Polymer asphalt KW - Relaxation (Mechanics) KW - Rut depth KW - Rutting KW - Sasobit KW - Specifications KW - Test procedures UR - http://l92018.eos-intl.net/elibsql16_L92018_Documents/FHWA-OK-14-19%202248%20Zaman.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1368760 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576032 AU - Hatami, Kianoosh AU - Miller, Gerald A AU - Esmaili, Danial AU - University of Oklahoma, Norman AU - Oklahoma Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Prototype reinforced soil embankment for reconstruction of US 62 slope failure in Chickasha, OK PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 84p AB - One of the main concerns in internal stability of reinforced soil structures constructed with fine-grained or marginal quality soils is the change in shear strength of the soil-reinforcement interface when the soil gravimetric water content (GWC) increases. This increase can occur during construction or service life of the structure, e.g. due to prolonged precipitation. The resulting loss in the soil matric suction could reduce the interface shear strength leading to serviceability problems or even failure of the reinforced soil structure. In this study, three 1 m-high and two 1.7 m-high model embankments were constructed, which were all subjected to strip footing loading in plane-strain condition. The model embankments were constructed using a mixture of lean clay (CL), sand and a small percentage of commercially available sodium bentonite at the GWC values ranging between OMC-2% and OMC+2% (OMC: Optimum Moisture Content). The purpose for building smaller embankment models was to study the behavior of a single soil-geotextile interface in an embankment configuration. Therefore, the smaller models included only a single reinforcement layer which was placed 180 mm below the embankment surface. In contrast, the larger models were intended to simulate field reinforced embankments. Hence, those models were reinforced with four layers of reinforcement with a uniform vertical spacing of 300 mm. The location of single reinforcement layer in smaller models was selected based on preliminary embankment tests and numerical simulations to ensure that it would intercept the failure surface that developed underneath the strip footing near the embankment slope. The embankments were instrumented to measure the footing load, earth pressure, reinforcement strains and the soil GWC and matric suction values during the tests. A primary objective of the embankment tests was to investigate the influence of the as-compacted GWC value of the soil on the performance of the model embankments and thereby, validate or make necessary adjustments in the values of the moisture reduction factors (MRF) for reinforced embankment design that the authors had developed based on their prior pullout and interface shear tests. KW - Chickasha (Oklahoma) KW - Embankments KW - Geotextiles KW - Mechanically stabilized earth KW - Moisture content KW - Prototypes KW - Slope stability KW - Soil suction UR - http://l92018.eos-intl.net/elibsql16_L92018_Documents/FHWA-OK-15-03%202160%20Hatami.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1368762 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01575116 AU - Yamaura, Julian AU - White, George AU - Katara, Si AU - Willoughby, Kim AU - Garcia, Roxana AU - Beer, Michael AU - Pavia Systems, Incorporated AU - Washington State Department of Transportation AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Project Inspection Using Mobile Technology–Phase II: Assessing the impacts of mobile technology on project inspection PY - 2015/01//Research Report SP - 121p AB - As mobile technology becomes widely available and affordable, transportation agencies can use this technology to streamline operations involved within project inspection. This research, conducted in two phases, identified opportunities for process improvement using mobile technologies and measured the outcomes from incorporating mobile tools as a part of project inspection work. The research also identified additional factors to characterize the use of mobile tools for project inspection. The research approach focused on measuring three main projected outcomes, which include productivity, data quality, and data availability. Additional characteristics were observed to evaluate other aspects of using mobile tools for project inspection, in particular as it relates to recommendations toward how an agency may approach deployment of mobile technology. A pilot program was established where a mobile technology solution was used via field trials to measure these outcomes. KW - Construction projects KW - Data collection KW - Data quality KW - Field studies KW - Inspection KW - Mobile applications KW - Productivity KW - Wireless communication systems UR - http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/research/reports/fullreports/840.2.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55300/55312/840.2.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366891 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574104 AU - Renne, John L AU - Tolford, Tara M AU - University of New Orleans AU - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development AU - Louisiana Transportation Research Center AU - National Center for Intermodal Transportation for Economic Competitiveness AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Development of Minimum State Requirements for Local Growth Management Policies – Phase 1 PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 121p AB - This research entailed the development of minimum requirements for local growth management policies for use in Louisiana. The purpose of developing minimum statewide standards is to try to alleviate some of the stress placed on state and local governments by uncontrolled development, while improving state and local governments’ ability to meet current and future demand for transportation infrastructure and effectively implement existing state transportation policies and programs. This study evaluated the current state of growth management practice, evaluated statewide trends, existing conditions, and opportunities, and solicited extensive local participation feedback. In addition, this study included evaluation of the potential economic, social, and environmental impacts of implementing selected growth management policies. This was achieved through a mixed methods approach that includes both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and analysis, including the following components: a review of the literature, identification of current state-of-practice in Louisiana and analysis of the legal framework underlying growth management policy, a socioeconomic and demographic analysis of the trends at the Parish level, two statewide polls, a series of stakeholder meetings, modeling the effectiveness of potential policies based on transportation and return-on-investment outcomes, and additional workshops with stakeholders to determine the feasibility and demand for implementation of proposed policies. The result of this research was the development of a series of potential Growth Management Guidelines that local jurisdictions, regional agencies, and the State of Louisiana may use to better align transportation and land use planning and facilitate the growth of more livable communities across the state. It includes a set of key guidelines that constitute a “blueprint” for Louisiana growth management policy. KW - Economic impacts KW - Environmental impacts KW - Evaluation KW - Guidelines KW - Land use planning KW - Louisiana KW - Policy KW - Social impacts KW - Stakeholders KW - State of the practice KW - Transportation planning KW - Transportation policy UR - http://www.ncitec.msstate.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012-38FR.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363645 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570343 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Public-Private Partnership Oversight: How FHWA Reviews P3s PY - 2015/01 SP - 56p AB - A growing number of State and local transportation agencies are considering the use of public-private partnerships (P3s), in which a private entity is involved in designing, financing, constructing, operating, and maintaining a transportation facility to address transportation needs. With rare exception, P3 projects receiving Federal-aid or credit assistance are subject to the same Federal regulations and requirements as other, traditional Federal-aid projects. Differences in the way P3s and traditional Federal–aid projects are procured, financed, and implemented raise important regulatory issues that Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) staff take into consideration as they ensure effective Federal stewardship of P3 projects in conjunction with the State or local transportation agencies. This guidance document is a reference to help State and local transportation agencies and the private sector understand how FHWA conducts stewardship and oversight of Federal-aid projects where P3s are being considered or implemented. KW - Federal aid KW - Oversight KW - Public private partnerships KW - Regulation KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ipd/pdfs/p3/p3_oversight_how_FHWA_reviews.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55200/55259/p3_oversight_how_FHWA_reviews.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359497 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570257 AU - Imhof, Paul T AU - Chiu, Pei C AU - Guo, Qizhong AU - University of Delaware, Newark AU - Rutgers University, Piscataway AU - Delaware Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Enhancing Nitrogen Removal in Stormwater Treatment Facilities for Transportation PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 27p AB - Stormwater from roadways is a point source of pollution. State departments of transportation (DOTs) must comply with Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) regulations for nutrients such as nitrogen, which causes water quality impairment. Existing stormwater treatment technologies, such as bioretention cells, do not remove nitrogen adequately to meet water quality standards. New technologies that can more effectively remove nitrogen and reduce the footprint required for stormwater treatment will result in significant savings for State DOTs. The authors have hypothesized that biochar can be used in bioretention cells to promote microbial removal of nitrate from stormwater and improve bioretention cell performance. The goal of this project is to experimentally test this hypothesis and produce the data necessary to (1) develop a better understanding of biochar-enhanced denitrification and (2) secure multi-year support for a field-scale assessment of the proposed technology. The authors established a culture of the anaerobic bacterium Geobacter metallireducens and ”trained” it to utilize nitrate as an electron acceptor. Batch experiments were carried out to illustrate the ability of a commercial wood biochar, which is being tested in a field detention cell in Delaware, to support nitrate removal by G. metallireducens. This project provided direct or indirect research support for 12 students and resulted in 1 conference paper, 1 conference presentation, 3 seminars/public lectures, and 3 awarded multi-year grants. KW - biochar KW - Biodeterioration KW - Laboratory tests KW - Nitrogen KW - Runoff KW - Technological innovations KW - Water quality management UR - https://cait.rutgers.edu/files/CAIT-UTC-045-final_0.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359775 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567330 AU - Sandt, Laura AU - Thomas, Libby AU - Langford, Kristen AU - Nabors, Dan AU - Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - A Resident’s Guide for Creating Safer Communities for Walking and Biking PY - 2015/01//Final Guide SP - 100p AB - This guide is intended to assist residents, parents, community association members, and others in getting involved in making communities safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. The guide includes facts, ideas, and resources to help residents learn about traffic problems that affect pedestrians and bicyclists and to find ways to help address these problems and promote safety among all road users. The guide includes information on identifying problems, taking action to address pedestrian and bicycle concerns, finding solutions to improve safety, and resources to get additional information. KW - Bicycle travel KW - Case studies KW - Cyclists KW - Pedestrian safety KW - Pedestrians KW - Traffic safety KW - Walking UR - http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/PED_BIKE/ped_cmnity/ped_walkguide/residents_guide2014_final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1357317 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567266 AU - Wen, Haifang AU - Sharma, Sunil AU - Rose, Mark AU - Wang, Jingan AU - Timm, Anthony AU - Washington State University, Pullman AU - Idaho Transportation Department AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Review of Non-Nuclear Density Gauges as Possible Replacements for ITD’s Nuclear Density Gauges PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 173p AB - This report examines the possibility of replacing nuclear density gauges (NDGs) with non-nuclear density gauges (NNDGs) to measure density of hot mix asphalt (HMA) and unbound pavement layers in the field. The research team evaluated the effectiveness of five NNDGs for measuring density of HMA and unbound material compaction. A variety of global and local factors were evaluated to determine which factors had a significant effect on the HMA devices. The findings show that, while both NDG and NNDG could produce results that are statistically significantly different from core densities for some projects, calibrated HMA NNDG results perform as well as the current Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) NDG practice. Surface moisture was found to have effects on the NNDG measurements of HMA density. Recommendations were made to modify the test protocol of NNDGs. The team compared the density values and moisture contents of unbound materials (e.g. base, subbase, or subgrade) measured from NNDGs to those obtained using traditional devices: NDG (density and moisture), sand cone (density) and laboratory oven (moisture content). Each NNDG for unbound soils required calibration to a traditional device. Overall, the results indicate that measurements by NNDGs on unbound materials are not consistently accurate or precise enough to replace NDGs. KW - Hot mix asphalt KW - Idaho KW - Instruments for measuring density KW - Moisture content KW - Nuclear density gages KW - Pavement layers KW - Test procedures UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55100/55101/RP210Final04062015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1356214 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563528 AU - Abdelkarim, Omar I AU - Gheni, Ahmed AU - Anumolu, Sujith AU - Wang, Song AU - ElGawady, Mohamed AU - Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla AU - Missouri Department of Transportation AU - Missouri Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Hollow-Core FRP-Concrete-Steel Bridge Columns Under Extreme Loading PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 205p AB - This report presents the behavior of hollow-core fiber reinforced polymer-concrete-steel columns (HC-FCS) under combined axial-flexural as well as vehicle collision loads. The HC-FCS column consists of a concrete wall sandwiched between an outer fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) tube and an inner steel tube. Four large-scale columns including a conventionally reinforced concrete (RC) column having solid cross section and three HC-FCS columns were investigated during this study. Each column had an outer diameter of 24 inch and a column’s height-to-diameter ratio of 4.0. The steel tube was embedded into reinforced concrete footing with an embedded length of 1.6 times the steel tube diameter. The FRP tube truncated at the top of the footing level; hence, it provided only confinement to the concrete. The hollow steel tube was the only reinforcement for shear and flexure inside the HC-FCS column. The HC-FCS column exhibited high lateral drift reaching 15.2% and failed gradually due to concrete crushing, steel tube local buckling, followed by FRP rupture. The reference RC-column failed at drift of 10.9% due to rebar rupture. Finite element models using LS-DYNA software were developed and validated against the experimental results of the investigated large-scale columns and experimental results of small-scale columns available in the literature. The proposed model was able to predict the behaviors of the investigated columns with good accuracy. Finite element modeling of vehicle collision with RC and HC-FCS bridge columns was also presented in this report. Evaluation of the peak dynamic force (PDF) and the equivalent static force (ESF) through an extensive parametric study were conducted. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)-Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) design force was found to be non-conservative when the column was collided with heavy vehicles of a weight more than 35 kips or high-speed vehicle more than 70 mph. A new equation for estimating the ESF based on the vehicle’s mass and velocity was developed. This approach will allow Departments of Transportation (DOTs) to design different bridge columns to different impact force demands depending on the anticipated truckloads and velocities. In general, the PDF values of the HC-FCS columns were lower than those of the RC column when they were subjected to vehicle collision. KW - Bridge design KW - Columns KW - Durability KW - Dynamic loads KW - Fiber reinforced polymers KW - Finite element method KW - Highway bridges KW - Impact loads KW - Reinforced concrete KW - Steel UR - http://library.modot.mo.gov/RDT/reports/TR201408/cmr15-008.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1352252 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01561152 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Hecox, Doug AU - Elston, Debra S TI - FHWA’s “Innovations Factory” Commands Presidential Attention PY - 2015/01 VL - 78 IS - 4 AB - President Barack Obama visited the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC) in McLean, Virginia in July 2014. The president’s visit highlighted the century of research conducted by TFHRC. During the visit, President Obama emphasized the need for Congress to pass a bill addressing the coming shortfall in the Highway Trust Fund. He also stressed the need for research on highway safety. The president’s visit included a tour of the TFHRC facility and highlighted work on connected vehicle technology. It is necessary for highway research to continue as the nation’s highway system continues to increase in volume and weight of traffic. KW - Facilities KW - Federal Highway Trust Fund KW - Highway safety KW - Legislation KW - McLean (Virginia) KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Obama, Barack KW - Research KW - Technological innovations KW - Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/15janfeb/01.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1350999 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01561150 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Romig, Doug AU - Dunn, Bill AU - Estelle, Amy AU - Heitmann, Greg TI - Slowing Climate Change One Highway at a Time PY - 2015/01 VL - 78 IS - 4 AB - The transportation industry is working to develop ways of protecting the environment and reducing its effect on climate change. One method with potential is to use highway rights-of-way (ROWs) for carbon sequestration. ROWs are an important part of road safety, providing clear lines of sight and maintaining the integrity of paved surfaces by draining stormwater. Research currently underway along New Mexico’s state highways is showing that ROWs may also help slow global climate change. Carbon sequestration involves the use of roadside vegetation to absorb carbon. The New Mexico Department of Transportation is testing treatments at eight sites. KW - Climate change KW - Environmental protection KW - New Mexico KW - New Mexico Department of Transportation KW - Pollutants KW - Right of way (Land) KW - Roadside flora UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/15janfeb/05.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1351002 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01561138 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Weingroff, Richard F TI - How the Uncommon Became the Commonplace PY - 2015/01 VL - 78 IS - 4 AB - The transportation network across the United States has undergone much development over the years. Innovations that may seem ordinary today were once viewed as impossible. In the late 19th century, no one could have predicted the extent to which automobiles and highways would come to dominate transportation across the nation. Over time, as the road network grew, new technology and innovations were introduced that continue to be used today. The transportation system continues to evolve, with many more innovations yet to come. KW - Automobile travel KW - Highway design KW - History KW - Networks KW - Technological innovations KW - United States UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/15janfeb/04.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1351001 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01561057 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Merrefield, Clark AU - Smichenko, Susan AU - Flood, Gerry TI - The Secret to Making Federal Tax Dollars Work for Your State PY - 2015/01 VL - 78 IS - 4 AB - The Florida Department of Transportation’s (FDOT) District 7 has worked closely with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to develop a design-build push button contract in order to reduce the time it takes to deliver simple, low-cost safety improvement projects. Even simple safety improvement projects can take three to five years, but this system can reduce the time to one year. FDOT District 7 has worked to streamline the process for obtaining FHWA safety funds by exchanging knowledge at an annual summit for the county and municipal agencies. District 7 has also created a layered structure that includes technical support. The district’s efforts have improved safety, and the work has been recognized with several awards. KW - Contracts KW - Cooperation KW - Design build KW - Financing KW - Florida KW - Florida Department of Transportation KW - Highway safety KW - Improvements KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/15janfeb/06.cfm UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54700/54764/06.cfm.html UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1351003 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01561046 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Ralls, Mary Lou AU - Seely, Bruce AU - Flom, Ewa AU - Brown, Randy TI - Innovations Hit the Road PY - 2015/01 VL - 78 IS - 4 AB - Project showcases can help bridge the gap between risk and experimentation. Many organizations undertaking construction projects may be hesitant to try out new procedures or technology. Project showcases are events built around projects that use particular design or construction innovations. Showcases give professionals the opportunity to observe the projects of others, allowing them to see innovations in use. However, due to limited budgets and travel restrictions, project showcases may face difficulty in the future. One possibility is to create virtual showcases that participants can view on a computer. KW - Construction management KW - Construction projects KW - Cooperation KW - Education and training KW - Technological innovations UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/15janfeb/03.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1351000 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560601 AU - Coifman, Benjamin AU - Huang, Bo AU - Redmill, Keith AU - Wu, Mo AU - Ohio State University, Columbus AU - Ohio Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Mining vehicle classifications from the Columbus Metropolitan Freeway Management System PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 70p AB - Vehicle classification data are used in many transportation applications, including: pavement design, environmental impact studies, traffic control, and traffic safety. Ohio has over 200 permanent count stations, supplemented by many more short-term count locations. Due to the high costs involved, the density of monitoring stations is still very low given the lane miles that are covered. This study leveraged the deployed detectors in the Columbus Metropolitan Freeway Management System (CMFMS) to collect and analyze classification data from critical freeways where the Traffic Monitoring Section has not been able to collect much classification data in the past due to site limitations. The CMFMS was deployed in an unconventional manner because it included an extensive fiber optic network, frontloading most of the communications costs, and rather than aggregating the data in the field, the detector stations sent all of the individual per-vehicle actuations (i.e., PVR data) to the traffic management center (TMC). The PVR data include the turn-on and turn-off time for every actuation at each detector at the given station. The authors' group has collected and archived all of the PVR data from the CMFMS for roughly a decade. The PVR data allow the authors to reprocess the original actuations retroactively. As described in this report, the research undertook extensive diagnostics and cleaning to extract the vehicle classification data from detectors originally deployed for traffic operations. The work yielded length based vehicle classification data from roughly 40 bi-directional miles of urban freeways in Columbus, Ohio over a continuous monitoring period of up to 10 years. The facilities span I-70, I-71, I-270, I-670, and SR-315, including the heavily congested inner-belt. Prior to this study, these facilities previously had either gone completely unmonitored or were only subject to infrequent, short-term counts. KW - Columbus (Ohio) KW - Columbus Metropolitan Freeway Management System KW - Data mining KW - Freeways KW - Loop detectors KW - Traffic data KW - Vehicle classification UR - http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/Planning/SPR/Research/reportsandplans/Reports/2015/Planning/134696_FR.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1350362 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560332 AU - Middleton, Scott AU - Regan, Terry AU - Volpe National Transportation Systems Center AU - Federal Transit Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Performance-based Planning and Programming in the Context of MAP-21 PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 33p AB - This report highlights key recommendations and noteworthy practices identified at the workshop on “Performance-based Planning and Programming in the Context of MAP-21” held on March 6-7, 2014 in New York City, New York and via video teleconference. This event was sponsored by the Transportation Planning Capacity Building (TPCB) Peer Program, which is jointly funded by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA). The objectives of this workshop were to increase awareness of performance management and performance-based planning and programming; to discuss the planning challenges faced by the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC), its adjoining metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), and other planning partners in the New York metropolitan area; and to identify action items to help participating agencies prepare for implementation of performance-based planning and programming. This workshop helped agencies to prepare for three key requirements of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21): (1) The development of performance measures and targets; (2) The integration of performance measures into the planning process; and (3) The development of performance-based plans for safety, asset management, and congestion. This workshop resulted in a framework for future discussions between the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) and MPOs on the reporting of performance information to USDOT required by MAP-21. This workshop also provided training for NYMTC and its regional planning partners and resulted in the development of action plans for implementing performance-based planning requirements in the New York metropolitan area. KW - Metropolitan planning organizations KW - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) KW - New York Metropolitan Area KW - New York Metropolitan Transportation Council KW - Performance based planning KW - Performance based programming KW - Performance measurement KW - Programming (Planning) KW - Transportation planning KW - Workshops UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54500/54585/NYMTC_Planning_MAP21_3-6-14.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1344677 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560095 AU - Filosa, Gina AU - Oster, Alexandra AU - Volpe National Transportation Systems Center AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - International Practices on Climate Adaptation in Transportation: Findings from a Virtual Review PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 48p AB - The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) conducted an international review to study how international transportation agencies are addressing issues related to adapting highway infrastructure to the impacts of climate change. The review involved transportation agencies from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Korea, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom. The review elicited information on adaptation issues associated with all aspects of the transportation project delivery process. This synthesis report highlights the state of the practice of how transportation agencies are addressing climate adaptation through the following: adaptation frameworks/strategies; climate change risk assessments; selecting adaptation measures and strategies; long range planning and land use; changes in design standards; maintenance and operations; asset management; and research. The information collected during the review and presented here is relevant to transportation planners, asset managers, design engineers, and policy-makers. KW - Adaptation planning (Climate change) KW - Australia KW - Canada KW - Climate change KW - Denmark KW - Highways KW - Infrastructure KW - Netherlands KW - New Zealand KW - Norway KW - Project delivery KW - South Korea KW - State of the practice KW - United Kingdom UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/climate_change/adaptation/publications_and_tools/international_practices/fhwahep15011.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54400/54492/InternationalAdaptation_SynthesisReport.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1344661 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01558898 AU - Coolbeth, Elise AU - Ellis, Wendy AU - Vermont Agency of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Wavetronix® Smart Sensor Matrix™ Radar Stop Bar Detection PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 22p AB - According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) negotiating intersections is one of the most complex and demanding tasks that a driver faces. Data shows that in 2007, approximately 2.4 million intersection-related crashes occurred, representing 40 percent of all reported crashes. Of the 37,435 total fatalities, 8,061 occurred at intersections, equaling 21.5 percent of total deaths (1). Many transportation agencies have developed solutions such as regulatory signs and electronic traffic control signals in an effort to reduce these alarming totals and decrease driver confusion. The Wavetronix® Smart Sensor Matrix™, a radar stop bar detection system was installed at the intersection of VT 116 and Shelburne Falls Road/CVU Road located at mile marker 5.46 in the town of Hinesburg on June 15th and 16th of 2011. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the overall effectiveness of the proprietary Wavetronix SmartSensor Matrix™ system during varying weather and traffic stream conditions. Site visits were conducted before and after the installation in an effort to compare traffic flow and overall effectiveness of the device. The following report summarizes the construction, performance, field observations, and crash data analysis of the intersection KW - Before and after studies KW - Crash analysis KW - Crash data KW - Fatalities KW - Highway safety KW - Intersections KW - Traffic flow KW - Traffic signals KW - Vermont KW - Weather conditions UR - http://vtransplanning.vermont.gov/sites/aot_policy/files/documents/planning/2015%20-%2003%20Wavetronix%C2%AE%20Smart%20Sensor%20Matrix%E2%84%A2.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1346366 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01557294 AU - Fitch, Jennifer AU - Tremblay, Jason P AU - Vermont Agency of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Cold In-Place Recycled Bituminous Pavement Dorset-Danby, VT PY - 2015/01 SP - 43p AB - The report documents the long-term performance and cost effectiveness of four rehabilitation treatments in a mostly homogenous environment. The underlying subbase and subgrade soils, traffic volume, existing pavement structure and ambient conditions are similar in all sections. The Vermont Agency of Transportation specified the construction of a standard overlay, cold recycled pavement, and reclaimed stabilized base along US Route 7 in the towns of Dorset, Mt. Tabor and Danby in 1996 and 1997. Each of these treatments is intended to address various pavement distresses. Testing and surveillance measures included annual pavement surveys prior to and following construction along with the collection of International Roughness Index (IRI) reading by Pavement Management with the use of a road profiler. Sixteen 100’ test sections were established throughout the length of the project. Associated pavement surveys included the documentation of cracking and rutting. Cracking was further analyzed for total cracking, fatigue cracking and transverse cracking. Thirteen years following construction, only three of the six pavement composites display measurable amounts of fatigue and transverse cracking including the standard overlay, 3-inch CIR with 1½-inch overlay and 4-inch CIR with 1½-inch overlay. Two of the more comprehensive treatments, 4-inch Cold in-place Recycling (CIR) and 8-inch Reclaimed Stabilized Base (RSB) with 3¼-inch bituminous overlay, displayed the greatest amount of rutting as a function of preconstruction conditions. Through the metrics developed in the study, the treatments with the thicker bituminous overlays outperformed the thinner overlays. KW - Bituminous overlays KW - Cold in-place recycling KW - Concrete pavements KW - Costs KW - Cracking KW - Pavement maintenance KW - Pavement performance KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) KW - Roughness KW - Rutting KW - Vermont UR - http://vtransplanning.vermont.gov/sites/aot_policy/files/documents/planning/2015%20-%2004%20Cold%20In-Place%20Recycled%20Bituminous%20Pavement%20-%20Dorset%20-%20Danby.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345922 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01557291 AU - Smith, Amy AU - Fehr & Peers AU - University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Crowdsourcing Pedestrian and Cyclist Activity Data PY - 2015/01//White Paper SP - 35p AB - This paper considers how crowdsourcing applications and crowdsourced data are currently being applied, as well as potential new uses for active transportation research and planning efforts of various types. The objectives of this white paper are to review crowdsourced bicycle and pedestrian data resources and crowdsourcing tools; discuss potential planning implementations of crowdsourced data for a variety of bicycle and pedestrian project types; and provide examples of how crowdsourcing is currently being used by the planning community. Due to software application turnover, many of the examples provided describe tools that may no longer be in use, have evolved significantly, or have been/will eventually be depreciated with the advance of new technologies. This paper is not intended to be a comprehensive outline of crowdsourcing applications in the transportation planning profession or a dictionary of crowdsourcing system types, but rather a resource for those interested in using crowdsourcing systems in active transportation planning and research. KW - Crowdsourcing KW - Cyclists KW - Data collection KW - Data quality KW - Decision making KW - Pedestrians KW - Research projects KW - Transportation planning KW - Travel behavior UR - http://www.pedbikeinfo.org/cms/downloads/PBIC_WhitePaper_Crowdsourcing.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345920 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01557010 AU - Clifton, Kelly J AU - Gehrke, Steven R AU - Currans, Kristina M AU - Liu, Jenny H AU - Chen, Roger B AU - Portland State University AU - Oregon Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Understanding Residential Location Choices for Climate Change and Transportation Decision Making: Phase 1 Report PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 123p AB - This research aims to fill the gap in the knowledge between residential location decisions and preferences and the resulting travel outcomes. In this first phase, the revealed connections between residential choices and travel patterns are examined using recently collected Oregon household travel survey data. Based on distillation of these data, Oregon households are segmented into policy-sensitive markets defined by their differences in household composition, income, and age. Statistical modeling techniques were then applied to analyze the relationship between each identified market segments, their revealed travel outcomes, and three residential location decisions: housing structure (single family or multifamily), tenure (rent or own), and neighborhood type that were combined into sets of alternatives. Each residential location decision was modeled within a nested multinomial logit framework specified for the sample of households of the Portland and Mid-Willamette Valley metropolitan regions in the Oregon Household Activity Survey (OHAS) dataset. To further link the household residential location decisions to travel behavior, a set of multivariate regression models were developed and estimated to understand how the socioeconomic characterization and revealed housing, neighborhood, and tenure decisions of a household related to four travel outcomes: vehicle miles traveled, person miles traveled by mode, number of person trips by mode, and vehicle ownership. These estimates were then used to explore travel differences for households in different lifecycle stages with or without access to light rail transit. This first phase provided insight into the connection between the revealed travel outcomes of Oregon households and their neighborhood, tenure, and housing structure decisions. KW - Climate change KW - Decision making KW - Households KW - Light rail transit KW - Multinomial logits KW - Oregon KW - Residential location KW - Socioeconomic factors KW - Travel behavior KW - Travel patterns KW - Travel surveys UR - http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TP_RES/ResearchReports/SPR745_Phase1_12-23-14FINAL_012715LP.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1344679 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01556719 AU - Sanborn, Devon AU - Vermont Agency of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Epoplex Glomarc 90 Polyurea Pavement Marking PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 19p AB - Pavement markings provide an important means of communication for all roadway users and must be capable of conveying information during inclement weather and evening hours when there may be little to no contribution from overhead lighting. Recently the Vermont Agency of Transportation has been applying recessed polyurea markings on most interstate rehabilitation projects. Recessing has proven effective in extending the service life of pavement markings by protecting them from wear induced by tire abrasion and shearing effects generated by snow plows. This research was conducted to evaluate the application of an experimental pavement marking, known as Epoplex Glomarc 90 Polyurea, with respect to long line application. The Epoplex Glomarc 90 Polyurea was applied on the Derby IM 091-3(46) project, located along I-91 northbound and southbound between mile marker (MM) 169.8 and 177.4. Five test sites were established in the southbound lanes of the project, all of which were experimental. Following the placement of the markings, retroreflectivity and wear readings were collected using uniform methods. Retroreflectivity readings were taken on each line (white edge, white skip, yellow edge) within the southbound test site limits using the LTL 2000 Retroreflectometer. Each test site is 40 feet in length, with readings sampled every 10 linear feet. White skip lines that coincide transversely with any sample point were also tested. All markings were found to be in compliance with Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) recommended minimum Retroreflective values, and above the Agency’s required initial retroreflective values of 500 mcdl/m 2 /lx for white, and 400 mcdl/m 2 /lx for yellow. The most notable observation during the site visit was that on average, the yellow markings were presenting higher retroreflective values than the white lines. Research personnel will continue to monitor and collect additional information concerning the overall durability and retroreflectivity of all test sites in accordance with the work plan. KW - Durability KW - Evaluation KW - Retroreflectivity KW - Road marking materials KW - Road markings KW - Vermont UR - http://vtransplanning.vermont.gov/sites/aot_policy/files/documents/planning/2015%20-%2002%20Epoplex%20Glomarc%2090%20Polyurea%20Pavement%20Marking.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345498 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01556716 AU - Gostautas, Richard AU - Nims, Douglas AU - Steinberg, Eric AU - Hu, Liangbo AU - Walsh, Ken AU - MISTRAS Group, Incorporated AU - Ohio Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Overhead Support Inspection Program PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 136p AB - This study evaluated the adequacy and frequency of the current structural support inspection program for overhead sign supports (including bridge mounted), mast arm signal supports and high mast light supports. While Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) provides statewide guidance to all 12 districts with regards to support inspection, each district may implement different procedures to meet the needs of the representative district, as along as state requirements are met. To assess the current program, a detailed, hands-on inspection was conducted on 202 supports. These results were then compared to the previous ODOT inspection results which uses a ground based, visual inspection process with sounding of the anchor bolts by hammer. The hands-on inspection process found almost 1.87 times more deficiencies. While the majority of them would have likely been observed under the current ODOT process, some deficiencies observed during the field inspections would not have been observable from the ground. Additionally, it was observed that the different inspection procedures used by each district often produced inspection reports that varied in the amount of information and level of detail collected during inspection. Overall, there was no evidence that indicated the current ground based, visual inspection process, or that the maximum 5 year inspection frequency, with regards to overhead sign supports, was inadequate and should be changed at this time. Subsequent recommendations were made to address the inventory process and inspection procedures for each type of support and consider the need to establish the current condition (i.e. structural adequacy) of every support in the ODOT inventory at the time of inspection. KW - Condition surveys KW - Data collection KW - Evaluation KW - Inspection KW - Ohio Department of Transportation KW - Overhead traffic signs KW - Recommendations KW - Structural supports UR - http://worldcat.org/oclc/905346928/viewonline UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345487 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01556479 AU - Dowds, Jonathan AU - Sullivan, Jim AU - Novak, David AU - Scott, Darren AU - University of Vermont, Burlington AU - Vermont Agency of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Strategic Location of Satellite Salt Storage for Roadway Snow and Ice Control in Vermont PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 37p AB - Roadway snow and ice control (RSIC) operations can account for as much as 10% of the Vermont Agency of Transportation's (VTrans) annual budget. Important considerations for planning RSIC operations are the locations and quantities of surface-treatment materials like salt. In this paper, the use of satellite salt facilities (SSF) is examined, and a novel, real-world approach for locating SSFs is developed. The authors also demonstrate a method for ranking the effectiveness of individual SSFs with respect to their reduction of the distance vehicles must travel to reload salt. The approach is demonstrated using the actual federal-aid roadway network for the state of Vermont, and a locally optimal SSF location is identified for each of the existing service territories in the state. The results of an informal survey of satellite-salt siting practices amongst snow-belt Departments of Transportation (DOTs) are also reported. A critical aspect to siting new SSFs is the ability to utilize existing right-of-way around interstates, and survey respondents note the need to explore public-private partnerships with landowners adjacent to the state highway right-of-way who may be willing to sell or lease small portions of cleared land for use as SSFs. Using the information from the survey, the research team compares a smaller set of “ready-to-use” SSF locations (with adequate right-of-way) to the locally-optimized SSF locations. KW - Deicing chemicals KW - Location KW - Public private partnerships KW - Right of way (Land) KW - State departments of transportation KW - Storage facilities KW - Surveys KW - Vermont KW - Winter maintenance UR - http://vtransplanning.vermont.gov/sites/aot_policy/files/documents/planning/2015%20-%2001%20Strategic%20Location%20of%20Satellite%20Salt%20Storage%20for%20Roadway%20Snow%20and%20Ice%20Control%20in%20Vermont.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1344650 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01555800 AU - Berthaume, Andrew AU - Morton, Tom AU - Volpe National Transportation Systems Center AU - Woodward Communications AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - National Multimodal Freight Analysis Framework Research Workshop: Workshop Summary Report, December 11, 2013 PY - 2015/01//Workshop Summary Report SP - 38p AB - This report summarizes a 1-day workshop held to discuss national multimodal freight analysis framework (FAF) research. Participants discussed the state of the art, primary gaps in current capabilities, and strategies for addressing these gaps, particularly in the areas of multimodal freight networks, freight-demand modeling, and origin-destination data disaggregation. The workshop was designed to identify a set of topics for further research and to ultimately inform the development of the FAF version 4, scheduled for release in late 2015, and beyond. The objectives of the workshop were to understand the nature and purpose of FAF, outline a vision for the next generation of freight analysis, agree on primary gaps in current capabilities, and create a game plan to address gaps. Expert speakers presented historical background of the FAF, as well as perspectives on the state of the art in three specialized topics covered in focused sessions. KW - Freight Analysis Framework KW - Freight demand modeling KW - Freight transportation KW - Multimodal networks KW - Origin and destination KW - Research KW - State of the art KW - Workshops UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54700/54741/NatlMultimodalFreightWorkshop.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1342951 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01555795 AU - Barr, Paul AU - Betti, Raimondo AU - Cousins, Tommy AU - Dyreng, Paul AU - Fausett, Robert W AU - Halling, Marv W AU - Roberts-Wollmann, Carin AU - Utah State University, Logan AU - Rutgers University, Piscataway AU - Utah Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Feasibility of Bridge Structural Health Monitoring Using Short Term Data Acquisition System PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 127p AB - Long-term testing of bridges can be expensive and result in a large amount of data that is difficult to manage and analyze. The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of a short-term data acquisition system that used a minimal number of gauges to quantify a bridge's behavior. As a result, a system was developed that could use up to eight sensors and could be utilized in the field for up to two weeks on two marine batteries. Once the system was developed, it was installed on a bridge near Perry, Utah. This particular bridge had a permanent data acquisition system installed so a direct comparison could be performed as well as with data that were recorded during a live-load test. In general, the short-term data acquisition system performed well. It was determined that two marine batteries did not supply enough power to operate the system for the desired two week period. Future work will investigate a sleep mode that should conserve additional energy and prolong the operating life of the system. The measured results were similar to those recorded with the permanently installed system as well as the live-load data. While the testing of the system was successful, additional work needs to be performed prior to implementation. Specifically, the battery issue needs to be resolved to prolong the viable operation time of the system. Additionally, improvements to the software in terms of post processing and capabilities could be improved to make it more useful to the user. KW - Bridges KW - Data collection KW - Electric batteries KW - Equipment KW - Perry (Utah) KW - Short term KW - Structural health monitoring UR - https://cait.rutgers.edu/files/CAIT-UTC-024-final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1342959 ER - TY - SER AN - 01555764 JO - TechBrief PB - Federal Highway Administration TI - Permeable Interlocking Concrete Pavement PY - 2015/01 SP - 7p AB - This TechBrief presents an overview of permeable interlocking concrete pavement (PICP) and its use. General information is provided on PICP composition with a summary of benefits, limitations, and characteristics. Important considerations such as hydrological design, structural design, construction, and maintenance are also provided. KW - Concrete pavements KW - Hydrology KW - Pavement maintenance KW - Paving KW - Porous pavements KW - Structural design UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement/concrete/pubs/hif15006.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1344289 ER - TY - SER AN - 01555755 JO - Civil Engineering Studies, Illinois Center for Transportation Series PB - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Medina, Juan C AU - Benekohal, Rahim F AU - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Illinois Department of Transportation AU - Illinois Commerce Commission AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Field Evaluation of Smart Sensor Vehicle Detectors at Railroad Grade Crossings—Volume 4: Performance in Adverse Weather Conditions PY - 2015/01 IS - 15-002 SP - 54p AB - The performance of a microwave radar system for vehicle detection at a railroad grade crossing with quadrant gates was evaluated in adverse weather conditions: rain (light and torrential), snow (light and heavy), dense fog, and wind. The first part of this report compares the results of the modified system setup in adverse weather conditions with those from good weather conditions (as presented in Volume 3 of this study). Then, the results of a re-modified system setup were compared to the results for the modified system setup in good and adverse weather conditions. The re-modification was in response to increased detection errors in adverse weather conditions. With the modified setup, system performance was sensitive to the adverse weather conditions. In torrential rain, false calls increased to 24.82%–27.08% (e.g., May 28 and June 1) when there was some traffic on the crossing. However, when there was torrential rain but only one vehicle (e.g., May 31) or no traffic flow (e.g., June 10), the radar units generated 15 false calls on each of those 2 days. For all heavy snow datasets combined, missed calls by a single radar unit and by the two radar units working as a combined unit (i.e., systemwide) represented 13.51% and 11.66% of the loop calls, respectively. The most severe snow effects were found during freezing rain/ice. In dense fog, false calls increased to 11.58%, and all false calls were generated when the gates were moving or in the down position. Wind did not affect system performance, and the errors were similar to those in good weather conditions. With the re-modified setup, the frequency of errors in heavy rain and heavy snow conditions was reduced and system performance was similar to the good weather, light rain, and light snow conditions. In heavy rain, false calls in the re-modified setup were reduced to 2.6% compared with 30.5% in the modified setup. This reduction was the result of a significant decrease in the false calls generated without objects in the crossing. The re-modified setup eliminated the systemwide missed calls in heavy snow. The re-modified setup also reduced the false calls to less than 1% in good weather, light rain, and light snow conditions and practically had no missed, stuck-on, or dropped calls. Results indicate that re-modifications improved the performance of detection system. KW - Evaluation KW - Illinois KW - Microwave detectors KW - Performance KW - Railroad grade crossings KW - Sensors KW - Vehicle detectors KW - Weather conditions UR - https://apps.ict.illinois.edu/projects/getfile.asp?id=3382 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1344399 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554428 AU - Chapman, Mike AU - Linden, Seth AU - Burghardt, Crystal AU - National Center for Atmospheric Research AU - Alaska University Transportation Center AU - Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Alaska Road Weather Project: Technical Performance Assessment Report Fairbanks Field Demonstration 2013-2014 PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 18p AB - The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities began implementation of a Maintenance Decision Support System in an effort to improve snow and ice control in the Fairbanks area. As part of the project the reliability of the weather forecast models were evaluated by comparing the forecast with the actual weather records. In general, the models were fairly accurate, but some bias was detected in the air and pavement temperatures and the dew point. All analysis used a 95% confidence level. The predicted air temperatures tended to be about -3°F between November 1, 2013 and March 30, 2014. The pavement temperature had a bias depending on the time of day and increasing as the forecast time lengthened. In the near term there was a slight warm bias. Beyond 12 hours there was a consistent cold bias of about 3°F. The dew point predicted temperature had a small bias of about 1°F. KW - Decision support systems KW - Dew point KW - Fairbanks (Alaska) KW - Snow and ice control KW - Temperature KW - Weather conditions KW - Weather forecasting KW - Winter maintenance UR - http://tundra.ine.uaf.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/RR12.01.Connor.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1342393 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554383 AU - Hallmark, Shauna L AU - Hawkins, Neal AU - Smadi, Omar AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Midwest Transportation Consortium AU - Texas Department of Transportation TI - Evaluation of Dynamic Speed Feedback Signs on Curves: A National Demonstration Project PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 210p AB - Lane departure crashes are a significant safety concern. The majority of lane departure crashes occur on rural two-lane roadways, with a disproportionate number of these crashes on horizontal curves. Curve-related crashes involve a number of roadway and driver causative factors. A primary driver factor is speeding. Dynamic speed feedback sign (DSFS) systems are one method to reduce vehicle speeds and, consequently, crashes on curves. These systems show promise but they have not been fully evaluated on curves. The Center for Transportation Research and Education at Iowa State University conducted a national demonstration project to evaluate the effectiveness of two different DSFSs in reducing speed and crashes on curves at 22 total sites on rural two-lane roadways in seven States. The goal is to provide traffic safety engineers and other professionals with additional tools to manage speeds and crashes on rural horizontal curves more effectively. Data were collected before and at 1, 12, and 24 months after installation of the DSFS. On average, most sites had decreases in mean speeds, with decreases up to 10.9 miles per hour (mph) noted for both the point of curvature (PC) and center of curve (CC). Most sites experienced changes in 85th percentile speed of 3 mph or more at the PC, with the majority of sites having a decrease of 2 mph at the CC. The numbers of vehicles traveling 5, 10, 15, or 20 mph over the posted or advisory speed limit were also compared. Large reductions in the number of vehicles traveling over the posted or advisory speed occurred for all of the after periods at the PC and CC, indicating that the signs were effective in reducing high-end speeds, as well as average and 85th percentile speeds. A before-and-after crash analysis was also conducted, and crash modification factors (CMF) were developed. CMFs ranged from 0.93 to 0.95 depending on the crash type and direction of the crash. KW - 85th percentile speed KW - Before and after studies KW - Crash analysis KW - Demonstration projects KW - Evaluation KW - Highway curves KW - Rural highways KW - Speed control KW - Speed signs UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1342273 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554348 AU - Knudson, Tony AU - Jordan, Brooke AU - Oregon Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - FY 2015 Oregon Transportation Needs and Issues Survey: Summary of Statewide Results PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 65p 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 Autumn 2015 (State fiscal year (FY) 2015). This report summarizes the results of the FY 2015 survey. For some reoccurring questions, results are also compared to past surveys. KW - Customer satisfaction KW - Needs assessment KW - Oregon Department of Transportation KW - Public opinion KW - Surveys KW - Transportation planning UR - http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TP_RES/ResearchReports/TNIS2015Final_v06.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1344026 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554334 AU - Hoppe, Edward J AU - Lane, D Stephen AU - Fitch, G Michael AU - Shetty, Sameer AU - Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research AU - Virginia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Feasibility of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) Use As Road Base and Subbase Material PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 42p AB - The purpose of this study was to investigate the current state of the practice with regard to the use of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) material for road base and subbase applications and the potential for such use by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT). To achieve the objectives of the study, a comprehensive review of the literature was conducted and the current state of the practice by other state departments of transportation was analyzed. The results indicated that the use of RAP in road base and subbase materials is viable and has been implemented by a number of transportation agencies. There seemed to be no major environmental concerns associated with using unbound RAP without chemical stabilization agents. Numerous sources of RAP are available in Virginia. Based on practices adopted by other state transportation agencies, the study recommends that VDOT allow the use of RAP in a road base material on highway construction projects. The study further recommends that the allowable percentage of RAP in a blend be phased in gradually to allow VDOT to gain familiarity with the materials and processes involved. Compaction testing could be performed with current methods while alternative procedures were analyzed for suitability. Once a standard specification has been developed, sites for long-term field studies will be identified to implement further the recommendations stemming from this study. There is a potential for significant economic benefits if RAP is used in base and subbase applications. Approximately 30% in material cost savings could be realized with a 50/50 blend of RAP and virgin aggregate. In addition, this application would likely result in a substantial reduction in the amount of RAP material currently stockpiled in Virginia. KW - Base course (Pavements) KW - Economic benefits KW - Environmental impacts KW - Feasibility analysis KW - Literature reviews KW - Reclaimed asphalt pavements KW - State departments of transportation KW - State of the practice KW - Subbase (Pavements) KW - Virginia UR - http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/15-r6.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1341463 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554238 AU - Hulsey, J Leroy AU - Xiao, Feng AU - Dolan, J Daniel AU - Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities AU - Alaska University Transportation Center AU - Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Phase II: Chulitna River Bridge Structurally Health Monitoring Alaska Bridge 255 – Chulitna River Bridge PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 96p AB - This study is phase 2 of a two phase research project. In Phase 1 a structural health monitoring system (SHMS) was installed on the Chulitna River Bridge. This bridge is 790 feet long, 42 foot 2 inches wide and has 5 spans. As part of that effort, three loaded dump trucks were used to conduct seventeen static and dynamic loadings on the structure. In addition to studying the bridge using SHMS, two ambient free vibration tests were conducted a year apart. In 1993, the deck on this 1970 five span bridge was widened from 34-feet to a 42 foot 2 inch concrete deck. Increased load was accounted for by strengthening two variable depth exterior girders and converting interior stringers to interior truss girders. Construction documents for the upgrade called for stage construction. At the time of this study, the bridge had five bearings that were not in contact with the superstructure. Feasibility of using Structural Health Monitoring Systems (SHMS) for Alaska Highway Bridges was examined. Also, SHMS data for the load tests of Phase 1 were used to calibrate a three-dimensional model (FEM) to predict response and conduct a 2014 Operating Load Rating. KW - Alaska KW - Feasibility analysis KW - Finite element method KW - Highway bridges KW - Load factor KW - Load tests KW - Sensors KW - Structural health monitoring KW - Vibration tests UR - http://tundra.ine.uaf.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Chulitna-River-Bridge-Final-01-27-2015jlh-2.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1342392 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554230 AU - Diefenderfer, Stacey D AU - McGhee, Kevin K AU - Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research AU - Virginia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Installation and Laboratory Evaluation of Alternatives to Conventional Polymer Modification for Asphalt PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 27p AB - The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) specifies polymer-modified asphalt binders for certain asphalt mixtures used on high-volume, high-priority routes. These binders must meet performance grade (PG) requirements for a PG 76-22 binder in addition to elastic recovery requirements. This typically results in the use of binders containing styrenebutadiene-styrene (SBS) modifiers. However, other polymer modifiers may also be used to achieve the PG 76-22 classification. One of these modifiers is a copolymer of SBS and polyethylene (PE) (SBS-PE); another modifier is ground tire rubber (GTR). This study was undertaken to investigate the suitability of SBS-PE–modified PG 76-22 binder and GTR-modified PG 76-22 binder for use in Virginia. Each modified binder was used in a 12.5 mm nominal maximum aggregate size mixture to pave approximately 2.3 lane-miles. All mixtures were produced as warm mix asphalt using a foaming system. The binders evaluated included a typical SBS polymer-modified binder as a control and binders modified with SBS-PE and GTR. During construction, all processes were documented and material was sampled for evaluation. Binder and mixture tests were performed. Binder testing included performance grading and multiple stress creep and relaxation testing. Mixture testing included volumetric analysis, dynamic modulus, and flow number tests and cracking, rutting, and fatigue analysis. Binder testing indicated that the control binder and SBS-PE–modified binders met VDOT specifications for classification as a PG 76-22 binder; the GTR-modified binder graded to a PG 70-22 binder, as it did not meet the PG 76-22 hightemperature specification and did not pass the elastic recovery requirement. Laboratory mixture testing indicated that the performance of the SBS-PE–modified mixture should be similar to that of the control mixture. Laboratory test results for the GTR-modified mixture were mixed, with some indicating that the performance was similar to that of the control mixture and some indicating that the performance may be less than that of the control. Based on the study, SBS-PE–modified binders should continue to be allowed as an alternative to SBS-modified binder provided specifications for PG 76-22 binders are met. However, further investigation of GTR-modified binders is suggested before recommendations can be made. In addition, long-term evaluation of the field site is recommended for validation of the laboratory findings. KW - Bituminous binders KW - Deformation KW - Elasticity (Mechanics) KW - Evaluation KW - Laboratory tests KW - Multiple Stress Creep Recovery KW - Polymer asphalt KW - Rubber KW - Styrene butadiene styrene KW - Virginia KW - Warm mix paving mixtures UR - http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/15-r15.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1341464 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554195 AU - Masada, Teruhisa AU - Han, Xiao AU - Ohio University, Athens AU - Ohio Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Threshold Vertical Deflection of Flexible Thermoplastic Conduits PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 276p AB - The use of thermoplastic pipe products in highway-related non-pressure drainage pipe installation projects has been increasing in Ohio. Currently, many transportation agencies including Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) regard a vertical deflection of 7.5% to be a point of failure for flexible thermoplastic conduits. The goal of this study is to examine the validity of this 7.5% deflection limit. To meet the goal, the authors carried out an extensive literature review, structural analyses of commonly used thermoplastic pipes using the latest American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) method, and computer simulations using CANDE. The literature review uncovered many field cases where thermoplastic pipes are performing well under vertical deflections above 7.5%. The AASHTO analysis showed that limiting the vertical deflection to 7.5% can prevent the plastic pipes from failing. CANDE results turned out to be mostly unrealistic and too conservative. Based on these results, it is recommended that ODOT continue requiring its current 7.5% vertical deflection limit for thermoplastic pipe conduits under roadways in Ohio. KW - AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications KW - Culvert pipe KW - Deflection KW - Literature reviews KW - Ohio KW - Pipe KW - Simulation KW - Specifications KW - Structural analysis KW - Thermoplastic materials UR - http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/Planning/SPR/Research/reportsandplans/Reports/2014/Hydraulics/134825_FR.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1343185 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554168 AU - Patnaik, Anil AU - Baah, Prince AU - University of Akron AU - Ohio Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Cracking Behavior of Structural Slab Bridge Decks PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 228p AB - Bridge deck cracking is a common problem throughout the United States, and it affects the service life of concrete bridges. Several departments of transportation (DOTs) in the United States prefer using continuous span structural (CSS) slab bridges without stringers over typical four-lane highways or steams. The primary objective of this project is to study the cracking behavior of CSS slab bridges. Recent inspections of such bridges in Ohio revealed permanent cracks as wide as 0.14 in. under dead load alone. These measured crack widths are more than 15 times the maximum limit recommended in American Concrete Institute (ACI) 224R-01 for bridge decks exposed to de-icing salts. Measurements using digital image correlation revealed that the cracks widened under truck loading, and in some cases, the cracks did not fully close after unloading. This report also includes details of an experimental investigation. Prism tests revealed that the concrete specimens with epoxy-coated bars (ECB) develop first crack at smaller loads, and develop larger crack widths compared to the corresponding specimens with uncoated (black) bars. Slab tests revealed that the specimens with longitudinal ECB developed first crack at smaller loads, exhibited wider cracks and a larger number of cracks, and failed at smaller ultimate loads compared to the corresponding test specimens with black bars. To investigate a preventive measure, slab specimens with basalt MiniBar or polypropylene fiber reinforced concrete were included in the test program. These specimens exhibited higher cracking loads, smaller crack widths, smaller mid-span deflections and higher ultimate failure loads compared to the slab specimens without fiber. Merely satisfying the reinforcement spacing requirements given in American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) or ACI 318-11 is not adequate to limit cracking below the ACI 224R-01 recommended maximum limit, even though all the relevant design requirements are otherwise met. Addition of fiber to concrete without changing any steel reinforcing details is expected to cost-effectively reduce the severity and extent of cracking in reinforced concrete bridge decks. KW - Bridge decks KW - Continuous girder bridges KW - Cracking KW - Fiber reinforced concrete KW - Load tests KW - Ohio KW - Reinforced concrete bridges KW - Reinforcing bars UR - http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/Planning/SPR/Research/reportsandplans/Reports/2015/Structures/134708_FR.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1343186 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01552145 AU - Hassan, Marwa AU - Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge AU - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Investigation of Best Practices for Maintenance of Concrete Bridge Railings PY - 2015/01//Final Report SP - 79p AB - Biodeterioration on concrete surfaces of vertical elements of bridges represents a serious challenge to the highway infrastructure in Louisiana. This report aims to document the causes of biodeterioration of concrete surfaces and to document current conventional and state-of-the-art practices implemented to prevent and clean biofilm. A comprehensive literature review of previous research has been carried out in order to determine the cause and mechanisms of the biodeterioration as well as to identify current methods that state departments of transportation (DOTs) have implemented in order to maintain their bridges and allow them to function in optimal structural and performance conditions. A survey was developed and distributed among different state DOTs to determine current prevention and cleaning practices and their effectiveness. This review will serve as a baseline for future research projects on this topic as identified by the results of the synthesis. Results suggest that the main cause of biodeterioration of concrete surfaces is caused by micro-organisms’ activity present at the surface. Furthermore, available methods used to prevent and clean biofilms growth are pressure washing, cleaning with biocides, and addition of photocatalytic nano titanium dioxide (TiO₂) in the concrete mix. From a prevention and cleaning perspective, the use of photocatalytic nano TiO₂ in the concrete mix appears to be the most promising method in preventing microbial growth. However, further validation of this treatment is needed. KW - Best practices KW - Biodeterioration KW - Bridge railings KW - Cleaning KW - Concrete bridges KW - Literature reviews KW - Louisiana KW - Maintenance KW - State departments of transportation KW - State of the practice KW - Surveys UR - http://www.ltrc.lsu.edu/pdf/2015/FR_532.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1341399 ER - TY - SER AN - 01551261 JO - Civil Engineering Studies, Illinois Center for Transportation Series PB - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Benekohal, Rahim F AU - Gregerson, Christopher AU - Medina, Juan AU - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Illinois Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - LED Street Lighting Evaluation—Phase II: LED Specification and Life-Cycle Cost Analysis PY - 2015/01 IS - 15-001 SP - 94p AB - Phase II of this study focused on developing a draft specification for light-emitting diode (LED) luminaires to be used by Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and a life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) tool for solid state lighting technologies. The team also researched the latest developments related to dirt depreciation factors for LED luminaires and other general developments on solid state lighting. A final draft specification was developed that included best practices from states and cities that already had their own specification, as well as feedback from several state department of transportation (DOT) staff, a few experts in roadway lighting, and six LED luminaire manufacturers. This process is recommended for the development of future specifications. A spreadsheet to conduct LCCA based on net present value was also developed. The spreadsheet contains unit costs of typical items used in roadway lighting projects, and it is completely customizable by the user. The life-cycle cost of high-pressure sodium (HPS), LED, plasma, and induction lighting designs can be compared side by side in the output table. There are significant trade-offs between larger initial investments for LED and lower maintenance/light consumption costs over the life of the project. Presently, LED lighting does not offer significant cost advantages over other technologies used in highway lighting in most of the four scenarios analyzed. However, assuming re-lamping and re-ballasting cycles of 4 years for HPS, and a cost of $845 per LED luminaire (half of current cost reported by IDOT), HPS and LED produced the most economical lighting solutions with the exception of the conventional interchange project in which LED was 8.3% more expensive than HPS. Ongoing dirt depreciation research and trends in the lighting industry, such as adaptive lighting, should be monitored to take advantage of developments and to ensure that the most qualified products are specified and purchased. In addition to LCCA, other factors may also be considered in deciding which type of luminaires to use. KW - Best practices KW - High pressure sodium lighting KW - Life cycle costing KW - Light emitting diodes KW - Luminaires KW - Specifications KW - Spreadsheets KW - State departments of transportation KW - Street lighting KW - Technological innovations UR - https://apps.ict.illinois.edu/projects/getfile.asp?id=3368 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1340558 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01620436 AU - Hampton Roads Planning District Commission AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Regional Crash Database Supports Safety Planning and Drives State Crash Data Improvement PY - 2015///Final Report SP - 3p AB - The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (HRPDC) located in southeastern Virginia developed a regional crash database to improve regional safety analysis for long- and short-range planning. Safety analysis at the corridor level had been ongoing, but this effort would improve analytic capacity at the regional level and allow results to be presented to their technical committee members in more detail. The regional safety study identified the top factors involved in Hampton Roads crashes as congestion and driver actions (failure to yield right-of-way, following too closely, driver inattention, and disregarding traffic signs). The study identified and analyzed the top 10 regional interstate high-crash locations by Equivalent Property Damage Only (EPDO) crash rate in detail, including location maps, roadway geometry diagrams, collision diagrams, crash data summaries, and proposed countermeasures. Another key result of the regional crash database project was the number of issues raised about the lack of consistency and timeliness of safety data at the state level. HRPDC communicated information on the weaknesses of the current databases during the State’s traffic records assessment that prompted an initiative to modify and improve the state crash database. KW - Best practices KW - Crash causes KW - Crash data KW - Databases KW - High risk locations KW - Regional analysis KW - Traffic safety KW - Transportation planning KW - Virginia UR - http://tsp.trb.org/assets/BP04_Hampton_Final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1440914 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01613824 AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Peer Exchange on e-Construction: Oregon and Michigan Departments of Transportation PY - 2015 SP - 42p AB - The e-Construction Peer Exchange provided a forum to discuss the Michigan Department of Transportation’s (MDOT’s) e-Construction program processes, challenges, and successes, as well as those of the Oregon Department of Transportation’s (ODOT’s) Automated Machine Guidance (AMG) and 3D modeling efforts. This report highlights the key information and the questions and answers from the meeting held March 11-12, 2015. KW - Automation KW - Construction management KW - Data management KW - Information technology KW - Mathematical models KW - Michigan Department of Transportation KW - Oregon Department of Transportation KW - Peer exchange KW - Technological innovations UR - https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/construction/econstruction/cai15006.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1424203 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01608695 AU - Connecticut Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - FHWA Climate Resilience Pilot Program: Connecticut Department of Transportation PY - 2015 SP - 4p AB - Extreme precipitation events have been more frequent and intense in Connecticut in recent years, resulting in damage to Connecticut DOT (CTDOT) infrastructure and posing safety concerns. CTDOT conducted a systems-level vulnerability assessment of bridge and culvert structures from inland flooding associated with extreme rainfall events. The assessment included data collection and field review, hydrologic and hydraulic evaluation, criticality assessment, and hydraulic design criteria evaluation. This project complements numerous other facility assessments CTDOT has conducted both independently and jointly with other state agencies in the past as well as the tri-state Hurricane Sandy Follow-up and Vulnerability Assessment and Adaption Analysis (focused on coastal assets and adaptation efforts transportation infrastructure). KW - Climate change KW - Connecticut KW - Culverts KW - Floods KW - Highway bridges KW - Hydraulic properties KW - Rainfall KW - Risk assessment UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/climate_change/adaptation/resilience_pilots/2013-2015_pilots/connecticut/ctcasestudy.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1420042 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01608574 AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - FHWA Climate Resilience Pilot Program: Iowa Department of Transportation PY - 2015 SP - 4p AB - River floods can persist for days or weeks in river basins with gently sloping landscapes like those found in parts of Iowa. The basins drain slowly, creating an extended period over which new rainfall can amplify a flood pulse in the river system and flood bridges and adjacent roadways. To evaluate future flood conditions, Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT) developed a methodology to integrate climate projections of rainfall within a river system model to predict river flood response to climate change. Iowa DOT tested this methodology in two river basins to evaluate its ability to produce scenarios of future flood conditions. They analyzed the potential impact of the predicted future floods on six bridges to evaluate vulnerability to climate change and extreme weather and inform the development of adaptation options. KW - Bridges KW - Climate change KW - Floods KW - Forecasting KW - Iowa KW - Methodology KW - Rainfall KW - Risk assessment KW - Rivers KW - Weather UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/climate_change/adaptation/resilience_pilots/2013-2015_pilots/iowa/fhwahep16047.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1420043 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01596749 AU - Michigan Department of Transportation AU - Cambridge Systematics AU - Stratus Consulting AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Michigan DOT Climate Vulnerability Assessment Pilot Project Final Report PY - 2015 SP - 71p AB - This study was conducted by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) to better understand future climate and extreme weather risks, and to identify approaches for integrating climate risk analysis into MDOT’s planning practices. This work included: (1) Identifying the primary climate stressors impacting the transportation system in Michigan; (2) Reviewing the transportation and climate data needed to assess those impacts and identifying gaps that limit what can be done with current data; (3) Examining risks from future climate and extreme weather impacts; (4) Assessing the vulnerability of transportation assets to those risks; and (5) Defining strategies for incorporating this information into asset management and agency decision-making. The scope of this study was on the Michigan highway system owned and operated by MDOT. It provides a foundation to help evaluate the adequacy of planning, design guidelines and standards, and operation and maintenance practices that may be impacted by future climate conditions. Due to the statewide scale of this analysis, the study focused on a small number of assets, but identified opportunities to collaborate with local planning efforts that include a broader range of asset owners and types. KW - Asset management KW - Climate change KW - Highways KW - Michigan Department of Transportation KW - Risk assessment KW - Transportation planning KW - Weather and climate UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/climate_change/adaptation/resilience_pilots/2013-2015_pilots/michigan/mdotfiinalreport.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1403120 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01587766 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Alabama Speed Management Action Plan: Problem Identification, Solutions, Implementation, Evaluation PY - 2015 SP - 106p AB - The primary purpose of the Alabama Speed Management Action Plan (Plan) is to help the State, in partnership with local agencies, reduce speeding-related fatal and injury-causing crashes. This Plan aims to help meet Alabama’s short- and long-term strategic highway safety plan (SHSP) goals. The Plan is intended to be used by a diverse group of stakeholders, including Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT), the State Department of Public Safety, and the Alabama Public Health Department. In addition, other agencies with a significant role in roadway safety, injury prevention, and speed management may potentially use and help to implement elements of the Plan. The Plan characterizes speeding-related crash problems, sets safety goals, describes Plan actions to meet the goals, and discusses evaluation measures appropriate to the goals and objectives. The Plan outlines broad actions needed to implement best speed management strategies Statewide to reduce future loss of life and injury. In addition to comprehensive and strategic actions, the Plan also includes specialized information for engineers, enforcement agencies and their partners, regarding systematic identification and treatment of high-crash routes or other local area issues. Countermeasures described include engineering and design, enforcement and penalty systems, public information, and communications measures. KW - Alabama KW - Best practices KW - Countermeasures KW - Evaluation KW - Implementation KW - Speed control KW - Speeding KW - Stakeholders KW - Strategic planning KW - Traffic safety UR - http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/speedmgt/ref_mats/docs/alabama_pilotplan_final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1395761 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01587704 AU - Barker, James AU - Bennett, Lola AU - Conwill, Joseph AU - Duwadi, Sheila Rimal AU - Gasparini, Dario AU - O'Connor, Richard AU - Reckard, Matthew AU - Sangree, Rachel Herring AU - National Park Service AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Covered Bridges and the Birth of American Engineering SN - 9780578171067 PY - 2015 SP - 246p AB - The book represents the culmination of research under the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)-sponsored National Historic Covered Bridge Preservation (NHCBP) Program. The Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) and the FHWA's Office of Infrastructure Research and Development have maintained a joint research and technology program for historic covered bridges since 2002. This book examines the development of wood trusses and covered bridge construction, profiles the pioneering craftsmen and engineers involved, explores the function of trusses in covered bridges, and looks at the preservation and future of these distinctly American bridges. Chapters include: HAER and the documentation of covered bridges; Overview of the National Historic Covered Bridge Preservation Program; History of covered bridges in the United States; Engineering design of covered bridges; Development of the American truss; Builders and practices; and The preservation and future of covered bridges in the U.S. KW - Bridge construction KW - Bridge design KW - Covered bridges KW - Historic preservation KW - History KW - National Historic Covered Bridge Preservation Program KW - Trusses KW - United States UR - http://www.nps.gov/hdp/coveredbridges.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1392127 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01587690 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Speed Management Action Plan for Randolph County: Analysis, Problem Identification, Planning, Implementation PY - 2015 SP - 106p AB - This Speed Management Action Plan characterizes Randolph County’s speeding and safety problems and speed management issues, identifies appropriate countermeasures and strategies, and describes implementation actions the State, County, and other partners can take to reduce speeding and speeding-related fatal and injury crashes on the County’s roads. It identifies engineering, road design measures, enforcement and adjudication improvements to support established speed limits. The Plan will help Randolph County stakeholders, including the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), public safety agencies, injury prevention partners, and other stakeholders work together to identify optimal solutions to reduce the level of speeding and the resultant serious injuries and fatalities in a cost-effective manner. KW - Adjudication KW - Countermeasures KW - Highway design KW - Implementation KW - Randolph County (North Carolina) KW - Speed control KW - Speeding KW - Stakeholders KW - Strategic planning KW - Traffic law enforcement KW - Traffic safety UR - http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/speedmgt/ref_mats/docs/randolphco-smap_final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1395749 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01587662 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - U.S. DOT Gulf Coast Study, Phase 2 PY - 2015 SP - 5p AB - This document summarizes the third task (Task 3.1: Screen for Vulnerability) of the project, Support for Impacts of Climate Change and Variability on Transportation Systems and Infrastructure: Gulf Coast Study Phase 2. The project developed methodologies for evaluating vulnerability and adaptation measures for local transportation systems. These transferrable methodologies were pilot tested in Mobile, Alabama. The project team evaluated the impacts on six transportation modes (highways, ports, airports, rail, transit, and pipelines) from projected changes in temperature and precipitation, sea level rise, and the surges and winds associated with more intense storms. The third task of the project involved combining all of the information gathered about asset criticality, projected changes in climate, and asset sensitivity to climate changes, to identify which critical assets might be most vulnerable to climate change. The study examined 67 assets, selected to be representative of the most critical assets across all modes of the Mobile transportation system. KW - Climate change KW - Infrastructure KW - Methodology KW - Mobile (Alabama) KW - Risk assessment KW - Transportation modes UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/climate_change/adaptation/case_studies/gulf_coast_study/engineering_and_tasks/task31.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1395308 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01587607 AU - Granato, Gregory E AU - DeSimone, Leslie A AU - Barbaro, Jeffrey R AU - Jeznach, Lillian C AU - U.S. Geological Survey AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Methods for Evaluating Potential Sources of Chloride in Surface Waters and Groundwaters of the Conterminous United States PY - 2015 SP - 104p AB - The purpose of this report is to provide information about potential sources of chloride, water and solute budgets, and methods for collecting water-quality data to help identify potential sources of chloride in the surface waters and groundwaters of the conterminous United States. This study was done by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), because scientists, engineers, regulators, and decisionmakers need this information for the evaluation of potential sources of chloride in areas where chloride may have adverse ecological effects or may degrade water supplies used for drinking water, agriculture, or industry. Knowledge of potential sources can help decisionmakers identify the best mitigation measures to reduce the total background chloride load, thereby reducing the potential for water-quality exceedances caused by superposition on rising background concentrations. Also, knowledge of potential sources may help decisionmakers identify the potential for the presence of contaminants that have toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic, or endocrine-disrupting effects at concentrations that are lower by orders of magnitude than the chloride concentrations in the source water. KW - Chlorides KW - Contaminants KW - Data collection KW - Environmental impacts KW - Evaluation KW - Groundwater KW - United States KW - Water quality management KW - Watersheds UR - http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2015/1080/ofr20151080.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1378519 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01581092 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Traffic Incident Management Benefit-Cost Estimation Tool PY - 2015 SP - 2p AB - The research team at Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC) developed a Web-based Traffic Incident Management Benefit-Cost (TIM-BC) tool with standardized methodology that can be universally employed in benefit-cost ratio estimation for different TIM programs. The TIM-BC tool can estimate travel delay, fuel consumption, emissions, and secondary incidents. The data and equations encompassed in the database are derived directly from well-designed simulation experiments, which consider various incident information (i.e., number of lanes, lane blockage, duration, and location) under different traffic conditions. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Incident management KW - Traffic incidents KW - Web applications UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/operations/16016/16016.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1375491 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580938 AU - Florida Department of Transportation AU - Massachusetts Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - e-Construction Peer-To-Peer Exchange: Summary Report PY - 2015 SP - 23p AB - The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) hosted a peer exchange with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) in Tampa, Florida on September 16-17, 2015. The focus of the peer exchange was e-Construction – or a paperless construction administration delivery process that includes electronic submission of all construction documentation by all stakeholders, electronic document routing/approvals (e-signature), and digital management of all construction documentation in a secure environment that nonetheless allows distribution to all authorized project stakeholders through mobile devices. The event was sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). KW - Administrative procedures KW - Construction management KW - Data communications KW - Forms (Documents) KW - Implementation KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Peer exchange KW - Technological innovations UR - https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/construction/econstruction/peer_exchange/fl_ma.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1375076 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580883 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Road Diets (Roadway Reconfiguration) PY - 2015 SP - 2p AB - Road Diets are a safety-focused alternative to a four-lane, undivided roadway. The most common type of Road Diet involves converting an existing four-lane, undivided roadway segment that serves both through and turning traffic into a three-lane segment with two through lanes and a center, two-way left-turn lane (TWLTL). The reclaimed space can be allocated for other uses such as bike lanes, pedestrian refuge islands, bus lanes and parking. This document includes an overview of the benefits of road diets, the state of the practice, and support and available tools. KW - Benefits KW - Highway design KW - Road diets KW - State of the practice KW - Traffic lanes UR - https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/innovation/everydaycounts/edc-3/factsheets/edc-3_factsheet_road_diets.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373769 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576155 AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Transit Administration TI - The Transportation Planning Process Briefing Book: Key Issues for Transportation Decisionmakers, Officials, and Staff PY - 2015 SP - 84p AB - This book provides an overview of transportation planning and will be useful for government officials, transportation decisionmakers, planning board members, transportation service providers, interested stakeholders, and the public. It covers the basics and key concepts of metropolitan and Statewide transportation planning, along with references for additional information. Part I discusses transportation planning and its relationship to decisionmaking. This section is general and provides a broad introduction to the planning process. Part II presents short descriptions of the key products that are prepared as part of the transportation planning process. This book has been updated to reflect recent changes in Federal legislation concerning the requirements for transportation planning at the metropolitan, and Statewide and nonmetropolitan levels. It is an informational publication that replaces its predecessor of the same title published in 2007. KW - Decision making KW - Legislation KW - Metropolitan planning organizations KW - Policy KW - State departments of transportation KW - Transportation planning UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/publications/briefing_book/fhwahep15048.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1367532 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574039 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Air Quality Planning for Transportation Officials PY - 2015 SP - v.p. AB - The purpose of this guide is to provide an overview of the air quality planning requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA) that are transportation-related. Contents include: National Ambient Air Quality Standards, Monitoring for air quality levels, Nonattainment area boundaries, State implementation plans, Mobile source emissions inventory, Sanctions, and Interagency consultation and public involvement. KW - Air quality management KW - Interagency relations KW - National Ambient Air Quality Standards KW - Nonattainment areas KW - Pollutants KW - Public participation KW - Sanctions KW - Transportation planning UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/air_quality/publications/air_quality_planning/aqplan00.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363096 ER - TY - SER AN - 01572105 JO - Transportation Decisionmaking: Information Tools for Tribal Governments PB - Federal Highway Administration TI - Partnering and Leveraging PY - 2015 SP - 31p AB - This training is part of a continuing educational series designed for tribal governments offering modules in transportation planning, transportation programming, intergovernmental relations, and safety and asset management. This module focuses on partnering and leveraging and has six parts: (1) Introduction. Topic description. Practice While You Learn! (2) What are Partnerships and What Is Leveraging? Overview. (3) Steps in Partnering and Leveraging. Four basic steps. (4) From Indian Country. Tribal partnership examples. (5) Toolbox and Checklist. Key points. (6) Appendices. Further reading. Memorandum of Agreement example. KW - Cooperation KW - Indian reservations KW - Interagency relations KW - Transportation planning KW - Tribal government UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/processes/tribal/planning_modules/partnering_and_leveraging/partneringandleveragingmodule.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363095 ER - TY - SER AN - 01572104 JO - Transportation Decisionmaking: Information Tools for Tribal Governments PB - Federal Highway Administration TI - Data Collection and Use PY - 2015 SP - 21p AB - This training is part of a continuing educational series designed for tribal governments offering modules in transportation planning, transportation programming, intergovernmental relations, and safety and asset management. This module focuses on data collection. Contents include an overview of data collection and data analysis; how data is used in transportation planning; where tribes can find data; data management and data maintenance; and how data can be used to tell a story. KW - Data analysis KW - Data collection KW - Data management KW - Indian reservations KW - Transportation planning KW - Tribal government UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/processes/tribal/planning_modules/data_collection/training_datacoll_module.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363085 ER - TY - SER AN - 01572102 JO - Transportation Decisionmaking: Information Tools for Tribal Governments PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Southern, Valerie J TI - Tribal Transportation Funding Resources PY - 2015 SP - 133p AB - This training is part of a continuing educational series designed for tribal governments offering modules in transportation planning, transportation programming, intergovernmental relations, and safety and asset management. The goal of this module is to identify funding programs and strategies that will assist Tribal governments with their transportation planning. The module should be used as a reference guide. It contains detailed information on thirty‐six (36) federal funding programs and the eligibility criteria for each. Sections include: Federal Lands Highway Program programs; Federal-Aid Highway programs; Public transportation programs; Alternative funding programs; Innovative project finance techniques. In addition, the appendix includes a case study describing the infrastructure projects of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and how they were funded. KW - Case studies KW - Federal aid highways KW - Federal Lands Highway Program KW - Government funding KW - Indian reservations KW - Public transit KW - Transportation planning KW - Tribal government UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/processes/tribal/planning_modules/training_fund_module/training_fund_module.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363092 ER - TY - SER AN - 01572101 JO - Transportation Decisionmaking: Information Tools for Tribal Governments PB - Federal Highway Administration TI - Asset Management PY - 2015 SP - 36p AB - This training is part of a continuing educational series designed for tribal governments offering modules in transportation planning, transportation programming, intergovernmental relations, and safety and asset management. This module focuses on asset management and has six parts: (1) Introduction. Topic description. Practice While You Learn! (2) How Do I Do Asset Management? Step by step instructions. (3) Toolbox. Techniques for performing task. (4) Checklist. (5) From Indian Country. Tribal example. (6) Appendices. For Further Reading. Asset Management Quiz. KW - Asset management KW - Implementation KW - Indian reservations KW - Tribal government UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/processes/tribal/planning_modules/asset_management/assetmanagementmodule.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363081 ER - TY - SER AN - 01572100 JO - Transportation Decisionmaking: Information Tools for Tribal Governments PB - Federal Highway Administration TI - Financial Planning PY - 2015 SP - 46p AB - This training is part of a continuing educational series designed for tribal governments offering modules in transportation planning, transportation programming, intergovernmental relations, and safety and asset management. This module focuses on financial planning and has six parts: (1) Introduction. Topic description and Practice While You Learn! (2) What Is Financial Planning, and How Does It Work? Overview. (3) Step-by-Step Financial Planning. Four basic steps. (4) Financial Planning Checklist. Key points. (5) From Indian Country. Financial planning example. (6) Appendices. For further reading. Blank worksheets. KW - Finance KW - Indian reservations KW - Transportation planning KW - Tribal government UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/processes/tribal/planning_modules/financial_planning/financialplanningmodule.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363090 ER - TY - SER AN - 01572098 JO - Transportation Decisionmaking: Information Tools for Tribal Governments PB - Federal Highway Administration TI - Introduction to Transportation Planning PY - 2015 SP - 21p AB - This training is part of a continuing educational series designed for tribal governments offering modules in transportation planning, transportation programming, intergovernmental relations, and safety and asset management. This module focuses on the benefits, products, and processes of transportation planning. It also looks at tribal sovereignty in the planning process and barriers tribes face when doing transportation planning. KW - Benefits KW - Indian reservations KW - Intergovernmental relations KW - Transportation planning KW - Tribal government UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/processes/tribal/planning_modules/training_intro_module/training_intro_module.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363094 ER - TY - SER AN - 01572096 JO - Transportation Decisionmaking: Information Tools for Tribal Governments PB - Federal Highway Administration TI - Public Involvement PY - 2015 SP - 21p AB - This training is part of a continuing educational series designed for tribal governments offering modules in transportation planning, transportation programming, intergovernmental relations, and safety and asset management. This module focuses on public involvement. Sections include when to involve the public, the goals and considerations of public involvement, and techniques and strategies used. KW - Indian reservations KW - Public participation KW - Transportation planning KW - Tribal government UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/processes/tribal/planning_modules/public_involvement/training_PItool_module.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363098 ER - TY - SER AN - 01572095 JO - Transportation Decisionmaking: Information Tools for Tribal Governments PB - Federal Highway Administration TI - Statewide, MPO, and FHWA Role in Tribal Consultation PY - 2015 SP - 31p AB - This training is part of a continuing educational series designed for tribal governments offering modules in transportation planning, transportation programming, intergovernmental relations, and safety and asset management. This module focuses on tribal consultation and has six parts: (1) Introduction. Topic description and Practice While You Learn! (2) Tribal Sovereignty. Definition and Federal directives. (3). What Is Tribal Consultation? Definition and overview. (4) Federal, State Department of Transportation and Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Practices. Examples of consultation practices. (5) Toolbox, Key Points and Checklist. Summary. (6) Appendices. For Further Reading. Practice While You Learn! - One Possible Answer. KW - Cooperation KW - Federal government agencies KW - Indian reservations KW - Intergovernmental relations KW - Metropolitan planning organizations KW - State departments of transportation KW - Transportation planning KW - Tribal government KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/processes/tribal/planning_modules/tribal_consultation/tcmodule.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363082 ER - TY - SER AN - 01572094 JO - Transportation Decisionmaking: Information Tools for Tribal Governments PB - Federal Highway Administration TI - Developing the Tribal Transportation Improvement Program PY - 2015 SP - 26p AB - This training is part of a continuing educational series designed for tribal governments offering modules in transportation planning, transportation programming, intergovernmental relations, and safety and asset management. This module focuses tribal transportation improvement programs. It provides an overview of the fundamental process for developing a Tribal Transportation Improvement Program (TTIP) in coordination with Federal, State, and local governments. Similar to the TTIP, there are three other types of TIPs that are relevant and directly applicable to Tribal transportation: Indian Reservation Roads Transportation Improvement Program (IRRTIP); Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program (“metropolitan TIP”); and Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). A key message in this module is the importance of continuous, cooperative, and comprehensive (the “3Cs”) planning efforts between the Tribe and other Federal, State, and local planning partners. KW - Cooperation KW - Indian reservations KW - Interagency relations KW - Transportation Improvement Program KW - Transportation planning KW - Tribal government UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/processes/tribal/planning_modules/ttip/training_ttip_module.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363087 ER - TY - SER AN - 01572093 JO - Transportation Decisionmaking: Information Tools for Tribal Governments PB - Federal Highway Administration TI - Project Prioritization PY - 2015 SP - 36p AB - This training is part of a continuing educational series designed for tribal governments offering modules in transportation planning, transportation programming, intergovernmental relations, and safety and asset management. This module focuses on project prioritization and has six parts: (1) Introduction: Topic description. Practice While You Learn! (2) How Do I Prioritize Transportation Projects? Step by step instructions. (3) Toolbox: Techniques for performing tasks. (4) Checklist and Tips: Check list. (5) From Indian Country: A tribal example. (6) Appendices. For Further Reading. Title 25-Part 170 (Excerpt). Quinault Indian Nation Resolutions. Practice While You Learn! - One Possible Answer. Sample Sheets. KW - Construction projects KW - Decision making KW - Indian reservations KW - Strategic planning KW - Transportation planning KW - Tribal government UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/processes/tribal/planning_modules/project_prioritization/ppmodule.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363097 ER - TY - SER AN - 01572092 JO - Transportation Decisionmaking: Information Tools for Tribal Governments PB - Federal Highway Administration TI - Developing a Transportation Safety Plan PY - 2015 SP - 44p AB - This training is part of a continuing educational series designed for tribal governments offering modules in transportation planning, transportation programming, intergovernmental relations, and safety and asset management. This module focuses on transportation safety planning and has five parts: (1) Overview. Topic description and Practice While You Learn! (2) What Is Transportation Safety Planning? Overview, data, funding, and resources. (3) Step-by-Step Transportation Safety Planning. Seven basic steps. (4) Additional Resources. Links for more information. (5) Appendix Continued reading and worksheets. KW - Financing KW - Implementation KW - Indian reservations KW - Transportation planning KW - Transportation safety KW - Tribal government UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/processes/tribal/planning_modules/safety/tribalsafetyplan.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1361877 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570388 AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Transit Administration TI - Public Involvement Techniques for Transportation Decisionmaking PY - 2015///Update SP - 171p AB - This guide provides a variety of tools to secure meaningful input from the public on transportation plans, programs, and projects—and it can help agencies improve their overall public involvement techniques. Contents include: Including people who are traditionally underserved; Bringing together a core participation group, Understanding different communications styles; Determining the best type of meeting; Interacting during meetings; Technology; and Generating feedback. KW - Decision making KW - Public participation KW - Transportation planning UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/public_involvement/publications/pi_techniques/fhwahep15044.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1360887 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570296 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Video Analytics Research Projects PY - 2015 SP - 16p AB - The flagship dataset to emerge from the Transportation Research Board’s second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) study is the naturalistic driving study (NDS). The study is a focus on driver behavior and addresses the notion that it is possible to obtain more and better information on what people do when they drive—not just in the moments before they get into a collision but on a day-to-day basis. Researchers for the NDS have gathered over 1.2-million hours of data, collected from the vehicles of approximately 3,000 volunteers going about their regular activities. Each of those vehicles was equipped with four cameras, a Global Positioning System (GPS), and many other sensors. Over 2 petabytes (2,000 terabytes) of data has been generated over a 2-year period, a majority of which comes from video captured by the onboard cameras. The massive size of the video data creates a serious data bottleneck for researchers and makes traditional methods for identifying features in the data, such as objects, behaviors, roadside design details, and surrounding vehicles, completely inadequate. Several video analytics research projects, funded by the EAR Program, aim to make data processing and analysis more practical by focusing on increasing the automation of video data decoding. The goal of these EAR Program projects is to assist researchers through the use of an algorithm designed to narrow down the amount of data researchers need to manually review. There are six ongoing video analytics projects funded by the EAR Program, all tasked with developing technology to make it feasible for a researcher to quickly and flexibly get what they need from an extremely large dataset. The following pages contain summary descriptions of the EAR Program-sponsored research projects investigating video analytics. KW - Algorithms KW - Automatic data collection systems KW - Behavior KW - Data analysis KW - Data processing operations KW - Drivers KW - Research projects KW - Strategic Highway Research Program 2 KW - Video UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/advancedresearch/pubs/15025/15025.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359655 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567431 AU - Martin, Amy Epps AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Statewide Implementation of the Surface Performance-Graded (SPG) Specification for Seal Coat Binders in Service. Products -P1, -P4, & -P5 PY - 2015 SP - v.p. AB - This project includes three documents. (1) Seal Coat Binder Performance Specifications, 87th Annual Transportation Short Course, October 2013, 3p., PowerPoint slides covering objective, history, recommended Surface Performance Grading (SPG) specification, and implementation project. (2) SPG Specification for 2015 Implementation, 8p. (3) Texas Seal Coat Binder Utilization maps for 2013 and 2014, 4p. KW - Bituminous binders KW - Implementation KW - Pavement performance KW - Performance based specifications KW - Seal coats KW - Texas UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/5-6616-01-P1.pdf UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/5-6616-01-P4.pdf UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/5-6616-01-P5.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1354420 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563517 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Intersection Proven Safety Countermeasure: Technical Summary: Backplates with Retroreflective Borders PY - 2015 SP - 16p AB - In 2012, the Federal Highway Administration, Office of Safety issued a “Guidance Memorandum on Promoting the Implementation of Proven Safety Countermeasures”. This guidance took into consideration the latest safety research to advance a group of countermeasures proven highly effective at improving safety. The nine Proven Safety Countermeasures chosen for targeted implementation included Backplates with Retroreflective Borders, defined as “the addition of narrow strips of retroreflective tape or sheeting around the border of the backplates.” This combination of traffic signal backplates and retroreflective borders serves to improve and enhance the visibility and conspicuity of the traffic signal indications, ultimately leading to fewer red light running related incidents. As a means to further promote and advance Backplates with Retroreflective Borders, this Technical Summary and a companion Executive Summary have been prepared to assist transportation professionals with decisions pertaining to their implementation. This document provides a substantive overview of policy, procedural and construction issues. KW - Case studies KW - Countermeasures KW - Implementation KW - Intersections KW - Plates (Engineering) KW - Red light running KW - Reflectorized materials KW - Retroreflectors KW - Traffic safety KW - Traffic signals UR - http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/intersection/blackplates/blackplate_tech/sa15007.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353220 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563452 AU - Hoback, W Wyatt AU - Conley, Adrienne AU - University of Nebraska, Kearney AU - Nebraska Department of Roads AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Transit Administration TI - Overwintering Biology and Tests of Trap and Relocate As a Conservation Measure for Burying Beetles PY - 2015///Final Report SP - 81p AB - Burying beetles are carrion beetles and utilize dead animal carcasses for feeding and reproductive efforts. They assist with decomposition, prevent the spread of disease, and reduce the number of pest species. The largest species of carrion beetle, the American burying beetle, is a federally endangered insect and its distribution has been reduced by 90%. The conservation of this species is important in maintaining a healthy ecosystem. Overwintering biology and trap and relocation were studied to determine how this beetle survives freezing temperatures and to find whether trap and relocation could be a suitable conservation management measure. Trap and relocation is a technique often used to relocate organisms from an area where human and animal habitats overlap. In this study, the authors test the efficacy of a trap-relocate technique with a surrogate species of burying beetle, Nicrophorus marginatus, to determine the implications of this technique on the conservation management of the federally endangered American burying beetle, Nicrophorus americanus. Baited pitfall traps were used for capture, and the comparison of percent recaptures at different trap sites (control, source, and destination) was used to determine the effects of relocating beetles. The results showed that percent recaptures were lower for the beetles relocated to the new location; however, there was no statistical difference between trap sites. Trap and relocation, in circumstances where there is substantial threat to the American burying beetle’s habitat, should be considered for conserving this species. Insects are poikilotherms and have evolved strategies to survive freezing temperatures through changes in behavior and physiology. Overwintering insects either utilize a freeze tolerant or freeze avoidant strategy. Freeze avoidant insects cannot withstand their cellular fluids freezing solid, while freeze tolerant insects can survive this. Burying beetles from their northern range in Nebraska were put in a simulated, natural environment to determine whether they are freeze avoidant or freeze tolerant. The results showed that there was a strong relationship between beetle depth and temperature. Beetles from the northern range buried at or below the frost line to survive freezing temperatures. This could have further implications in the conservation of the American burying beetle if there are differences between the overwintering behavior of northern and southern range beetles. KW - Conservation KW - Construction KW - Endangered species KW - Ground freezing KW - Insects KW - Low temperature KW - Nebraska KW - Weather conditions KW - Winter UR - http://www.transportation.nebraska.gov/mat-n-tests/research/Enviro/FinalReportM330.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1352902 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563438 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Intersection Proven Safety Countermeasure: Technical Summary: Corridor Access Management PY - 2015 SP - 28p AB - In 2012, the Federal Highway Administration, Office of Safety issued a “Guidance Memorandum on Promoting the Implementation of Proven Safety Countermeasures”. This guidance took into consideration the latest safety research to advance a group of countermeasures proven highly effective at improving safety. The nine Proven Safety Countermeasures chosen for targeted implementation included Corridor Access Management, defined as “a set of techniques that State and local governments use to control access to highways, major arterials, and other roadways.” This included all types of access, ranging from high volume, suburban signalized intersections to simple, unpaved rural driveways, along all classes of roads and highways open to public travel. As a means to further promote and advance Corridor Access Management, this Technical Summary and a companion Executive Summary have been prepared to assist transportation professionals with decisions pertaining to Corridor Access Management, including planning, permitting, design, selection, and implementation. This document provides a substantive overview of important access-related issues: safety performance (i.e. crashes), effects on pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and community and business economic impacts. KW - Access control (Transportation) KW - Countermeasures KW - Driveways KW - Economic impacts KW - Highway corridors KW - Highway design KW - Highway facilities for nonmotorized users KW - Highway safety KW - Intersections UR - http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/intersection/am/cam_tech/sa15005.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353219 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01562663 AU - Cai, C S AU - Kong, Xuan AU - Xiong, Wen AU - Hou, Shuang AU - Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge AU - Louisiana Transportation Research Center AU - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Monitoring Bridge Scour Using Fiber Optic Sensors PY - 2015///Final Report SP - 162p AB - The scouring process excavates and carries away materials from the bed and banks of streams, and from around the piers and abutments of bridges. Scour undermines bridges and may cause bridge failures due to structural instability. In the last 30 years, more than 1,000 bridges collapsed in the U.S. and about 60% of the failures are related to the scour of bridge foundations. Due to the difficulty in inspecting bridge scour, scour-induced failures tend to occur suddenly without prior warning or signs of distress to the structures. Owing to the threat of hurricane-induced flooding and the fact that there are a significant number of coastal and river/bayou bridges in Louisiana, a more reliable inspection and monitoring procedure for bridge scour is needed. This proposed study is to develop bridge scour monitoring techniques using fiber optic sensors. Based on theoretical and numerical studies, a few mechanisms were proposed for foundation scour monitoring and verified in laboratory tests. In order to apply those mechanisms to field bridges, three instrumentations were designed and tested, and one design was selected for field applications. According to the selected design, two 18-ft long piles with Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors were then fabricated, transported, and installed beside the foundation of the field bridge. Finally, the long-term monitoring was conducted to evaluate the foundation scour condition. KW - Bridge foundations KW - Fiber optics KW - Instrumentation KW - Laboratory tests KW - Louisiana KW - Scour KW - Sensors KW - Structural health monitoring UR - http://www.ltrc.lsu.edu/pdf/2015/FR_535.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1352152 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560974 AU - Bracci, Joseph M AU - Texas Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Performance of Lap Splices in Large-Scale Column Specimens Affected by ASR and/or DEF. Extension Phase PY - 2015 SP - 105p AB - Chapters include: Introduction, Specimen details, Exposure of large-scale specimens, Experimental testing program, and Summary, conclusions, and recommendations. KW - Alkali silica reactions KW - Columns KW - Deterioration KW - Lap splices KW - Recommendations KW - Texas UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-5722-2.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1348919 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560969 AU - Bayrak, Oguzhan AU - Williams, Chris AU - Moore, Andrew AU - Al-Tarafany, Dhiaa AU - Massey, Josh AU - Felan, James AU - Nguyen, Trang AU - Schmidt, Katie AU - Wald, David AU - Jirsa, James AU - Ghannoum, Wassim AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Spliced Texas Girder Bridges PY - 2015///Project Summary SP - 2p AB - Spliced girder technology continues to attract attention due to its versatility over traditional prestressed concrete highway bridge construction. By joining multiple precast concrete girders using post-tensioning, spliced girder technology effectively extends the application of low-cost precast construction to uncharacteristic span lengths. Although various connection methods have been devised over the years, the cast-in-place (CIP) splice region has emerged as the preferred connection between precast I-girder segments. Relatively limited data are available in the literature, however, for large-scale shear tests of post-tensioned I-girders, and only a few studies have examined the behavior of the CIP splice regions of spliced girder bridges. The goal of this project was to develop a better understanding of spliced girder behavior. To accomplish this task, the project was divided into two phases. The Phase I research was aimed at evaluating the effect of post-tensioning ducts contained in the thin webs of spliced I-girders. Phase II examined the behavior of the CIP splice regions of spliced I-girders. KW - Bridge design KW - Cast in place concrete KW - Ducts KW - Girder bridges KW - Posttensioning KW - Precast concrete KW - Shear tests KW - Structural connection KW - Texas UR - http://library.ctr.utexas.edu/ctr-publications/psr/0-6652-s.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1348921 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560959 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Development of a Platform Technology for Automated Vehicle Research - Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control PY - 2015 SP - 2p AB - The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Office of Operations Research and Development, located at Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC), added five new research vehicles to FHWA’s Innovation Research Vehicle Fleet. This fleet offers an experimental connected automation research platform that provides advanced capabilities for future operational concepts and supports their evaluation. In addition, the fleet’s research platform enables full automatic control of longitudinal movements (such as acceleration and braking) with the flexibility to support lateral control (such as steering controls) for future autonomous vehicle research. Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC) is the first operational implementation developed and tested on the new research platform. The CACC implementation will provide the ability to test the open architecture of the vehicle fleet technology platform and assess the ability of researchers to use the vehicle fleet to support the study of operational concepts and connected automation applications. KW - Automation KW - Autonomous intelligent cruise control KW - Implementation KW - Intelligent vehicles KW - Research KW - Technological innovations KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration KW - Vehicle fleets UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/operations/15032/15032.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1350640 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560942 AU - Scullion, Tom AU - Wilson, Bryan T AU - Walubita, Lubinda AU - Sebesta, Stephen AU - Faruk, Abu AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Design and Construction Issues of Thin HMA Overlays PY - 2015///Project Summary SP - 2p AB - Thin hot-mix asphalt (HMA) overlays, placed between 1.25 to 0.5 inches, have quickly become a go-to maintenance treatment in Texas. While implementation around the state is proving successful, a few issues needed to be addressed: (1) The unavailability of surface aggregate class (SAC) A aggregate is pressuring districts to blend in lower-quality SAC B materials. The question: How much and which types of SAC B aggregate should be allowed in blending to still have acceptable skid resistance? (2) Because these mixes are so thin, they are subject to higher stresses than traditional overlays, especially if the bond is poor. The question: How do we test bond strength, and what are the best materials and methods to achieve a good bond? and (3) Achieving adequate compaction is a critical step to ensure long-term overlay performance. Measuring density on thin overlays, however, is not possible with traditional methods. The question: What test methods will best monitor thin lift density? KW - Aggregates KW - Asphalt mixtures KW - Bond strength (Materials) KW - Compaction KW - Density KW - Evaluation KW - Hot mix asphalt KW - Overlays (Pavements) KW - Skid resistance KW - Test procedures KW - Texas UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6742-S.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1348917 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560938 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - LTPP 2014 and Beyond: What is Needed and What Can Be Done? PY - 2015 SP - 16p AB - The Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) Program was formally established by the U.S. Congress in the Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act of 1987, as part of the first Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP). While most of the SHRP initiatives ended after the first five-year SHRP effort, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) was formally authorized by Congress in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) of 1991 to continue management of the LTPP Program to complete the mission of performance observations over full pavement construction (new or rehabilitation) cycles. In 1992, FHWA assumed management and administrative responsibilities to continue the LTPP Program and complete the planned pavement performance monitoring in partnership with the State transportation agencies that own the LTPP test sections, the Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), and the Transportation Research Board (TRB). The program’s goal is to understand how and why pavements perform as they do. As highway agencies transition to a performance-based approach to managing highway investments, this goal is more important than ever. This document discusses the LTPP Program as it exists today, the program’s contributions to date, and a vision for its future. KW - Data analysis KW - Long range planning KW - Long-Term Pavement Performance Program KW - Pavement performance KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/pavements/ltpp/15017/15017.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1351071 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01560910 AU - Luhr, David R AU - Rydholm, Timothy C TI - Economic Evaluation of Pavement Management Decisions PY - 2015 SP - 14p AB - The Washington State DOT (WSDOT) was an early pioneer in the implementation of pavement management, starting with pavement condition data collection in 1969, and the establishment of a computerized pavement management system in the late 1970s. WSDOT performs a Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) for all new pavement structures, and existing pavements requiring reconstruction. A 50-year analysis period is used to consider all maintenance and/or rehabilitation activities anticipated over the life cycle analysis period. The LCCA performed when selecting a pavement type for a new pavement structure is a long-term analysis, based upon the best available information at the time the decision is made. But, it is not an operating plan that lays out the pavement treatment decisions for the next 50 years. The focus of this paper is the economic evaluation of pavement management decisions made in year-to-year operations, which are based on analyses at the performance period level. The use of economic evaluation techniques such as Cost Effectiveness Analysis, Replacement Analysis, and Break-Even Analysis is essential in making pavement management decisions, and can result in substantial cost savings. Even a one-year extension in pavement life through the use of cost-effective pavement treatments can have significant benefits. The information provided by the economic performance measures are shown to be critical for the efficient planning, prioritizing, and programming of pavement asset management activities. U1 - 9th International Conference on Managing Pavement Assets (ICMPA9)Virginia Tech Transportation InstituteFederal Highway AdministrationVirginia Department of TransportationAmerican Association of State Highway & Transportation OfficialsTransportation Research BoardWorld Road Association (PIARC)Alexandria,Virginia,United States StartDate:20150518 EndDate:20150522 Sponsors:Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, Federal Highway Administration, Virginia Department of Transportation, American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials, Transportation Research Board, World Road Association (PIARC) KW - Asset management KW - Decision making KW - Economic analysis KW - Life cycle costing KW - Pavement maintenance KW - Pavement management systems KW - Washington State Department of Transportation UR - http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/09C52CA9-3AF7-4A34-BA0F-FDDB84A0A8EF/0/EconomicEvaluationofPavementManagementDecisions.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1348929 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560871 AU - Resource Systems Group Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Multiday GPS Travel Behavior Data for Travel Analysis PY - 2015 SP - 213p AB - The two main objectives of this project are: 1) to provide new examples of the type of valuable research that can be done using multiday global positioning system (GPS) travel survey data; and 2) to demonstrate that such research can be conducted in the Transportation Secure Data Center (TSDC) research environment. Each chapter describes a research project that was funded and carried out as part of this project. The four research topics were originally specified by RSG, with input from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and then further refined by the authors during the course of their research. The projects are: “The Effect of Day-to-Day Travel Time Variability on Auto Travel Choices,” “Multiday Variation in Time Use and Destination Choice in the Bay Area Using the California Household Travel Survey,” “Capturing Personal Modality Styles Using Multiday GPS Data—Findings from the San Francisco Bay Area,” and “An Empirical Study of the Deviation between Actual and Shortest-Travel-Time Paths.” KW - Data analysis KW - Global Positioning System KW - Research projects KW - Transportation Secure Data Center KW - Travel behavior KW - Travel surveys KW - Travel time UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/tmip/publications/other_reports/multiday_gps/fhwahep15026.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1349608 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560679 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Assistive Technologies for Visually Impaired Persons: Developing Situational Awareness and Guidance Solutions for People with Vision Impairment and Other Disabilities PY - 2015 SP - 2p AB - There are approximately 2 million adults with reported vision loss in the United States. Independent travel and active interactions with the surrounding environment present significant daily challenges for these individuals, ultimately reducing quality of life and compromising safety. To begin to address these challenges, the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA’s) Exploratory Advanced Research (EAR) Program funded three research projects to examine new technology solutions for wayfinding and navigation guidance for people with vision impairment and other disabilities. This fact sheet briefly summarizes these three projects, which are entitled “Intelligent Situation Awareness and Navigation Aid for Visually Impaired Persons,” “Navigation Guidance for People with Vision Impairment,” and “Extended Event Horizon Navigation and Wayfinding for Blind and Visually Impaired Pedestrians in Unstructured Environments.” KW - Alertness KW - Assistive technology KW - Exploratory Advanced Research Program KW - Navigational aids (Visually impaired) KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration KW - Visually impaired persons KW - Wayfinding UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/advancedresearch/pubs/15040/15040.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1350408 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560605 AU - Hueste, Mary Beth D AU - Mander, John AU - Terzioglu, Tevfik AU - Jiang, Dongqi AU - Petersen-Gauthier, Joel AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute, College Station AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Spread Prestressed Concrete Slab Beam Bridges PY - 2015///Technical Report SP - 406p AB - TxDOT uses prestressed slab beam bridges for short-span bridges ranging from approximately 30–50 ft in length. These bridges have precast, pretensioned slab beams placed immediately adjacent to one another with a cast-in-place slab made composite with the beams. While these bridges are used extensively, they are more expensive than traditional prestressed I-beam structures on a per-square-foot basis. The objective of this project was to investigate the use of slab beams that are spread apart with precast panel stay-in-place forms between beams and a cast-in-place concrete deck, and to develop appropriate design guidelines for this alternate spread slab beam bridge system. The project objectives were met through a series of tasks. The research team reviewed the relevant literature and the current state of the practice. Preliminary designs were developed to assess the potential of a spread slab beam bridge system. A full-scale spread slab beam bridge was constructed at the Texas A&M University Riverside Campus and tested to assess constructability, in-service performance, and behavior. Field testing was conducted for the Riverside Bridge and a US 69 on-system bridge to evaluate load distribution behavior and to provide data to guide analytical modeling of this bridge system. Additional analytical models were developed to investigate an array of possible bridge geometries and load sharing behavior. Based on these models, recommendations were developed for load distribution factor relationships for the design of spread slab beam bridges. KW - Bridge decks KW - Bridge design KW - Cast in place concrete KW - Guidelines KW - Precast concrete KW - Prestressed concrete bridges KW - Short span slab bridges KW - Stay-in-place forms KW - Texas KW - Texas Department of Transportation UR - http://www.tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6722-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1350341 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554376 AU - Juenger, Maria AU - Seraj, Saamiya AU - Cano, Rachel AU - Liu, Shukui AU - Whitney, David AU - Fowler, David AU - Ferron, Raissa AU - Zhu, Jinying AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Investigation of Alternative Supplementary Cementing Materials (SCMs) PY - 2015///Project Summary SP - 2p AB - In Texas, Class F fly ash is extensively used as a supplementary cementing material (SCM) because of its ability to control thermal cracking in mass concrete and to mitigate deleterious expansions in concrete from alkali-silica reaction (ASR) and sulfate attack. However, uncertainty in the supply of Class F fly ash due to impending environmental restrictions has made it imperative to find and test alternate sources of SCMs that can provide similar strength and durability benefits to concrete. This research characterized and evaluated the performance of eight natural pozzolans, available in Texas, to assess their potential as a Class F fly ash replacement in concrete. KW - Admixtures KW - Alkali silica reactions KW - Cement KW - Durability KW - Evaluation KW - Fly ash KW - Mix design KW - Pozzolan KW - Texas UR - http://library.ctr.utexas.edu/ctr-publications/psr/0-6717-s.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1342602 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576172 AU - Rao, Chetana AU - Mississippi Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Rao Research and Consulting, LLC TI - Guidelines for PCC Inputs to AASHTOWare Pavement ME PY - 2014/12/31/Final Report SP - 139p AB - The objective of this research study was to develop guidelines for portland cement concrete (PCC) material inputs to the AASHTOWare Pavement Mechanistic-Empirical (ME) Design program. The AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design is the software program used by the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) to develop pavement design alternatives based on the mechanistic-empirical pavement design guide (MEPDG) procedure originally developed under National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Projects 1-37A, 1-40D, and 20-07/Task 288 & 327. MDOT has conducted several research projects to support the implementation of the MEPDG and for increasing the accuracy of the distress prediction models calibrated for local conditions and material sources. The current project focuses on PCC material inputs that represent the mix designs, cementitious materials, and the aggregate sources that will be used in future paving projects. This report provides a summary of laboratory test results of 20 mix designs that include five different aggregate sources and four different options for supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) for partial cement replacement. The laboratory test results represent level 1 and 2 PCC material inputs and report the flexural strength, compressive strength, elastic modulus, poisson’s ratio, coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), and percent length change measurements. Strength and modulus data, are reported for 7, 14, 28, and 90 days as required by the MEPDG. The CTE measurements are reported at 28-days, while the shrinkage length change measurements are reported for ages of 7, 11,14, 21, 35, 63, 119, and 231 days. Level 2 correlation equations were developed based on compressive strength and other index properties to estimate flexural strength and elastic modulus. In general, these models demonstrate a slight deviation from the default level 2 models used in the global calibration of the MEPDG. Level 2 equations were also developed for each aggregate type and it is recommended that future efforts by MDOT for the recalibration of the rigid pavement distress prediction models should examine the sensitivity of these level 2 correlation equations and provide recommendations in the MDOT Design Manual. KW - Aggregates KW - Calibration KW - Guidelines KW - Laboratory tests KW - Mechanistic-empirical pavement design KW - Mississippi Department of Transportation KW - Mix design KW - Pavement distress KW - Portland cement concrete KW - Software UR - http://mdot.ms.gov/documents/research/Reports/Interim%20and%20Final%20Reports/State%20Study%20260%20-%20Guidelines%20for%20PCC%20Inputs%20to%20AASHTOWare%20Pavement%20ME.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1369977 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560917 AU - Welch, Wilfred M AU - Aguilar, Alex M AU - Thompson Engineering AU - Mississippi Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Turbidity Monitoring Equipment and Methodology Evaluation at MDOT Construction Sites PY - 2014/12/31/Final Report SP - 88p AB - State Study 261 is a continuation of State study 225, "Turbidity Monitoring at Select MDOT Construction Sites", which was successful in establishing baseline stream data at several active construction sites. State Study 261 focused on the equipment and methodology of monitoring turbidity upstream and downstream of representative project outfall locations. This equipment evaluation included collecting receiving stream turbidity measurements, evaluating equipment performance in the field, and determining which solutions are more cost-effective, accurate, reliable, and defensible when it comes to monitoring changes in turbidity between the upstream (background) and the downstream locations at representative project discharge locations. Using current Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) Water Quality Standard (WQS), sampling points at four monitoring sites were situated upstream and 750 feet downstream from the discharge point. Sampling these locations was determined the most effective way to assess how Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) construction practices are performing in relationship to the current MDEQ WQS. KW - Construction projects KW - Environmental quality KW - Equipment KW - Evaluation KW - Methodology KW - Mississippi Department of Transportation KW - Turbidity KW - Water quality UR - http://mdot.ms.gov/documents/research/Reports/Interim%20and%20Final%20Reports/State%20Study%20261%20-%20Turbidity%20Monitoring%20Equipment%20and%20Methodology%20Evaluation%20at%20MDOT%20Construction%20Sites.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1349707 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01566737 TI - NDE/NDT for Highways and Bridges AB - The objective of this study is to improve the state-of-the-practice for infrastructure condition assessment through the application of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) technologies. The study will investigate and develop standards and certification procedures to enable the widespread application of NDE by State highway agencies. The study will also examine the common needs of State highway agencies and identify critical condition assessment challenges. The study will promote interaction among highway agencies to share best practices, cross-train engineers and develop knowledge, and working groups will be formed to examine critical issues. KW - Best practices KW - Bridges KW - Condition surveys KW - Highways KW - Nondestructive tests KW - State departments of transportation KW - Training UR - http://www.pooledfund.org/Details/Study/310 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1358393 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01548867 TI - Mobile Source Air Toxics (MSAT) From Major Highways AB - This study will give those involved hands-on knowledge about the dispersion of Mobile Source Air Toxics (MSAT) emissions and enhance the credibility of State officials when addressing related issues for projects in their State. Ultimately, everyone will benefit from making more informed transportation and environmental decisions. KW - Decision making KW - Dispersions (Chemistry) KW - Environmental impacts KW - Mobile Source Air Toxics KW - Mobile sources KW - Poisons KW - Pollutants UR - http://www.pooledfund.org/Details/Study/397 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1336342 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01567092 TI - Statewide Geospatial Transportation Development of the All Road Network of Linear Referenced Data (ARNOLD) AB - The purpose of this pooled fund project is to assist States in developing one of their significant capital assets - a State-wide geospatial representation of their public road system. To build a nationwide All Road Network of Linear Referenced Data (ARNOLD) this pooled fund study is open to a variety of approaches; however certain planning steps are required. The scope of work includes the following: (1) Strategic Planning Effort To Develop A "State-Wide All Public Roads Network" (Planning); (2) Developing A Pilot Project to Ensure the Successful Completion of A State-Wide All Public Roads Network via Planning Completed (Pilot); (3) Data Collection Activities Closely Related to Developing the All Public Network. (Optional); (4) Collection of the Model Inventory of Roadway Elements (MIRE) Fundamental Data Elements in a Format to be Linked to the ARNOLD Captured in Task 4 (Optional); and (5) Assisting States in meeting the FMIS 5.0 requirement of mapping projects to the ARNOLD (Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)-Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS)) network. (Optional) KW - Asset management KW - Capital investments KW - Data collection KW - Financing KW - Geospatial analysis KW - Highways KW - Linear referencing KW - Pilot studies KW - State departments of transportation KW - Strategic planning KW - Transportation planning UR - http://www.pooledfund.org/Details/Study/563 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1358876 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574047 AU - Qiu, Tong AU - Xiao, Ming AU - Wang, Chaoyi AU - Pennsylvania State University, University Park AU - Mid-Atlantic Universities Transportation Center AU - Pennsylvania Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Evaluation of Hydraulic Plate Compactor PY - 2014/12/26/Final Report SP - 106p AB - This report presents the results of two parallel field investigations consisting of utility trench backfill compaction tests. The field investigation at State College, Pennsylvania was conducted to establish baseline measurements using a walk-behind vibratory roller compactor and a lift thickness of 8 inches. These baseline measurements were compared to measurements from a field investigation at Harrisburg, Pa. using a hydraulic plate compactor and varied lift thicknesses. The effects of hydraulic plate compactor use and lift thickness on the ability to consistently achieve a minimum specified standard Proctor density of trench backfill, compaction-induced downward earth pressure in the backfill zone, and compaction-induced longitudinal and hoop strains in typical pipes are discussed. A recommendation regarding the lift thickness for hydraulic plate compactors is provided. KW - Compactors KW - Evaluation KW - Field studies KW - Pennsylvania KW - Recommendations KW - Soil compaction test KW - Thickness KW - Trench backfill UR - http://www.mautc.psu.edu/docs/PSU-2014-05.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366492 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560087 AU - Peckett, Haley AU - Lyons, William M AU - Daddio, David AU - Volpe National Transportation Systems Center AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Metropolitan Planning Organizations and Transportation Planning for Megaregions PY - 2014/12/24 SP - 93p AB - Planning transportation across jurisdictions is a challenge faced in geographic areas throughout the U.S. Researchers identify megaregions as the sub-set of major regions, often multi-state, with the most significant transportation challenges, opportunities, and resultant needs based on forecasts of shifts in demographic and economic trends, freight flows, and passenger demand. These areas present major opportunities for transportation to contribute to national, regional, and local areas through improved global trade and competitiveness and economic development. This report explores innovative ways that metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) are working with partners to begin to conduct planning to address the transportation issues of megaregions. The research includes a focus on how MPOs are working within their planning agency roles identified in Federal regulations to explore needs outside of their boundaries. This report explores the benefits that MPOs and their partners receive from participating in megaregions planning, as well as the institutional and technical challenges. The report provides insights on successful planning approaches for peer MPOs, their partners, and policymakers with an interest in advancing similar planning initiatives. KW - Benefits KW - Challenges (Impediments) KW - Freight transportation KW - Megaregions KW - Metropolitan planning organizations KW - Multijurisdictional planning KW - Passenger transportation KW - Transportation planning KW - United States UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54600/54607/fhwahep15010.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1344665 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01548812 TI - Research Program Design---Administration of Highway and Transportation Agencies. Developing Surface Transportation Funding and Financing Solutions for the Coming Decade AB - The conventional framework to fund and finance investments in surface transportation in the United States is facing increasing resource challenges at all levels of government, while increasing demands on the system continue to put pressure on policy makers to respond with timely funding and financing solutions. Considering these pressures, SAFETEA-LU established two study commissions, the first tasked to provide policy and revenue recommendations for the next fifty years, and the second to determine the condition of the Highway Trust Fund and the continued feasibility of its funding mechanisms. The commissions produced their reports that subsequently have shaped discussions of future national legislation as well as appropriate federal, state, metropolitan, and local roles in future development and operation of the nation's surface transportation system. This NCHRP project was proposed to build on the work of these commissions, previous NCHRP studies, and other work to define viable options for funding and financing surface transportation infrastructure at the federal, state and local levels in the coming decade. The project was to consider financing tools to be used by states, cities, counties and transit authorities to fund transportation improvements; roles of tolling and public-private partnerships to facilitate system development and operation while protecting the public interest; roles of joint ventures with residential and commercial development to facilitate provision of critical road and transit access; and use by states, cities and counties of such financing techniques as tax Increment financing and joint powers agreements. The project was expected to support other AASHTO activities to engage policy makers in discussions to judge viability of funding and financing options, considering both short-term issues of implementation and longer-term sustainability of revenue streams adequate to ensure that the nation's transportation future needs can be met. AASHTO and NCHRP staff subsequently determined that the objectives of this proposed project would be better met through other AASHTO activties. The project was delisted by the NCHRP 20-24 project panel and the funds reallocated to other activities. KW - Financing KW - Ground transportation KW - Infrastructure KW - Policy making UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3011 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1336284 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01548809 TI - Research for AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways. Task 291. Transportation Operations Research Communications, Awareness Needs Assessment & Implementation Plan for State DOTs AB - The objectives of this research are to (1) identify and evaluate The Transportation Research Board (TRB), The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) and other initiatives that have developed or are developing policy and technical guidance for state transportation agency transportation system operations and management programs; (2) understand and graphically illustrate existing and potential relationships between these initiatives and related products; (3) assess and summarize state transportation agency management and staff needs for and intended applications of these resources, as well as the preferred mechanisms for access to these resources; (4) develop an initial "sketch" Transportation Operations Research Communications and Awareness Plan, along with preliminary recommendations for implementation and administration of that plan; and (5) incorporate concepts and mechanisms to better engage people throughout state transportation agencies in national initiatives. KW - Communications KW - Management KW - Needs assessment KW - Operations KW - Plan implementation KW - Policy making KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=2869 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1336281 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01548319 TI - Production of the new AASHTO Guide to Estimating. Task 308. Completion of the new AASHTO A Practical Guide to Estimating, Part 2 AB - The primary objective of this research was to ensure that comprehensive, consistent and timely cost estimating guidance is available and, in particular, to produce a final draft version of A Practical Guide to Estimating for formal balloting by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). KW - Construction projects KW - Cost estimating KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3072 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1336181 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01548316 TI - Research Program Design---Administration of Highway and Transportation Agencies. Support for a TRB-sponsored conference on Strategies for Meeting Critical Data Needs for State and Metropolitan Transportation Agencies AB - While traditional transportation data programs are being stressed by tightening budgets, new data needs are emerging in areas such as climate change, livability, better understanding of state and local freight flows, and intercity passenger rail. The effective use of performance measurement rests on having appropriate and adequate data. Much work is being done to address these concerns about data. A Transportation Research Board (TRB) invitation-only conference on Strategies for Meeting Critical Data Needs for Decision Making in State and Metropolitan Transportation Agencies was held December 5-7, 2011, in Irvine, California, to build on this work The conference convened agency policy makers, program managers and data experts from states, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), and other organizations to examine the key data programs needed to support critical decisions facing transportation agencies in the next 5-10 years. KW - Data analysis KW - Data sharing KW - Decision making KW - Metropolitan planning organizations KW - Performance measurement KW - State departments of transportation KW - Strategic planning UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3012 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1336178 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554158 AU - Gentry, Lance AU - Heartland Market Research LLC AU - Missouri Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Assessing MoDOT’s Efforts to Provide the Right Transportation Solution PY - 2014/12/20/Final Report SP - 70p AB - The basic research design for the project was to sample opinions on a variety of projects spread across the state. A small, medium, and large project from each of the seven Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) districts was selected by a regional manager for the project for a total of 21 projects. The sample included 500 addresses per project area for a total of 10,500 Missouri addresses being mailed a copy of the survey. Each survey was focused on one of 21 individual projects, which was briefly described on the survey, and the majority of survey questions related to the recently completed project, such as determining if the completion of the project increased safety, convenience, and made it easier to drive. KW - Construction projects KW - Customer satisfaction KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Missouri Department of Transportation KW - Public opinion KW - Surveys UR - http://library.modot.mo.gov/RDT/reports/TR201234/cmr15-007.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1343862 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01551402 AU - Date, Kirby AU - Jenkins, Jacqueline AU - Kellogg, Wendy AU - Hexter, Kathryn AU - Post, Charles AU - Rhodes, Suzann AU - Cleveland State University AU - Ohio Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - The Value of Balanced Growth for Transportation PY - 2014/12/20/Final Report SP - 236p AB - The Ohio Balanced Growth Program is a voluntary, locally-driven, incentive-driven program which aims to encourage compact, nodal development patterns. The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) provided support for this research to evaluate potential links between Balanced Growth-type policy, land use and development patterns, and transportation benefits. A literature review was completed to understand the existing body of knowledge regarding the connection between policy, land use, and transportation. This included a scan of Balanced Growth-type programs across the U.S. Twenty-six U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) were selected and reviewed for general geographic and policy characteristics. Land use and transportation outcome data were examined via scatterplot and linear regression across all of the MSAs. The results were evaluated broadly in light of policy frameworks in effect in each MSA, by categorizing land use policy into “tiers” based on voluntary vs. mandatory provisions, and applicability to private and public investment. Finally, a policy review was completed to understand the potential benefits of policy change at the state, regional, and local agency levels. Significant relationships were found between land use patterns, measured in terms of a sprawl composite index, and transportation outcomes for freeway lane miles, hours of delay, vehicle miles traveled, emissions, and safety. MSAs with “Tier 3” policies (mandatory, rigorous policy affecting both public and private investment) clustered together on both axes (transportation outcomes and sprawl); and MSAs within states clustered together along the sprawl score axis. Otherwise, there was no apparent pattern in the location of policy tiers along either the transportation or land use axes. Possible alternative explanations that could be evaluated in the future include overall transportation investment levels; inter-state and inter-regional travel demand; size and shape of the MSA; and market, economic and social factors. Conclusions included policy recommendations for ODOT in supporting compact, nodal development at the local, regional and state levels. Future study recommendations include pursuing future data collection, monitoring and evaluation over time. KW - Land use planning KW - Linear regression analysis KW - Literature reviews KW - Metropolitan Statistical Areas KW - Ohio KW - Policy KW - Sustainable development KW - Transportation planning KW - United States KW - Urban sprawl UR - http://worldcat.org/oclc/900477092/viewonline UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1340723 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01548229 TI - Research for AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways. Task 336. Emergency Exit Signs Within Highway Tunnels AB - Project is canceled, and the allocated funds will supplement NCHRP Project 20-59 (47) KW - Emergency exits KW - Evacuation KW - Vehicular tunnels KW - Warning signs UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3384 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1335902 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01548228 TI - Research for AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways. Task 326. Review and Update of the AASHTO Movable Bridge Inspection, Evaluation and Maintenance Manual, 1st Edition - Scoping Study AB - Project is canceled, and the allocated funds will supplement NCHRP Project 14-32. KW - Inspection KW - Maintenance KW - Movable bridges UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3281 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1335901 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01551389 AU - Weiland, Nicholas A AU - Reid, John D AU - Faller, Ronald K AU - Bielenberg, Robert W AU - Lechtenberg, Karla A AU - University of Nebraska, Lincoln AU - Nebraska Department of Roads AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Increased Span Length for the MGS Long-Span Guardrail System PY - 2014/12/17/Final Report SP - 217p AB - Long-span guardrail systems have been recognized as an effective means of shielding low-fill culverts while minimizing construction efforts and limiting culvert damage and repair. The current Midwest Guardrail System (MGS) long-span design provided the capability to span unsupported lengths up to 25 ft (7.6 m) without the use of nested guardrail. The excellent performance of the MGS long-span system in full-scale crash tests suggested that longer span lengths may be possible with the current design. A detailed analysis of the MGS long-span guardrail system was performed using the finite element software program LS-DYNA®. It was shown that the MGS long-span design had the potential for satisfying Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) Test Level 3 (TL-3) evaluation criteria at increased span lengths of 31¼ ft (9.5 m) and 37½ ft (11.4 m). Further increasing the span length led to questionable vehicle capture and severe impacts into the culvert wingwall. It was determined that the 31¼-ft (9.5-m) span MGS long-span system would proceed to full-scale crash testing. A critical impact study identified two impact locations that (1) evaluated the structural capacity of the guardrail system and (2) maximized the vehicle’s extent over the culvert and potential for vehicle instabilities. Ultimately, the sponsors decided to perform full-scale crash testing with Universal Steel Breakaway Posts in lieu of Controlled Release Terminal posts to determine their suitability with the MGS long-span guardrail system. Prior full-scale crash testing indicated that the post-to-guardrail bolt connections were sensitive to the MGS long-span design. A simulation study investigated several techniques to improve the modeling of these bolted connections. KW - AASHTO Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware KW - Culverts KW - Design KW - Finite element method KW - Guardrails KW - Highway safety KW - Impact tests KW - Midwest Guardrail System KW - Posts KW - Simulation KW - Structural connection UR - http://www.transportation.nebraska.gov/mat-n-tests/pdfs-docs/ARLinks/FinalReportSuppl56.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1340568 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01548182 TI - Synthesis of Information Related to Transit Problems. Topic SA-33. Critical Incident Management and Clearance Practices for Rail Transit AB - Rail transit operations are subject to incidents and accidents that may involve fatalities and result in major service disruptions. Incident response protocols within the local jurisdictions require trains to be held for the duration of law enforcement activities. In the event of rail fatalities, bodies might not be moved until the arrival of the coroner, which may result in long delays for passengers on the affected train and other traffic passing through the area due to blocked tracks, junctions, and grade crossings. Furthermore, passengers may be confined to remain on the train for hours until the train is released by law enforcement personnel. Despite the impact these incidents have on operations, rail passengers and the public at large, little research exists to document these delays and to offer guidance on efficient incidence response strategies. Unlike highway operations, little options exist for rail. A synthesis is needed to provide information on successful practices for incidence response within the commuter rail, light rail, and rapid transit transportation industry. This synthesis will document, but not be limited to the following: (1) Incident response coordination among multiple jurisdictions and stakeholders; (2) Minimizing impacts on affected passengers and facilitating assistance and timely communications; (3) Limiting service disruption to traffic on adjacent tracks in multiple-track territory; (4) Issues unique to electrified territory; (5) Issues and methods to ensure the safety of the non-railroad/non-transit personnel who need to access the right-of-way as part of incident clean-up; (6) Procedures to accelerate the clean-up operation and allow a train to remain in service; (7) Procedures to handle accident evidence/data collection. This synthesis will explore these issues and document successful practice. A literature review, survey of selected transit agencies and/or other stakeholders, and detailed case examples/profiles will be accomplished to report on the state-of-practice, including innovations, lessons learned, challenges, and gaps in information. KW - Crash data KW - Emergency response time KW - Fatalities KW - Incident management KW - Law enforcement personnel KW - Railroad crashes KW - Railroad traffic KW - Service disruption UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3613 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1335819 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01547912 TI - Guidelines for Calculating Dynamic Effects in Large-Scale Bridge Moves AB - No summary provided. KW - Bridge construction KW - Bridge design KW - Dynamic loads KW - Erection (Building) KW - Prefabricated bridges UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3650 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1335560 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01547906 TI - Research for AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways. Task 315. Transportation Asset Management for Ancillary Structures AB - The objective of this task was to document how state departments of transportation (DOTs) are incorporating ancillary structures into an integrated asset management program and develop guidance on using American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Transportation Asset Management (TAM) Volume 2. The project was being managed as National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) 08-36, Task 114; refer to that project for status. KW - Ancillary structures KW - Asset management KW - Guidelines KW - State departments of transportation KW - Structures UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3195 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1335554 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560093 AU - Bettisworth, Caitlin AU - Hassol, Josh AU - Maloney, Cynthia AU - Sheridan, Amy AU - Sloan, Suzanne AU - Volpe National Transportation Systems Center AU - Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Dynamic Mobility Application Policy Analysis: Policy and Institutional Issues for Intelligent Network Flow Optimization (INFLO) PY - 2014/12/15/White Paper SP - 36p AB - The report documents policy considerations for the Intelligent Network Flow Optimization (INFLO) connected vehicle applications “bundle.” INFLO aims to optimize network flow on freeways and arterials by informing motorists of existing and impending queues and bottlenecks; providing target speeds by location and lane; and allowing capability to form ad hoc platoons of uniform speed. The policy team documented the following potential issues for INFLO: (1) Compliance with Speed Harmonization. Relying on voluntary compliance with dynamic speed harmonization (SPD-HARM) notices is likely to produce greatly varying results, at least initially. (2) Planning for Mixed-Mode Traffic. It could take a decade or more before INFLO achieves significant fleet penetration to produce realizable benefits. In the transition period, it may be necessary to plan for operations and maintenance of parallel systems (such as the use of changeable message signs) that must be operated consistently as well as to take other steps to ensure the safe and efficient operation of connected vehicle-equipped and non-equipped vehicles on the same roads. (3) Liability. Liability is a concern in all connected vehicle applications. For INFLO, liability concerns stem from three possible sources: the potential for missed messages because of equipment malfunction in individual vehicles; the driver’s reliance on data provided from multiple sources; and [with Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC)] the proper functioning of automated vehicle controls. While the first and the third issue are likely addressable by the existing legal system (there is precedence for both), the second issue of parsing the multiple sources of data that have been fused together to form the INFLO message in order to understand the chain of liability, is still an emerging area in tort law. Research suggests that tort law will address INFLO liability issues in the future. (4) Public Acceptance and Use of Geo-Location Data. INFLO applications will use vehicle location data to send targeted messages to vehicles in specific areas. Although the geo-location data will not include any identifying information about the driver or vehicle, their use could raise privacy concerns among the public – including concerns about vehicle tracking – that might threaten acceptance of the applications. This issue is germane to the entire set of Connected Vehicle applications. Data privacy policies and best practices exist at the State and local levels and are available to address this issue. (5) In-Vehicle vs. Roadside Signage. INFLO’s use of in-vehicle messages raises a broad legal question of whether in-vehicle messages could take precedence over standard road signs (either static or changeable), or whether in-vehicle messages will always be considered “advisory” from a legal standpoint. It will be particularly important to resolve this issue in the case of SPD-HARM, where in-vehicle speed advisories may differ from posted (roadside) speed limits. (5) Technology Obsolescence. As with other connected vehicle applications, the various hardware and software components of INFLO will “age in place.” There is a risk that they will lose interoperability unless formal update and policies are established, including requirements for backward compatibility. Jurisdictions implementing INFLO would benefit from guidance and standards to ensure ongoing backward compatibility and interoperability. (7) Potential Driver Distraction. Visual devices displaying connected vehicle messaging have the potential to distract drivers and compromise safety. Some INFLO messages, due to their role in helping avoid congestion, may be especially alluring to drivers making decisions about route selection while traveling at high speeds. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued guidelines for developing visual, in-vehicle displays that reduce distraction. (8) Equipment Interoperability and Certification. For INFLO to be fully and ubiquitously functional, standards may be required so that local infrastructure is fully interoperable with infrastructure on interstate highways and major state roads. (9) Messaging Standards and Priority. Under INFLO, new technology will provide in-vehicle messages about congestion and speed advisories. The role of INFLO in providing this type of information raises potential policy issues about the need for message standards, to insure that INFLO messages comply with all applicable Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) standards. KW - Arterial highways KW - Freeways KW - Institutional issues KW - Intelligent Network Flow Optimization (INFLO) KW - Optimization KW - Policy analysis KW - Traffic flow UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54500/54591/FHWA-JPO-14-138_v1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1344657 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554198 AU - Fang, Howie AU - Weggel, David C AU - Li, Ning AU - Gutowski, Matthew AU - Baker, Ryan AU - Palta, Emre AU - Kuvila, Daniil AU - University of North Carolina, Charlotte AU - North Carolina Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Performance Evaluation and Placement Analysis of W-beam Guardrails behind Curbs PY - 2014/12/15/Final Report SP - 98p AB - This report summarizes the research efforts of using finite element modeling and simulations to evaluate the performance of North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) W-beam guardrails behind curbs under Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) TL-2 impact conditions. A literature review is included on performance evaluation of W-beam guardrails as well as applications of finite element modeling and simulations in roadside safety research. The modeling and simulation work was conducted on three NCDOT W-beam guardrails (with placement heights of 27, 29, and 31 inches) placed at the curb face and at 12 feet from the curb face. The 29-inch guardrail was also evaluated at 6 feet from the curb face. The guardrails with 27-, 29-, and 31-inch placement heights were impacted by a 1996 Dodge Neon and a 2006 Ford F250 at 44 mph (70 km/hour) and at two impact angles (25° and 15°). The guardrails performance was determined by evaluating the vehicular responses based on MASH exit box criterion, MASH evaluation criterion F, exit angles, yaw, pitch, and roll angles, transverse displacements, and transverse velocities. The simulation results demonstrated the effectiveness of the 29- and 31-inch guardrails placed at 12 feet from the curb face under MASH TL-2 impact conditions. Under small angle vehicular impacts (i.e., 15°), the guardrails with 27-, 29-, and 31-inch placement heights were shown to be effective at all three placement locations in relation to the curb face. Finite element modeling and simulations were shown to be both effective and efficient and can be used to study crash scenarios that are difficult and/or extremely expensive to conduct with physical crash testing KW - AASHTO Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware KW - Curbs KW - Evaluation KW - Finite element method KW - Guardrails KW - Height KW - Impact tests KW - Literature reviews KW - Simulation UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1342595 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01547688 TI - Novel Coating Technology for Improving the Corrosion Resistance and Mechanical Properties of Reinforcing Steel in Concrete AB - This project will develop and test a coating deposition technology for improved corrosion resistance and mechanical performance of the reinforcing steel in concrete. Work in Stage 1 focuses on developing and optimizing a diamond-like carbon (s-DLC) deposition methodology under atmospheric conditions and low temperatures. Initially, flat coupons will be coated to characterize and optimize the coating application technique, chemistry, adhesion, and uniformity. The feasibility of depositing s-DLC coatings of various thicknesses over the steel surface will be examined to establish an optimal coating thickness for reinforcing steels. Work in Stage 2 will involve electrochemical testing of coated steels in simulated concrete pore solutions and after the exposure tests. This will include flat coupons, blemished and unblemished coated rebars, and bent/straightened coated rebars. The coated rebars will be exposed to three distinct environments -- simulated concrete pore solutions with target pH values of 9.7 (simulating carbonated concretes) and 13.3 (normal alkalinity concretes), and a concrete mixture typically found in bridge applications. Chloride ions will be introduced with the mixing water to accelerate corrosion of the embedded rebars. Conventional and standard electrochemical tests will be performed to determine the corrosion resistance of the s-DLC coating. After exposure, the coated rebars will be inspected for corrosion and or other damages. Additionally, mechanical testing of the coated flat coupons, rebars, and bent/straightened rebars after exposure to simulated concrete pore solutions and concrete will be performed. Coating disbondment, pull-off strength, and water contact angles will be measured and compared to other commercially available coatings. Coating brittleness will be assessed by measuring the coating ductility and adhesion. The final report will provide all relevant data and guidelines for field implementation of the technology. KW - Coatings KW - Concrete KW - Corrosion resistant materials KW - Low temperature KW - Mechanical properties KW - Reinforcing bars KW - Reinforcing steel UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3239 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1335320 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01547687 TI - A Hybrid Sensor for Rapid Assessment of Sulfate-Induced Heaving in Stabilized Soils AB - This project developed and demonstrated the use of a hybrid sensor based on Bender Element and Time Domain Reflectometry technologies and an algorithm for the rapid assessment of the susceptibility of chemically-treated sulfate-rich soils to sulfate heaving. The developed sensor was embedded in lime- and cement-treated soils to monitor changes in both moisture content and shear wave velocity at various time periods. Laboratory assessments indicated that cement treated soils experienced higher stiffness losses as compared to lime treated soils. For field implementation and validation, a test section was chosen in the median area between Highway 114 and International Parkway near Dallas/Fort Worth airport. Sulfate tests conducted on the natural soils indicated the sulfate contents was in excess of 30,000 ppm. A 25-ft. x 60-ft. section was built in this area and the subgrade was treated with 6% lime. The developed hybrid sensor was embedded at a depth of 8 in. in the treated section. The treated section was watered three times a day to keep continuous supply moisture for uninhibited sulfate reactions in the treated soil. Field test results indicated a reduction in shear modulus with time in the lime treated test section. The results also reconfirm the laboratory findings that the shear modulus decreased in chemically treated sulfate rich soils owing to the deleterious reactions among soils and mineral and chemical stabilizers. Addition field testing and evaluation is needed before this technology can be implemented by highway agencies. KW - Cement treated soils KW - Moisture content KW - Soil heaving KW - Stiffness KW - Sulfates KW - Time domain reflectometers UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3237 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1335319 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01547671 TI - Legal Definition of 'First Responder' AB - This digest presents the results of National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Project 20-59(41), "Legal Definition of 'First Responder'." The research was conducted by Lew R. C. Bricker, Esquire, and Tanya N. Petermann, Esquire, of Smith Amundsen, Chicago, IL; Margaret Hines, Esquire; and Jocelyn Sands, J.D. James B. McDaniel, Esquire, was the Principal Investigator. This digest was prepared to answer the following questions: first, whether there is a definition of the term "first responder" in federal law, and second, if there is a definition in federal law, what is the definition's effect on the distribution of federal grant funding. This digest also contains an analysis of grants available from the federal government to aid state and local government entities in preparing for and responding to natural or manmade disasters and emergencies (i.e., grants that would be available to those who might be considered "first responders"). The grant programs are analyzed and described in terms of general information about each grant's guidelines for applicants and administration. KW - Definitions KW - Disaster preparedness KW - Emergency management KW - Financing KW - Grant aid KW - Legal factors UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=2913 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1335303 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01547651 TI - Exploratory Analysis of Augmented Reality Visualization of Right-of-Way Excavation Safety AB - This project will develop and demonstrate a prototype system for georeferenced augmented reality visualization of buried utility geospatial data and real-time monitoring of an excavator's proximity to buried utilities in its vicinity. Work in Stage 1 will begin with designing a graphics algorithm to place virtual entities in an augmented scene given a user's geographical position and head orientation. The algorithm's accuracy will be validated in a static scenario of a simulated excavation operation and inspection of vicinal underground utilities. The convention of marking underground utilities will be studied and an augmented reality visualization system compatible with Michigan's Miss Dig System and other agencies will be designed. This will lead to the development of a "third-person" augmented reality system for visualizing underground utilities. Visualization methods that obstruct the ground view while rendering utilities underneath will be implemented. Finally, a "first-person" operator-view augmented reality visualization system will be designed and evaluated using known subsurface utility geospatial data records. Work in Stage 2 will begin with investigating current technologies in place to prevent collisions between underground infrastructure and excavator end-effectors, and limitations in current accident prevention practices for buried utility excavation operations will be analyzed. Next, georeferenced three dimensional (3D) models of buried utilities capable of capturing location uncertainty associated with data will be developed through an intuitive visual representation. A framework to represent a real world operation in a 3D virtual world through sensor updated dynamic entities and georeferenced static entities will be developed, while maintaining adequate level of abstraction for effective representation. An interface between real world sensors and 3D equipment articulations will be designed to allow position and orientation update of equipment components through sensor streaming data. A generic user interface to allocate sensor streams to a wide array of 3D articulated equipment will be created to enable real-time visualization of an arbitrary excavation operation. Proximity monitoring methods in computer graphics literature will be reviewed to identify the most suitable approach to provide computational support for a 3D visualization framework. Finally, a real-time geometric proximity monitoring framework will be created for analyzing interactions between buried utilities and excavators, and providing distance and collision information. KW - Crashes KW - Excavation KW - Michigan KW - Monitoring KW - Real time information KW - Right of way (Land) KW - Sensors KW - Utility theory KW - Visualization UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3527 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1335204 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01547635 TI - Development of an Asphalt Pavement Raveling Detection Algorithm using Emerging 3-D Laser Technology and Macrotexture Analysis AB - This project will develop and demonstrate the application of an asphalt pavement raveling detection system based on an algorithm developed using three dimensional (3-D) laser technology and macrotexture analysis. Work in Stage 1 will focus on developing the automatic raveling detection algorithm. Raveling, as defined by different transportation agencies, will be reviewed, including any quantitative definitions. All past studies on automatic raveling detection will also be reviewed. Following the review, a raveling detection algorithm based on raveling as defined by Georgia and other state departments of transportation (DOTs) will be developed. The work will be performed in close association with Georgia DOT to quantify the measurement of raveling with different severity levels based on current DOT practices. Work in Stage 2 will involve validation and refinement of the developed algorithm. Working with collaborating transportation agencies and industry partners, data for algorithm's validation and refinement will be collected. For the validation test, a manual survey will be conducted on selected reference sites with different levels of raveling severity. The pavement 3-D laser data will also be collected using a sensing vehicle. One set of the reference sites will be used as the ground truth to establish the thresholds for the raveling detection algorithm while another set of reference sites will be used for algorithm validation. The developed algorithm and its application will be validated working with collaborating DOTs and industry partners. The final report will provide all relevant data, guidelines and specifications for the raveling detection system and plans for its implementation by highway agencies. KW - Algorithms KW - Asphalt pavements KW - Detection and identification systems KW - Georgia Department of Transportation KW - Lasers KW - Stripping (Pavements) KW - Technological innovations UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3352 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1335188 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01547634 TI - Full-Scale Prototype Testing and Manufacturing and Installation Plans for New Scour-Vortex-Prevention scAUR and VorGAUR Products for a Representative Scour-Critical Bridge AB - This project tested and developed manufacturing and installation plans for scAURTM and VorGAURTM products for scour-critical bridges to demonstrate their effectiveness in preventing scour-causing vortical flow characteristics at piers and abutments. Plans were developed and refined for the manufacture and installation of full-scale scAURTM and VorGAURTM products on at least one pier and one abutment of a selected scour-critical bridge in Virginia that has a record of flooding and is representative of scour-critical bridges across the US. The merits of five candidate Virginia bridges were considered in detail and a bridge was selected by Applied University Research (AUR) and recommended to Virginia Department of Transportation (DOT). Reynolds number and bridge pier and abutment size effects were examined using computations for a full-scale pier and show that scAURTM with VorGAURTM is effective in preventing scour-causing vortical flow at both model and full scale. The flow physics shows that full-scale piers and abutments have lower pressure gradients and turbulent stresses than at model scale, so if scour is prevented at model scale, it will be prevented at full scale. Data on the performance of these products with several smaller size sediments at model scale were obtained in the AUR flume. Data from published sources suggested that model scale tests be conducted for b/d50 > 50, where b/d50 is the ratio of pier width to median sediment grain diameter. The researchers used values of 38.1 < b/d50 < 64.6. During flume tests, no scour was observed around the scAURTM with VorGAURTM model for any gravel in this range within the gravel level y/b = +/- 0.004 measurement uncertainty. The performance of scAURTM and VorGAURTM concepts for a larger class of abutments was examined in model scale AUR flume tests. Spill-through and wing-wall abutment flume models, with and without scAURTM and VorGAURTM product features, were tested and show that scAURTM and VorGAURTM product features prevent scour for wing-wall abutments and spill through abutments. The effects of contraction scour, long-term degradation scour, settlement and differential settlement of footers, undermining of the concrete scAURTM segments, and variable surrounding bed levels were also examined. An additional fairing surface in the front prevents undermining of the foundation for piers and abutments and has been tested in the AUR flume. A full-scale scAURTM and VorGAURTM pier model was constructed and tested under various conditions in the large flume at the Iowa Institute for Hydraulic Research during May 2013, with results that were comparable to results for 1/7 size models in the AUR flume. Manufacturing methods and installation processes for scAURTM and VorGAURTM products were refined and complete plans and cost estimates for manufacturing full-scale scAURTM and VorGAURTM products were developed. An attractive cost-effective manufacturing alternative for a scAURTM retrofit bridge pier or abutment fairing is to use stainless steel (SS) or even weathering steel, rather than shotcrete or precast concrete. Its corrosion resistance gives it a lifetime of 100 years even in seawater environments, using a proper thickness, construction methods, and type of SS. In the case with new construction, essentially the difference between the way cast-in-place bridge piers and abutments are constructed currently without the scAURTM products and in the future with the scAURTM products is that scAURTM fairing steel forms are used for the concrete. Clearly, since the new construction cost is about 1/3 of retrofit costs, the best time to include the scAURTM fairing on piers or abutments is during new construction. The present value cost of these products over the life of a bridge is an order of magnitude cheaper than current scour countermeasures. The final report provides all relevant data along with plans for implementation of the scAURTM and VorGAURTM products by highway agencies. KW - Bridge abutments KW - Bridge piers KW - Corrosion resistance KW - Reynolds number KW - Scour KW - Sediments KW - Virginia UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3351 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1335187 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01547633 TI - Advanced Cleaning Device to Remove Debris and Chemicals for Crack/Joint Sealing AB - The aims of this project were to improve and retrofit the design of a pavement crack cleaning device (CCD) developed in the previous Ideas Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) project (NCHRP-148), to make it more practical and functional by adding functions such as routing, hot air blasting and vacuuming. As an outcome of the previous research, a conceptual prototype of a crack cleaning device was innovatively designed, utilizing pneumatic power for air blasting and abrasive wire brushing to simultaneously remove debris or de-icing chemicals which were used in cold winter and remained in cracks. In the current project, a router, an electric heat lance and a vacuum system have been incorporated as possible options for the CCD. An electrical heat lance has been designed to properly warm the pavement and expel moisture to promote bond adhesion. In addition, a vacuum system has been developed as a means of collecting debris and dust to remove road hazards and improve operator safety while conforming to Occupational Safety and Health Administration&#8206; (OSHA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines. Routing and saw cutting functions have been added to the CCD as well. For validation of the CCD in the field and to gain industry acceptance of the CCD technology, several industry demonstrations and field tests were conducted. Multiple CCD units were provided to the Nebraska Department of Roads (NDOR) for use during the full sealing season in 2012-2013, which was financially supported by NDOR. Also, demonstrations were conducted at the Crafco Inc. manufacturing facility in Chandler, AZ and at the City of Omaha, NE, road maintenance division. Productivity data along with the crews' feedback were collected during the field tests. The analyzed results showed that the CCD design concepts have been well received by all participating industries, who expect that the CCD will positively impact highway road maintenance by improving productivity, safety and maintenance cost. Crafco Inc. has shown strong interest in commercialization of the CCD, and commercialization efforts currently are underway between the principal investigator's (PI's) institution and Crafco Inc. If successful in commercialization and industry adoption, utilizing the CCD for crack and joint preparation would lead to an increase in overall quality of pavement maintenance, increase the useful life of pavements, and reduce costs toward rehabilitation or new construction of roadways. KW - Blast cleaning KW - Debris removal KW - Equipment KW - Joint sealing KW - Nebraska Department of Roads KW - Pavement cracking KW - Pavement joints KW - Pavement maintenance UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3348 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1335186 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01547632 TI - The Identification of Stress State of Critical Bridge Components Using Nonlinear Acoustics AB - This project will develop and demonstrate the application of nonlinear acoustics for identifying the stress state of critical highway bridge components through laboratory-scale and field testing. Work in Stage 1 will involve laboratory-scale demonstration of the proposed approach. Theoretical and numerical models will be developed to identify the most sensitive ultrasonic waves to the level of stress on structural steel. The selected ultrasonic waves will be tested on a wide-flange profile loaded uniaxially and a gusset plate loaded bi-axially. The load value will be increased incrementally, and the ultrasonic measurement will be taken at each loading step to develop a sensitivity curve of the stress-ultrasonic velocity relationship. Work in Stage 2 will involve field demonstration of the proposed approach based on the outcomes of Stage 1. A steel truss bridge provided by Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) will be modeled using a finite element program. Truss elements will be modeled using discrete elements; the gusset plate will be modeled as a two-dimensional plate element. The stress levels of the selected elements will be identified using numerical simulation. Field measurements, using the hand-held ultrasonic device, the ultrasonic setting, and the correlation curve developed in Stage 1, will be taken for comparison with the finite element results. The field results will be used to further refine the correlation curve. Additionally, the required hardware variables for implementing the methodology into automated processing of the hand-held device will be identified and discussed with the instrument manufacturer. The outcome of this final stage will be the demonstration of the proposed approach in a real-life testing situation in the field. KW - Bridge members KW - Finite element method KW - Highway bridges KW - Sensitivity analysis KW - Stresses KW - Structural steel KW - Truss bridges KW - Ultrasonics KW - Virginia UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3347 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1335185 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01547528 TI - An Inexpensive Vision-Based Approach for the Autonomous Detection, Localization, and Quantification of Pavement Defects AB - This project will develop and demonstrate the application of an imaging system based on inexpensive RGB-D sensors for automated detection and quantification of pavement defects, including cracks and potholes. Work in Stage 1 will focus on developing a hardware system for data acquisition of full lane width with traffic flow, and synchronization of the heterogeneous collected data. The proof-of-concept system with the RGB-D sensor has the limitation of capturing 30 frames per second which restricts the current prototype to collect data at low velocity (about 35 miles per hour). To address this issue, a number of these sensors in parallel will be used. Furthermore, the current proof-of-concept prototype inspects only about two feet width of the road in one pass rather than the full lane width (about 12 feet). To address this issue, a sensor array will be employed and data collected by the array sensors will be synchronized. The developed system will be mounted on a mobile unit and tests will be conducted to examine the nominal and practical speed under which the system is able to perform effectively with a goal to collect data accurately and reliably at a speed of at least 50 mile per hour. Work in Stage will focus on developing an interpretation system for extracting useful knowledge from the sensed data. Towards this end, defect detection and quantification modules will be developed to process the collected data. Data acquired from the depth image will be fused with data gained from the RGB image. Defect detection modules capable of detecting a variety of pavement defects will be developed along with algorithms to estimate the length, width, mean-depth, maximum-depth, area, volume, and orientation of the detected defects. To improve the accuracy of the acquired data, the sensors will be calibrated to accurately capture the depth information. The developed modules (such as defect detection and quantification modules) will be rigorously tested with field data. To evaluate the defect-detection module, several RGB and depth images of various types of defects as well as defect-free frames will be captured with the proposed sensing system. The collected RGB-D frames will be processed to classify frames as defective or defect-free. A human operator will manually label the frames as defective or defect-free to be used as ground truth. Several performance indices, including accuracy, precision, sensitivity and specificity, will be computed to quantitatively evaluate the capabilities as well as the limitations of the defect-detection module. To evaluate the defect-quantification module, several characteristics of the defective regions will be manually measured and used as the ground truth. The results from the quantification module will be compared to the ground truth to report errors and uncertainties of the estimated characteristics. The final report will provide all relevant data and guidelines and specifications for using the new pavement defect detection system as well as plans for its implementation and commercialization. KW - Cracking KW - Data collection KW - Defects KW - Flaw detection KW - Guidelines KW - Imaging systems KW - Pavement distress KW - Sensors KW - Specifications KW - Vision UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3529 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334965 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01547527 TI - Prototype Development: Automated and Continuous Aggregate Sampling and Laser Targeting System AB - This project will develop and demonstrate the field application of a prototype of an automated real-time quality control aggregate monitoring system based on laser induced breakdown spectroscopy to characterize aggregate properties. Work in Stage 1 will focus on the Sampling and Laser Targeting (SLT) System prototype development in which system hardware will be designed, specified, purchased or fabricated, and tested. The components associated with the laser optics system (including the laser, spectrometer, fiber optic cable, mirrors and lenses, housing with ventilation system and laptop computer) will be integrated into the SLT material flow and dust suppression system. The integrated system will be housed in a movable closed cabinet and tested to ensure that the laser optics system, dust suppression system and material flow system are all functional. If necessary, modifications will be made to resolve design and operational issues. Work in Stage 2 will focus on SLT prototype validation, development and integration of system software, and American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) standard development. Laser-calibration tests will be conducted with the integrated prototype system using aggregate samples collected from one or more state departments of transportation (DOTs) (Kansas, New York, Texas) that participated in the previous Ideas Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) project, National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP)-150. Samples will be fed through the system and spectrographic data collected. The data will be modeled using multivariate analysis to validate the new prototype system and, if necessary, modifications will be made to resolve design and operational issues. An integrating software package will be developed to enable direct communication between the spectrometer and the modeled data output to provide rapid response to the spectral signal received during actual system operation. A draft Standard of Practice or a draft Test Method on the laser scanning technology will be prepared for submission to AASHTO for consideration. The final report will provide all relevant technical and testing information for the prototype as well as plans for its commercialization and implementation by state DOTs. KW - Aggregates KW - Calibration KW - Fiber optics KW - Kansas KW - Lasers KW - New York (State) KW - Prototypes KW - Quality control KW - Real time information KW - State departments of transportation KW - Texas UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3528 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334964 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01547526 TI - Guidelines for the Waste Concrete Fines AB - This project will develop guidelines for using waste concrete fines (and the associated wastewater) in concrete by developing methods to rapidly characterize fines samples and evaluating the performance of concrete using these recycled materials. Work in Stage 1 begins with a literature review on issues related to the use of recycled concrete fines. Subsequently, sources of recycled fines will be identified and samples collected and dried. The fines will be characterized after mixing them with water to create solutions/suspensions with 1 to 15% solids and their indices of refraction, pH, and conductivity will be determined. Mortar samples will then be prepared and their setting times and strengths will be measured for a range of recycled fines contents for fines with varying particle sizes. Correlations will be investigated and established to help develop a performance-prediction model for different recycled fines materials. This model will be used to develop guidelines for the use of recycled concrete fines in new concrete mixtures. In Stage 2, a laboratory-scale water recirculation system will be constructed incorporating in-line (continuous reading) sensors for measuring index of refraction, conductivity, and pH. Waste materials will be added to the recirculation system and evaluated using the in-line sensors. Concrete mixtures will then be prepared using the optimal blends of water from the recirculation system (containing waste concrete fines) and freshwater, based on both the in-line measurements and the characteristics of the desired concrete mixtures. An implementation plan for ready-mix concrete producers when upgrading their plants with in-line sensors will be developed along with instructions on applying the guidelines for use of recycled fines. KW - Fines (Materials) KW - Guidelines KW - Recycled materials KW - Refraction KW - Sensors KW - Wastes KW - Wastewater UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3496 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334963 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01547525 TI - Laser Spectroscopy for Rapid Profiling of Steel Bridge Coatings, Corrosion, and Heavy Metals AB - This project will develop and demonstrate the application of laser induced breakdown spectroscopy to rapidly identify and profile the presence and severity of corrosion under layers of coatings on steel structures and the presence of heavy metals imbedded in the coatings. The project consists of two stages. Work in the first stage focuses on calibrating an initial set of samples (steel coupons) with commercially available coatings for detecting the presence of heavy metals and corrosion using laser induced ablation technology to generate spectra for analysis. Sample coupons will be collected and/or prepared and characterized by conventional means. Multivariate (chemometric) calibration models will be developed by comparing laser fingerprints to the known properties of the collected samples. An assessment will be made of the effectiveness of the approach. Work will also be initiated on the development of a Corrosion Index for assessing the severity of the corrosion detected. In the second stage of the project, the final calibration studies will be completed. This will entail continued analysis of additional coatings and corrosion samples, if needed, for the development of the models, to expand the data base, and to further develop the Corrosion Index concept. Blank testing, using unknown samples to validate the effectiveness of the models will be undertaken. Engineering and economic analyses of the proposed methodology will also be undertaken to develop system requirements for commercialization. Work during the first quarter focused on identifying and collecting samples and performing preliminary testing using available corroded sample coupons to help develop modeling approaches that could be used to categorize corrosion. Preliminary results indicated that laser analysis could readily distinguish between rusted, blistered, and corrosion-free areas of steel. KW - Calibration KW - Coatings KW - Corrosion resistance KW - Heavy metals KW - Lasers KW - Spectroscopy KW - Steel structures UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3494 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334962 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01613846 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Road Safety Peer Exchange for Tribal Governments PY - 2014/12/09 SP - 16p AB - This report provides a summary of the proceedings of the Road Safety Peer Exchange for Tribal Governments held in Albuquerque, New Mexico on December 9th and 10th, 2014. The peer exchange brought together safety practitioners from across the United States to facilitate the exchange of information on road safety and to explore opportunities for collaboration between tribes, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), State Departments of Transportation (DOT), Tribal Technical Assistance Program (TTAP) Centers and other government entities on tribal road safety and safety plans by tribes. The peer exchange covered the following key topics: (1) Strategies, challenges, and opportunities for reducing fatal and severe injury crashes on tribal roads; (2) Developing and implementing safety plans by tribes; (3) Improving safety data and applying the systemic approach to safety; (4) Conducting road safety evaluations and road safety audits; (5) Addressing behavioral safety issues; and (6) Exploring new safety partnerships for tribes. KW - Cooperation KW - Highway safety KW - Peer exchange KW - Safety programs KW - State departments of transportation KW - Traffic crashes KW - Tribal government KW - Tribal Technical Assistance Program KW - U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs KW - United States UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/59000/59800/59830/peer_report_NM_Dec2014.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1425497 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01556457 TI - Legal Problems Arising out of Highway Programs. Topic 21-02. Stormwater Discharges AB - Transportation departments discharge voluminous amounts of stormwater in the management of their highway systems. Historically these discharges were not regulated by any pollution control standards. Every transportation department is regulated today by the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program. As long as the transportation department complies with its NPDES permit, generally no liability arises for the water quality of any storm water discharge. Recently, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) has created arranger liability for stormwater discharges in at least one case in the State of Washington. A recent Supreme Court case has defined when a discharge occurs under the NPDES program. Concern has arisen that a transportation department may be liable for contaminated stormwater discharges even though it has complied with its NPDES permit. Research is needed on enforcement actions taken against transportation departments regarding discharges regulated under NPDES. These actions could be initiated by State environmental protection agencies, United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), or private citizens. The results of these enforcement actions could provide guidance to Transportation Departments in the management of their stormwater discharge programs. KW - Drainage KW - Environmental protection KW - National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) KW - Runoff KW - State departments of transportation KW - Washington (State) KW - Water quality management UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3781 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345752 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01547499 TI - Contactless Electrode for Fast Survey of Concrete Reinforcement Corrosion AB - This project will develop and demonstrate a Kelvin Probe (KP) electrode device for a rapid and stable electrode potential mapping for early corrosion detection in concrete steel reinforcement in highway structures. Work in Stage 1 of the project will focus on scaling up from an existing stationary miniature proof of concept version of KP electrode device to a mobile and practical large size unit suitable for realistic field conditions through three interrelated activities. In the first activity a wheeled platform with automatic gap distance control will be designed and constructed to hold the probe and achieve automatic probe-road surface gap distance control. The gap control will be achieved either by mechanical or electromechanical means. The second activity will scale up the probe sensing disk and working gap to dimensions (e.g. 4 inches, and 1/2 to 1 inch respectively) and ruggedness suitable for use on typical bridge deck environment. The electromechanic driving unit and electronic control system will be scaled up accordingly. The third activity will integrate the outcome of the first two by constructing a working single-probe prototype and optimizing the combination of vibrating frequency, signal processing response time, and gap distance control response to increase usable speed of travel of the prototype. Test runs with the prototype will be conducted on a laboratory platform. Platform trials in this project will be limited to low, hand drawn speeds (e.g. 1-5 mph), but they will however identify factors that will determine the maximum expected speed of production units, and manipulate those factors for optimization. An alternative vibration-less translating probe mode will be explored as a means to allow for faster scanning speed. Work in Stage 2 will demonstrate coordinated operation of probes for effective potential mapping and field operation. Two activities will be conducted. In the first, an array of two independent probes will be constructed and made to operate jointly in wheeled platform in absolute mode (that is, with one master wire connection to the rebar assembly) demonstrating coordinated operation and processing of data. Trial tests of suitable reference contacting arrangements for the more challenging differential mode (no connection with the rebar assembly) will be conducted and issues needing resolution for feasibility of that mode will be established. In the second activity the probe array will be operated on a decommissioned bridge deck experiencing corrosion in an aggressive marine service location at Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa Bay, Florida. The tests will be conducted in cooperation with the Florida Department of Transportation (DOT). Potential maps will be obtained using the KP array and compared with results obtained from conventional reference electrodes in the same locations. This activity will also examine to what extent the KP application is sensitive to variations on concrete surface condition due to moisture, contaminants, and sources of artifacts such as concrete carbonation as noted during the interpretation of the earlier trial tests. The final report will provide all data and test results along with details on using the KP device and plans for its implementation and commercialization. KW - Bridge decks KW - Corrosion KW - Detection and identification KW - Mechatronics KW - Optimization KW - Reinforcement (Engineering) KW - Remote sensing UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3779 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334863 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01547495 TI - Bidiretional-Ductile End Diaphragms for Seismic Performance and Substructure Protection AB - This project will develop bi-directional ductile diaphragms for implementation in straight and skewed bridge superstructures to provide resistance to bidirectional earthquake excitations. Work in Stage 1 will involve non-linear time-history dynamic analyses to investigate the seismic performance of bridges with the proposed bi-directional ductile diaphragm concept, considering variations in skew, span length, reactive mass, fundamental period of vibration, and earthquake excitation characteristics. The dynamic analyses will allow investigating the impact of these parameters on global behavior as well as an understanding of the magnitude of local demands and the extent of bi-directional displacements that the hysteretic devices must be able to accommodate while delivering their ductile response. Work will also be conducted to identify effective and practical details for hysteretic energy dissipating devices. The outcome of this stage will be an understanding of expected dynamic seismic performance as a function of key design parameters, and details for the proposed energy dissipated elements to be investigated in Stage 2. Work in Stage 2 will involve scaled experiments to subject selected device and connection details to a regime of relative end-displacements representative of the results predicted from parametric analytical studies. Actual materials will be used and practical limits will be respected. The tests will be conducted in a quasi-static mode and the experiment will be designed based on the recommendations of the collaborating departments of transportation (DOTs). The outcome of this stage will be viable hysteretic devices and connections schemes, as well as a preliminarily designed prototype to provide an understanding of what would be entailed to conduct shake-table testing of a span constructed with the proposed ductile diaphragm concept. Collaborating DOTs will be solicited to contribute to shake-table testing. The final report will provide relevant data and recommended design requirements. KW - Bridge design KW - Bridge superstructures KW - Diaphragms (Engineering) KW - Dislocation (Geology) KW - Earthquake resistant design KW - Geotechnical engineering KW - Seismicity KW - Vibration UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3612 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334859 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01547494 TI - Development of an Intrinsically Conductive Polymer-Based Low-Cost, Heavy-Duty, and Environmentally-Friendly Coating System for Corrosion Protection of Structural Steels AB - This project will develop and demonstrate the application of a polymer-based, low-cost and environmentally-friendly coating system for the corrosion protection of structural steels in highway structures. Work in Stage 1 will focus on laboratory development and evaluation of the coating system based on intrinsically conducting polymers (ICP). Promising ð-conjugated polymers will be produced and doped into ICPs using chemical treatment. Using scanning Kelvin probe force microscopy and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, anti-corrosion capabilities of the polymers will be evaluated when coated on steel samples as the primer layer. The electrical potential of the substrate surface will be measured to evaluate the steel-ennobling capability of the primer. The electronic and ionic conductivities of the primer in the substrate electrolyte system will be determined to evaluate respectively the oxygen smearing-out capability (for reducing coating delamination) and the smart corrosion-healing capability of the primer. Three ASTM standard tests: B117 (Salt Spray Test), D5894 (Cyclic Weathering Exposure Test), and D4541 (Pull-Off Strength Test) will be conducted to evaluate the overall corrosion durability under different corrosive conditions (B117 and D5894) and the tensile adhesion to substrate surface (D4541) of the coating system. Work in Stage 2 will focus on field evaluation and technology transfer of ICP-based coating system. Working in collaboration with the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA), two field sites will be chosen for evaluating the in-service durability of the developed ICP-based coating system. The blistering, rusting, undercutting, and pull-off strength of the coated steel panels will be evaluated following similar procedures and criteria as the ASTM standards B117, D5894 and D4541. Based on test performance results, necessary modifications and improvements will be made to the formulation, doping techniques, and coating-application procedures of the prototype coating system. Finally, technology transfer efforts will also be initiated in collaboration with Maryland SHA by demonstrating the application of the coating system in field conditions. The coating system will be further evaluated in the North East Protective Coating Committee (NEPCOAT) states and, if successful, plans for nationwide implementation will be developed. KW - Adhesion KW - Anticorrosion coatings KW - Corrosion protection KW - Maryland State Highway Administration KW - Polymers KW - Primers (Materials) KW - Structural steel KW - Tensile properties UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3611 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334858 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01547492 TI - Producing a Sustainable and Bio-Based Alternative for Petroleum-Based Asphalt AB - This project will develop, characterize, and demonstrate the application of a bio-asphalt based on swine manure and crumb rubber as an alternative to petroleum-based asphalt for highway construction. Work in Stage 1 will focus on producing and characterizing the bio-asphalt. Thermochemical liquefaction of swine manure followed by filtration and vacuum distillation will be used to produce bio-adhesives. The resulting bio-adhesive will be blended with crumb rubber with a specified gradation to produce bio-asphalt. Chemical and molecular structural characterization of the bio-asphalt will be performed to determine the make-up of bio-asphalts at different percentages of crumb rubber. The collected data will serve as input for molecular modeling and for correlating bio-asphalt's chemical make-up to its rheological properties. Following the development of atomistic models, computation experiments will be conducted to determine bio-asphalts' mechanical properties (adhesion, modulus, viscosity) and to correlate microscopic quantities with corresponding macroscopic quantities. Work in Stage 2 will focus on laboratory performance evaluation of bio-asphalt to determine whether bio-asphalt can replace petroleum-based asphalt. The study will include both binders and mixtures. Short- and long-term aging (RTFO and PAV) will be incorporated to account for oxidative aging occurring both during construction and pavement service life. At the mixture level, Superpave mixture will be used to evaluate the merits of replacing petroleum-based asphalt with bio-asphalt. Compacted asphalt mixture will be used to account for field compaction. Standard tests will be conducted to determine low temperature cracking of mixtures (ASTM D7313), mixture stiffness (AASHTO TP79) and moisture resistance (AASHTO T324). To evaluate the impact of the bio-asphalt on surface and ground water quality, compounds that leach from the mixture specimen will be characterized and compared with ground water standards. The final report will provide all relevant data and product specifications and guidelines for application of bio-asphalt by highway agencies. KW - Asphalt mixtures KW - Bioasphalt KW - Crumb rubber KW - Low temperature KW - Mechanical properties KW - Pavements KW - Rheological properties KW - Road construction KW - Service life UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3531 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334856 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01547491 TI - Development and Implementation of the Asphalt Embrittlement Analyzer AB - This project will develop, demonstrate, and implement an acoustic emission-based system for rapid and reliable characterization of asphalt binder embrittlement temperatures. Work in Stage 1 will focus on extending the acoustic emission (AE) technique to extract discrete and continuous properties (embrittlement temperature) from age-graded material such as field cores. First, dispersion characteristics of longitudinal and shear waves will be studied using simple pencil breaks to simulate AE signals. Next, AE tests will be conducted on asphalt concrete field cores, where the embrittlement temperature (TEMB) of different layers of the pavement will be determined to obtain a discrete characterization of aging and existing condition (and remaining life) through the pavement thickness. AE tests will be conducted on field cores using two or more AE sensors mounted on the test core sample. By comparing the arrival times of AE events at different sensors, the location of the AE source will be estimated. With decreasing temperatures, microcracks are expected to first occur where more highly aged material is located (such as at the surface of the pavement core) followed by microcracks in less aged material (such as towards the pavement bottom). Field cores obtained from project collaborators (Asphalt Institute and Road Science) along with test pavements at the university's Advanced Transportation Research and Engineering Laboratory (ATREL) facility will be tested. Comparisons with results obtained from extraction, recovery, and binder testing will be made to validate results. This stage will also involve a collaboration with Troxler, where a cooling chamber will be retrofitted to allow closed-loop, linear cooling. Work in Stage 2 will begin with the development of a computer program for source location with capability to locate AE sources within an 1/8 inch resolution or better. Theoretical and experimental studies will be conducted to determine the best core geometry and sensor placement. A computer software will be developed to convert AE signals into an embrittlement profile and rehabilitation recommendations (guided by an expert system). Next, asphalt concrete cores obtained from the field that exhibit visible signs of distress will be tested. Working in collaboration with Troxler, Road Science and Asphalt Institute, a temperature-controlled device coupled with multi-channel AE and software will be completed to calculate TEMB and TMAX vs. depth and a prototype AE analyzer device suitable for commercialization will be developed. A series of maintenance strategies, and an expert system to guide designers towards an optimally designed rehabilitation strategy will be developed. The final report will provide all relevant data and guidelines and specifications for using the new test equipment and method along with plans for its implementation by highway agencies and commercialization by the collaborating industrial partners. KW - Acoustic emission tests KW - Aging (Materials) KW - Asphalt concrete KW - Asphalt pavements KW - Embrittlement KW - Microcracking KW - Service life KW - Temperature UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3530 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334855 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01547472 TI - Research for AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways. Task 204. Pavement Noise Intensity Testing in Europe for Comparison to the United States AB - This study was intended to develop guidance on the use of quiet pavements in the U.S. However, an international scan on the subject was held and the scan report presented recommendations on the use on quiet pavements in the United States. With these recommendations, National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Project Panel C1-44, "Quiet Pavement Pilot Project Study" decided there no further need for the study and recommended cancellation; the project was not pursued. KW - Pilot studies KW - Tire/pavement noise KW - United States UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=1220 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334836 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01547410 TI - Research for AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways. Task 358. Reducing Risks to Worker Safety in Work Zones Due to Distracted Drivers AB - The objective of this project is to determine the best practices used by states or the contracting community to alert distracted drivers to the presence of a work zone or moving operation and to prevent them from hitting a moving work vehicle or intruding into a work zone. KW - Best practices KW - Distraction KW - Occupational safety KW - Risk assessment KW - Slow moving vehicles KW - Work zone safety KW - Work zone traffic control UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3738 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334674 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01547381 TI - Guidance for Complying with EPA Effluent Limitation Guidelines for Construction Runoff AB - On December 1, 2009, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized and published a rule in the Federal Register establishing, for the first time, numeric effluent limitation guidelines (ELGs). The numeric ELGs include turbidity limits and sampling requirements for stormwater discharges from construction sites. The original rule requires that sites that disturb 20 or more acres of land at one time are required to comply with a turbidity limit of 280 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTUs). In August 2010, EPA agreed to defer implementation of the rule and conduct additional analysis after being challenged in court by a number of parties. It is likely a new turbidity limit will be developed that will still be numeric but somewhat higher than the original requirement.These new requirements will place a special burden on departments of transportation (DOTs) and other entities, whose construction projects are linear in nature. Sampling of runoff on an active highway construction site can be technically difficult because of safety, access, and the number of potential discharge locations. In addition, the constantly changing conditions on the site will make the installation of permanent sampling sites infeasible. There are two primary objectives of this research. The first is to develop guidance for linear construction projects to help DOTs meet the impending numeric discharge limits. Construction projects pass through a number of discrete phases beginning with clearing and grubbing through final stabilization. The numeric standard must be met during each of these. Consequently, appropriate best management practices (BMPs) and guidance on their use must be developed for each phase of construction. Recent research on polymers has focused on sediment control, but additional work is needed on erosion control in early phases of construction before final grade is established. The second objective is to develop monitoring protocols that DOTs can present to their state regulators. Each state is allowed to adopt its own monitoring requirements and it is critical that those requirements recognize the special difficulties of monitoring on highway construction sites. Questions that need to be addressed include the following: (1) Must all discharge locations be monitored? (2) Can representative locations be designated that are typical for the project? (3) What is the appropriate frequency of sample collection? (4) How should samples be collected (grab or automated samples)? (5) What should the requirements be for sampling outside of normal work hours? and (6) How should access and safety impact sampling requirements? KW - Compliance KW - Construction projects KW - Effluents KW - Environmental impacts KW - Environmental monitoring KW - Guidelines KW - Runoff KW - Turbidity KW - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3169 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334645 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01547348 TI - Strategies to Reduce Agency Costs and Improve Benefits Related to Highway Access Management AB - As indicated in the 2003 Transportation Research Board (TRB) Access Management Manual: "Roads are an important public resource. They are costly to build and to improve or replace. In a revenue-constrained environment, effective management of the transportation system is not an option--it is essential. It is simply not practical to allow major arterial roadways to deteriorate under the assumption that they will be replaced or reconstructed in the future. Yet many areas continue to do just that--by allowing closely spaced curb cuts, median openings across a turn lane, driveways in a major intersection, or poorly coordinated traffic signals--thus creating unsafe and congested conditions on major roadways." In the past, much of the research on the benefits of access management was related to operational and safety effects. There is limited information available to transportation agencies regarding the economic impacts of access management. Research typically focused on addressing the concerns of business owners that changes in access to their property--such as consolidating driveways or installing raised medians--will lead to fewer customers and reduced sales. Much of this research related to the economic effects focused on non-traversable medians. There has been little documentation of the costs related to poorly managing access. This lack of information contributes to difficulties that agencies have in administering their access management programs. These difficulties may include an agency having to assume the cost for improvements not assigned to a developer to mitigate adverse effects of development-related traffic. These costs could range from providing a traffic signal, a right- or left-turn lane, or a median where none exists to making major modifications such as widening a highway or constructing a bypass or new interchange. In addition, there are liabilities to an agency, including those related to congestion and crashes, until mitigation can be implemented. There are also land use decisions, such as allowing subdivisions with each property having access to an arterial (e.g., "death by a thousand cuts"), which could have potential costs and liabilities involving public funding for improvements to maintain the same highway performance level. These all represent additional burdens that are especially problematic to agencies in a poor economic environment. This research will provide information and tools to assist agencies in making access management decisions, recognizing asset management implications such as managing assets to achieve the greatest return on the investment made in the transportation system. The main objective of the research is to develop guidance for public agencies to use in making decisions regarding access management by helping them identify the benefits and costs of access management for maximizing the public's investment in the highway system. This will help guide agency access-related decisions and assist in the formulation and justification of access management solutions that may offer the best outcome but may require additional time or cost up front, especially in an environment where there are insufficient funds for basic needs and operations. The research will also benefit agencies by providing information that would be used in achieving asset management objectives. The research will involve identifying strategies used by agencies to be proactive in their access-related decisions to minimize their costs and liabilities. This will include agencies with a wide range of access management programs--from those having comprehensive programs to those that focus their efforts on administering driveway permits. Information will be compiled on cost savings and benefits related to liability considerations from applying their access management criteria. Recognizing the potential difficulty in estimating costs savings, the research also will compile information to identify the costs and liabilities related to what happens when decisions are made that do not adequately consider access-related impacts. Traffic operations and safety information would be included. This information will be presented in the form of case studies. To the extent available, data will include costs related to right-of-way and traffic crashes. These case studies would be reported anonymously to encourage agencies to share their experience. This approach was successfully used in National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 404: State of the Practice in Highway Access Management to report on access management program barriers and difficulties. Outreach will include state, regional, county, city, and local agencies that represent a wide range of access management and related programs and decision making processes. The research will identify the effects of decisions related to new development, redevelopment, and road improvement projects. To the extent available, the research will reflect information related to agency funding sources for managing access and liabilities emanating from poor access management practices. Research is expected to include (1) developing the work program; (2) locating and assembling documented information as part of a literature search and review of available access management references; (3) identifying complementary research to identify any synergies with this effort; (4) surveying agencies to obtain information they have relating to economic effect and suggested candidates for case studies--sections of the survey could allow for anonymity (as was done for NCHRP Synthesis 404) to help encourage agencies to share their experiences; (5) compiling the information, including the development of the case studies that will demonstrate lessons learned and the costs/liabilities of access management decisions--case studies will include access management projects recently constructed in different environments (e.g., urban, rural, suburban); (6) identifying methods for agencies to apply in making informed, comprehensive access management decisions with consideration of the potential cost/liability of options that would not mitigate adverse effects (for example, the impact of development-related traffic that results in the need for intersection improvements, such as traffic signalization); and (7) identifying areas of future research needs. The guidance should be useful by professionals at all levels of government to help them make access management decisions in a proactive manner. This research has the potential for a large benefit in terms of cost and sustainability, with a relatively small investment. This research would be useful to national level policymakers, state departments of transportation (DOTs), metropolitan planning organizations, regional planning agencies, developers, and others interested in access management. KW - Access control (Transportation) KW - Case studies KW - Costs KW - Decision making KW - Guidelines KW - Highways KW - Investments KW - Traffic crashes KW - Transportation departments UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3673 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334521 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01547326 TI - Outsourcing Winter Maintenance AB - This topic is being canceled due to an overlap with existing research. KW - Contracting out KW - Winter maintenance UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3355 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334499 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01573303 TI - Western Maintenance Partnership AB - The purpose of the Western Maintenance Partnership (WMP) continuation is to provide a partnering forum for promoting effective maintenance strategies through the following objectives: (1) Provide travel reimbursement funds for an annual meeting (WASHTO Committee on Maintenance) and a multi-day annual workshop/scan tour, for discussion and exchange of information and knowledge about each state's maintenance program (2) Provide a means to define, support and share technology of mutual interest. (3) Provide funds for formal training presentations during the annual workshop. (4) Provide funds for management support of WMP. (5) Provide funds for special studies, investigations, research and training. KW - Financing KW - Information dissemination KW - Maintenance KW - Partnerships KW - Technology transfer KW - Training KW - Workshops UR - http://www.pooledfund.org/Details/Study/561 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366527 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560089 AU - Schroeder, Jeremy AU - Smith, Theodore AU - Turnbull, Katie AU - Balke, Kevin AU - Burris, Mark AU - Songchitruksa, Praprut AU - Pessaro, Brian AU - Saunoi-Sandgren, Emily AU - Schreffler, Eric AU - Joy, Barbara AU - Battelle AU - Department of Transportation AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Transit Administration TI - Seattle/Lake Washington Corridor Urban Partnership Agreement: National Evaluation Report PY - 2014/12/02/Final Report SP - 344p AB - This document presents the final report on the national evaluation of the Seattle/Lake Washington Corridor (LWC) Urban Partnership Agreement (UPA) under the United States Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) UPA Program. The Seattle UPA projects focus on reducing congestion by employing strategies consisting of combinations of Tolling, Transit, Telecommuting/TDM, and Technology, also known as the 4Ts. Those strategies include tolling all lanes of the SR 520 bridge, additional bus service in the SR 520 corridor, implementing active traffic management systems, and real-time traveler information signs on highways and at transit stops and stations. The national evaluation of the Seattle/LWC UPA projects is guided by the National Evaluation Framework, the Seattle/LWC UPA National Evaluation Plan, and individual test plans for various components. This report provides information on the use of the new Seattle/LWC UPA projects. Changes in travel speeds, travel times, trip-time reliability, park-and-ride lot use, and transit ridership are described. The results of interviews and workshops with local stakeholders, surveys of different user groups, and interviews and focus groups with Washington State Patrol officers, bus operators, and service patrol personnel are presented. The air quality, energy, and safety impacts of the Seattle/LWC UPA projects are examined. Information on changes in unemployment rates, gasoline prices, and parking costs is also summarized. KW - Evaluation KW - Public transit KW - Seattle (Washington) KW - Telecommuting KW - Tolls KW - Traffic mitigation KW - Traveler information and communication systems KW - Urban Partnership Agreements UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54400/54470/120214_seattle_upa_final_report.pdf0.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1344669 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01546283 TI - Measuring the Performance of Stakeholders in the Transportation Development Process - Separate Surveys for 5 States AB - The objectives for the upcoming national survey have been somewhat modified from the previous version. For this iteration, five separate State Departments of Transportation have agreed to participate with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and provide Gallups survey developers with both slates of questions that are of interest to their organizations and additional candidates eligible to participate in the survey. The benefit to the five State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) [California, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Texas] of this individualized survey sub-set is that the greater number of respondents in both the transportation and resource-management agencies, as well the customized sets of questions, will permit the Gallup analysts to prepare specific, State-level reports for each of the co-sponsoring DOTs. KW - California KW - Florida KW - Illinois KW - Management KW - Pennsylvania KW - Performance measurement KW - Stakeholders KW - State departments of transportation KW - Surveys KW - Texas UR - http://www.pooledfund.org/Details/Study/415 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1333165 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01546023 TI - Research for AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways. Task 322. State of Readiness of the Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) Spectrum for Early Deployment of Connected Vehicle Transportation Systems AB - The objective of this task is to describe the current state of dedicated short range communications (DSRC) equipment capabilities, spectrum licensing, acquisition requirements, and the further development required to achieve vehicle to roadside communications. In addition, this task will include the development of deployment, operating, and maintenance guidelines, including licensing approaches. This work is being incorporated into National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Project 03-101, Costs and Benefits of Public-Sector Deployment of Vehicle to Infrastructure Technologies. KW - Dedicated short range communications KW - Licensing KW - Maintenance KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Vehicle to infrastructure communications UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3202 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1332975 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01611958 AU - Martin, Dennis AU - Hurst, Clayton AU - Oklahoma State University, Stillwater AU - Oklahoma Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Implementation of Pesticide Applicator Certification Schools and Continuing Education Workshops PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 18p AB - The Oklahoma Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) herbicide applicator training program consists of initial pesticide applicator training schools followed by independent Certification testing and then on-going yearly continuing education workshops. In support of this on-going effort three pesticide applicator initial certification schools were conducted by Oklahoma State University (OSU) extension staff in fall of 2013 and mid-winter of 2014 to train a total of 103 ODOT participants. One hundred of the attendees at these workshops took the Core as well as Right-of-Way Certification exams administered by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food & Forestry (ODAFF). Seventy-nine percent (79 participants) passed both the Core and Category 6 (Right-of-Way) examinations to become Oklahoma Certified Pesticide Applicators. Fourteen Pesticide Applicator Continuing Education (CEU) Workshops were conducted by OSU extension staff across a total of eight ODOT Field Divisions in 2014 to provide 637 Certified Applicators with continuing education training. Records of participation in ODAFF approved CEU programs by ODOT personnel were furnished to ODAFF as well as the ODOT Field Divisions, the Maintenance Division Headquarters and the Materials and Research Division. Participation in CEU workshops resulted in granting of CEU credit to ODOT participants in the workshops. The ODOT participants also gained knowledge on various Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and Integrated Vegetation Management (IVM) products, topics and techniques. This increase or maintained operational knowledge of the participants should insure continued effective vegetation management skills. KW - Certification KW - Education and training KW - Herbicides KW - Implementation KW - Oklahoma Department of Transportation KW - Pesticides KW - Vegetation control KW - Workshops UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/60000/60300/60306/FHWA-OK-14-18_2156_Martin.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1423500 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01610865 AU - Amirkhanian, Serji AU - Herndon, David AU - Corley, Mary AU - Tri-County Technical College AU - South Carolina Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Cost Benefits to the SCDOT with Increased RAP-RAS Usage PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 249p AB - Over 90% of U.S. highways and roads are constructed with hot mix asphalt (HMA) and as this infrastructure ages, these highways and roads must be maintained and rehabilitated. The 1970s marked the beginning of the widespread use of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) in asphalt pavements in the United States. However, in early years, many state Department of Transportations (DOTs) used only a low percentage of RAP materials in their hot mix asphalt (HMA) mixtures. One major reason for this was that the mixtures containing high RAP contents could result in increased “blue smoke” emissions from plants since the RAP materials were fed directly into the path of hot gases. However, with the modern design of new plants, this is no longer a major concern. There were three major objectives for this research project. The first was to analyze the cost benefits to the Department from the past utilization of RAP, recycled asphalt shingles (RAS), and RAP/RAS in various mixtures around the state. The second objective was to develop a proposed pay schedule for aged binder versus virgin binder in the form of a draft specification. The third was to predict the potential cost savings to South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) from the use of the proposed alternate pay schedule. The researchers mined data from three different databases (Site Manager, Job-Mix-Formula (JMF) Log, and each individual JMF form per project) in order to generate the necessary information to complete project objectives. KW - Aging (Materials) KW - Bituminous binders KW - Costs KW - Evaluation KW - Payment KW - Reclaimed asphalt pavements KW - Recycled materials KW - Savings KW - Shingles KW - South Carolina Department of Highways and Public Transportation UR - http://www.scdot.scltap.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Final-Report-Evaluation-of-Cost-Benefits-to-the-SCDOT-with-Increased-RAP-final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1420971 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01610851 AU - Hunter, Michael P AU - Rodgers, Michael O AU - Pratyaksa, Prabha AU - Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta AU - Georgia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Safety Performance Evaluation of Converging Chevron Pavement Markings PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 155p AB - The objectives of this study were (1) to perform a detailed safety analysis of converging chevron pavement markings, quantifying the potential safety benefits and developing an understanding of the incident types addressed by the treatment, and (2) to develop guidance for selecting additional implementation sites that have a high likelihood of significant improvements in safety performance. Some important conclusions from this study are the following: (1) Analysis of the demographic variables showed no statistically significant observations that the effectiveness of the chevron treatment in reducing crashes was influenced by driver age, gender, proximity of driver registration, daytime/nighttime or pavement conditions. (2) The chevron markings are effective at reducing crashes for the curved portions of ramps when evaluated using the before and after periods, regardless of the type of base conditions selected. Crash modification factors (CMFs) ranged from 0.453 to 0.689. The lower limit of the 95% confidence interval ranges from 0.281 to 0.428 while the upper limit ranges from 0.624 to 0.949. This indicates that even in the least effective scenario, the treatment still has the potential to reduce crashes by 5.1%. (3) The chevron markings were effective for the approaches to the ramp (Ramp Section 1), the ramp segment where the treatment would generally be installed, when evaluated using the before and after periods. When evaluated using calendar year 2007 and 2009 data, no tangible benefits were observed. Fatal/injury-only crashes were not evaluated for this ramp segment due to small sample size. KW - Before and after studies KW - Crash analysis KW - Crash rates KW - Demographics KW - Evaluation KW - Highway safety KW - Ramps (Interchanges) KW - Road markings KW - Statistical analysis UR - http://g92018.eos-intl.net/eLibSQL14_G92018_Documents/12-02.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1422683 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01596856 AU - Crook, Geoff AU - Mohney, Curran AU - Oregon Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Options Study PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 185p AB - The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) recognized that the State’s transportation infrastructure is vulnerable to the impacts of extreme weather and climate events. To better understand and respond to these impacts, ODOT conducted a regional vulnerability assessment and adaptation options study. This pilot study identifies vulnerable highway corridors and evaluates a range of site-specific adaptation strategies that address landslides, coastal erosion, and storm surge hazards. The study was prepared with funding from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Climate Change Resilience Pilot Program. FHWA’s Vulnerability Assessment Framework was used to help guide ODOT's evaluation of state highways. The pilot covers Tillamook and Clatsop counties on Oregon’s north coast, within ODOT’s Maintenance District 1. This area is served by ten State highway routes that run along coastal bluffs, rivers and estuaries, and across the Coast Range. Nearly 300 miles of State highways were assessed as part of the study. The project involved: (1) Analysis of projected climate changes and sea level rise; (2) Qualitative assessment of vulnerabilities and risks from climate impacts; (3) Baseline data collection and adaptation strategies developed for high-risk sites; (4) Benefit-cost analysis; and (5) Review of regulatory constraints. ODOT conducted a workshop with maintenance and technical staff to collect climate risk information and identify priorities. Vulnerable hazard sites along north coast highways were identified using the best available climate science, existing conditions data, and known and anticipated hazards information. ODOT ranked highway corridors and critical connections (Seismic Lifeline Routes) for vulnerability to climate impacts. Adaptation options were developed at five locations identified as vulnerable “climate hazard sites” and selected for analysis within a 25-mile Study Corridor. A benefit-cost analysis was then prepared at two sites to enable comparison between the options and inform the overall assessment. ODOT also reviewed regulatory and land use constraints that have the potential to limit the feasibility of coastal adaptation projects. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Climate change KW - Coasts KW - Erosion KW - Highway corridors KW - Landslides KW - Oregon Department of Transportation KW - Regulations KW - Risk assessment KW - Sea level KW - Storm surges KW - Weather and climate UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/climate_change/adaptation/resilience_pilots/2013-2015_pilots/oregon/odotreport.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1403122 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01596740 AU - Hogan, Michael AU - Elder, David AU - Molden, Stephanie AU - Connecticut Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Connecticut Department of Transportation Climate Change and Extreme Weather Vulnerability Pilot Project Final Report PY - 2014/12 SP - 131p AB - This report presents the results of a Climate Resilience Pilot Project conducted by Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) and sponsored in part by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). CTDOT was awarded a pilot to conduct a systems-level vulnerability assessment of bridge and culvert structures six feet to 20 feet in length from inland flooding associated with extreme rainfall events. The project focused on structures in the northwest corner of the state. The Department chose to conduct a vulnerability assessment of inland flooding because in recent years extreme precipitation events have been more frequent and intense, resulting in damage to the Department’s infrastructure in several locations in the State. While this damage has not been significantly widespread, it poses safety concerns and can be costly to repair or replace. The Scope of Work for this project included the following main elements: data collection and field review, hydrologic and hydraulic evaluation, criticality assessment and hydraulic design criteria evaluation. Identification of structures six feet to 20 feet in length in the northwest corner of the state and data collection was accomplished using the state’s bridge inventory. This inventory included over 176 structures on the state system. This inventory was pared down to 60 structures identified for field evaluation. Of the 60 identified for field evaluation, 52 were selected for hydrologic and hydraulic evaluations. KW - Bridges KW - Climate change KW - Connecticut Department of Transportation KW - Culverts KW - Data collection KW - Evaluation KW - Floods KW - Hydraulics KW - Hydrologic phenomena KW - Rainfall KW - Risk assessment KW - Weather and climate UR - https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/climate_change/adaptation/resilience_pilots/2013-2015_pilots/connecticut/final_report/ctclimatepilot.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1403117 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01584280 AU - Tayabji, Shiraz AU - Bledsoe, Jay AU - Raghunathan, Deepak AU - Sadasivam, Suri AU - Mallela, Jagannath AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Georgia Demonstration Project: Pavement Replacement Using a Precast Concrete Pavement System Along a Section of SR 11/Broad Street in Winder, Georgia PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 67p AB - As part of a national initiative sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration under the Highways for LIFE program, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) was awarded a $700,000 grant to demonstrate the use of precast concrete pavement systems (PCPS) in the city of Winder. The project is located along a section of SR 11 (commonly referred to as Broad Street) in a historic downtown area with on-street parking and variable width roadway, typically three lanes wide. This project was a cooperative effort between the GDOT and the city of Winder. This report documents the application of PCPS technology for pavement rehabilitation of a 0.72 mile section on SR 11/SR 53/SR 211/Broad Street from CSX R/R to Stephens Street in Downtown Winder. Using PCPS technology on this project improved safety and mobility performance in the work zone. No incidents occurred or worker injuries during the construction period, including the lane closure periods. There was little impact on trip time through the length of the project primarily because of signalized intersections within the project length and the rail crossing at one end of the project. Several innovations included in this project are expected to improve the durability and performance of the roadway. An economic analysis indicated that agency costs were $1,220,931 (54 percent) more for this project than they would have been using conventional construction practices, and user costs were $21,560 (35 percent) more. The as-built total project cost was $3,466,615 compared to $2,245,684 for the traditional alternative. Considering that the GDOT was using this innovation for the first time, and like with any innovation, the cost premium with the use of PCPS is expected to decrease with subsequent applications. KW - Central business districts KW - Demonstration projects KW - Economic analysis KW - Highways for LIFE KW - Innovation KW - Precast concrete pavements KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) KW - Winder (Georgia) UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/GA%20PCPS%20-%20Final%20Report%20to%20FHWA%20121114.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1377217 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01582190 AU - Tantillo, Michael J AU - Roberts, Edwin AU - Mangar, Uzoamaka AU - Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Roles of Transportation Management Centers in Incident Management on Managed Lanes PY - 2014/12 SP - 102p AB - This guidebook examines traffic incident management practices that are implemented by transportation management centers on managed lanes. The document examines the unique operating environment of managed lanes from an incident management perspective. The roles of the transportation management center in the managed lane environment are discussed in terms of incident preparedness and real-time incident management activities and support. A comparison of best practices for eight case studies is presented, and an in-depth analysis of the role of the transportation management center in incident management is presented for three of the managed lane facilities examined in the case studies. KW - Analysis KW - Best practices KW - Case studies KW - Handbooks KW - Incident management KW - Managed lanes KW - Traffic control centers UR - http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop14022/fhwahop14022.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1375675 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580959 AU - Frosch, Robert J AU - Labi, Samuel AU - Samdariya, Ashish AU - Ye, Qing AU - Purdue University AU - Indiana Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Increasing Bridge Deck Service Life: Volume II—Economic Evaluation SN - 9781622603350 PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 54p AB - Deterioration of bridge decks is a primary factor limiting the lifespan of bridges especially in cold climates where deicing salts are commonly used. While controlling deck cracking or decreasing the permeability and porosity of concrete can improve performance and service life, chloride and moisture ingress as well as cracking cannot be eliminated. Full-depth cracks which are caused by restrained shrinkage allow for corrosive conditions at early ages for both the top and bottom reinforcement mats. Therefore, the use of corrosion-resistant reinforcement is essential to mitigate deterioration of bridge decks. The objective of this research program to examine the efficacy of using alternative materials in a bridge deck from both technical and economic perspectives. For the economic evaluation (Volume II), a decision support methodology and associated spreadsheet tool for robust analysis of the cost-effectiveness of alternative material types for bridge deck reinforcement was developed. The two evaluation criteria are agency and user costs, and the input data that influence this criteria include the deck service life, material process, discount rate, detour length, and bridge size. The methodology incorporates analytical techniques that include life cycle analyses to evaluate the long-term cost and benefits of each material over the bridge life; Monte Carlo simulation to account for the probabilistic nature of the input variables; stochastic dominance to ascertain the probability distribution of the outcome that a specific reinforcement material is superior to others; and analytical hierarchical process to establish appropriate weights for the agency and user costs. The study methodology is demonstrated using a case study involving three reinforcement material alternatives: traditional (epoxy-coated) steel, zinc-clad steel, and stainless steel. Through this study, it is demonstrated that the use of corrosion-resistant reinforcing materials can significantly increase bridge deck life, reduce agency and user costs associated with bridge deck rehabilitation and maintenance, and thus lower the financial needs for long-term preservation of bridges. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Bridge decks KW - Case studies KW - Coatings KW - Corrosion resistant materials KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Decision support systems KW - Economic analysis KW - Monte Carlo method KW - Reinforcing materials KW - Reinforcing steel KW - Service life KW - Spreadsheets UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.5703/1288284315517 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373829 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580925 AU - Frosch, Robert J AU - Labi, Samuel AU - Sim, Chungwook AU - Purdue University AU - Indiana Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Increasing Bridge Deck Service Life: Volume I—Technical Evaluation SN - 9781622603336 PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 289p AB - Deterioration of bridge decks is a primary factor limiting the lifespan of bridges especially in cold climates where deicing salts are commonly used. While controlling deck cracking or decreasing the permeability and porosity of concrete can improve performance and service life, chloride and moisture ingress as well as cracking cannot be eliminated. Full-depth cracks which are caused by restrained shrinkage allow for corrosive conditions at early ages for both the top and bottom reinforcement mats. Therefore, the use of corrosion-resistant reinforcement is essential to mitigate deterioration of bridge decks. The objective of this research program to examine the efficacy of using alternative materials in a bridge deck from both technical and economic perspectives. For the technical evaluation (Volume I), a three phase experimental investigation was conducted considering a wide range of corrosion-resistant reinforcing materials. These materials included stainless steels, microcomposite steel, and coated steels considering a variety of metallic and nonmetallic coatings. The first phase evaluated the bond between corrosion-resistant reinforcement and concrete using lap splice tests. The second phase evaluated the cracking behavior of slabs reinforced with corrosion-resistant reinforcement. Finally, the third phase evaluated corrosion resistance under uncracked and cracked conditions using macrocell test specimens. Transverse steel was also tied to the longitudinal steel to simulate actual bridge deck conditions. Recommendations are provided on development and splice lengths for both conventional black and corrosion-resistant reinforcing steel, control of cracks widths, as well as the selection, design, and construction of corrosion-resistant reinforcement. For the economic evaluation (Volume II), a decision support methodology and associated spreadsheet tool for robust analysis of the cost-effectiveness of alternative material types for bridge deck reinforcement was developed. The two evaluation criteria are agency and user costs, and the input data that influence this criteria include the deck service life, material process, discount rate, detour length, and bridge size. The methodology incorporates analytical techniques that include life cycle analyses to evaluate the long-term cost and benefits of each material over the bridge life; Monte Carlo simulation to account for the probabilistic nature of the input variables; stochastic dominance to ascertain the probability distribution of the outcome that a specific reinforcement material is superior to others; and analytical hierarchical process to establish appropriate weights for the agency and user costs. The study methodology is demonstrated using a case study involving three reinforcement material alternatives: traditional (epoxy-coated) steel, zinc-clad steel, and stainless steel. Through this study, it is demonstrated that the use of corrosion-resistant reinforcing materials can significantly increase bridge deck life, reduce agency and user costs associated with bridge deck rehabilitation and maintenance, and thus lower the financial needs for long-term preservation of bridges. KW - Bond strength (Materials) KW - Bridge construction KW - Bridge decks KW - Coatings KW - Corrosion resistant materials KW - Cracking KW - Evaluation KW - Recommendations KW - Reinforcing materials KW - Reinforcing steel KW - Service life UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.5703/1288284315516 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373830 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01577860 AU - Bledsoe, Jay AU - Raghunathan, Deepak AU - Ullman, Jerry AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Kansas Demonstration Project: Improvements to the Homestead Lane/I-35 Interchange in Johnson County PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 57p AB - The project described in this report was located at the intersection of I-35 and Homestead Lane in Johnson County, Kansas. Prior to construction, Homestead Lane was a two-lane highway passing over I-35 just outside Olathe, Kansas. There was no access to I-35 at this location. At the time of construction, I-35 was a four-lane interstate route carrying more than 25,000 vehicles per day. While the interchange design (diverging diamond) at this location is itself new to Kansas, the Highways for LIFE innovation involves the use of a real-time traffic system intended to provide direct information to the traveling public. It consists of a series of portable trailer-mounted message boards that display information from traffic detection trailers spaced along the route. The messages are intended to provide the public with information concerning travel time, delay, congestion, or other events within the work zone far enough in advance of their decision points to allow alternate route selection. The trailer-mounted sensors collect vehicle speed, classification, volume, and lane occupancy data for up to 10 lanes of traffic in each direction. These data are supplied to software via the internet and analyzed, resulting in a completely automated system to provide appropriate messages to the public through the variable message boards. There was only one crash reported during the construction period. However, the crash was reported as a “medical emergency” and was not considered related to the construction activities. The Smart Work Zone technology employed on this project did not eliminate any of the costs associated with traditional construction. All costs, excluding the construction costs, associated with the innovation were considered. An economic analysis showed that the implementation of the Smart Work Zone technology resulted in an additional cost of approximately $1,650,000. The majority of this cost was associated with the lease/purchase of the portable message system, the associated software and upgrades to existing software, and data analysis. KW - Construction KW - Costs KW - Demonstration projects KW - Design KW - Diverging diamond interchanges KW - Economic analysis KW - Highways for LIFE KW - Interchanges KW - Johnson County (Kansas) KW - Portable trailer-mounted message boards KW - Technological innovations KW - Work zone traffic control UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/Kansas%20HfL%20Final%20Report_12-18-14.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1370463 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01577100 AU - Shen, Junan AU - Xie, Zhaoxing AU - Li, Bo AU - Georgia Southern University, Statesboro AU - Georgia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Comprehensive Evaluation of the Long-Term Performance of Rubberized Pavement: Phase II: The Influence of Rubber and Asphalt Interaction on Mixture Durability PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 171p AB - This project investigated the long-term performance of hot asphalt mixes containing crumb rubber modifiers (CRM) added in dry or wet processes. A total of eight asphalt mixtures—four Porous European Mixtures (PEMs) and four Stone Matrix Asphalts (SMAs)—were designed with performance-grade (PG) 76-22 modified with CRM, which was added in either a dry or wet process. These mixtures were compared to control mixtures using a styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS)-modified PG 76-22. Mixtures incorporating a “hybrid”-modified PG 76-22 were also evaluated. First, the samples were weathered in the Georgia Weathering Asphalt Device (GWAD) for 1,000 hrs and 3,000 hrs and tested to determine their dynamic modulus, fatigue life, rutting, and Cantabro. Binders extracted from the weathered samples were then evaluated using a dynamic shear rheometer (DSR), gel-permeable chromatography (GPC), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Second, the interactions of dry- and wet-processed CRM with asphalt binder were compared during storage and paving. Results indicated: 1) adding transpolyoctenamer (TOR) to the CRM binder improved PG grade and separation resistance; 2) the dynamic modulus, |E*|, of both rubberized PEM and SMA in dry process did not differ significantly from that of the control mixtures or mixtures using the “hybrid”- modified binders before and after weathering; 3) the fatigue life (Nf) of unaged rubberized PEM and SMA in the dry process was similar to that in wet process, although lower than that of control SBS; 4) after 3000-hrs aging, the fatigue life of the dry-processed rubberized SMA is similar to that of the wet-processed but lower than that of hybrid and SBS SMA, regardless of strain and stress levels or test temperatures; 5) the rutting and Cantabro loss of the rubberized PEM and SMA in dry process were higher than those of control SBS after weathering; 6) CRM and asphalt binder interact during the production and paving stages based on DSR, GPC, FTIR, and atomic force microscopy (AFM) results. The effect of weathering on the properties of the asphalt binders in rubberized, dry-processed PEMs and SMAs was similar to that in the wet-processed mixtures but greater than that in the control SBS. KW - Asphalt mixtures KW - Asphalt rubber KW - Bituminous binders KW - Crumb rubber KW - Durability KW - Dynamic modulus of elasticity KW - Evaluation KW - Fatigue limit KW - Mix design KW - Pavement performance KW - Rutting KW - Weathering UR - http://g92018.eos-intl.net/eLibSQL14_G92018_Documents/12-29.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1370175 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576244 AU - Guthrie, W Spencer AU - Yaede, Joseph M AU - Bitnoff, Amanda C AU - Brigham Young University AU - Utah Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Comparison of Conventional and Internally Cured Concrete Bridge Decks in Utah: Mountain View Corridor Project PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 123p AB - The objectives of this research were to (1) monitor in-situ moisture and diffusivity for both conventional concrete and concrete containing pre-wetted lightweight fine aggregate (LWFA), (2) compare deck performance in terms of early-age cracking, compressive strength, and chloride ingress, and (3) compare concrete properties in terms of compressive strength, chloride permeability, elastic modulus, and water content in the laboratory using cylinders cast in the field at the time of deck construction. The research involved field and laboratory evaluations of four newly constructed bridge decks located in northern Utah, two constructed using conventional concrete and two constructed using pre-wetted LWFA to promote internal curing. Data from sensors embedded in the concrete decks indicate that the volumetric moisture content and electrical conductivity of the internally cured concrete were higher than those of the conventional concrete during the 2-year monitoring period. Laboratory data indicate that the internally cured concrete was weaker at 1 year following deck construction, passed less current in rapid chloride permeability testing, had a lower modulus in free-free resonant testing, and had a higher gravimetric moisture content than the conventional concrete. In the field, the internally cured concrete was weaker at 2 years in Schmidt rebound hammer testing and exhibited greater chloride concentrations at both 1 and 2 years than the conventional concrete. The conventional concrete bridge decks had more reflection cracking from the joints between the underlying pre-cast half-deck panels than the internally cured concrete decks. KW - Bridge decks KW - Chloride content KW - Compressive strength KW - Concrete bridges KW - Concrete curing KW - Cracking KW - Diffusivity KW - Field studies KW - Fine aggregates KW - Laboratory tests KW - Moisture content KW - Utah UR - http://www.udot.utah.gov/main/uconowner.gf?n=21175803886277777 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1369251 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576150 AU - Varner, Robert L AU - Burns Cooley Dennis, Incorporated AU - Mississippi Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Influence of Fly Ash, Slag Cement and Specimen Curing on Shrinkage of Bridge Deck Concrete PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 203p AB - Cracks occur in bridge decks due to restrained shrinkage of concrete materials. Concrete materials shrink as cementitious materials hydrate and as water that is not chemically bonded to cementitious materials migrates from the high humid environment of the concrete to an environment with lower humidity. Reinforcing steel and structural supporting members provide restraint to this shrinkage which causes tensile stress in the concrete. When these tensile stresses exceed the tensile strength of the concrete, cracks occur and provide relief for these stresses. Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) engineers wanted to determine the usefulness of supplementary cementitious to reduce shrinkage of concrete materials and subsequent cracking. This research project investigates length change of concrete as influenced by supplementary cementitious materials including Class C fly ash, Class F fly ash, and slag cement. The use of liquid membrane and 7-day, 14-day, and 28-day moist curing periods were also investigated to determine the influence of curing on length change of standard prism specimens. KW - Bridge decks KW - Concrete bridges KW - Concrete curing KW - Cracking KW - Fly ash KW - Mississippi KW - Shrinkage KW - Slag cement UR - http://mdot.ms.gov/documents/research/Reports/Interim%20and%20Final%20Reports/State%20Study%20247%20-%20Influence%20of%20Fly%20Ash%2C%20Slag%20Cement%20and%20Specimen%20Curing%20on%20Shrinkage%20of%20Bridge%20Deck%20Concrete.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1369976 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576034 AU - Refai, Hazem AU - Bitar, Naim AU - Schettler, Jesse AU - Al Kalaa, Omar AU - University of Oklahoma, Norman AU - Oklahoma Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - The Study of Vehicle Classification Equipment with Solutions to Improve Accuracy in Oklahoma PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 104p AB - The accuracy of vehicle counting and classification data is vital for appropriate future highway and road design, including determining pavement characteristics, eliminating traffic jams, and improving safety. Organizations relying on vehicle classifiers for data collection should be aware that systems can be affected by hardware and sensor malfunction, as well as the equipment’s implementation of classification scheme (i.e., algorithm). This report presents outcomes from an extensive statewide examination of vehicle misclassification at Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) automatic vehicle classifier (AVC) stations employing the PEEK Traffic ‘FHWA-USA’ classification algorithm. A ground truth system utilizing continuous video recordings was developed and utilized. Results from the rigorous investigation are reported herein. Also detailed in this report is a novel method for an improved classification algorithm designed to reduce the number of classification errors. Thirteen Gaussian distributions were employed to model axle spacing for each of the 13 FHWA vehicle types. Classifications obtained from video recordings and PEEK Traffic axle spacing measurements for a sample of 20,000 vehicles were recorded and analyzed to obtain 13 good-fit Gaussian distributions that correspond with each vehicle class. An optimization algorithm was then implemented to develop axle spacing thresholds for vehicles currently traveling Oklahoma’s highways and to minimize vehicle misclassification. The new scheme was then implemented in the PEEK Traffic automatic data record equipment and experimentally evaluated for accuracy. Results demonstrated its effectiveness in improving vehicle classifications and reducing persistent overall system errors characteristic of the ‘FHWA-USA’ Scheme. Analysis methodology detailed in this report will benefit organizations interested in improving vehicle classification and overall system accuracy. KW - Accuracy KW - Algorithms KW - Automatic vehicle classification KW - Axle spacing KW - Errors KW - Gaussian distributions KW - Oklahoma UR - http://l92018.eos-intl.net/elibsql16_L92018_Documents/FHWA-OK-14-17%202250%20Refai.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1368758 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01573562 AU - Wang, Kelvin C P AU - Li, Joshua Q AU - Oklahoma State University, Stillwater AU - Oklahoma Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - 3D Laser Imaging for ODOT Interstate Network at True 1-MM Resolution PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 151p AB - With the development of 3D laser imaging technology, the latest iteration of PaveVision3D Ultra can obtain true 1mm resolution 3D data at full-lane coverage in all three directions at highway speed up to 60MPH. This project provides rapid survey using PaveVision3D Ultra for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) interstate highways and SH-51 from I-35 to Sand Springs with approximately 1,280 center miles of pavement. With sophisticated Automated Distress Analyzer 3D (ADA-3D) software interface, the collected 1mm 3D data provide ODOT solutions for automated evaluation of pavement surface including longitudinal profile for roughness, transverse profile for rutting, predicted hydroplaning speed for safety analysis, and cracking and various surface defects for distresses. The Pruned Exact Linear Time (PELT) method, an optimal partitioning algorithm, is implemented to identify change points and dynamically determine homogeneous segments so as to assist DOT effectively using the available 1mm 3D pavement surface condition data for decision-making. The application of 3D 1mm laser imaging technology for network survey is unprecedented. This innovative technology allows highway agencies to use the 1mm 3D system for design and management purposes, particularly to meet the data needs for pavement management system (PMS), bridge deck evaluation without requiring field visits to individual bridges, Pavement ME Design and Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS). KW - Automated distress analyzer KW - Condition surveys KW - Interstate highways KW - Laser imaging KW - Oklahoma KW - Pavement cracking KW - Pavement distress KW - Pavement management systems KW - Roughness KW - Rutting KW - Technological innovations UR - http://l92018.eos-intl.net/elibsql16_L92018_Documents/FHWA-OK-14-14%202251%20Wang.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363435 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01573561 AU - Yang, Xiaoming AU - Bulut, Rifat AU - Poudyal, Roman AU - Oklahoma State University, Stillwater AU - Oklahoma Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Development of a Prototype Geotechnical Report Database PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 42p AB - Archive geotechnical reports in the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) contain valuable information such as site maps, photographs, borehole data, laboratory and field test data, and design analyses. A proper use of the information may bring significant cost saving for future projects. Currently, thousands of archive geotechnical reports are stored in paper file boxes in the material division of the department. The current way of file storage makes it very difficult to search and distribute the geotechnical information. The objective of this study is to develop a prototype geotechnical report database to allow easy report archiving and accessing for the department. The research team investigated the practice and recent development of other state DOTs and assessed the efficiency of the current file storage in the material division. The prototype database developed currently allows all computers under ODOT network to search and view about one hundred geotechnical reports in pdf format. The database was developed using Microsoft Access. However, the information in the database can also be accessed from an equivalent KML file using Google Earth, Google Map, ArcGIS desktop, ArcGIS explorer or other compatible programs. With the KML file, users can view all available reports on a map and access the PDF reports by clicking the hyperlink on the map. KW - ArcGIS KW - Databases KW - Geographic information systems KW - Geotechnical engineering KW - Information storage and retrieval systems KW - Oklahoma Department of Transportation KW - Prototypes KW - Reports UR - http://l92018.eos-intl.net/elibsql16_L92018_Documents/FHWA-OK-14-11%202259%20Yang.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363438 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570352 AU - Shuler, Scott AU - Colorado State University, Fort Collins AU - Colorado Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Use of Waste Tires (Crumb Rubber) on Colorado Highways PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 111p AB - The objective of this study was to determine the feasibility of using waste tires (crumb rubber) in the construction of asphalt pavements in Colorado. Two pilot test sections and one control section were constructed and observed over a five-year period to meet this objective. The two pilot test sections were built using two crumb rubber modified (CRM) asphalt processes. One process uses ground tire rubber (GTR) blended with hot asphalt cement at the asphalt plant to form the hot mix asphalt. This is referred to as the Wet Process. The other process blends GTR and asphalt cement at a remote blending facility and is then transported to the hot mix plant to produce the hot mix asphalt. This process is the Terminal Blend method. In addition, a control section was constructed containing a conventional binder. Binders in the two test sections containing GTR and the control section met the specifications for PG 64-28 asphalt. Each of the three test sections contains approximately 1,000 tons of 2-inch asphalt overlay placed over a cold-milled surface in the eastbound driving lane of US 34 Bypass near Greeley, CO. Construction of the test and control sections occurred in the summer of 2009. The goal of this research project is to evaluate the performance of the crumb rubber test sections compared with the conventional control section and depending on performance, develop Colorado-specific materials and construction specifications for ground tire modified asphalt pavements. Also, the research project aims to develop guidelines and best management practices for the construction of ground tire modified asphalt pavements. Transverse cracking began in the rubber modified sections after 22 months of service and longitudinal cracking began after 29 months. The control sections have no transverse cracking to date with longitudinal cracking beginning to appear after 56 months. KW - Asphalt pavements KW - Best practices KW - Colorado KW - Crumb rubber KW - Feasibility analysis KW - Pavement cracking KW - Pavement performance KW - Specifications KW - Surface course (Pavements) KW - Test sections KW - Tires UR - https://www.codot.gov/programs/research/pdfs/2014/use-of-waste-tires-crumb-rubber-on-colorado-highways/at_download/file UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1360209 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570328 AU - Carrasco, Cesar AU - Tirado, Cesar AU - Wang, Hao AU - University of Texas, El Paso AU - Rutgers University, Piscataway AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Numerical Simulation of Intelligent Compaction Technology for Construction Quality Control PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 30p AB - Intelligent compaction (IC) technique is a fast-developing technology for compaction quality control and acceptance. Proof rolling using the intelligent compaction rollers after completing compaction can effectively identify the weak spots and significantly improve the uniformity of the compacted layers. Despite many federal and state funded studies to implement the IC technology, there are still obstacles and gaps that need to be explored and overcome in order to fully employ this technology in the day-to-day operations. What is fundamentally missing from most efforts is an attempt to understand the behavior of the IC roller responses and their correlations to the other modulus-based devices, such as the light-weight deflectometer (LWD). To better understand the process of accepting compacted materials to ensure quality, performance and durability using IC technology, a finite element model was developed to document and understand the theoretical limitations and sensitivity of this technology in order to develop more rigorous specifications. The influence depth for both IC and LWD was studied as well as the level of sensitivity of the stiffness or modulus as measured by these instruments. The nonlinear constitutive model parameters seem to have significant influence on the measured influence depth. KW - Compaction KW - Deflectometers KW - Finite element method KW - Intelligent compaction KW - Quality control KW - Rollers KW - Simulation KW - Stiffness KW - Technological innovations UR - https://cait.rutgers.edu/files/CAIT-UTC-029-final.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55200/55238/CAIT-UTC-029-final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359776 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567436 AU - Everett, Stephanie R AU - Athigakunagorn, Nathee AU - Woldermariam, Wubeshet AU - Varadarajan, Vinay AU - Arman, Mohammad AU - Roshandeh, Arash M AU - Gkritza, Konstantina AU - Labi, Samuel AU - Sinha, Kumares C AU - Purdue University AU - Indiana Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Impact of HB‐1481 on Indiana’s Highway Revenue Generation, Asset Degradation, Modal Distribution, and Economic Development and Competitiveness SN - 9781622603312 PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 188p AB - The Indiana House Enrolled Act 1481 (HEA-1481) requires that the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) delivers the HEA-1481 study by December 31, 2014. This will precede the adoption of final rules for the issuance, fee structure, and enforcement of permits for overweight divisible loads; a fee structure of permits for loads on extra heavy duty highways; and a fee structure of permits for overweight loads. On December 26, 2013, INDOT adopted the Emergency Rules regarding these items, as required by HEA-1481, which became effective January 1, 2014. HEA-1481 requires INDOT to use the results of this impact study to inform the setting of the final rules. Three different fee structures were considered: Pre-HEA-1481 fee structures were in place prior to HEA-1481; Interim Policy fee structures that were in place between June 1, 2013 and December 31, 2013; and the Emergency Rules that took effect January 1, 2014 and superseded the above two fee structures. INDOT commissioned this study to evaluate the impacts of overweight divisible load permits on revenue, asset consumption, alternative transportation modes, and Indiana’s economic development and economic competitiveness relative to other Midwestern states. The results of the analysis indicate that overall, the overweight commodities divisible permit structure arising from HEA-1481 is not expected to dramatically change the consumption of Indiana's pavement and bridge assets, but it will lead to a slight increase in the revenue collected per permit and a slight decrease in the gap between consumption and revenue. However, the gap between revenue and consumption is still significant: for the pre-HEA-1481 and the Emergency Rules periods, the consumption-revenue gaps were estimated as approximately $33 million and $30 million, respectively. From an operations standpoint of mobility and safety, it was estimated that HEA-1481 will have an ambiguous impact due to the twin but opposing effects of traffic impairment and trips reduction associated with overweight vehicles; the net effect depends on the prevailing characteristics of the traffic stream and extent of overweight loading. Also using the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA's) Intermodal Transportation and Inventory Cost (ITIC) analysis tool, it was found that HEA-1481 will lead to little or no shift in the modal share across truck and rail, but a significant shift across the specific configurations of vehicles used in trucking operations. HEA-1481 is expected to increase the economic competitiveness of trucking operations in Indiana compared to the pre-HEA 1481 era, and in some cases, compared to other Midwestern states. Finally, HEA-1481 is expected to increase economic development at least in the long term by reducing the cost of transporting commodities by highways, an essential expenditure item of many major businesses in Indiana. Overall, HEA-1481 is expected to help protect the highway bridge and pavement infrastructure by providing incentives for less-damaging loading behavior, reduce the gap between revenue and consumption, increase the economic competitiveness of trucking operations relative to other states, and provide a more industry-friendly environment for increased economic development in the state of Indiana. KW - Asset management KW - Deterioration KW - Economic analysis KW - Fees KW - Heavy vehicles KW - Indiana KW - Indiana Department of Transportation KW - Laws and legislation KW - Overweight loads KW - Permits KW - Revenues KW - Transportation modes UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.5703/1288284315514 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1358313 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567316 AU - Havens, Scott AU - Marshall, Hans-Peter AU - Trisca, Gabriel AU - Johnson, Jeffery B AU - Boise State University AU - Idaho Transportation Department AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Real Time Avalanche Detection for High Risk Areas PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 62p AB - Avalanches routinely occur on State Highway 21 (SH21) between Lowman and Stanley, Idaho each winter. The avalanches pose a threat to the safety of maintenance workers and the traveling public. A real-time avalanche detection system will allow the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) avalanche forecasters to remotely monitor the major avalanche paths on this corridor. Information from the real-time system will aid avalanche forecasters in determining the current avalanche hazard, provide information about the timing and location of avalanche activity, initiate response/clearing of roadway, and provide information for when the road may be safe to open. The overall project objective was to develop a real-time avalanche detection system that could be easily deployed and expanded to other avalanche areas within Idaho. In addition, the system developed through the research needed to be capable of providing information to avalanche forecasters in a format they can interpret. In this project, the authors demonstrate that: (1) Avalanches can be detected using low-cost sensor arrays that measure infrasound (sound below the threshold of human hearing, less than 20 Hz); (2) These arrays can be reliably deployed for continuous remote monitoring throughout the winter; and (3) The multi-sensor high resolution data can be processed on-site and high level information can be relayed back to ITD avalanche forecasters. KW - Avalanches KW - Detection and identification systems KW - Highways KW - Idaho KW - Infrasound KW - Real time information KW - Sensors KW - Winter maintenance UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55100/55102/RP219Final12312014.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1356213 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563771 AU - Ullman, Gerald L AU - Iragavarapu, Vichika AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Idaho Transportation Department AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Work Zone Positive Protection Guidelines for Idaho PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 80p AB - The Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) Title 23 Part 630 Subpart K - Temporary Traffic Control (630.1102–630.1110) rule states that positive protection shall be considered where work zone conditions place workers at increased risk from motorized traffic and where positive protection devices can significantly improve safety. This project developed Idaho-specific work zone positive protection guidelines that Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) staff can use when designing work zone traffic management plans. The guidelines address conditions where positive protection device (i.e. devices that contain and/or redirect vehicles and meet the federal crashworthiness evaluation criteria) application can be recommended on the basis of reduced work zone crash costs. For sites where such conditions do not exist, guidelines are provided regarding intrusion and crash reduction countermeasures (e.g., closer channelizing device spacing and supplemental speed management devices) that could be employed. These guidelines are based on the theory of encroachment hazard analysis, which was conducted using the Roadside Safety Analysis Program (Version 3, NCHRP 22-27, 2012). KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Guidelines KW - Idaho KW - State of the practice KW - Temporary barriers KW - Traffic crashes KW - Work zone safety KW - Work zone traffic control UR - https://itd.idaho.gov/highways/research/archived/reports/RP228WorkZoneFinal01122015.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55100/55103/RP228WorkZoneFinal01122015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353738 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563768 AU - Mahoney, Joe P AU - Slater, Megan AU - Keifenheim, Chris AU - Uhlmeyer, Jeff AU - Moomaw, Tim AU - Willoughby, Kim AU - University of Washington, Seattle AU - Washington State Transportation Center AU - Washington State Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - WSDOT Chip Seals—Optimal Timing, Design and Construction Considerations PY - 2014/12//Research Report SP - 93p AB - The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) does not have sufficient pavement preservation funding to keep up with inflation and pavement needs. This has caused WSDOT to emphasize in its preservation program lower-cost options such as chip seals. The study was conducted on several aspects of WSDOT chip seals including (1) the optimum timing for alternating chip seals (or Bituminous Surface Treatments (BSTs)) with hot mix asphalt (HMA) overlays, (2) design of chip seal application rates, and (3) a range of construction and performance factors. The research incorporated surveys, literature reviews, and five BST meetings that were held between 2006 and 2011. All of these activities are summarized in this report. WSDOT has continuously changed both policy and specifications as new information became available for improving their chip seal performance. In recent years, a policy change resulted in using chip seals on roadways with up to 10,000 annual daily traffic (ADT). As such, a secondary factor examined in this study was maximum ADT levels which provide for sensible chip seal construction. KW - Annual average daily traffic KW - Bituminous overlays KW - Chip seals KW - Hot mix asphalt KW - Literature reviews KW - Pavement maintenance KW - Surveys KW - Washington (State) UR - http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/research/reports/fullreports/837.1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1354249 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563766 AU - Trejo, David AU - Chen, Jiaming AU - Oregon State University, Corvallis AU - Washington State Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Effects of Extended Discharge Time and Revolution Counts for Ready-Mixed Concrete PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 379p AB - Specifications for ready-mixed concrete limit drum revolution and mixing time to 250 drum revolutions and/or 1.5 hours before discharge. These specifications have been in place for many years with the objective of ensuring the quality and performance of the finished concrete product; however, these limitations could potentially increase construction costs without additional benefits, especially when longer transport distances are required. Because there have been significant changes in concrete constituent materials (e.g., chemical admixtures) and equipment since these limits were first implemented, research is needed to assess the effects of time to discharge and drum revolution counts on concrete performance. The objective of this research program is to evaluate and verify whether existing specifications for mixing and transporting concrete are applicable for today’s materials and equipment and if not, to identify key variables or tests that can ensure adequate placeability and good mechanical and durability characteristics. This study evaluated the influence of coarse and fine aggregate, supplementary cementitious materials quantity and type, chemical admixtures, temperature and mixing time and drum revolution on the mechanical and durability characteristics of concrete. Results indicate that existing specifications may be appropriate due to loss of workability. However, mixing time and drum revolution counts had no significant effects on the majority of mechanical properties and durability characteristics of ready-mixed concrete and results from this research indicate that existing specification limits are very conservative. KW - Admixtures KW - Aggregates KW - Concrete mixing KW - Durability KW - Mechanical properties KW - Ready mixed concrete KW - Specifications KW - Workability UR - http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/research/reports/fullreports/831.1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1354248 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563409 AU - Kingsley, Gordon AU - Boyer, Eric AU - Rogers, Juan AU - Knox-Hayes, Janelle AU - Georgia Institute of Technology AU - Georgia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Implementing Communities of Practice in the Georgia Department of Transportation PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 135p AB - This study explored strategies through which the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) can develop communities of practice to help managers facilitate critical exchanges of knowledge, support organization learning, and ultimately achieve improvements in performance outcomes. Communities of practice (COPs) are groups of professionals working on behalf of an organization, who develop on-going informal knowledge exchanges as a means of learning about and performing key job-related processes and skills. The study consisted of five main objectives: 1) to map the incidence of COP in GDOT, 2) to monitor patterns of knowledge flows through COPs, 3) to assess the costs and benefits of COP, 4) to develop a strategy for application of SharePoint to the development of COPs and 5) to assess the impact of employee retirements on knowledge retention. The study identified the practices and functions of four communities of practice within GDOT. Strategies for supporting COPs through training and the creation of SharePoint sites were applied to two of the COPs. The effectiveness of these strategies was tested by comparing the two COPs who received interventions with the two COPs with no interventions. The findings indicate that investing in communities of practice can lead to improved performance and operational efficiency. This finding was most pronounced in decentralized communities of practice where personnel are spread widely across many offices and locations within GDOT. Much of the role of supporting COPs, the authors find, occurs through providing increased authoritative support, improved definition of roles, and adaptation of COP knowledge to job-related skills. KW - Benefits KW - Communication systems KW - Costs KW - Employees KW - Georgia Department of Transportation KW - Information dissemination KW - Knowledge KW - Performance KW - Planning methods KW - Retirement KW - Training UR - http://g92018.eos-intl.net/eLibSQL14_G92018_Documents/11-37.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1352904 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560984 AU - Lukasik, Dan AU - Castellanos, Monica AU - Chandler, Adam AU - Hubbard, Elliot AU - Jagannathan, Ramanujan AU - Malone, Teresa AU - Leidos Corporation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Guidelines for Virtual Transportation Management Center Development PY - 2014/12 SP - 146p AB - The purpose of this project is to develop guidelines for the creation, implementation and operation of a Virtual Traffic Management Center (TMC). This guidebook is intended to serve as a detailed reference that addresses the concepts, methods, processes, tasks, techniques, and other related issues for practitioners to consider associated with planning and development for a virtual TMC. The guidebook describes the business planning process for developing a virtual TMC and provides guidance and procedures for addressing technical, operational and institutional issues such as data needs, communications, responsibilities, and agreements for collaborating remotely. KW - Case studies KW - Guidelines KW - Implementation KW - Information dissemination KW - Information management KW - Intelligent transportation systems KW - State departments of transportation KW - Traffic control centers UR - http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop14016/fhwahop14016.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1349695 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560896 AU - Bennert, Thomas AU - Rutgers University, New Brunswick AU - New York State Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Determining Binder Flushing Causes in New York State PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 117p AB - In 2007, a number of asphalt pavements in New York State flushed. An extensive forensic and laboratory investigation was conducted to determine why particular New York State asphalt pavements constructed in 2007 had undergone “atypical” flushing. Analysis of quality control records, laboratory characterization of field cores, and a laboratory mixture evaluation component were conducted to help best determine the potential reasoning for unexpected pavement flushing. At the conclusion of this study, there were no definitive reasons as to why these pavements had flushed. For every task evaluated where a potential reason was identified that may have caused the flushing issue, there were always exceptions that prohibited a conclusive answer. Therefore, although the findings in the study outline how material testing and specification can be improved in New York State to help reduce the potential for rutting/flushing in the future, the exact reasoning for the flushing in 2007 is still unknown. KW - Asphalt pavements KW - Bituminous binders KW - Bleeding (Pavements) KW - Cores (Specimens) KW - Laboratory studies KW - Materials tests KW - Mix design KW - New York (State) KW - Rutting UR - https://www.dot.ny.gov/divisions/engineering/technical-services/trans-r-and-d-repository/C-08-15%20Final%20Report_12-2014.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1347462 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560376 AU - Rigdon, Heather AU - Atkinson, Jennifer AU - Bosack, John AU - O’Donnell, Cara AU - Lambert, Julie AU - Leidos AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - North American Conference on Elderly Mobility: Noteworthy Practices Guide PY - 2014/12 SP - 47p AB - It is increasingly important to account for the safety and needs of older adults in our transportation system as the population ages. The North American Conference on Elderly Mobility (NACEM) was held May 11-14, 2014 in Detroit, Michigan and featured best practices in older adult mobility and highlighted new developments since the conference was first held in 2004. This guide showcases national and international noteworthy practices presented during each conference track: infrastructure and vehicles; driver screening and assessment; driver education and training; alternative transportation, mobility management, and coordination; and housing and land use. The agencies and organizations featured in this guide have significantly improved the safety and mobility of our older population through the use of various techniques and programs that can be replicated nationwide. KW - Aged KW - Aged drivers KW - Best practices KW - Mobility KW - North America KW - Safety UR - http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/older_users/noteworthy/elderlymobilitynpg.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54800/54864/elderlymobilitynpg.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1349706 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560094 AU - Schneeberger, J D AU - Jacobi, Amy AU - Torng, Gwo-Wei AU - Noblis AU - Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Transit Administration AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Transit Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) Applications: Near Term Research and Development; Transit Bus Stop Pedestrian Safety Application: Operational Concept PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 58p AB - This document serves as an Operational Concept for the Transit Bus Stop Pedestrian Safety application. The purpose of this document is to communicate user needs and desired capabilities for and expectations of the Transit Bus Stop Pedestrian Safety application. This document also serves to build consensus among transit user groups and stakeholders concerning these needs and expectations. The Transit Bus Stop Pedestrian Safety application will alert nearby pedestrians indicating the transit vehicle’s intention of pulling into or out of a bus stop. The application allows messages to be sent from transit vehicles to instrumented transit stops that in turn provide audible or visual alerts to pedestrians in the vicinity of a bus stop. This Operational Concept describes how the application applies to motor buses; however the application is also applicable to other transit types such as light rail. Three scenarios are described, including: Scenario 1. Motor Bus Approaching the Transit Bus Stop; Scenario 2. Motor Bus Departing from the Transit Bus Stop; and Scenario 3. Warning to Pedestrians of Oncoming Vehicles when Alighting the Motor Bus at the Transit Bus Stop, This document is intended to convey at a high-level how the application may work, so others may design and implement systems in the future. As such, the Transit Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) Operational Concept documents are “generalized” and not specific to a geographic area, an operating entity (e.g., transit agency), existing systems that may be in place for a region, agency operating procedures, nor political environment. KW - Bus stops KW - Operational concept description KW - Pedestrian safety KW - Transit buses KW - Vehicle to infrastructure communications KW - Warning systems UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54400/54483/FHWA-JPO-14-174_v1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1344674 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560082 AU - Jackson, D AU - Semler, C AU - Ryus, P AU - Nevers, B AU - Kittelson and Associates, Incorporated AU - CH2M Hill AU - Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Transit Administration TI - How to Guide - Transit Operations Decision Support Systems (TODSS) PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 120p AB - Transit Operations Decision Support Systems (TODSS) are decision support systems designed to support dispatchers in real-time bus operations management in response to incidents, special events, and other changing conditions in order to restore service when disruptions occur. This How-To Guide is intended for use by agencies planning, deploying, operating, and maintaining (TODSS). It was developed based on the outcomes and lessons learned from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) sponsored TODSS Prototype project with Pace in Chicago IL, and from interviews with agencies and vendors that have recently deployed TODSS and TODSS-like systems. KW - Bus transit operations KW - Decision support systems KW - Guidelines KW - Handbooks KW - Integrated corridor management KW - Service disruption KW - Transit Operations Decision Support Systems UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54400/54471/FHWA-JPO-14-144_v1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1344660 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01559870 AU - Strauss, Rachel AU - Middleton, Scott AU - Nash, Logan AU - Peckett, Haley AU - Volpe National Transportation Systems Center AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - 2013/2014 Eco-Logical Program Annual Report PY - 2014/12//Annual Report SP - 61p AB - The Eco-Logical approach offers an ecosystem-based framework for integrated infrastructure and natural resource planning, project development, and delivery. The 2013/2014 Eco-Logical Program Annual Report provides updates on the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA's) Eco-Logical Program, in particular the Implementing Eco-Logical initiative funded through the Second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP2) in coordination with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the Transportation Research Board (TRB). The report discusses program accomplishments of Implementing Eco-Logical as well as from Implementing Eco-Logical Implementation Assistance Program recipients and past Eco-Logical Grant Program recipients. The report provides findings and updates on recipients’ projects and shares recommendations for next steps for the FHWA Eco-Logical Program. KW - Ecological highways KW - Ecosystems KW - FHWA Eco-Logical Program KW - Highway planning KW - Implementation KW - State of the practice KW - Strategic Highway Research Program 2 UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54500/54588/2013-2014_Eco-Logical_Annual_Report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1344651 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01558320 AU - Miller, Adam M AU - Jahren, Charles T AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Rapid Replacement of Bridge Deck Expansion Joints Study – Phase I PY - 2014/12//Interim Report SP - 73p AB - Bridge deck expansion joints are used to allow for movement of the bridge deck due to thermal expansion, dynamics loading, and other factors. More recently, expansion joints have also been utilized to prevent the passage of winter de-icing chemicals and other corrosives applied to bridge decks from penetrating and damaging substructure components of the bridge. Expansion joints are often one of the first components of a bridge deck to fail and repairing or replacing expansion joints are essential to extending the life of any bridge. In the Phase I study, the research team focused on the current means and methods of repairing and replacing bridge deck expansion joints. Research team members visited with Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) Bridge Crew Leaders to document methods of maintaining and repairing bridge deck expansion joints. Active joint replacement projects around Iowa were observed to document the means of replacing expansion joints that were beyond repair, as well as, to identify bottlenecks in the construction process that could be modified to decrease the length of expansion joint replacement projects. After maintenance and replacement strategies had been identified, a workshop was held at the Iowa State Institute for Transportation to develop ideas to better maintain and replace expansion joints. Maintenance strategies were included in the discussion as a way to extend the useful life of a joint, thus decreasing the number of joints replaced in a year and reducing the traffic disruptions. KW - Bridge construction KW - Bridge decks KW - Expansion joints KW - Iowa KW - Maintenance KW - Service life KW - Workshops UR - http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/intrans_reports/110/ UR - http://publications.iowa.gov/19136/1/IADOT_InTrans_Jahren_Rapid_Replacement_Bridge_Deck_Expansion_Joint_Phase_I_2014.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1347302 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01557292 AU - Paul, Alvaro AU - Kurtis, Kimberly E AU - Kahn, Lawrence F AU - Singh, Preet M AU - Georgia Institute of Technology AU - Georgia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Assessment of Sand Quality on Concrete Performance: Examination of Acidic and Sulfate/Sulfide-Bearing Sands PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 108p AB - The purpose of this research is to examine how the presence of sulfide- and sulfate-containing minerals in acidic aggregates may affect the properties of mortar and concrete. Analyses were performed to compare two sands from a deposit in the Georgia coastal area with Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT)-approved natural sand. Results show that sulfide- and sulfate-bearing acidic sands present an important variability and could delay the hydration reactions of cement at early-age, could result in variability in the mechanical properties of concrete, and could accelerate the onset of delayed ettringite-induced expansion when subjected to a high temperature curing cycle. Also, these acidic sands may reduce the corrosion resistance of reinforced concrete. Based on these results, it is recommended that the use of this type of sand be avoided in prestressed concrete, precast operations, mass concrete, and other applications where an initial high temperature could be reached. It is also recommended that such sands be avoided in concrete structures exposed to marine environments. In other applications, if the sand source must be used, preliminary recommendations include the use of a sulfate-resistant Type V cement and use of appropriate supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), although further evaluation of such material combinations is advised to ensure adequate performance. KW - Aggregates KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Assessments KW - Cement KW - Concrete KW - Durability KW - Georgia KW - Recommendations KW - Sand KW - Sulfates KW - Sulfides UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1346748 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01557284 AU - Ashuri, Baabak AU - Mostaan, Kia AU - Georgia Institute of Technology AU - Georgia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Innovative Project Delivery Using Alternative Financing Mechanisms: Assessment of Benefits, Costs, and Risks PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 194p AB - The U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) and state DOTs across the nation seek private investments to leverage their shrinking financial resources and fulfill their growing funding shortfalls. Involvement of the private sector in financing highway projects is subject to various limitations and challenges that affect state DOTs’ project planning and development, and limit the expansion of private financing for highway projects. Private sector involvement in highway financing across the U.S. is subject to various limitations. State DOTs face different kinds of financial, political, legal, management, and organizational issues affecting their ability to attract private investments in highway projects. The main purpose of this project is to enhance the understanding of Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) regarding the complexity of incorporating financing into the innovative project delivery process. Particularly, the objective of this study is to capture the underpinnings of private financing in highway projects in the following areas: (1) The latest developments and trends in utilizing innovative financing mechanisms for highway projects; (2) main objectives and major concerns of state DOTs in the decision-making processes; (3) deal-breaker issues and major concerns of private sector participants; and (4) recommended best practices to enhance adoption of private financing for highway projects. A comprehensive review of academic and professional literature was conducted in order to analyze and document the latest developments and trends in utilizing private financing for highway projects. In order to document the current state of private financing for highway projects a survey was conducted from state DOTs. Following the nationwide survey of state DOTs’ practices for incorporating private financing in highway projects, this study identified a list of deal-breaker issues and major challenges that hinder private sector involvement in financing highway projects through conducting interviews with the industry experts in private financing. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Best practices KW - Construction projects KW - Decision making KW - Financing KW - Georgia Department of Transportation KW - Project delivery KW - Public private partnerships KW - Risk analysis KW - State departments of transportation KW - Surveys UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1346746 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01557024 AU - Arizona Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Long Range Transportation Plan for the Hualapai Indian Tribe PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 399p AB - The Hualapai Indian Tribe and the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) conducted a long-range transportation plan to identify and address the most critical current and future transportation needs on the Hualapai Indian Reservation. The study was funded by the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) State Planning and Research Program and administered through ADOT’s Multimodal Planning Division's Planning Assistance for Rural Areas (PARA) program. The primary goal of this study was to develop a transportation improvement plan that promotes safety and mobility, enhances economic vitality, improves community livability, encourages environmental and cultural sensitivity, and supports current and planned economic development. The study also included a comprehensive inventory update of the Hualapai Tribe's roads in the Bureau of Indian Affairs' (BIA) Road Inventory Field Data System (RIFDS). Roadway conditions currently in the inventory were updated, additional roadways were added, and some roads were removed. KW - Arizona KW - Condition surveys KW - Economic development KW - Hualapai Indian Tribe KW - Long range planning KW - Mobility KW - Multimodal transportation KW - Quality of life KW - Roads KW - Safety KW - Transportation planning UR - http://apps.azdot.gov/adotlibrary/Multimodal_Planning_Division/Tribal_Transportation/Hualapai_Long_Range-FR-1412.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345768 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01555794 AU - Barr, Paul J AU - Halling, Marv W AU - Pettigrew, Christopher S AU - Utah State University, Logan AU - Rutgers University, Piscataway AU - Utah Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Forensic Testing of a Double Tee Bridge PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 240p AB - This report describes an investigation to quantify the behavior of precast, prestressed concrete double-tee bridge girders made with lightweight concrete. As part of the investigation, three bridge girders were salvaged from a decommissioned bridge in Coalville, Utah. Each girder was subjected to a cracking test to determine the residual prestress force after approximately forty-eight years of service life. Once the prestress losses were quantified, a flexural capacity test was performed on each girder, as well as shear capacity tests performed at various distances from the support. The measured losses and capacities were compared to estimated values calculated according to procedures in the AASHTO LRFD Specifications. It was concluded that the AASHTO LRFD procedures for calculating prestress losses were accurate and the calculated shear capacities were conservative. However, the calculated flexural capacities were not conservative, which is believed to be a result of deck deterioration. In addition to the physical tests, a nonlinear finite-element analysis (FEA) was conducted using ANSYS that was found to replicate the experimental behavior, failure mechanism, and magnitude. KW - AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications KW - ANSYS (Computer program) KW - Coalville (Utah) KW - Finite element method KW - Flexural capacity KW - Girders KW - Lightweight concrete KW - Precast concrete KW - Prestress losses KW - Prestressed concrete KW - Shear capacity UR - https://cait.rutgers.edu/files/CAIT-UTC-044-final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1342953 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01555756 AU - Bektas, Fatih AU - Smadi, Omar AU - Al-Zoubi, Mazin AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Pavement Management Performance Modeling: Evaluating the Existing PCI Equations PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 79p AB - The work described in this report documents the activities performed for the evaluation, development, and enhancement of the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) pavement condition information as part of their pavement management system operation. The study covers all of the Iowa DOT’s interstate and primary National Highway System (NHS) and non-NHS system. A new pavement condition rating system that provides a consistent, unified approach in rating pavements in Iowa is being proposed. The proposed 100-scale system is based on five individual indices derived from specific distress data and pavement properties, and an overall pavement condition index, PCI-2, that combines individual indices using weighting factors. The different indices cover cracking, ride, rutting, faulting, and friction. The Cracking Index is formed by combining cracking data (transverse, longitudinal, wheel-path, and alligator cracking indices). Ride, rutting, and faulting indices utilize the International Roughness Index (IRI), rut depth, and fault height, respectively. KW - Condition surveys KW - Evaluation KW - Friction KW - Iowa KW - Pavement cracking KW - Pavement management systems KW - Pavement performance KW - Ratings KW - Rutting UR - http://www.intrans.iastate.edu/research/documents/research-reports/existing_PCI_equations_w_cvr.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1344388 ER - TY - SER AN - 01555382 JO - LTPP TechBrief PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Franta, Daniel P AU - Wojtkiewicz, Steven F AU - Khazanovich, Lev TI - Classification of Features of Pavement Profiles Using Empirical Mode Decomposition PY - 2014/12 SP - 16p AB - The Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) database contains surface profile data for numerous pavements that are used mainly for computing International Roughness Index (IRI). In order to obtain more information from these surface profiles, a Hilbert-Huang Transform (HHT) based surface profile algorithm was developed to analyze LTPP field road profile data in order to extract smoothed, consistent profiles from noise-filled data sets using empirical mode decomposition (EMD). The application of this algorithm to concrete surface profiles resulted in the successful separation of the intrinsic mode functions contained within the profile data for several LTPP pavement test sections from Wisconsin, Arizona, and Utah. Arizona was the only test section where the profiles showed consistent “curl” deflections for the same slab over a 20-month timespan and during both winter and early fall seasons. The consistent slab shape is likely due to built-in curl. Built-in curl is defined as permanent concrete slab deformation that occurs early in the life of the pavement. By categorizing and separating intrinsic mode functions contained within LTPP profile data, the results can be used to analyze specific portions of LTPP surface profile data in order to improve concrete pavement models in the future. Currently, no comprehensive procedure exists to model or estimate long-term, effective built-in curling. The developed surface profile algorithm that has proven to be universal can be applied to any LTPP profile data for analysis. KW - Algorithms KW - Arizona KW - Classification KW - Concrete pavements KW - Curling KW - Deflection KW - Empirical Mode Decomposition KW - Hilbert-Huang transform KW - Long-Term Pavement Performance Program KW - Pavement performance KW - Utah KW - Wisconsin UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/pavements/ltpp/13093/13093.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1344147 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554430 AU - Bullough, John D AU - Skinner, Nicholas P AU - Besenecker, Ute C AU - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute AU - New York State Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - High Visibility Reflective Sign Sheeting Evaluation PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 47p AB - Highway signs are a critical part of the roadway infrastructure, providing important information to drivers to assist in navigation, identify potentially hazardous roadway locations, and to remind drivers of safe operating practices. Ensuring that signs have sufficient visibility to the driving public is a key undertaking by transportation agencies such as the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT). In order to assist NYSDOT in evaluating and comparing different materials for photometric and visual performance, the present project was conducted to select and validate a visibility model for use as a basis for performance specifications, to develop a practical methodology for conducting field measurements of sign performance along roadways, and to develop practical tools to assist highway engineers in making informed quantitative decisions about the levels of performance provided by different materials. In addition to describing the methods for an approach to visual performance based specifications, a spreadsheet tool for calculating sign luminance and visibility was also developed. KW - Evaluation KW - Luminance KW - Methodology KW - New York (State) KW - Performance based specifications KW - Photometry KW - Retroreflectivity KW - Sign sheeting KW - Traffic signs KW - Visibility UR - https://www.dot.ny.gov/divisions/engineering/technical-services/trans-r-and-d-repository/C-07-03 Final Report_12-2014.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1342133 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554408 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Federal Highway Administration Focus Area Data Definitions PY - 2014/12//Summary Report SP - 6p AB - Roadway departure (RwD), intersections, and pedestrians have been focus areas of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) research and safety programs for well over a decade because of elevated motor vehicle crash incidents. Countermeasures within each focus area have evolved as the data are further evaluated, and data-driven thinking has resulted in new processes for applying countermeasures. This analysis has led to an interest in improving not only the data that are used but also the definitions by which FWHA measures the crashes within each of its focus areas. The latter is the focus of this technical summary. The primary objectives of this report are as follows: (1) Inform safety specialists and data analysts of the FHWA revisions to the focus areas and (2) Provide detailed information on the current Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) attributes of each FHWA focus area. KW - Definitions KW - Fatalities KW - Fatality Analysis Reporting System KW - Intersections KW - Pedestrians KW - Ran off road crashes KW - Traffic crashes KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1342952 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554406 AU - Cantor, David E AU - Osborn, Ethan AU - Singh, Prabhjot AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Midwest Transportation Center AU - Department of Transportation AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - A Firm Size and Safety Performance Profile of the U.S. Motor Carrier Industry PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 59p AB - The purpose of this study was the development of a driver-focused truck crash prediction model with a particular focus on the size of the carrier that the driver is associated with at the time of a state reportable crash. While previous studies have shown that the characteristics of the driver affect driver involvement in reportable crashes, scant attention has been paid to how the size of the carrier affects crash rates. Generally speaking, smaller carriers do not have the resources to invest in monitoring and implementing sound safety practices to ensure safe operations in the U.S. motor carrier industry. This represents a significant problem because the majority of carriers in the industry are small carriers. This study seeks to enhance the understanding of how the characteristics of carriers contribute to driver involvement in state reportable crashes. KW - Crash rates KW - Crash risk forecasting KW - Motor carriers KW - Truck crashes KW - Trucking safety KW - United States UR - http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1078&context=intrans_reports UR - http://www.intrans.iastate.edu/research/documents/research-reports/motor_carrier_firm_size_safety_performance_w_cvr.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/56000/56600/56663/A_Firm_Size_and_Safety_Performance_Profile_of_the_U.S._Motor_Carr.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1341977 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554394 AU - Qin, Xiao AU - Wang, Kai AU - Wang, Zhiguang AU - Mountain-Plains Consortium AU - South Dakota Department of Transportation AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Selection of Interest and Inflation Rates for Infrastructure Investment Analyses PY - 2014/12 SP - 62p AB - Engineering economic analyses (EEA) apply economic methodologies to engineering problems for decision-making support. When conducting an EEA, interest and inflation rates are the two critical factors. Using inappropriate values for interest and inflation rates could affect decision-making, such as unfairly favoring specific industries (e.g. concrete over asphalt or vice versa), over- or under-budgeting future projects. It is necessary to identify the appropriate methodology to measure interest and inflation rates to enhance the credibility and reliability of investment decisions. The current assumption of a zero interest rate in the South Dakota Department of Transportation (SDDOT) EEAs may be problematic. Zero interest rate is unable to differentiate projects with various life cycles but in reality interest rates vary by time. Additionally, the use of a general inflation rate may be debatable because the price of materials and labor can vary by type and area. In this research, SDDOT's current uses of interest and inflation rates were identified through interviews. The new approach to establishing interest and inflation rates was developed from the combination of basic economic principles and state-of-the-art methodologies. Specifically, a non-zero interest rate was calculated by the treasury and state-issued bond yields; the region- and material-specific inflation rates were measured, calculated, and applied to the SDDOT Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) studies; and the composition of the South Dakota Construction Cost Index (SDCCI) was re-examined and modified. In conclusion, this study introduced improved methodologies to calculate the discount rate for an EEA, presented the advantages of using a more specific inflation rate over a general inflation rate, and illustrated the consequence of selecting inappropriate rates. KW - Cost indexes KW - Decision making KW - Economic analysis KW - Inflation KW - Infrastructure KW - Interest rates KW - Investments KW - Life cycle costing KW - Methodology KW - South Dakota Department of Transportation UR - http://www.mountain-plains.org/pubs/pdf/MPC14-275.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1341461 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554377 AU - Bilgin, Ömer AU - Arens, Kevin AU - Salveter, Mark AU - University of Dayton AU - Ohio Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Analysis of Aggregate Pier Systems for Stabilization of Subgrade Settlement PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 166p AB - Every year, Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) undertakes numerous pavement patching/resurfacing projects to repair pavement distress and structural failure due to soft and/or organic soils constituting the subgrade. Other than the temporary solution of patching/resurfacing, removal of weak soils and replacement with new suitable engineered fill can be used for permanent remediation. However, when problem soils are relatively deep this method can be too costly. There are various vertical column support methods used for civil engineering structures when soils are not strong enough to support the structure. Although some of these methods are utilized by several state departments of transportation (DOTs) to remediate settlement problems of existing roadways, they were not used in Ohio for this purpose. This study investigated the applicability of various vertical column support systems to improve subgrade and reduce settlements for existing roadways in Ohio. A decision matrix has been developed to identify the feasible methods. Two sites with ongoing subgrade settlements have been investigated through detailed subsurface investigations for possible implementation. Several technically feasible vertical column support methods have been identified for these sites. Lifetime cost-benefit analysis performed show that although there are some upfront costs associated with these remediation methods, the vertical column support ground improvement methods are significantly more cost effective compared to the current practice of patching/resurfacing temporary alternative during the project’s lifetime, and can result in significant cost savings to ODOT and roadway users. KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Feasibility analysis KW - Ground settlement KW - Ohio KW - Piers (Supports) KW - Soft soils KW - Soil stabilization KW - Subgrade (Pavements) KW - Vertical supports UR - http://worldcat.org/oclc/903208509/viewonline UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1341458 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554346 AU - Dong, Jing AU - Albrecht, Chris AU - Johnson, Patrick AU - Makaiwi, Micah AU - Mid-America Transportation Center AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Study of the Regulatory Issues Affecting Truck Freight Movement in the Midwest PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 51p AB - This project investigated regulatory issues that may affect or limit freight movement in Iowa and other Midwest states: Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Current state regulations for the following are reviewed and summarized: vehicle dimensions, vehicle weights, speed limits, weight compliance enforcement, fees and taxes, driver qualifications, medical certification, Hours of service, and oversize-overweight permits. KW - Certification KW - Drivers KW - Fees KW - Freight traffic KW - Hours of labor KW - Iowa KW - Midwestern States KW - Oversize loads KW - Overweight loads KW - Permits KW - Policy KW - Regulations KW - Speed limits KW - Taxes KW - Trucking KW - Vehicle size KW - Vehicle weight UR - http://publications.iowa.gov/18652/1/MATC_CTRE_Dong_Regulatory_Issues_Affecting_Truck_Frieght_Movement_Midwest_2014.pdf UR - http://www.intrans.iastate.edu/research/documents/research-reports/midwest_truck_regulatory_issues_w_cvr.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1341975 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554296 AU - Chang, George AU - Xu, Qinwu AU - Rutledge, Jennifer AU - Garber, Sabrina AU - Transtec Group, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - A Study on Intelligent Compaction and In-Place Asphalt Density PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 321p AB - Intelligent Compaction (IC) technology is an innovation of roller technology that can be used to improve quality control (QC) of the asphalt pavement compaction process. It is increasingly used by the asphalt paving industry in the U.S. Currently, IC is being adopted by many federal and state highway agencies. Asphalt IC technology uses accelerometer-based methods to collect IC measurement values (ICMV) that relate to the stiffness of the compacted materials. Across the U.S., in-place asphalt density measurement is still the de facto method for acceptance as the in-place densities relate to long-term performance of asphalt pavements. Past limited research has not been successful in finding a strong correlation between ICMV and measured in-place density. To accelerate the implementation of IC technology, it is essential to further study the relationship between IC measured data and core density to assess the use of IC measurements beyond QC. This project includes extensive field studies and data analysis and modeling in order to investigate the relationship between ICMV and other IC measurements (such as pass counts, temperatures, vibration frequencies/amplitudes, direction, speed, etc.) and asphalt in-place densities. The pass-by-pass ICMV correlate well with nuclear density gauge measurements during breakdown compaction. As the final ICMV does not correlate well with core densities, the final ICMV data is not recommended to replace cores for acceptance. An IC-based nonlinear panel data model was also developed to reasonably predict asphalt in-place density as an enhanced QC tool. Recommendation are also provided regarding future research and implementation to maximize the potential benefits of IC. KW - Asphalt pavements KW - Compaction KW - Data analysis KW - Field studies KW - In place density KW - Nuclear density gages KW - Paving KW - Quality control KW - Recommendations KW - United States UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/construction/ictssc/pubs/hif14017.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1342629 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554270 AU - Schneider, William H AU - Miller, Christopher AU - Crow, Mallory AU - Holik, William A AU - University of Akron AU - Ohio Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of the Viking-Cives TowPlow for Winter Maintenance PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 92p AB - To maximize efficiency while minimizing costs within Ohio Department of Transportation's (ODOT’s) winter maintenance budget, ODOT is evaluating new methods of snow and ice removal. One method is the use of the Viking-Cives TowPlow. The TowPlow is pulled behind a tandem axle truck and has the ability to treat an additional lane. A thorough evaluation of the TowPlow is conducted to determine the feasibility for implementation into an ODOT garage, including: level of service (LOS), equipment usage in different types of weather, and impacts on the traveling public. To successfully evaluate the TowPlow, three main areas of data (weather, utilization, and speed data) are collected from three counties that used the TowPlow in the 2013–2014 winter season. It is observed that the TowPlow causes slightly higher delays to motorists during all storm severities, except in heavy snow, when the TowPlow’s delay is equal to that of the standard truck. There is an annualized cost savings averaging $22,551 when compared to the equivalent standard trucks needed to match the TowPlow’s ability. KW - Costs KW - Evaluation KW - Feasibility analysis KW - Ohio KW - Snow and ice control KW - Snowplows KW - Traffic delays KW - Winter maintenance UR - http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/Planning/SPR/Research/reportsandplans/Reports/2015/Maintenance/134704_FR.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1343184 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554202 AU - Ocel, Justin AU - Kogler, Robert AU - Ali, Mir AU - Rampart AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Interlaboratory Variability of Slip Coefficient Testing for Bridge Coatings PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 64p AB - All steel bridge systems need some type of a corrosion protection scheme to ensure a serviceable life. The most common approach is to use a multilayered paint system with a zinc-rich primer. In addition to corrosion performance, other factors need to be considered in the selection of the corrosion protection system. Steel bridges are usually fabricated in smaller components and assembled onsite using high-strength bolted connections with slip-critical connections. Slip-critical connections use the high clamping force of the bolt to develop frictional shear stresses in excess of the load demand such that slip within the connection would not be expected under service loads. Primers used on faying surfaces of slip-critical connections must demonstrate a predetermined level of slip resistance in accordance with the Research Council of Structural Connections (RCSC). This study seeks to evaluate the details of the RCSC slip test specification as applied by four different laboratories. A commonly manufactured set of test panels spanning five typical organic zinc-rich primers was tested independently and in parallel by four laboratories. The data were compared, and subtle yet important variations in test approach taken by each lab are discussed. Recommendations are provided for revisions to the RCSC test protocol to reduce variability. KW - Coatings KW - Laboratory tests KW - Primers (Materials) KW - Recommendations KW - Research Council on Structural Connections KW - Slip resistance KW - Steel bridges KW - Test procedures UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/structures/bridge/14093/14093.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1342274 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01551375 AU - Coolbeth, Elise AU - Ellis, Wendy AU - Vermont Agency of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Aexcel Roadzilla™ Methyl Methacrylate Pavement Marking PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 17p AB - Pavement markings provide an important means of communication for all roadway users and must be capable of conveying information during inclement weather and evening hours when there may be little to no contribution from overhead lighting. The following report outlines the observations concerning the second application of an experimental pavement marking, known as Aexcel Roadzilla™ Methyl Methacrylate, with respect to long line application. In addition, the report contains information pertaining to field data collection to assess the luminance, durability, and the ability to uphold the retroreflectivity requirements over time. The Aexcel Roadzilla™ Methyl Methacrylate was applied on the Chester Bridge #49 deck replacement BHF-ST 0134 (31) project, located along Vermont (VT) Route 11 at approximately mile marker (MM) 5.7 by the manufacturer, Aexcel Corporation of Mentor, Ohio. The rolled beam bridge structure has approximately an 82’-0” span. A total of 34 readings were taken on both the white edge lines and yellow centerlines on the concrete surface. On the bituminous concrete bridge approaches, 18 readings were taken on the white edge lines and 12 readings were taken on the yellow centerlines. Following the placement of the markings, retroreflectivity and wear readings were collected using uniform methods. Retroreflectivity readings were taken on each line (white edge, white skip, yellow edge) at five-foot intervals on both the bare concrete bridge deck surface and bituminous concrete bridge approaches using the LTL 2000 Retroreflectometer. Readings were collected four times over the course of the first year of the evaluation. At the fourth site visit, it was determined that due to the poor performance of the yellow centerline, it needed to be reapplied. All readings were taken after the reapplication of the yellow. The first year there were losses of retroreflectivity of 83% of the white on concrete and 93% of the white on asphalt. For the first application of the yellow markings, there was a loss of 89% on concrete and 94% on asphalt. For the reapplication, the yellow markings had losses of 92% on the concrete and 81% on the asphalt. The following report summarizes the application, performance and observations. KW - Durability KW - Field studies KW - Luminance KW - Methyl methacrylate KW - Retroreflectivity KW - Road marking materials KW - Road markings KW - Vermont UR - http://vtransplanning.vermont.gov/sites/aot_policy/files/documents/planning/2014-15%20Aexcel%20Roadzilla%E1%B5%80%E1%B4%B9%20Methyl%20Methacrylate%20Pavement%20Marking.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1339598 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01551313 AU - Shippen, Norris AU - Kennedy, Marie AU - Pennington, Lani S AU - Oregon Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Review of Studded Tires in Oregon PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 188p AB - This study provides an update to the previous studded tire study for Oregon completed in 2000. The focus of this research was to quantify current use of studded tires and the wear and cost caused by that use. Some results include a decline in studded tire use from about 16 percent of registered vehicles in 1995 to about 4 percent in the 2013-14 winter season. A wear rate for Portland cement concrete (PCC) of about 0.0091 inches per 100,000 studded tire passes, while the wear rate of asphalt pavement is about 0.0295 inches per 100,000 studded tire passes. Three different cost categories of studded tire damage mitigation were identified. The three scenarios are included in this study, but the base case scenario for these estimates predicts an annual average expenditure of about $4 million from the year 2012 up to the year 2022. These estimates are only for the State Highway System and exclusive of any amounts to be spent by the cities and counties on their road systems. KW - Asphalt pavements KW - Costs KW - Oregon KW - Pavement performance KW - Portland cement concrete KW - Studded tires KW - Wear UR - http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TP_RES/ResearchReports/SPR304-671_StuddedTires_FINAL.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1339978 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01551297 AU - Phares, Brent M AU - Lee, Yoon-Si AU - Keierleber, Brian AU - Hupp, Jack AU - Samudrala, Anurag AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Investigation of Field Corrosion Performance and Bond/Development Length of Galvanized Reinforcing Steel PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 39p AB - In reinforced concrete systems, ensuring that a good bond between the concrete and the embedded reinforcing steel is critical to long-term structural performance. Without good bond between the two, the system simply cannot behave as intended. The bond strength of reinforcing bars is a complex interaction between localized deformations, chemical adhesion, and other factors. Coating of reinforcing bars, although sometimes debated, has been commonly found to be an effective way to delay the initiation of corrosion in reinforced concrete systems. For many years, the standard practice has been to coat reinforcing steel with an epoxy coating, which provides a barrier between the steel and the corrosive elements of water, air, and chloride ions. Recently, there has been an industry-led effort to use galvanizing to provide the protective barrier commonly provided by traditional epoxy coatings. However, as with any new structural product, questions exist regarding both the structural performance and corrosion resistance of the system. In the fall of 2013, Buchanan County, Iowa constructed a demonstration bridge in which the steel girders and all internal reinforcing steel were galvanized. The work completed in this project sought to understand the structural performance of galvanized reinforcing steel as compared to epoxy-coated steel and to initiate a long-term corrosion monitoring program. This work consisted of a series of controlled laboratory tests and the installation of a corrosion monitoring system that can be observed for years in the future. The results of this work indicate there is no appreciable difference between the bond strength of epoxy-coated reinforcing steel and galvanized reinforcing steel. Although some differences were observed, no notable difference in either peak load, slip, or failure mode could be identified. Additionally, a long-term monitoring system was installed in this Buchanan County bridge and, to date, no corrosion activity has been identified. KW - Bond strength (Materials) KW - Corrosion resistance KW - Epoxy coatings KW - Galvanized metals KW - Iowa KW - Laboratory tests KW - Reinforced concrete bridges KW - Reinforcing bars KW - Reinforcing steel KW - Structural health monitoring UR - http://publications.iowa.gov/18412/1/IADOT_InTrans_TR-666_Phares_Investigation_Field_Corrosion_galvanized_Reinforcing_Steel_2014_report.pdf UR - http://www.intrans.iastate.edu/research/documents/research-reports/galvanized_steel_bridge_w_cvr.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1341235 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01548645 AU - Colgrove, George W AU - Vermont Agency of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Assessment of the “Bridge in a Backpack” Bridge System from Advanced Infrastructure Technologies (AIT) PY - 2014/12//Initial SP - 28p AB - The Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) installed a Bridge in a Backpack (BiaB) system, or also referred to as a Rigified Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Tube Arch (RFTA) Structure on a low volume road in a rural setting. The value of using this system is the potential to use smaller and lighter construction equipment for a restricted delivery location such as forest or farm roads. The BiaB does not require large cranes and there is a potential for in-field fabrication of the tube arch members where large truck delivery is limited. Advantages of the system include good waterway characteristics and suitability for ledge controlled or spread footings. Disadvantages of the system are that few have been constructed and that it has aesthetic limitations. The construction of the Fairfield BiaB project proceeded smoothly. Generally, site conditions and limited experience with the BiaB led to less than ideal means and methods for construction of the system. During construction, it was noted that several opportunities remain for further expedited construction and cost reduction. Generally, VTrans’ experience with the BiaB showed that the system provides a benefit to the State. KW - Arch bridges KW - Assessments KW - Bridge construction KW - Fairfield (Vermont) KW - Fiber reinforced polymers KW - Rural areas KW - Technological innovations UR - http://vtransplanning.vermont.gov/sites/aot_policy/files/2014%20-%2012%20Assessment%20of%20the%20%E2%80%9CBridge%20in%20a%20Backpack%E2%80%9D%20bridge%20system%20from%20Advanced%20Infrastructure%20Technologies%20%28AIT%29.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334946 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01548625 AU - Wasiuddin, Nazimuddin M AU - Ashani, Saeid S AU - Islam, M Readul AU - Louisiana Tech University, Ruston AU - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Dynamic Shear Rheometer Tests for Emulsions PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 253p AB - Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR)-based rheological tests of 20 different asphalt emulsion residues were performed and relationships with elastic recovery (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) T301) and force ductility (AASHTO T300) were investigated. In strain sweep test from 2% to 52%, it was observed that emulsions prepared of hard pen base asphalt have relatively lower strain tolerances. Using frequency sweep data, complex modulus master curves were constructed at 25°C to understand overall rheological behavior. Temperature sweep of phase angle from 52°C to 94°C showed that a maximum phase angle in the range of 75° to 85° may be used as a criterion for polymer identification. Multiple Stress Creep Recovery (MSCR) (AASHTO TP70) at 58°C has been recommended to replace the elastic recovery test (AASHTO T301). At 0.1kPa creep stress, a minimum percent recovery of 25 and at 3.2kPa, a minimum percent recovery of 9 are recommended to identify the presence of polymer replacing elastic recovery test (AASHTO T301). Also, percent recovery of MSCR and phase angle can be used to replace force ductility requirements (AASHTO T300). It is recommended that at 58°C, a maximum phase angle of 81° and a minimum MSCR percent recovery (at 0.1kPa creep stress) of 30 can be specified to replace the force ductility test (AASHTO T300). These criteria are applicable for emulsion residues prepared according to the low temperature evaporative method specified in ASTM D7497. However, a comparative study among ASTM D7497 (24 hr at 25°C and 24 hr at 60°C), ASTM D6934 (3 hr at 163°C), AASHTO TP 72 Method B (6 hr at 60°C), vacuum dry method (6 hr at 60°C, a method developed in this study) and field curing have been performed in order to develop a low temperature low duration recovery method. It was observed that the MSCR test on residue prepared with the vacuum dried method can be used for polymer identification replacing elastic recovery and force ductility tests. Finally, the current specification viscosity range for low and high viscous emulsions using the saybolt furol viscometer to ensure quality control and quality assurance can also be replaced by the rotational viscometer. The ranges recommended are 220 - 730 cP and 5 – 90 cP (gives 98% probability) at 50 rpm and 30°C for high and low viscous emulsions, respectively. KW - Asphalt emulsions KW - Ductility KW - Elasticity (Mechanics) KW - Evaluation KW - Multiple Stress Creep Recovery KW - Performance based specifications KW - Rheological properties KW - Shear modulus KW - Test procedures KW - Viscosity UR - http://www.ltrc.lsu.edu/pdf/2014/FR_519.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1335544 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01548616 AU - Sharif, Hatim AU - Weissmann, José AU - Dessouky, Samer AU - University of Texas, San Antonio AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Safety and Economic Impact of Texas Travel Information Centers PY - 2014/12 SP - 86p AB - The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) operates and maintains 12 Travel Information Centers (TICs) which serve visitors traveling into and through Texas. The mission of TxDOT’s Travel Information Division is to promote travel to and within Texas. The TICs, established in 1936, work to fulfill this mission by offering professional travel counseling services and providing routing and highway condition information. This report looks at two key quantifiable benefits of TIC operations: safety benefits and economic benefits. A four-tiered approach was established to provide evidentiary data supporting the safety impact of Texas TICs, by means of the following methodologies: (1) Sourcing existing literature and research studies which demonstrate safety benefits of TICs, particularly for risks of fatigued driving, impacts of commercial trucks, and influences on traveler behavior; (2) Collection and analysis of visitor surveys at TICs, weighted and indexed for safety factors; (3) Analysis of peaks in DriveTexasTM – Travel Information line call volume answered by Texas TIC staff during emergency or extreme weather events affecting travel; and (4) Analysis of crash data for stretches of roadway served by TICs, demonstrating a reduction in crash rates immediately downstream of TIC facilities. Economic impact data for Texas TICs was established through two years of data collection through visitor surveys, combining analysis of annual TIC visitation and that of average daily per-person spending figures. KW - Crash rates KW - Economic impacts KW - Highway facilities for motorized users KW - Highway safety KW - Literature reviews KW - Surveys KW - Texas UR - http://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/trv/travel-industry/safety-economic-impact-rpt.pdf UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6821-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1335035 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01548582 AU - Ellis, Wendy AU - Tremblay, Jason P AU - Vermont Agency of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of BlinkerSign® Crosswalk Lighting System PY - 2014/12 SP - 25p 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 BlinkerSigns®, produced by Tapco, in November 2008 to enhance the visual delineation limits of a preexisting crosswalk adjacent to the Quechee Gorge Visitor Center in Hartford, Vermont. The signs incorporate Day-Viz™ LEDs and 3M™ VIP Diamond Grade™ sheeting giving drivers notice much further in advance than conventional signs. After analyzing the results from the speed studies, the BlinkerSigns® have proven more effective, and therefore safer, than having no system in place. Four years following installation of the BlinkerSigns®, yielding compliance has increased by 8% on average, and a 20% increase was found in the number of vehicles slowing down as they approach within 300 feet of the crosswalk. From these findings, it has been determined that the BlinkerSigns® have provided long-term benefits. The product should be considered at future crosswalks and emergency crossings on Vermont Agency of Transportation projects where increased visibility is warranted. Other recommended applications are crossings that are not well lit, locations of high pedestrian crossings and at critical crossings in urban areas where significant automotive and pedestrian traffic conflicts occur. KW - Crosswalks KW - Field studies KW - Hartford (Vermont) KW - Light emitting diodes KW - Lighting systems KW - Pedestrian signs KW - Sign sheeting KW - Traffic speed UR - http://vtransplanning.vermont.gov/sites/aot_policy/files/2014%20-%2013%20Evaluation%20of%20BlinkerSign%C2%AE%20Crosswalk%20Lighting%20System.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334945 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01548567 AU - Farzaneh, Reza AU - Chen, Yuche AU - Johnson, Jeremy AU - Zietsman, Josias AU - Gu, Chaoyi AU - Ramani, Tara AU - White, L D AU - Kenney, Megan AU - Zhang, Yue AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Accounting for Electric Vehicles in Air Quality Conformity PY - 2014/12//Final Report SP - 134p AB - Electric vehicles (EVs) obtain at least a part of the energy required for their propulsion from electricity. The market for EVs, including hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery electric vehicles continues to grow, as many new and affordable models have become available in recent years. The proliferation of EVs in the vehicle fleet has implications for energy use and emissions. The mobile source (vehicle exhaust) emissions component is of particular relevance to transportation agencies, especially those in nonattainment and attainment maintenance areas that need to meet transportation conformity requirements. This report presents a framework to incorporate EVs into mobile source emissions estimations. The framework uses the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Motor Vehicle Emissions Simulator (MOVES) model. It integrates EV driving characteristics, emissions rates, and market penetration information into a MOVES-based emissions inventory analysis. Vehicle activity data collection and drive schedule development, along with in-use emissions measurements, were conducted for a sample of EVs in Texas. Additionally, market penetration scenarios were developed using a consumer choice model. The collected data and market penetration scenarios were then used in the framework to conduct a pilot application for a large county in Texas. The pilot application demonstrated successful use of the framework and showed that including EVs in emissions analyses can potentially have an impact on the overall analysis results specifically for future years. KW - Air quality KW - Choice models KW - Electric vehicles KW - Market share KW - Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator (MOVES) KW - Pollutants KW - Texas UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6763-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334391 ER - TY - SER AN - 01548563 JO - Civil Engineering Studies, Illinois Center for Transportation Series PB - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Eriksson, Jakob AU - University of Illinois, Chicago AU - Illinois Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Leveraging Traffic and Surveillance Video Cameras for Urban Traffic PY - 2014/12 IS - 14-024 SP - 18p AB - The objective of this project was to investigate the use of existing video resources, such as traffic cameras, police cameras, red light cameras, and security cameras for the long-term, real-time collection of traffic statistics. An additional objective was to gather similar statistics for pedestrians and bicyclists. Throughout the course of the project, several methods were investigated for tracking vehicles under challenging conditions. The initial plan called for tracking based on optical flow. However, it was found that current optical flow–estimating algorithms are not well suited to low-quality video—hence, developing optical flow methods for low-quality video has been one aspect of this project. The method eventually used combines basic optical flow tracking with a learning detector for each tracked object— that is, the object is tracked both by its apparent movement and by its appearance should it temporarily disappear from or be obscured in the frame. The authors have produced a prototype software that allows the user to specify the vehicle trajectories of interest by drawing their shapes superimposed on a video frame. The software then tracks each vehicle as it travels through the frame, matches the vehicle’s movements to the most closely matching trajectory, and increases the vehicle count for that trajectory. In terms of pedestrian and bicycle counting, the system is capable of tracking these “objects” as well, though at present it is not capable of distinguishing between the three classes automatically. Continuing research by the principal investigator under a different grant will establish this capability as well. KW - Cyclists KW - Data collection KW - Detection and identification technologies KW - Pedestrians KW - Real time information KW - Software KW - Traffic surveillance KW - Urban areas KW - Vehicle trajectories KW - Video cameras UR - https://apps.ict.illinois.edu/projects/getfile.asp?id=3346 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334686 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01548516 AU - Finley, Melisa D AU - Venglar, Steven P AU - Iragavarapu, Vichika AU - Miles, Jeffrey D AU - Park, Eun Sug AU - Cooner, Scott Allen AU - Ranft, Stephen E AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Assessment of the Effectiveness of Wrong Way Driving Countermeasures and Mitigation Methods PY - 2014/12 SP - 171p AB - This report describes the methodology and results of tasks performed regarding the effectiveness of wrong way driving countermeasures and mitigation methods. Researchers reviewed the state of the practice regarding wrong way driving in the United States and Texas. Based on Texas crash data from 2007 through 2011, the majority of wrong way driving crashes on controlled-access highways occur in major metropolitan areas at night between midnight and 5:00 a.m. Driving under the influence was the primary contributing factor. Therefore, researchers designed and conducted two closed-course studies to determine the effectiveness of select wrong way driving countermeasures on alcohol-impaired drivers. In addition, researchers obtained data from several Texas agencies that had installed wrong way driving countermeasures and/or mitigation methods on their road network. Using these datasets, researchers assessed the effectiveness of these strategies in actual operational environments. Researchers used the findings from these studies to develop recommendations regarding the implementation of wrong way driving countermeasures and mitigation methods. Researchers used the focus group discussion method to obtain motorists' opinions regarding the design manuals to gain insight into the design of wrong way driver warning messages that could be posted on dynamic message signs. Based on the findings, researchers developed two single-phase wrong way driver warning messages for dynamic message signs. KW - Countermeasures KW - Crash data KW - Drunk driving KW - Focus groups KW - Recommendations KW - State of the practice KW - Texas KW - Variable message signs KW - Wrong way driving UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6769-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1335034 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01573302 TI - Technology Transfer Concrete Consortium (TTCC) AB - The goal of the Technology Transfer Concrete Consortium (TTCC) is to: (1) Identify needed research projects; (2) Develop pooled fund initiatives; (3) Provide a forum for technology exchange between participants; (4) Develop and fund technology transfer materials; (5) Provide on-going communication of research needs faced by state agencies to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), industry, and CP Tech Center; (6) Provide guidance on priorities for the Next Gen CP Road Map (For information on the CP Road Map: http://www.cproadmap.org/); (7) Provide assistance as requested by the Next Gen CP Road Map Executive Committee on other select tracks as needed; (8) Provide technical leadership for the national initiative to develop performance engineered concrete mixes. It is anticipated that this consortium would become the national forum for state involvement in the technical exchange needed for collaboration and new initiatives, and provide input to the Next Gen CP Road Map Mix Design and Analysis Track team. KW - Admixtures KW - Concrete KW - Mix design KW - State departments of transportation KW - Technological innovations KW - Technology transfer KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration UR - http://www.pooledfund.org/Details/Study/562 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366526 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01545060 TI - Tools for Determining Yield Stress of In-Service Gusset Plates AB - The product of this Ideas Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) project is a prototype device that is hand portable and can be applied by bridge inspectors to non-destructively estimate the yield stress of in-situ gusset plates on truss bridges. The development of this prototype device and the testing methods serve three major roles for improving the practice of connection evaluations for truss bridges. It will 1) allow bridge owners to establish the material properties for bridges that do not have documentation of the materials used in construction, 2) allow rating engineers to determine if the yield stress is above the minimum required for the connection to achieve a specific rating, or 3) enable rating engineers to use the actual yield stress of the plate to extract the most capacity from the connection. The research outcome enables bridge owners to establish connection capacity with greater certainty and can thereby prevent unnecessary and costly bridge posting, rehabilitation, or replacement. The broader application of the device to existing steel infrastructure systems (not only bridges, but transit and building structures) enables higher fidelity evaluation by providing the analyst with more precise material input parameters for conducting assessments. KW - Gusset plates KW - Inspection KW - Nondestructive tests KW - Prototypes KW - Steel structures KW - Stud connectors KW - Truss bridges KW - Yield stress UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3350 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1332514 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543926 TI - Research for AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways. Task 342. Wind Turbulence-Structure Interaction and Aeroelastic Instability for Long-Span Flexible Girder Systems AB - No summary provided. See Supplemental Notes. KW - AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications KW - Aerodynamic force KW - Bridge design KW - Load and resistance factor design KW - Turbulence UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3498 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1332084 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543917 TI - Guidance for the Implementation of the Toward Zero Deaths National Highway Safety Strategy AB - The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Standing Committee on Highway Traffic Safety Strategic Plan states that the committee will lead the development and implementation of a national strategic safety plan which supports moving the country in the direction of a "Toward Zero Deaths"vision. An National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) project is under way to develop the framework for a national highway safety strategy and a communications plan. When these resources are produced, this additional research activity will assist in the support, guidance and advance implementation. Implementation needs include guidance on knowledge management, performance measures, leadership, and overcoming implementation challenges. The objective of this research is to advance the implementation of the Toward Zero Deaths national strategy on highway safety which is expected to be adopted by AASHTO and other safety partners. Implementation of this national strategy, by those organizations wishing to adopt it, such as state departments of transportation or other safety partners, would be supported through collaboration and the development of resources developed based on experiences with highway safety planning efforts, including strategic highway safety plans (SHSPs). KW - American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials KW - Highway safety KW - Performance measurement KW - Plan implementation KW - State departments of transportation KW - Strategic Highway Safety Plan KW - Strategic planning KW - Toward Zero Deaths UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3422 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1332075 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543754 TI - Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Problems. Topic 45-02. Practices for Developing Transparent Best Value Selection Procedures AB - Best value is a process used to select the most advantageous offer by evaluating and comparing factors in addition to cost or price. Transportation agencies are increasingly using best value selection procedures to deliver transportation projects. In many states, the construction and consulting industries have expressed concerns regarding the transparency and fairness of a process that is based on non-price evaluation factors such as qualifications, experience, technical approach, and innovative solutions. Most transportation agencies want to work with their industry partners to develop transparent and fair procedures that treat all proposers fairly and provide a documented process of the best value selection. Hence, a synthesis that provides information on effective practices that support transparent selection procedures is needed. The objectives of this synthesis are to: (1) Identify selection methodologies that support transparency and achieve the contracting agency's goals of selecting the proposal that represents the best value; (2) Identify proposal evaluation criteria and RFQ/RFP requirements that support transparency; (3) Identify procedures that minimize the overall industry cost of developing proposals, yet still maintain transparency and a fair best value approach; (4) Document procedures, make-up, and structure of the evaluation committee to ensure that it is knowledgeable, fair, and objective; (5) Document debriefing procedures, including what information is shared and when; (6) Identify industry outreach efforts that were used successfully by transportation agencies in implementing best value procurement of highway projects; (7) Review and synthesize the history of best value award protests and their outcomes; and (8) Review and synthesize existing best value enabling legislation. Information will be gathered by literature review, a survey of state transportation agencies (directed to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Subcommittees on Design and Construction with a request for one response per state), and follow-up interviews with selected agencies and industry representatives. The synthesis will include case examples of best value procurements that meet the objectives stated above. KW - Best practices KW - Contracting KW - Equity (Justice) KW - Procurement KW - Project delivery KW - Road construction KW - Selection process UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3579 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1331861 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543741 TI - Research for AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways. Task 341. Guidelines for Development HSM Part C Predictive Method Chapters AB - The objective of this research is to develop guidelines that constitute a protocol for the development of predictive method chapters for Part C of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Highway Safety Manual. An initial teleconference with the panel was held to develop the work statement. There are two specific National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) projects currently underway where research is in progress that will compliment this 20-07 study, NCHRP 17-58, "Safety Prediction Models for Urban and Suburban Arterials" and NCHRP 17-62, "Improved Prediction Models for Crash Types and Crash Severities" respectively. Prospective consultants have also been identified with qualifications based selection having expert experience in the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) and predictive methods. The intent is to have the research activities under NCHRP 17-58 and 17-62 at a more mature level so those preliminary results can reasonably feed in to the 20-07 study initiative. KW - Guidelines KW - Highway safety KW - Manuals UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3497 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1331848 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01547231 TI - Research for AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways. Task 354. Work Zone Speed Limits and Crash Data Practices AB - The objective of this project is to determine effective strategies for managing speeds in work zones that result in the appropriate balance of safety and mobility. Multiple National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) on-going research projects are complementing this 20-07 anticipated study. NCHRP 17-43, "Long-Term Roadside Crash Data Collection Program", NCHRP 17-57, "Development of a Comprehensive Approach for Serious Traffic Crash Injury Measurement and Reporting Systems." NCHRP 20-24(37)K, "Measuring Performance among State Departments of Transportation (DOTs): Sharing Good Practices -Safety (Serious Injuries)" was completed and will be feeding in to this 20-07 project initiative. The intent is to have the results of these current on-going research activities at a reasonable maturity level so the results can be available to compliment the 20-07 study and not duplicate efforts. KW - Crash data KW - Highway safety KW - Speed limits KW - Work zone safety UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3607 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334212 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543723 TI - Research for AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways. Task 367. Analysis of Crash Contributing Factors to Determine Appropriate Countermeasures AB - To determine how best to address a known or potential safety concern, it is necessary to properly assess the factors contributing to the crashes in order to be able to then determine appropriate countermeasures that can reduce the potential risk. As the field of quantitative safety analysis has developed, many of the procedures using the results of the quantitative analyses have also evolved. The next phase in the growth of this field should support the tasks of analyzing crash data to completely understand or diagnose a particular situation and aid in selecting countermeasures. Development of a document that provides best practices and recommendations on procedures for practitioners to use will further promote use of data-driven, quantitative approaches to consideration of safety in project decisions. With ever-increasing recognition of the need to more fully assess countermeasures from an engineering, enforcement, emergency medical service, and education perspective, the research proposes guidance for evaluating, analyzing, and diagnosing crash data and potential countermeasures. The research will develop a tool for practitioners to assess the nature of reported crashes, overrepresentation of the contributing circumstances, manner of collision and other factors necessary to determine appropriate countermeasures using more recently developed analysis and decision methods. This includes, but is not limited to, enhancements to the use of collision diagramming and analysis, analytical visualization, gathering supporting documentation and making field based assessments as a means to supplement decision-making within safety programs and projects. The research will should assess how National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 600 (2012), Human Factors Guidelines for Road Systems, and other supporting documents related to diagnosing safety concerns are relevant and can be used to assist the practitioner in countermeasure identification and selection. This research will be summarized and provided to the greater highway safety community, the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Highway Safety Performance Committee and other related TRB Committees, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Standing Committee on Highway Traffic Safety and AASHTO Highway Safety Manual Task Force for consideration and dissemination to practitioners for use with safety assessments. This research also provides a valuable supplement to work completed under NCHRP 501: Integrated Safety Management Process, the AASHTO Highway Safety Manual, AASHTO SafetyAnalyst and road safety audits. This effort is directly linked to the AASHTO SCOHTS Strategic Plan Part 6: Management: Improving Information and Decision Support Systems, and the Towards Zero Deaths: a National Strategy on Highway Safety. The objective of this research is to assess the state of the practice, make recommendations on methods and procedures to complete diagnostic assessments of crashes at the project and program level, and to show appropriate cases studies to complete this activity. KW - Best practices KW - Countermeasures KW - Crash analysis KW - Crash data KW - Crashes KW - Decision making KW - Highway safety UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3813 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1331759 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01551262 AU - Zhang, Li AU - Huang, Zhitong AU - Wen, Yi AU - Zhang, Lei AU - Mississippi State University, Mississippi State AU - Mississippi Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - I-55 Integrated Diversion Traffic Management Benefit Study PY - 2014/11/17/Final Report SP - 148p AB - Traffic congestion, recurrent and non-recurrent, creates significant economic losses and environmental impacts. Integrated Corridor Management (ICM) is a U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) research initiative that has been proven to effectively relieve recurrent congestion and reduce non-recurrent congestion in a transportation network. Traffic signal coordination is an effective approach to improve travel speed and to decrease delays resulting in better travel times. Incorporating traffic signal coordination into ICM can further improve the benefits of ICM strategies. In this project, the authors propose an ICM optimization system. The optimization approach and the expert system are major components for the ICM optimization system. With respect to the expert system, it serves as a decision support system and a backup system for the optimization approach. For the optimization approach, an ICM optimization model is presented first. The effectiveness of the ICM optimization model is verified by a case study. To maximize the support of implementing ICM strategies from local transportation agencies and residents, the authors propose a real time and proactive offset tuning algorithm to reduce delays of detour traffic without disrupting the existing traffic. The presented algorithm explicitly incorporates diverted traffic and the diversion traffic patterns into existing traffic. The offsets of each coordinated intersection are fine-tuned and updated every ten cycles to provide smooth traffic progression for upcoming traffic within the next ten cycles. Case studies were conducted to prove the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. The benchmark cases were established as the TRANSYT-7F coordination traffic signal timing plans. Based on the results, the proactive real time offset tuning algorithm can outperform TRANSYT-7F when the accurate diversion rates are not known in advance which conforms to reality. While, when the diversion rates are predetermined and the average additional diversion volume is taken into consideration for optimization by TRANSYT-7F, the proposed algorithm significantly reduces the number of stops and has comparable performances with TRANSYT-7F. The benefits and costs of implementing the proposed algorithm are analyzed. The net benefit and benefit to cost ratio over 10 years are nearly $2.5 million and 1.6, respectively, which shows that the proposed algorithm is worthy of application. The upcoming ICM simulation test bed, the Enhanced Transportation Flow Open-source Microscopic Model (ETFOMM), is introduced. It has two major advantages which are that it has convenient ICM built-in functions and its computation time is low which makes it have the ability to become an online decision support system for ICM strategies. In the last section, conclusions and recommendations of this study are presented. KW - Algorithms KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Case studies KW - Highway traffic control KW - Integrated corridor management KW - Mississippi KW - Optimization KW - Traffic congestion KW - Traffic diversion KW - Traffic signal timing KW - TRANSYT-7F UR - http://mdot.ms.gov/documents/research/Reports/Interim%20and%20Final%20Reports/State%20Study%20223%20-%20%20I-55%20Integrated%20Diversion%20Traffic%20Management%20Benefit%20Study.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1340961 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01549574 TI - Research Program Design---Administration of Highway and Transportation Agencies. Public Communication AB - This project is being executed as a series of distinct research elements intended to improve public communication influence and effectiveness through better understanding of transportation users' expectations and language: 20-24(93)A Public Communication - Public Outreach ($125,000): An activity to assist American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) to update and effectively use research completed under NCHRP 20-24(62); this research is being conducted as Project 20-24(93)C, listed below. 20-24(93)B(01) Public Communication - Management Planning ($50,000) Cambridge Systematics supported AASHTO's Standing Committee on Performance Management planning efforts related to communication of performance management concepts. An action plan was delivered to AASHTO. 20-24(93)B(02) Public Communication - Management Outreach ($125,000) Spy Pond Partners is assisting AASHTO to develop text and graphics to document leading state practices in system performance management. Work is scheduled for completion by Spring 2015. NCHRP 20-24(93)C Public Communication -- Outreach ($125,000) Parsons Brinkerhoff is developing messaging to support AASHTO's efforts to communicate with policy makers and the public on matters of transportation funding, finance, system performance, and economic vitality. KW - Communication KW - Economics KW - Financing KW - Graphics KW - Outreach KW - Policy making UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3677 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1339728 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543563 TI - Interaction Effects between Freeway and Surface Street Facilities: System Considerations in a Highway Capacity Context AB - As system-level transportation considerations become increasingly prevalent among highway agencies and municipalities, analysts are ever more in need of accurate methods to measure and predict operations--and operational interactions--across multiple facility types. Recent editions of the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) have improved analysts' ability to consider the disparate elements of Freeway Facilities (Chapter 10) and Urban Streets (Chapter 16) in their respective system contexts, but the HCM is generally silent on the interactions between these two major facility classes. In fact, the structure of the HCM, with its separate Uninterrupted Flow and Interrupted Flow volumes, tacitly precludes analyses of these interactions. This artificial separation does not reflect motorists' daily experiences, which typically involve transitioning from one facility type to another--multiple times--on any given trip. Thus, the lack of a methodology to analyze the operational characteristics of these transitions inhibits an assessment of common real-world conditions and could result in designs that fail to address certain congestion problems. Interactions between freeway and surface-street facilities typically take place at interchanges. On-ramps and off-ramps are the transition areas--and thus the operational links--between the two types of facilities. At the surface-street (downstream) end of an off-ramp, where flow becomes interrupted, queues related to oversaturated intersections (or oversaturated merge movements) have the potential to extend beyond the ramp and affect upstream operations on the freeway mainline. Conversely, at the freeway (downstream) end of an on-ramp, merge congestion or oversaturated mainline conditions can result in ramp queues extending upstream toward the interchange ramp terminal, affecting operations at the surface-street intersection(s). These interaction effects are not explicitly accounted for in the HCM. In addition, with the rise of Active Transportation and Demand Management (ATDM) strategies, and with an increasing industry focus on improving transportation system reliability, operational treatments that affect freeway-arterial connections are becoming increasingly popular. For example, the design of a ramp meter must balance two potentially competing objectives: (1) smoothing freeway mainline traffic flow, while (2) minimizing queuing impacts to the upstream interchange ramp terminal. Other treatments, such as high occupancy vehicle (HOV) bypass lanes, can also affect both freeway and surface-street components of the transportation system. Although the HCM is beginning to address ATDM and reliability, it currently focuses on the effects of these strategies solely at the freeway end, generally ignoring potential interactions with the surface street. At a higher level, system performance measures are typically computed and reported separately for freeway and surface-street analyses, even when such analyses are part of the same study. In fact, the Level of Service (LOS) concepts for Interrupted Flow and Uninterrupted Flow facilities are based on different measures--delay and density, respectively. The need to study interactions between these two facility classes suggests a related need for a unifying framework to allow evaluation of system improvements (and comparison between alternatives) in meaningful ways. The introduction of travel time and travel time index as performance measures in reliability analysis for both freeways and arterial streets is an important step toward that objective. Many microscopic simulation software packages are designed to allow analysis of freeways and surface streets simultaneously, and the current state of the practice is to use simulation for such analysis. However, unlike many of the other elements of microscopic simulation, freeway-surface street interactions have no deterministic analog in the literature and in the HCM, and thus lack the performance benchmark that the HCM is able to provide for separated facilities. Standardized analysis methodologies are needed to close this gap and to provide unifying guidance. The objectives of this research are to: (1) review existing studies relevant to the operational interactions of freeways and surface streets and make the study data easily accessible; (2) develop a framework to bridge Volumes 2 and 3 of the HCM in a manner that facilitates deterministic operational analysis of these interactions; and (3) develop methodologies to analyze these interactions in ways designed to be incorporated into the HCM. The end products of this research will be: (1) a comprehensive synthesis report of existing studies and data on operational interactions of freeways and surface streets; (2) new and enhanced methodologies to analyze these interactions and a Final Report describing them; and (3) a computational engine (i.e., computer software-based tool) or engines to implement these methodologies. A desirable future outcome from this research is for the methodologies to be formally incorporated into a future edition of the HCM. KW - Active Transportation and Demand Management KW - Highway capacity KW - Highway Capacity Manual KW - Interchanges KW - Level of service KW - Ramps (Interchanges) KW - Traffic congestion KW - Traffic flow KW - Traffic queuing KW - Travel time UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3854 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1331160 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543562 TI - Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Problems. Topic 46-01. Public Perception of Mileage Based User Fees AB - In recent years fuel tax revenues have declined significantly as a result of increasing fuel efficiency, decreasing purchasing power, and fewer miles driven. This has led to ongoing funding challenges for transportation infrastructure and increased uncertainty in future funding options. The long term sustainability of motor fuel taxes has come into question, in view of increasing fuel efficiency and possible shifts to alternative fuel vehicles. Interest has grown in the potential of replacing the current fuel tax -- assessed at the federal level and in many states as a flat fee per gallon -- with new road usage charge assessed on all miles traveled. This method is often referred to as a mileage-based user fee (MBUF), road usage charge (RUC) vehicle miles traveled (VMT) fee, or per-mile tax. There have now been several pilot demonstrations at the state and local level of MBUF initiatives, many of which have included surveys or other assessments of public acceptability and concerns, including changing opinions by participants in the pilots. In addition, academic researchers and public interest groups have conducted public opinion research on the subject. A synthesis study is critically needed because the information on public opinion of MBUFs is scattered and time-consuming to find, and there is not yet any detailed and comprehensive assessment of the full body of research. In particular, understanding how opinions have varied or not according to demographic and other characteristics across multiple surveys will be valuable. An effective synthesis of these issues will be useful for transportation policymakers and planners who are seriously considering the implications of potential future major changes in transportation user fees, given the need to establish sustainable transportation funding programs. The synthesis will also be helpful in developing technological and institutional strategies to most appropriately deal with public concerns about a future transition from fuel taxes to mileage-based user fees. KW - Alternate fuels KW - Distance based fares KW - Fuel taxes KW - Hybrid vehicles KW - Mileage Based User Fee KW - Public opinion KW - User charges KW - Vehicle miles of travel UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3790 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1331159 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543561 TI - Research for the AASHTO Standing Committee on Public Transportation. Task 60. The National Mobility Management Initiative: State DOTs Connecting Users and Rides for Specialized Transportation AB - Specialized transportation services such as Americans with Disabilities (ADA) paratransit, community volunteer drivers, and transportation voucher programs provide much needed mobility options for seniors, people with disabilities, and individuals with low incomes. Significant public investment through a broad range of federal and state funding programs, complemented with major efforts by non-profit organizations and community groups, have created numerous services in communities across the country aimed to improve mobility, employment and education opportunities, and access to healthcare and community services for the transportation-disadvantaged. While the availability of these specialized services may be good in theory, the fragmented nature of most systems consisting of numerous providers servicing patchworks of geographic areas and time periods are often difficult for users to navigate. In addition, inconsistent networks of public operators and private contractors resulting from various, sometimes narrowly focused, programs can be both inefficient and insufficient for meeting different user travel needs. Many state departments of transportation (DOTs) recognize the disconnect between users and rides for specialized transportation services. Some agencies have put considerable efforts in providing travel information for users, often acting as clearinghouses of service information from major public transportation providers through webpages and as part of 511 traveler information telephone systems. The extent of these efforts for specialized transportation services, however, is often inadequate. Few state DOTs have developed tools for people to create personal transportation plans that can help match available transportation services with individual needs and circumstances. Furthermore, the best tools currently available remain limited in their abilities to help users plan their activities and travels, and find rides for all their mobility needs. As a result, some rider demands go unmet while existing services are sometimes underutilized. Without better communication and coordination, large amounts of resources are spent on missed or expensive dedicated trips, and both users and service providers can chronically suffer from last minute crises. In order for state DOTs to create tools that can better connect users and rides for specialized transportation services, there needs to be a process that will consider the various requirements of the users and gather the specifications of the service providers. The objective of this research is to develop tools that can be used by state DOTs to connect users and rides for specialized transportation services. KW - 511 (National Travel Information Number) KW - Aged KW - Low income groups KW - Mobility KW - Paratransit services KW - Persons with disabilities KW - State departments of transportation KW - Websites (Information retrieval) UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3788 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1331158 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543560 TI - Research for the AASHTO Standing Committee on Public Transportation. Task 59. The Determination of How Federal Section 5316 Funds Were Used Under the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy For Users (SAFETEA-LU) and The Transportation Equity Act For The 21st Century (TEA 21) AB - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) legislation eliminated the Federal Section 5316 Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) Program as a separate stand-alone program with designated annual funding. Instead, the definitions of eligible activities for both the urban Section 5307 and rural Section 5311 programs were expanded to allow JARC activities to be included for each of these two formula programs. Grantees now have the option of continuing to fund JARC activities under either of these federal programs; however, if they do, this leaves less funding available for other eligible Section 5307 or Section 5311 activities. Grantees also have the option of not having to fund any JARC activities. Prior to MAP-21, Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) authorized federal funding for JARC under the federal Section 5316 Program. Under this new stand-alone program, large urbanized areas directly received JARC Program allocations, while JARC funding for both rural, and small urbanized areas, was allocated directly to each State departments of transportation (DOT). States could then decide how to use the available JARC funding in rural, and small urbanized areas. Prior to SAFETEA-LU under Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), the JARC Program was a discretional grant program, and a large portion of the funding available was distributed based on project earmarks. Often, State DOTs received a significant share of these JARC program earmarks, and therefore had the discretion to use these funds in large or small urbanized areas, or in rural areas. As a result, a significant portion of JARC funding in large urbanized areas was administered by State DOTs under TEA-21; while JARC funding in large urbanized areas was typically administered by local grantees in large urbanized areas under SAFETEA-LU. Since the legislation that authorized MAP-21 is only for two years, and expires on September 30, 2014, a decision will need to be made next year regarding how best to provide JARC funding in the future. This program could be authorized as a separate discretionary grant program, as it was under TEA-21; as a separate formula program as it was under SAFETEA-LU, or not authorized as a separate program, but to allow JARC activities to be eligible for funding under the urban Section 5307, and rural Section 5311 programs, as they are under TEA-21. The objective of this research is to provide information on the relative effectiveness of the two alternative ways to authorize federal Section 5316 JARC funds. KW - Federal government KW - Financing KW - Job Access and Reverse Commute KW - Legislation KW - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act KW - Rural areas KW - Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users KW - State departments of transportation KW - Tea-21 KW - Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century KW - Urban areas UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3787 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1331157 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543559 TI - Research for the AASHTO Standing Committee on Public Transportation. Task 58. Documentation of FTA Section 5310 Recipients and Projects Before the Enactment of Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) AB - The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Section 5310 program is designed to provide funding to state departments of transportation for the purposes of funding transportation for elderly and disabled populations. For decades, FTA Section 5310 and its predecessor Section 16(b)(2) funding was based on a formula that provided funds to states based on their percentage of seniors and persons with disabilities compared to such populations nationwide. Funds were made available on a statewide basis, with broad discretion as to how recipients and projects were selected. Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) brought in a new requirement for these and other funds to be allocated consistent with a locale's "Coordinated Public Transit/Human Services Transportation Plan." Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) introduced a new formula, requiring that 60% of the funds nationwide to be distributed to large urbanized areas (UZAs), 20% to small UZAs, and 20% to rural areas, similar to the formula for "New Freedom" funds that SAFETEA-LU had introduced, and whose funds and purpose were absorbed into the Section 5310 program. There is concern that the formula could disadvantage small and rural areas that may not have adequate public transportation resources and services. Further, the new formula has affected the discretionary authority once held by the State to allocate funds according to need. It is not clear whether the Section 5310 funds authorized and approved annually under SAFETEA-LU, correspond to the forenamed annual formula allocation of these funds under MAP-21. Therefore, research is needed to assess the degree to which the historical distribution of Section 5310 funds under the previous Authorization, corresponds to the new mandated distribution of these funds under MAP-21". The new statute also requires that at least 55% of the combined funds under current Section 5310 be used for "traditional" 5310 purposes. The objective of this research is to provide information on the extent to which the distribution of Section 5310 funds authorized by SAFETEA-LU corresponded to the new MAP-21 formula for distributing Section 5310 funds. To enable this comparison, the total distribution of Section 5310 funds for each of the last three years of SAFETEA-LU (e.g., FY 2009/10, 2010/11 and FY 2011/12) will be determined for rural, small urbanized and large urbanized areas. The average annual amount of Section 5310 funds that were approved for each one of these three categories will be determined, and this information compared to the new MAP-21 formula that allocates 20% of total Section 5310 funding to both rural, and small urbanized areas, and the remaining 60% of Section 5310 funds to large urbanized areas. KW - Aged KW - Cost allocation KW - Financing KW - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act KW - Persons with disabilities KW - Public transit KW - Rural areas KW - Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users KW - Section 5310 Funds KW - State departments of transportation KW - Urban areas UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3786 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1331156 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543558 TI - Research for the AASHTO Standing Committee on Public Transportation. Task 57. Assessment of State DOT Transit Vehicle Procurement Models AB - With the increasing number and complexity of federal procurement guidelines, state departments of transportation (DOT's) face a challenging situation when attempting to procure vans, rural demand responsive vehicles or full size transit vehicles either on behalf of their grantees or setting up a state consortium. The level of state DOT involvement in these types of procurements varies from state to state, but most states find it more viable for ensuring federal compliance by being involved in the procurement, as opposed to having grantees procure the vehicles on their own and then having to ensure that the grantees (especially Section 5310 recipients) are in full compliance with federal procurement requirements. As in many procurement activities, there is no "one-size-fits-all" approach for procuring transit vehicles, and a number of states do this in many different ways. However, in the light of recent Federal Transit Administration (FTA) "Dear Colleague Letters" and procurement rulings, state DOTs are less certain of long standing procurement models. In some instances, "piggybacking" off of other contracts is viewed negatively by in-state vendors that lose business to out-of-state vendors providing the same vehicle type they sell, or viewed as limiting in-state competition. There are a number of states that would like to develop a state-wide or consortium transit bus procurement program or reevaluate their current procurement practice, but do not know the options available to them or the attributes and limitations of doing either. Further, there are a number of transit vehicle procurement activities that states undertake that are not performed for the purpose of meeting federal procurement requirements but are beneficial to the process or final product. An analysis of these activities from a "best practice" perspective would provide the states with options for consideration in their procurement process. Possible activities to be explored in this analysis could include pilot vehicle development; in-plant inspections; pre-bid conferences; multi-year contracts; escalation clauses; vehicle options, etc. The objective of this research is to develop a matrix of the following: (1) various state-operated or consortium transit vehicle procurement methods now being employed, how each works, the attributes and limitations of each from the state, grantee and vendor perspectives, and the staff resources needed to accomplish each procurement method; (2) basic, federal procurement regulations and guidance (including best practices manual and frequently asked questions) associated with each method of procurement and which entity (state or grantee) has responsibility for compliance; and (3) non-required procurement activities that states are employing, the attributes and limitation of each, and which one(s) should be considered a "best practice." KW - Best practices KW - Compliance KW - Demand responsive transportation KW - Paratransit vehicles KW - Procurement KW - Section 5310 Funds KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3785 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1331155 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543557 TI - Research for the AASHTO Standing Committee on Public Transportation. Task 56. Best Practices in Rural Regional Mobility AB - The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) C 9040.1F define public transportation as: "Surface transportation by a conveyance that provides regular and continuing general or special transportation to the public, but does not include school bus, charter, or intercity bus transportation or intercity passenger rail transportation provided by AMTRAK" and defines intercity bus as "regularly scheduled bus service for the general public that operates with limited stops over fixed routes connecting two or more urban areas not in close proximity, that has the capacity for transporting baggage carried by passengers, and that makes meaningful connections with scheduled intercity bus service to more distant points, if such service is available." The two separate definitions that guide the use of FTA rural transit funds suggest these forms of transit are distinctly different and need to be dealt with accordingly. From a practical perspective, both forms of transit can play a significant role in effective rural regional mobility. Rural regional mobility generally means intrastate, cross-county transportation such as non-emergency medical trips to regional medical centers and trips to commuting-based colleges. These trips may fall within the gray area between the definition of rural public transportation and rural intercity bus transportation. This gray area may exist because there are routine trips that are too lengthy and time consuming to be cost-effective for local rural demand response providers (supported by Section 5311 funds) while at the same time the trip cannot be effectively met by intercity bus services (supported with Section 5311(f) funds) because the service is too infrequent, has lengthy travel times (with long layovers and multiple transfers) or is too expensive for routine, perhaps daily, trips. See the U.S. Rural Population and Scheduled Intercity Transportation in 2010: A Five-Year Decline in Transportation Access here. Tools are needed to assist state departments of transportation (DOTs) with planning and providing efficient rural regional mobility. The objective of this research is to identify and evaluate practices being used by state DOTs and rural regional planning agencies to plan and provide for rural regional mobility. These practices should meet the FTA definition of "public transportation" or the FTA definition of "intercity bus" and preferably are practices that effectively blend these two modes and are supported with a combination of Section 5311 and 5311(f) funds. Practices that are examples of coordinated public and human services transportation should also be highlighted. If feasible, also evaluate best practices being used by State DOTs in cooperation with urban transit agencies and Metropolitan Planning Organizations to meet regional transit needs that involve moving people between urbanized and rural areas. KW - Best practices KW - Government funding KW - Ground transportation KW - Metropolitan planning organizations KW - Mobility KW - Rural transit KW - State departments of transportation KW - Travel time KW - Urban transit UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3784 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1331154 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543532 TI - Guide for Optimal Replacement Cycles of Highway Operations Equipment AB - State highway agency equipment fleet assets are vital to the delivery of agency programs, projects, and services. These fleets represent a significant capital investment and require recurring maintenance, operational expenditures, and timely replacement to achieve the desired level of performance, reliability, and economy. A variety of practices have been used by highway agencies for deciding on the replacement cycles of highway operation equipment. However, there is no widely accepted process for determining optimal replacement cycles. There is a need to identify current practices, review relevant information, and develop rational processes that will provide a realistic means for determining optimal replacement cycles. A Guide for Optimal Replacement Cycles of Highway Operations Equipment can then be prepared to facilitate use of these processes. Such a guide will help highway equipment managers and administrators with the task of equipment replacement. The objective of this research is to develop a Guide for Optimal Replacement Cycles of Highway Operations Equipment. The guide shall include processes and tools for consideration in making decisions regarding the optimal replacement cycles of on- and off-road highway operations equipment used by state highway agencies. KW - Decision making KW - Equipment replacement KW - Fleet management KW - Highway operations KW - Maintenance equipment KW - State departments of transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3654 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1331129 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01542977 TI - Effectiveness of Wildlife Mitigation Treatments on the Nelsonville Bypass AB - U.S. Route 33 Nelsonville Bypass is a three-phase, 8.5-mile new construction of four-lane highway through Athens and Hocking County Ohio with a large portion bisecting Wayne National Forest, Ohio's only National Forest. The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) has worked closely with resource agencies and the Wayne National Forest to incorporate several mitigation treatments to protect wildlife in the area. The project was designed to restrict wildlife access to the highway to reduce vehicle wildlife interactions. However, the design also incorporated several features to make it permeable to wildlife migration. This research will determine if the wildlife treatments are functioning as intended. This is important as a large amount of capital investment was made in these treatments. Further, this research will assist ODOT in designing these treatments for future projects, or indicate that they are not effective. KW - Animal migrations KW - Animal vehicle collisions KW - Bypasses KW - Ohio KW - Road construction KW - Wildlife UR - http://worldcat.org/arcviewer/9/OHI/2014/10/28/H1414523602145/viewer/file1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1329557 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543524 TI - Relationship between Erodibility and Fundamental Geotechnical Properties of Geomaterials AB - Knowledge of the erodibility of geomaterials is essential to the analysis of problems related to soil erosion which include bridge scour, embankment overtopping erosion, and stream stability. Erodibility directly influences the scour and erosion potential of geomaterials under hydraulic loads. This is a primary source of concern for highway bridges where scour has been the leading cause of bridge failures in the United States, contributing to approximately 60% of failures since 1970. A geomaterial's resistance to erosion is dependent on several mechanisms, including the material structure and the inter-particle forces that develop. Erodibility is generally defined as the relationship between the erosion rate and the shear stress imposed by flowing water at the soil/&#8204;rock-water interface. Another key element that describes erodibility is the erosion threshold parameter. This parameter, termed the critical shear stress, is defined as the hydraulic shear stress corresponding to an erosion rate that, for all practical purposes, is negligible. Erosion is considered not to occur below this threshold. While there are specialized devices available to measure erodibility, their use can be expensive due to the following: (1) requirement of site-specific material sampling; (2) the need of specialized and experienced test operators; and (3) potential high cost of the testing equipment. In an attempt to overcome the high costs associated with erosion testing, researchers in the past have attempted to develop relationships between geotechnical properties of geomaterials and erodibility. Some of the geotechnical properties that have been studied include unit weight, plasticity index, shear strength, void ratio, fines content, water-chemical composition, and sodium absorption ratio. These investigations did not yield meaningful results possibly due to: (1) lack of emphasis on the influence of material structure on erodibility; (2) use of datasets from multiple sources where test conditions and procedures may have varied significantly; (3) inadequate number of datasets that contain both information on erodibility and geotechnical properties to meaningfully investigate their relationship, for example by using statistical regression techniques; and (4) inappropriate application or lack of knowledge of available statistical methods that are best suited to analyze the data. All these factors have led to very limited guidance available on the relationship between erodibility and geotechnical properties. The objective of this research is to determine relationships between erodibility and fundamental geotechnical properties that can be used as cost effective means to assess site&#8209;specific erosion resistance of geomaterials. Accomplishing this objective will require the following tasks: (1) Perform a literature review on the past research conducted in this area. (2) Conduct a survey of state department of transportation DOT practices on typical geotechnical properties measured in the laboratory and in-situ, and also specifically how erodibility is quantified. (3) Perform a survey on the available methods of laboratory erosion testing. (4) Select geomaterial types and the fundamental geotechnical properties that are to be included in the study. (5) Select erosion testing procedure that is to be adopted for the study. (6) Perform erosion tests using the selected laboratory erosion testing procedure to measure the erodibility of geomaterial samples. (7) Perform laboratory and/or in-situ tests to obtain the fundamental geotechnical properties of the geomaterials such that each geomaterial sample has both erodibility and geotechnical properties. (8) Perform a survey on available statistical techniques applicable to the data. (9) Develop correlations and relationships between erodibility and geotechnical properties using sound statistical techniques. (10) Present results in a simple and meaningful manner that can be readily used by the engineering practitioner. KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Erosion KW - Geomaterials KW - Geotechnical engineering KW - Laboratory tests KW - Properties of materials KW - Shear stress KW - Test procedures UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3886 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330971 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543523 TI - Framing Surface Transportation Research for the Nation's Future AB - Surface transportation in the United States has seen numerous major improvements and policy innovations informed by research: safer and more fuel-efficient automobiles, more durable and economical pavement designs, real-time tracking of cargo shipments, and a resurgence of freight rail following deregulation of the railroad industry, to cite but a few examples. Currently, the U.S. surface transportation research enterprise is characterized by a diversity of participants, activities, and funding sources and is highly decentralized, with most research programs initiated from the bottom up. As a result, much of the current research aims at specific problems identified by sponsors and is relatively short term, focused on individual modes (highway or rail, for example), and applied in nature. Leaders within the transportation community have questioned whether the current U.S. approach to surface transportation research will lead to the kinds of innovations in transportation services and policies needed to support national goals for economic development, safety, mobility, competitiveness, and sustainability in the 21st century. The research is supported by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) produced Transportation Research Board's (TRB')s Special Report 313: Framing Surface Transportation Research for the Nation's Future. The report explores opportunities for improving the productivity of U.S. expenditures on surface transportation research by building on lessons learned from transportation research in other countries and from research in non-transportation sectors in the United States. According to the committee that produced the report, the timely development of a new national research framework that engages the public, private, academic, and nonprofit sectors and draws on the nation's research capacity in academia, industry, and elsewhere is needed. The objective of this new NCHRP project will be to initiate development of that framework by convening key stakeholders to identify the principal dimensions and initial elements of the framework and actions to be taken to make the framework effective. The research will be managed as an activity of the TRB's Studies and Special Programs Division. KW - Cargo handling KW - Deregulation KW - Economic development KW - Freight transportation KW - Ground transportation KW - Innovation KW - Mobility KW - Pavement design KW - Shipments KW - Sustainable development KW - United States UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3885 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330970 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543522 TI - Ahead of the Curve: Mastering the Management of Transportation Research Training Program--Developing Course Outlines and Offering One-Day Pilot AB - The Transportation Research Board (TRB) established a new task force--ABG05T, Ahead of the Curve: Mastering the Management of Transportation Research--to develop and deliver a coordinated and continuing training program that enhances the knowledge, skills, and abilities of individuals involved in managing transportation research and innovation programs. State department of transportation (DOT) personnel involved with different aspects of the Cooperative Research Programs represent a major focus of this training program. Individuals from universities, consulting firms, and other agencies and groups represent additional audiences for this training program. The TRB Task Force has completed a number of activities, including developing goals, objectives, draft curriculum, a draft communications/&#8204;marketing plan, draft quality control and credibility strategies, and implementation concepts. A workshop was held at the 2014 TRB Annual Meeting to gain input from approximately 60 representatives from state DOTs and other agencies and groups. Strong support for the program was voiced by participants. The draft curriculum includes an introductory course and four core courses. An additional 12 possible elective course have also been identified. Much of the material for the courses is available from previous NCHRP projects, such as the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 610: Communicating the Value of Transportation Research, as well as from other sources. The objectives of this project are to identify source materials and develop the outlines for the four basic courses and the 12 elective courses for the Ahead of the Curve training, and to pilot test and evaluate the one-day introductory course currently under development by the Task Force. KW - Innovation KW - Management KW - State departments of transportation KW - Strategic planning KW - Training programs KW - Transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3884 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330969 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543521 TI - Changing the Game: Innovative Solutions to Allocate Risk and Deliver Projects Successfully under Constrained Budget Conditions AB - Society is demanding value for money in public investments while at the same time increasing the influence of stakeholders and permitting agencies on project outcomes. Managing stakeholders, permitting agencies, variable ground conditions, constructability, and technical issues requires innovation and openness to change when delivering capital projects "on time and within budget." Program planners and decision-makers need a comprehensive understanding of the range of possible outcomes in a project and/or program to make intelligent decisions. Within the transportation sector, strategies to stimulate innovative approaches designed to improve the reliability of project development and delivery should consider a range of alternative delivery methods, risk-based cost and schedule estimating, value engineering, constructability reviews, and alternative technical concepts. Project development and delivery strategies involve risk transfer (but not always in a cognitive fashion). Most strategies involve an effort to push teams to think and behave differently, generating alternative solutions, estimating costs and benefits, and championing new ideas. Over the past decade or so, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Value Engineering Technical Committee has endeavored to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of projects to meet the AASHTO Highway Subcommittee on Design's strategic plan. Value Engineering (VE) is a proven method of achieving a common understanding of project needs, helping to stimulate innovation while maximizing the use of resources to achieve project objectives. At the project level, the goal of a VE analysis is to achieve an optimum balance of project function (e.g., safety, operations, and environment), quality, and risk and cost consciousness; however, VE can be integrated more effectively with other techniques to stimulate innovation and identify strategies for managing and allocating risk. Identification of major schedule and cost risks is not sufficient by itself to ensure successful project development and delivery. A technique to develop risk management solutions to allocate risk in the manner that has greater probability to achieve value for money is the missing link. Budget constraints, increasing project complexity, and stakeholder involvement are driving an ongoing need to address innovative techniques in project development and delivery. This research project will generate a best practices guideline for use by any transportation agency to stimulate innovation and achieve value for money while adequately addressing risk. It will provide decision-makers, program and project managers, and VE practitioners with a structured approach to integrate Value Engineering into the Risk Management framework, thereby enhancing opportunities for generating and applying innovative and effective project delivery strategies. KW - Decision making KW - Project delivery KW - Risk analysis KW - Strategic planning KW - Technological innovations KW - Value engineering UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3879 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330968 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543520 TI - Quantifying the Costs and Benefits of Partnering on Projects Delivered Using Traditional and Alternative Contracting Methods AB - Partnering highway construction contracts is popular throughout the country and has been in use by state departments of transportation (DOTs) for over 20 years. Many, if not most, DOT construction contracts contain general provisions regarding the partnering process. The Ohio and Texas DOTs conducted research studies on the effectiveness of partnering in the mid-1990's; findings indicated that there were quantifiable benefits for employing partnering on traditional design-bid-build contracts. Since that time the nature of the procurement environment has undergone significant changes due to the adoption of alternative contracting methods (ACM) such as best-value award (BVA), construction manager/general contractor (CMGC), design-build (DB), public-private partnerships (P3), alternative technical concepts (ATC) and others that were not prevalent during the time periods covered by the Ohio and Texas studies. The Federal Highway Administration's Every Day Counts (EDC) initiative has significantly increased interest in ACMs by reducing the state share for federal-aid projects delivered using ADMs. The result of the above is a clear need to invest in contractual relationships to avoid delays and extra costs due to contract disputes as DOTs seek to accelerate the delivery of highway projects to rapidly renew the deteriorated infrastructure. Partnering is a tool proven to provide a means to improve the contractor-owner relationships by providing a framework for communication and problem solving with the goal of win/win outcomes. The partnering process aims to foster a team environment where challenges are addressed as a group and disputes are resolved early, hoping to create a positive impact on project cost, time, and quality performance. Therefore, the objective of this research is to revisit the conclusions reached by the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) two decades ago on partnering DBB projects and expand that result to account for the contract relational changes inherent with ACMs. The research will quantify the costs and benefits of the partnering process on a national level. It will also identify successful partnering efforts, and develop effective practice guidance and training materials. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Construction management KW - Contract administration KW - Design bid build KW - Ohio Department of Transportation KW - Partnerships KW - Project delivery KW - State departments of transportation KW - Texas Department of Transportation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3878 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330967 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543519 TI - Multimodal Corridor Access Management Planning Methods, Guidelines, Best Practices, and Operational Impacts AB - The proliferation of access points and lack of adequate supporting street networks have significantly reduced the safety and efficiency of our nation's highways. To address these issues, a growing number of state and regional transportation agencies across the United States are engaging in corridor access management planning as a basis for retrofitting corridors to address access management and multimodal needs and upgrade arterial performance. These corridor plans incorporate a number of tools that include both regulatory (e.g., overlay districts) and design (e.g., driveway spacing) elements. Some states, including Michigan, New York, Arizona, Minnesota, and Kansas, rely heavily on corridor management plans as a means of advancing the safety and efficiency of their highway system and overcoming access management problems at the local level. In addition, there is increasing recognition that the location, design, and management of access to and from major roadways must serve all transportation modes and achieve an appropriate balance among those modes. Major urban roadways must accommodate many types of vehicles--buses, passenger vehicles, trucks, and sometimes rail transit--while also accommodating pedestrians and bicyclists. However, few states have adequate guidance on what constitutes an effective multimodal corridor access management plan, or how to facilitate the actions needed to implement the plan. As a result, the plans may not adequately address different types of arterials and contexts. Research also suggests that a clear implementation strategy is needed. Without such a strategy, the plans may never be implemented or may be undermined by inconsistent decisions and dissension among the implementing agencies. One solution is to provide effective guidance to state transportation agencies and local governments on how to develop and implement a multimodal corridor access management plan that coordinates the various modal considerations and integrates transportation, land use, and network planning considerations along major arterial corridors. There is a far more limited understanding of the operational impacts of access management (particularly with treatments in combination). Although improvements in travel speed and traffic flow have been documented, there is a need to better understand the circumstances under which access management treatments have a positive operational impact. There is also a need to better understand the impacts of multimodal accommodations on arterial access management. Specifically, there is a need to understand how improvements in access management relate to average travel speed, travel time reliability, and preserved highway capacity. The objectives of the research are to identify and document current best practices for multimodal access planning and design along major highway corridors; develop examples showing how to effectively accommodate bus rapid transit and local bus service, as well as pedestrians, bicyclists, and autos in the location, design, and management of access; develop methodological guidance on multimodal access management planning and implementation methods; present the results in the form of multimodal access management guidelines and practices for specific highway functional classes; and identify the expected operational impacts of access management treatments with respect to a range of access related variables along various urban street segments. This operational impact research effort should build, calibrate, and validate simulation models to provide agencies with a simple method for determining the effect of a range of access management guidelines on capacity of urban street corridors. The final report will provide a clear, step-by-step framework for the planning process, including: corridor designation and partnering agreements; data collection and analysis; alternatives analysis and plan development; policy analysis and implementation planning; public involvement best practices; and funding strategies. The report will also include tools that can be directly applied by state transportation agencies in coordination with local governments and regional planning agencies, such as: model scope of services, model intergovernmental agreement, checklists for assessing and updating multimodal access management policies, design criteria, and regulations, and model cross-access agreement and sample access permit with alternative access conditions. KW - Access control (Transportation) KW - Arizona KW - Arterial highways KW - Best practices KW - Guidelines KW - Highway operations KW - Highway safety KW - Kansas KW - Michigan KW - Minnesota KW - Multimodal transportation KW - New York (State) KW - Regulations KW - Traffic flow KW - Transportation corridors UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3858 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330966 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01610786 AU - Andrus, Ronald D AU - Ravichandran, Nadarajah AU - Aboye, Shimelies A AU - Bhuiyan, Ariful H AU - Martin, James R AU - Clemson University AU - South Carolina Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Seismic Site Coefficients and Acceleration Design Response Spectra Based on Conditions in South Carolina PY - 2014/11/15/Final Report SP - 399p AB - The simplified procedure in design codes for determining earthquake response spectra involves estimating site coefficients to adjust available rock accelerations to site accelerations. Several investigators have noted concerns with the site coefficients recommended in current codes, herein called the 1994 National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program (NEHRP) site coefficients, including (1) the suitability of the 1994 NEHRP coefficients for conditions different from Western United States geology; (2) the appropriateness of using a single coefficient for a wide range of soil stiffnesses; and (3) the suitability of using coefficients that are independent of depth to top of rock. This report describes a systematic ground response study to determined site coefficients (F) appropriate for South Carolina’s geologic and seismic conditions. The study involves assuming conditions at seven locations in the Atlantic Coastal Plain and four locations in the South Carolina Piedmont. Over 60,000 total stress, one-dimensional equivalent linear (SHAKE2000) and nonlinear (DMOD2000) ground response simulations are conducted using numerous representative shear wave velocity profiles and a suite of over 130 synthetic rock outcrop motions generated with the computer program Scenario_PC assuming return periods of 475 and 2,475 years. Results of the ground response analyses are compiled into over 400 plots of computed values of F versus average shear wave velocity in the top 100 ft (VS100ft) grouped by site location, depth to top of soft rock (HB-C) or hard rock (HHR), spectral period (T), and spectral acceleration of the rock input motion (Soutcrop). In nearly all the plots, the following three distinct features can be seen—(1) an increasing trend in F as VS100ft increases from zero; (2) a zone of peak values of F; and (3) a decreasing trend in F as VS100ft increases to the velocity of the reference rock. A new mathematical model for F is developed from the results to capture these three distinct features. Development of the model begins by estimating the peak site coefficient (FP) and the corresponding average shear wave velocity (VS100ftP) for each plot. Next, the values of FP and VS100ftP are studied to determine the most significant influencing variables. In addition to VS100ft, variables found to be most influential are: HB-C, HHR, Soutcrop, mean predominant period of the rock input motion (Tm), and average shear wave velocity in the top 330 ft (VS330ft). Finally, overall median relationships for F that are functions of FP, VS100ftP, and the most influential variables are derived from regression analysis. The amount of variability within the plotted values of F is characterized by 95% upper bound and 5% lower bound relationships. The 95% upper bounds are, on average, 42% higher than the median relationships; and the 5% low bounds are, on average, 36% lower than the median relationships. Computed values of F are generally higher for the Piedmont than for the Coastal Plain. This difference can be explained by the fact that the Piedmont site coefficients are referenced to hard rock, instead of soft rock, and because of the higher impedance contrasts between soil and hard rock in the Piedmont. The median F relationships for spectral periods of 0.0, 0.2 and 1.0 s are compared with the 1994 NEHRP site coefficients. The 1994 NEHRP coefficients are found to be often over conservative for NEHRP Site Class E sites; and sometimes unconservative for NEHRP Site Class C and D sites, particularly where the top of rock lies at shallow depths. Based on this comparison, the model of F developed in this study is recommended for seismic design in South Carolina. Because the recommended model of F is based on a very broad range of soil/rock conditions and general rock motion properties, it can be directly applied to other areas with similar geologic and seismic conditions. In areas outside of South Carolina, calibration or modification of model variables may be required. The simplified procedure for determining acceleration design response spectrum (ADRS), sometimes called the 3-point ADRS method, is found to be generally valid when VS100ft > 650 ft/s. However, when VS100ft ≤ 650 ft/s, the results of this and other studies indicate that significant spectral peaks may occur at periods greater than 1.0 s. For this reason, it is recommended that a multi-point ADRS be plotted with the 3-point ADRS to check if long-period accelerations are under predicted. The objective of the multi-point ADRS is not to replace the design code philosophy, but to present an option for the designer to check that longer period accelerations are not under-predicted by the 3- point ADRS. It is also found that 3-point ADRS curves predicted by the site coefficients for the Coastal Plain and the Piedmont exhibit some differences when applied to sites near the boundary of these two physiographic areas, called the Fall Line. It is recommended that ADRS curves based on the Piedmont site coefficients be used at sites near the Fall Line where HHR < 330 ft; and the Coastal Plain site coefficients be used at sites in the Coastal Plain where HHR ≥ 330 ft. Finally, a discussion of the repercussions of the new seismic site coefficients on structural analysis of highway bridges in South Carolina is presented. The discussion is based on the analysis results of two sample bridges using the 1994 NEHRP site coefficients, the site coefficients of this study, and the computer program SAP2000 or CSiBridge. KW - Coefficients KW - Earthquake resistant design KW - Highway bridges KW - National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program KW - Regression analysis KW - S waves KW - Seismicity KW - Simulation KW - South Carolina KW - Structural analysis UR - http://www.clemson.edu/t3s/scdot/pdf/projects/SPR686-report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1421146 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01566467 TI - Planning-Support for Mitigation of Wildlife-Vehicle Collisions and Highway Impacts on Migration Routes in Wyoming AB - The objective of the study is to provide transportation planners, conservation planners and wildlife managers with statewide information that will help them to evaluate the placement of current and future wildlife-vehicle mitigation measures. It is hoped that this will increase the cost-effectiveness of mitigation measures and will be vital to reducing the rising problem of wildlife-vehicle collisions while maintaining the enhancing landscape connectivity for wildlife in Wyoming. KW - Animal vehicle collisions KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Habitat (Ecology) KW - Landscape design KW - Transportation planning KW - Wildlife KW - Wyoming UR - http://www.dot.state.wy.us/files/live/sites/wydot/files/shared/Planning/Research/RS03215%20Proposal.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1357577 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01552739 TI - Evaluating the Effectiveness of Fly Ashes to Mitigate ASR and Using Recycled Concrete Aggregate in New Construction AB - This project shall conduct tests on fly ashes; evaluate moderately reactive, reactive, and very highly reactive aggregates; conduct concrete prism testing; demolish blocks and make recycled concrete aggregate; and continue monitoring field specimens. This project will be conducted in four phases. Phase 1 shall consist of mortar bar and concrete prism tests of moderately and highly reactive aggregates. Phase 2 shall conduct additional concrete prism testing that could permit the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) to evaluate specific fly ash sources. In Phase 3 testing on recycled concrete aggregates will be conducted. During Phase 4, the principle investigator will continue to monitor field samples. KW - Alkali silica reactions KW - Concrete aggregates KW - Fly ash KW - Mortar KW - Prisms KW - Recycled materials KW - Wyoming UR - http://www.dot.state.wy.us/files/live/sites/wydot/files/shared/Planning/Research/RS02215%20Fly%20Ash%20to%20Mitigate%20ASR.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1342408 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543481 TI - Guidelines for the Consideration of Atmospheric Effects for Improved Noise Modeling AB - It is widely accepted that the propagation of sound waves from a highway traffic source can be significantly affected by complex meteorological phenomena. Specifically, studies show noise level increases by as much as 5-10 decibels as a result of changes in vertical gradients of wind speed and temperature that lead to refraction (i.e. bending of sound waves). To put this increase in noise levels into perspective, a 5-decibel increase is generally regarded as a noticeable change by a healthy human ear while a 10-decibel increase is perceived as a doubling of sound. While studies exist that prove meteorology significantly affects received sound levels, state departments of transportation lack guidance on how and when to account for meteorology in traffic noise prediction modeling and abatement assessments. Research is needed to identify the most critical atmospheric parameters that affect received sound levels, how to obtain and effectively model those parameters, and how best to implement policy for the consideration of atmospheric effects in traffic noise modeling. Development of such guidance would improve modeling confidence and facilitate the design of more effective abatement measures for noise sensitive receivers adjacent to highway traffic noise sources. In addition, knowledge from this study could help state departments of transportation (DOTs) with discussing variations in measured noise levels at specific locations with the public. NCHRP Project 25-34, "Supplemental Guidance on the Application of the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA's) Traffic Noise Model (TNM)," will, in part, synthesize the state of practice in addressing the effects of wind and temperature inversions upon traffic noise dispersion. However, NCHRP Project 25-34 research will not extend so far as to develop best practices for incorporating atmospheric effects in noise modeling. The research proposed in this problem statement will provide these practices and recommendations and will provide a timely follow up to Project 25-34. A final report for Project 25-34 is anticipated in time to serve as the starting point for this proposed research project. The main objective of the proposed research is to develop a set of best management practices for considering atmospheric effects in noise modeling, which provides guidance and makes recommendations on: (1) The most critical atmospheric parameters that affect sound propagation from a highway traffic noise source; (2) Resources and avenues for obtaining said parameters as well as how much data should be obtained and evaluated; (3) When atmospheric effects should be considered and when they may be disregarded in noise prediction modeling and abatement assessment (e.g. should states model the "average" or "prevailing" condition? Define "prevailing"); (4) How atmospheric effects could be incorporated into the U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Traffic Noise Model (TNM) and future policy, which will identify the necessary modeling input parameters if it is determined that atmospheric effects should be included; and (5) How atmospheric effects could be considered when using the current, and any future versions, of TNM that only account for neutral conditions and atmospheric absorption (i.e. make recommendations on how FHWA and states may consider atmospheric effects in their current policy). In order to meet the research objective and develop a comprehensive set of best management practices, the following tasks should be performed, at a minimum: (1) Perform a literature review to establish the importance of the effects of atmospheric conditions on sound propagation and identify the most critical parameters that affect sound propagation. The literature review should also quantify the magnitude of the effects that have been documented. (2) Survey state DOTs and their consultants to identify the current state of the practice to see how states handle atmospheric conditions when modeling and designing abatement. (3) Perform a literature review and evaluation of other available models and standards that account for more complex atmospheric conditions than what TNM currently considers. (4) Develop case studies that cover a range of potential scenarios and provide steps on the processes for obtaining meteorological data for the study area and how to evaluate that data and determine if it should be used in modeling. KW - Atmosphere KW - Guidelines KW - Literature reviews KW - Sound level KW - Sound transmission KW - State departments of transportation KW - Traffic noise UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3892 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330937 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543480 TI - Limitations of the Infiltration Approach to Stormwater Management in the Highway Environment AB - Reducing runoff volumes using infiltration of stormwater has drawn increasing interest in recent years given its ability to reduce stormwater volume, increase groundwater recharge, reduce peak flows, and lessen the transport of nonpoint source pollutants. Some state departments of transportation (DOTs) are being required by regulatory agencies to utilize infiltration best management practices (BMPs) for their transportation projects unless infiltration BMPs are proven to be infeasible. The focus of infiltration BMP research to date has generally been on the ability of infiltration to reduce the volume of stormwater runoff; little attention has been given to the other potential environmental effects of using infiltration BMPs. These potential effects may include issues of water balance (e.g., groundwater mounding) and the introduction or mobilization of contaminants into groundwater. While infiltration has quickly become the BMP of choice, there is a growing concern that requiring infiltration BMPs may be inadvertently leading to other environmental consequences. Literature has shown that heavy metals and hydrocarbons are generally captured by the upper layers of soil, but breakthrough of these contaminants can occur due to sorption of the soil. Research is needed to better understand the capabilities of infiltration BMPs in different environmental settings and to identify the potential limitations and overall environmental effects of infiltration BMPs. The focus of this research is to better understand the full range of effects caused by the use of infiltration BMPs. Specifically, this research effort would include: (1) Conducting detailed evaluations of the effects of climate, soils, topography, receiving water, and other local conditions on the effectiveness of infiltration best management practices to remove pollutants of concern in highway runoff. This would include field testing and monitoring. (2) Analyzing and documenting the potential risks associated with the use of infiltration such as the potential for groundwater contamination. This would include an assessment of the conditions under which the risks are most likely to be realized. (3) Providing recommendations for the appropriate use of infiltration when treating stormwater as well as potential methods for improving the effectiveness of and reducing any risks from infiltration BMPs. KW - Best practices KW - Environmental impacts KW - Groundwater recharge KW - Hydrocarbons KW - Infiltration KW - Peak flows KW - Runoff KW - State departments of transportation KW - Water pollution UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3891 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330936 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543479 TI - Prioritization Method for Proposed Road-Rail Grade Separation Projects along Specific Rail Corridors AB - While safety continues to be a high priority in the development of road-rail grade separation projects, state and local decision makers need more robust criteria when prioritizing these projects for funding and construction. This situation is particularly acute when considering the impacts along a rail corridor that is experiencing a significant increase in the number of train movements, or where the operating speed or train length has increased. Changes in traffic and level of service can create greater impacts to existing road-rail grade crossings along an affected corridor. For example, increasing use of rail to transport energy products, such as crude oil, has caused train movements to increase dramatically in several regions of the U.S. An exhaustive list of criteria that balance economic and social benefits could facilitate a programmatic response in prioritizing grade crossing separation projects along rail corridors experiencing increasing train movements or changing operating conditions. In addition to increasing train volumes, limited funding availability suggests the need for a more precise way to evaluate merits of proposed grade separation projects. The research objective for this study is to develop a prioritization procedure for comparing and evaluating proposed road-rail grade separation projects along specific rail corridors. Recommended work elements include the following: (1) A benchmark system to evaluate previous work, including preparation of an exhaustive list of criteria for consideration; (2) Framework for criteria scoring; (3) A scheme that will prioritize both urban and rural road-rail separation projects; (4) A baseline score for project funding consideration; (5) High-level review of challenges with data availability; (6) Selecting a representative rail corridor to use as a case study. KW - Grade separations KW - Highway safety KW - Level of service KW - Railroad grade crossings KW - Railroad safety KW - Railroad transportation KW - Transportation corridors UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3890 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330935 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543478 TI - Enhancement of Construction Noise Prediction Tool (RCNM Version 2) AB - In reaction to ever growing public concern and complaint about construction noise, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) developed the Roadway Construction Noise Model (RCNM) in February 2006. The RCNM model, which was the first major update on the subject in over 35 years, was based on the construction noise model developed and utilized at the Central Artery/&#8204;Tunnel Project (The Big Dig) in Boston. It has since gone on to be recommended for use by FHWA, state and municipal noise regulations (e.g. NYC Construction Noise Regulation) as well as numerous project-specific noise specifications. It has become the de-facto reference source for construction equipment noise emissions and predictions, and is routinely used by projects for planning and environmental assessment, construction noise mitigation plans, regulations development, specification enforcement, and legal cases involving construction noise. However, RCNM has limitations and uses simplified assumptions (e.g. equipment usage factors) that limit its flexibility and accuracy. An improved version is needed to make the model more flexible and accurate for use in urban, suburban and rural environments. For example, the construction equipment noise database in RCNM provides only broadband Lmax A-weighted levels, the calculation of time-dependent noise metrics is done by estimation, and there is no accounting for excess attenuation provided by ground effects and air absorption losses. Also, the current version of RCNM only allows for rough estimates of noise reduction from barriers and other obstacles, so an enhanced algorithm is needed to account for such attenuation. The result is that the model can overpredict construction noise levels and result in a high level of uncertainty for the effectiveness of noise reduction efforts. An improved tool is needed for predicting construction noise levels and the effects of noise reduction efforts to reduce the potential for public complaints and ensure compliance with state, local, and project-specific noise restrictions. The tool could be either an update to the existing RCNM or the development of a new model. An improved tool would include an updated equipment noise emission database on a spectral basis; the ability to predict time-dependent noise metrics of interest such as Lmax, Leq, L10, L90, and others; and improved capability for use over greater distances and terrains. This research will help state transportation departments reduce public complaints, reduce noise control costs, avoid litigation, and improve project delivery. The objectives of this proposed research are to expand and/or establish a new construction equipment noise emission database in spectral format by measuring equipment noise emissions from numerous equipment engaged in construction operations as available from project job sites nationwide; expanding the equipment noise emission database to include standard time-dependant noise metrics such as Lmax, Leq, L1, L10, L50, L90, and L99; expanding the model's calculation algorithm to include ground attenuation effects and air absorption, on a spectral basis, to make the model more accurate over greater distances; developing an algorithm module to calculate noise reduction (insertion loss) due to barriers, berms, and intervening objects on a spectral basis; and developing a user's guide to reflect and describe use of the tool. Reducing construction noise is an ongoing challenge, especially for major construction projects. The challenge is both for addressing public concerns and ensuring compliance with state, local, and project-specific noise restrictions. Examples of these challenges resulting in high compliance costs, extensive coordination with local officials, and robust public response strategies include the Big Dig project, T-Rex project, Wilson Bridge project, Alaska Way Viaduct project, and World Trade Center Rebuild project. Construction noise is a controllable public impact and need not be viewed as simply an unavoidable inconvenience. An improved construction noise modeling tool would allow for more accurate and reliable construction noise predictions and impact assessments on a proactive basis, thus allowing project sponsors to implement appropriate noise mitigation measures. Further, improved accuracy and the ability to model specific project circumstances in greater detail would reduce mitigation costs. KW - Boston (Massachusetts) KW - Databases KW - Noise sources KW - Regulations KW - Road construction KW - Sound level KW - Tunneling UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3889 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330934 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543477 TI - Guidebook for Managing Subsurface Differing Site Conditions Risk in Design-Build Projects AB - Mitigating the risk of differing geotechnical site conditions is never simple, but in a design-build (DB) contract awarded before a complete subsurface investigation is completed, it becomes even more difficult. The Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Special Experimental Projects No. 14--Alternative Contracting (SEP-14) was introduced in 1990 and by 2009 had authorized over 400 DB highway projects. In June, 2010, the FHWA announced its "Every Day Counts" (EDC) initiative to address the rapid renewal of the nation's rapidly deteriorating infrastructure. The program is designed to accelerate the implementation of innovative practices, such as DB contracting, that are immediately available. Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) further increased the momentum developed in EDC I and EDC II by cutting the state matching share of federal-aid funded highway projects in half if the department of transportation (DOT) chose to use design-build (DB) project delivery. While DB project delivery is a proven tool for accelerating badly needed renewal projects, it does so by awarding the contract before design is complete. Typical DB highway projects often provide only a small fraction of the necessary geotechnical investigation required by the State DOT Geotechnical Manual of Instruction at the time of bid. These DB contracts require the DB Team to conduct the full subsurface site investigation and geotechnical design report in final design therefore gaps in the assessment of the geotechnical conditions may occur. Since current DB case law has shown that the agency cannot effectively shed differing site conditions risk, efforts are needed to mitigate the risk of both cost and time overruns if actual conditions are found to differ significantly from those portrayed in the projects DB request for proposal (RFP). In the past 12 months three $1.0 billion-plus major bridge projects with challenging foundation conditions were awarded as DB project. The projects are the Gerald Desmond Bridge in California, the Tappan Zee Bridge in New York and the Ohio River Bridges in Kentucky/&#8204;Indiana. NCHRP Synthesis 429: Geotechnical Information Practices in Design-Build Projects found that while there are a number of successful approaches for managing DB geotechnical risk, there is no substantive implementation guidance. Providing adequate high-quality geotechnical information is especially important for the DB delivery approach. The synthesis identified a number of gaps in the body of knowledge that are preventing many states from adequately addressing geotechnical risk in the project delivery method selection process and from taking full advantage of DB project delivery once it is selected. The main research objective is to benchmark the state-of-the-practice in geotechnical design and construction practices in DB projects and combine it with existing research on construction procurement and project delivery procedures, processes and policies. This study will assemble a set of effective practices and develop a guidebook that can be utilized by agencies to implement geotechnical risk management measures based on statutory and/or policy requirements for inclusion in agency DB policy for DB procurement. The guidebook should include a methodology to compare geotechnical ATC design alternatives on a basis of both potential cost and time savings. It should also incorporate guidance that allows DOTs to be able to justify the selection of a higher cost alternative on a basis of offsetting environmental/&#8204;social benefits. KW - Construction management KW - Design build KW - Geological surveying KW - Geotechnical engineering KW - Gerald Desmond Bridge KW - Guidelines KW - Highway bridges KW - New York (State) KW - Ohio KW - Project delivery KW - Tappan Zee Bridge UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3887 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330933 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543476 TI - Framework for Analyzing the Costs and Benefits of Adaptation Measures in Preparation for Extreme Weather Events and Climate Change AB - Extreme weather events and a changing climate can result in significant costs to transportation agencies and to the traveling public. State departments of transportation (DOTs) as well as other public infrastructure agencies are increasingly challenged with difficult decisions about whether, when, and to what extent to incorporate adaptation measures into their existing and future facilities to provide more resiliencies in the event of extreme weather or in response to climate change concerns such as sea level rise. Adaptation measures could include hardening existing facilities, increasing maintenance practices, strategically placing spare materials in preparation for extreme weather, etc. Given the potential costs and benefits involved in enhancing the strength of transportation facilities, the decision to implement adaptation measures is dependent on a variety of factors such as the criticality of the facility to the overall transportation system, the likelihood of significant traveler delay in the event of facility closure, and the economic importance of the facility to freight, tourism, or other commercial or social interests. State DOTs would benefit from an analytical framework that would assist them in making more informed decisions about the overall costs and benefits of implementing adaptation measures for extreme weather events and climate change. This framework will help state DOTs identify what factors to consider in making decisions about implementing adaptation measures and would ultimately help state DOTs improve the cost-effectiveness of their transportation investments. This work is especially important at a time when state DOT are fiscally constrained and immediate corrective measures to roadway assets following extreme weather are usually above planned budget expenditures. State DOTs are tasked with making sound investments of taxpayer dollars while also building, operating, and maintaining reliable transportation systems in the face of increasing extreme weather events and climate change. This decision framework will assist state DOTs in making informed and supportable decisions regarding their implementation of adaptation measures for extreme weather events and climate change. The pay-off would come in making better long-term decisions based on a more holistic analysis of the cost and benefits of implementing adaptation measures. The research objective is to develop an analytical framework that will assist state DOTs in analyzing the overall costs and benefits of incorporating adaptation measures in their existing and future facilities in response to extreme weather events and changing climate conditions, such as sea level rise. This framework might eventually be developed into a live tool. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Climate change KW - Extreme events KW - Maintenance practices KW - Sea level KW - State departments of transportation KW - Transportation facilities KW - Weather conditions UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3881 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330932 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543475 TI - Return on Investment in Transportation Asset Management Systems and Practices AB - The planning, implementation, and maintenance of transportation asset management (TAM) systems requires a significant investment of time, labor, and money to acquire or develop computer software, train staff, collect and manage data, and adapt management procedures to the philosophy and practices of asset management. Replacing disparate, outdated information management systems, spreadsheets, and data bases with more robust analytical tools may make sense to agency engineering and information technology professionals, but developing the business case that doing so will pay off is always challenging. Once a decision has been made to adopt a TAM system, implementation--necessary to realize a return on investment--can be challenging as well. As is generally the case for the transportation assets themselves (pavements and bridges, for example) initial costs are monetary expenditures and concentrated in the near term, while returns will accrue over years of system use and may include conjectural or non-monetary benefits such as avoided asset-repair expenditures or asset-user time savings. In addition, the particular characteristics of agencies (for example, their sizes, reliance on in-house versus out-sourced professional services, inventories of assets under management, transportation-system geography and user population, and the like) as well as their level of experience with TAM systems will certainly influence the returns realized on their investments in those systems. In the more than two decades since practical TAM systems began to be available, an extensive literature has been developed presenting the theoretical benefits of their adoption--measured primarily in terms of reduced life-cycle costs of asset ownership--but few if any analyses have been undertaken to assess the actual return on investment (ROI) realized by agencies that have adopted and used TAM systems. Research is needed to identify the scope and magnitude of agencies' investments in TAM systems and returns realized on these investments and to provide guidance for estimating the ROI for TAM system adoption. The product of this research should be useful to agencies seeking to assess their own experience as well as to those considering new TAM system investments. The objectives of this research are to (1) assess the experience of selected agencies that have adopted TAM systems, in terms of the investments made and returns realized; and (2) develop guidance for estimating the ROI for adopting or expanding TAM systems in an agency. KW - Asset management KW - Best practices KW - Capital investments KW - Implementation KW - Infrastructure KW - Life cycle costing KW - Maintenance KW - Return on investment UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3880 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330931 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543474 TI - Proposed Modifications to AASHTO Culvert Load Rating Specifications AB - The choice of load rating method may affect the transportation of goods and services over the nation's highways by imposing load limits on routes that were previously unrestricted. For culvert load rating, engineers use the load and resistance factor rating (LRFR), load factor rating (LFR), or allowable stress rating (ASR) of highway bridges according to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Manual for Bridge Evaluation. However, culverts respond to live loads differently than bridges as a result of surrounding soils. Moreover, the LRFR is calibrated based primarily on bridge response to gross truck weight, while culvert response should be calibrated based on a single axle or a single wheel. As a result, the current specifications may be either overly conservative or inadequate, which may lead to expensive replacements or upgrades, or premature deterioration or failure, respectively. Therefore, there is an immediate need to develop a load rating process for culvert structures to maintain an acceptable level of culvert reliability without unnecessary restrictions on commerce. The objective of this research is to propose modifications to the culvert load rating specifications in AASHTO Manual for Bridge Evaluation and revise the AASHTO Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) Bridge Design Specifications accordingly. At a minimum, the research should address: (1) different culvert types, sizes, cover thicknesses, the effect of pavement, soil effects, and live loads; and (2) a comparison between LRFR, LFR, and ASR methods. The LRFR specification shall be calibrated based on proposed reliability indices, load factors, and load distribution. KW - Axle loads KW - Culverts KW - Highway bridges KW - Load factor KW - Load limits KW - Load transfer KW - Stresses UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3869 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330930 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543468 TI - Research for AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways. Task 365. Strategic Transportation Systems Management & Operations Program Planning Lead States Initiative Development & Evaluation AB - Strategic Transportation System Management & Operations (TSM&O) Program Plans and associated programming planning activities are proving effective in accelerating and focusing TSM&O programs within state and local transportation agencies. American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) has tentatively defined a framework for TSM&O Program Plans to promote more consistent application of program planning functions, and to enable better coordination of TSM&O program planning activities and resources across state transportation agencies at the national level. Specifically, National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Project 20-7 (345), "Program Planning and Development for TSM&O in State Departments of Transportation" defines a Framework for creating, evolving, and successfully implementing TSM&O Program Plans. Several state Departments of Transportation (DOT's) will be incorporating this Framework into development or refinement of their TSM&O Program Plans. The Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP) created a capability maturity modeling (CMM) method for organizational assessment and development of state DOTs, which is being applied through the AASHTO Guide to System Operations & Management. The application of the guide is being facilitated through numerous SHRP Implementation "CMM Workshops", and also coordinated with SHRP multi-state "Regional Operations Forums". The CMM Workshops generate implementation action plans, which are being utilized by state DOTs to guide incremental development of organizational capacity to develop and deliver TSM&O programs. The objectives of the project are to: (1) Coordinate incorporation of the AASHTO Guide to System Operations Management CMM methodology into the application of the TSM&O Program Planning Framework in transportation agencies of several lead states; (2) Coordinate peer comparison and evaluation of these lead state application experiences; (3) Summarize lessons learned and opportunities for refinement of both the CMM methodology and the Program Planning Framework, as well as the agency-specific program planning processes utilized; and (4) Document guidance for continued integrated application of the CMM and Framework techniques. Tasks anticipated in this project include the following: Task 1. Identify and recruit lead states to participate in the initiative, and establish peer networking and communication techniques that leverage capabilities of the National Operations Center of Excellence. Task 2. Summarize and monitor the overall approach, status, and experiences of lead states in applying the CMM methodology and the TSM&O Program Planning Framework. Task 3. Convene a workshop to identify critical issues and best practices in TSM&O program plan development and administration. Task 4. Document and report guidance for enhanced effectiveness and impact of TSM&O Program Plans and associated program planning practices. KW - Best practices KW - Coordination KW - Guidelines KW - Programming (Planning) KW - State departments of transportation KW - Transportation system management UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3811 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330924 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543462 TI - Legal Problems Arising out of Highway Programs. Topic 21-01. A Look at the Legal Environment for Driverless Vehicles AB - The concept of a driverless car has been around for decades but until recently it has been more a dream than reality. At present, research by technology companies as well as traditional car manufacturers on how to achieve this goal is on-going and rapidly evolving. One major carmaker has announced recently it plans to introduce driverless vehicles for general sale by 2020 and others are sure to follow. Changes in transportation modes have historically been catalysts for legal change. The Interstate Commerce Commission was the first federal regulatory agency created and it was established to provide oversight over the rail industry. Railroad operation and safety depended on a new form of communication: the telegraph. Railroads were a leading factor in changing the law of torts from a strict liability standard to one based on fault. William Prosser in his Handbook of the Law of Torts observed that negligence began to be recognized as a separate tort by 1825 and that "its rise coincided in a marked degree with the Industrial Revolution ..." The introduction of automobiles in the 20th century brought profound changes to law in such areas as how to regulate new technology, licensing of drivers, reciprocity amongst states, and traffic control. All of these developments expanded the police power of the states far beyond what existed in the 19th century. See, Euclid v. Ambler, (United States Supreme Court 1920) In the 21st century, with the introduction of driverless vehicles, there is a high probability that we will experience similar technology driven changes to our legal system. Cutting edge developments in driverless vehicles; vehicle to vehicle; and vehicle to roadway communications are expected to have a similar transformative impact on the legal environment. Technology in this field is developing rapidly and there is a need to identify the legal and regulatory framework necessary for its implementation. This research paper should provide an overview of the legal issues generated by these technology advances. The paper should include a brief review of the legal changes posed by the advent of new technologies (e.g. rail, automobile, aviation, and information technologies), in order to lay a framework as to how change occurs and what lessons may be learned from past developments. The research paper should also provide transportation officials with basic information as to how driverless and connected vehicle technologies may operate. In addition, the paper should review the nascent rules and protocols being developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and states such as California, Nevada, and Florida (to the extent they are available); analyze the challenges these agencies are experiencing in their efforts to accommodate new transportation environments; and develop hypothetical scenarios on how driverless cars will impact the development, maintenance, finance, and regulation of highways. Some of the questions that should be explored are: how will the system initially operate with a mix of cars driven by drivers and those autonomously operated? Will driverless vehicles require licensed drivers? Will there be a need for changes to traffic control devices? What will be the role of traffic engineers? What is the appropriate role for regulators? Will traffic design speed be impacted in a manner different from that of the fixed standard currently employed? What will be the role of traffic enforcement and how will enforcement codes need to be revised? In the event of a system malfunction, how will liability be determined and apportioned? Must there be national standards adopted? The researcher is encouraged to suggest and address additional issues relating to use and liability. An attorney is required to be a substantial part of this research effort. Multidisciplinary teams are permitted and encouraged. The status is as follows: A proposer has been selected, and contract negotiations are currently underway. KW - California KW - Florida KW - Intelligent vehicles KW - Legal factors KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Nevada UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3780 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330918 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543406 TI - Impacts of Connected and Automated Vehicles on State and Local Transportation Agencies AB - The advent of automated vehicles will significantly change fundamental planning, design, and operational characteristics for the road network. Industry leaders expect that Level 4 vehicle automation (under National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA] and Society of Automotive Engineers [SAE] definitions) will be available on the market by 2018. Fully autonomous, driverless vehicles (SAE Level 5 automation) could be on the market by 2025. NHTSA considers that connected vehicle technologies (e.g., vehicle to vehicle [V2V], vehicle to infrastructure [V2]) are included in the continuum of vehicle control automation. For Level 4 automation,"the vehicle is designed to perform all safety-critical driving functions and monitor roadway conditions for an entire trip. Such a design anticipates that the driver will provide destination or navigation input, but is not expected to be available for control at any time during the trip". (NHTSA, Preliminary Statement of Policy Concerning Automated Vehicles) Level 5 automation is essentially the same as Level 4, but without any driver supervision (e.g., there is no expectation that the driver will be engaged). These vehicles will be much safer than current models and will significantly increase a road's throughput capacity. At some level of market penetration, the number and nature for vehicle tips will change. Level 5 would allow a commuter to be dropped off at the office door and the empty vehicle sent back to the driver's residence so that other family members could use it. A group of people could collectively own a pool of vehicles from which one could be summoned by a phone call. This could result in increasing the number of vehicle-trips, changing the activities at curbside, and decreasing the need for parking. The Transportation Research Board (TRB) held a workshop on the Future of Road Vehicle Automation in July 2013. Some of the key issues related to infrastructure that were identified include: local versus centralized traffic control, roles of public and private sectors, goals and business models, precision and accuracy for vehicle positioning, use of crowd-sourced data, application-specific requirements for connectivity, accommodation of multimodal traffic (including detection of pedestrians and bicycles), social equity and other policy issues, implementation plans for managed lanes, compliance with and enforcement of vehicle standards, deployment scenarios for commercial and transit vehicles, impacts on the distribution of origins and destinations and trip-making behaviors, traffic control device requirements (including pavement markings), performance measurement and management systems, and region-specific needs. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Highway Subcommittee on Systems Operations and Management is currently developing a strategic plan through a 20-07 project. At a workshop in September 2013, connected and autonomous vehicles were identified as an issue to be included in the Strategic Plan. Deployment of these vehicles will have a profound effect on the transportation system and state and local departments of transportation (DOTs) need timely information to adapt to them. The objectives of this research are to (1) assemble and maintain information useful to state and local transportation agencies in planning for connected and automated vehicles, (2) identify critical issues associated with connected and automated vehicles that state and local transportation agencies and AASHTO will face, (3) design and conduct research projects to address those issues, and (4) conduct related technology transfer and information exchange activities. It is expected that this effort will be coordinated with the Operations Center of Excellence being developed by AASHTO, Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), and ITS America. KW - American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials KW - Automated vehicle control KW - Intelligent vehicles KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Vehicle design KW - Vehicle safety KW - Vehicle to infrastructure communications KW - Vehicle to vehicle communications UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3824 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330803 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543405 TI - Development of a Portable Total-Stress Measurement Instrument AB - The goal of this project is to develop and demonstrate the application of a portable field instrument, based on ultrasonic technology, for in-situ measurement of total stress (both dead and live loads) in steel bridge members. Work on the project will be carried out in two stages. Stage 1 will focus on laboratory testing and development of the ultrasonic birefringence technology. This will include identification of measurement hardware and sensors needed for measurements, configuration and set-up of the ultrasonic transducers to allow for birefringence measurements, and data processing algorithms. Minor modification to the instrument and initial hardware development will be completed to improve the efficiency of the measurement process and prepare for the field testing. Also during this stage, planning for field testing such as identifying a suitable test bridge will be completed. A variety of laboratory specimens will be tested to validate operation and to perform measurement calibration. This includes testing on non-loaded members, such as existing full-sized gusset plate specimens, and on small-scale calibration specimens under controlled loading. Work in Stage 2 will focus on field testing and verification of the technology. Final modifications to the instrument will be made based on the results of the laboratory testing. This will include data analysis and any necessary changes to embedded algorithms for determination of measured stresses. This task will also modify the system as needed based on details of planned field testing of the system. Field testing of the truss bridge identified during the first stage of the research will also be completed during this stage. Installation of strain gages on the test bridge, ultrasonic measurement of stresses in-situ, and subsequent post-removal measurements will be made to validate measurement process and test the system performance under real-world conditions. The final report will provide all relevant data and guidelines for using the new instrument in the field as well as plans for its implementation by highway agencies and commercialization by their industrial partners. KW - Bridge members KW - Data analysis KW - Gusset plates KW - Laboratory tests KW - Load tests KW - Sensors KW - Steel bridges KW - Strain gages KW - Ultrasonic detectors UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3823 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330802 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543404 TI - Development of Renewable Polymers for Use in Asphalt Pavements AB - This project aimed at developing and demonstrating the application of renewable polymers for use in asphalt pavements. Work on the project will be carried out in two stages. Stage 1 will involve synthesis and characterization of renewable polymers and demonstrating through laboratory tests that they meet performance expectations for both asphalt binders as well as asphalt mixtures. The work will be performed through several tasks. Task 1 will involve the formulation of new polymers. The chemical, physical, and rheological characterization of biopolymers and biopolymer modified asphalt will be carried out in Task 2 using standard test methods. Task 3 will evaluate the compatibility, volatility and biodegradability of the biopolymers in asphalt binders while Task 4 will evaluate the developed biopolymer-asphalt binder blends in asphalt mixtures via mixture performance testing. Task 5 will involve an analysis of data collected in the first four tasks with a primary focus on rheological and chemical characterization data and mixture performance test results. Work in Stage 2 will focus on demonstrate and establishing that the developed biopolymers can be used turn-key in asphalt production and construction facilities. This will be achieved through demonstration paving projects on roadways as well as at the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) Test Track. The biopolymers will be produced at a pilot plant that is under construction and due for completion in September 2014 in Boone, Iowa. Seneca Petroleum, the parent company of Argo Genesis Chemical, has reserved a test section for placement of the biopolymer modified asphalt mixture at the NCAT Test Track in 2015. The final report will provide all relevant data and guidelines for using new biopolymers in asphalt pavements as well as plans for its implementation by highway agencies and commercialization by their industrial partners. KW - Asphalt pavements KW - Biological materials KW - Bituminous binders KW - Boone County (Iowa) KW - Mix design KW - Polymers KW - Sustainable development KW - Test sections UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3822 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330801 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543403 TI - Automated Turning Movement Counts for Shared Lanes AB - This project will demonstrate the use of vehicle trajectory data (obtained from an existing vehicle detection system) to produce turning movement count statistics at signalized intersections with exclusive as well as shared lanes. Work on the project will be carried out in two stages. Stage 1 will focus on identifying promising techniques for counting vehicle turning movement, adapting data collection equipment to meet project needs, and identifying and scheduling of data collection sites. The most promising approach to obtain turning movement counts from trajectory data will be identified along with a list of candidate locations for collecting trajectory data from shared lanes at signalized intersections. Based on identified candidate intersections, the research team will configure and test data collection equipment to ascertain its applicability and suitability for selected intersections. The work will include scouting of sites, meeting with agencies in charge of locations, and identifying and addressing issues prior to data collection and will allow configuring data collection units for field deployment without major modifications. Work in Stage 2 will focus on collecting traffic count data and developing an algorithm for producing turning movement count statistics when connected to a live trajectory data feed. Trajectory data will be collected at up to four candidate locations for a period of up to three weeks at each location. If available, the research team will also consider logging signal status information along with the trajectory data. Using the obtained dataset, the research team will develop an algorithm capable of classifying the trajectory of a vehicle into a left, thru, and right movements. To validate this algorithm, trajectory data will be supplemented with up to 36 hours of simultaneously-collected video from candidate locations. Finally, the research team will combine a streamlined version of the data collection tool used in Stage 1 and the turning movement count classification algorithm into a software module, which, when provided with a live trajectory data feed, will output turning movement count statistics. The module will be field evaluated to validate its performance and, if necessary, to make appropriate changes to the system. The final report will provide all data and test results along with details on using the methodology as well as plans for its implementation and commercialization. KW - Algorithms KW - Bicycle lanes KW - Data collection KW - Signalized intersections KW - Traffic counts KW - Turning traffic UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3821 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330800 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543401 TI - An Assessment of Safety and Geometric Design Criteria for Diverging Diamond Interchanges AB - The use of Diverging Diamond Interchanges (DDI), also referred to as Double Crossover Diamonds (DCD), has become more prevalent throughout the United States over the past 3 to 5 years. Overall, DDIs are gaining momentum within the interchange design community. However, only a limited amount of guidance on the design of these types of interchanges exists. The first DDI in the US was constructed in 2009 by the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT). The DDI design accommodates left-turning movements at signalized, grade-separated interchanges of arterials and limited-access highways while eliminating the need for left-turn phasing. On the arterial, two-phase traffic signals are installed at the ramp terminal intersections to shift traffic over to the left side of the roadway between the nodes of the interchange. Once on the left side of the arterial roadway, vehicles can turn left onto limited-access ramps without stopping and without conflicting with through traffic. Currently, there are no existing guidelines/standards for design of this type of interchange. The design is extremely dependent on site-specific conditions which are demonstrated by the variations in the design elements of the DDIs constructed to date. Additionally, there is relatively little accident history available as no DDIs existed in North America prior to 2009. Analysis of the actual safety and operational performance of DDIs has been limited to a handful of in-service DDIs. An assessment of the current design process and safety analysis is needed to ensure that recent advances and emerging issues are appropriately leveraged and/or reflected in design practices, guidelines, and policies. The research objective is to identify, review, and evaluate the geometric design features and the associated safety and operational performance of in-service DDIs across the US. This information will then be utilized to develop recommendations for the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Technical Committee on Geometric Design for consideration as future geometric policy and guidelines. Two basic questions will be addressed: (1) What are the essential design characteristics of a DDI and how should an engineer utilize this information in the design of a DDI and (2) What are the safety and operational benefits of utilizing a DDI and how might the designer utilize this information in their design? KW - Diamond interchanges KW - Diverging traffic KW - Geometric design KW - Highway design KW - Left turns KW - Missouri Department of Transportation KW - Signalized intersections KW - Standards UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3815 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330798 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543374 TI - Traffic Control Devices for Wrong Way Movement Prevention AB - The recommendations from the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 650 had been addressed in the Regulatory and Warning Sign Technical Committee proposal of the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (NCUTCD) dated January 2012, ONE WAY signing and wrong way movement signing. However, NCUTCD Council indicated that this report addresses rural high-speed facilities related to one way signing needs but does not look specifically at safety applications for all traffic control devices related to wrong way movement at both rural high-speed facilities and urban applications where the median is wider than 30 feet and may be a high or low-speed street or highway. Also, NCHRP Report 650 does not address rural applications that are lower-speed. Is the same number of one way signs needed for all these applications? Are additional markings needed? What about freeway ramp locations regarding improved safety needs? The objectives of this research are to: (1) Evaluate divided highways and streets as well as ramps related to improved safety and reduction of crashes by the use of traffic control devices including signs, pavement markings, delineators, reflectors, and other devices in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) such as beacons and/or flashing light-emitting diode (LED) units within the sign, and enhanced conspicuity of standard signs in Section 2A.15 of the MUTCD. (2) Determine the number and location of ONE WAY signs required and the number and positioning of DO NOT ENTER and WRONG WAY signs at both divided highways and freeway/expressway ramps, recommended or optional for divided highways in urban locations or in rural lower-speed applications. Evaluate the median in terms of signing needs related to ONE WAY, DO NOT ENTER, WRONG WAY, STOP, and YIELD signs. Is a median greater than 30 feet considered two intersections? What impact should the median width have on signing/marking requirements? (3) Provide actual recommended text and figures for the MUTCD for Parts 2B and 3. KW - Divided highways KW - Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices KW - One way traffic KW - Ramps (Interchanges) KW - Road markings KW - Rural highways KW - Speed KW - Traffic control devices KW - Urban areas KW - Wrong way driving UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3856 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330735 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543373 TI - Safety and Performance Criteria for Retroreflective Pavement Markers AB - National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Project 17-28, "Pavement Marking Materials and Markers: Safety Impact and Cost-Effectiveness", was completed in 2007. A summary of the work was published as NCHRP Research Results Digest 305. The research produced findings that were controversial among many researchers and practitioners. Eight years later there are still debates and arguments regarding the results. It is safe to say that the report has left state safety engineers with mixed messages about the effectiveness of raised retroreflective pavement markings (RRPMs). While the study limitations have been pointed out in numerous areas, the only conclusion that can be agreed on by all is that more research is needed. More research is needed to better understand the safety impacts of RRPMs (both snow-plowable RRPMs and surface-mounted RRPMs). RRPMs are intended to complement pavement markings during rainy nighttime weather. However, they perform in dry nighttime conditions too. Both conditions should be considered. Research is also needed to determine the minimum performance levels required of RRPMs. There is practically no guidance here, even though the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is making strides to develop minimum pavement marking retroreflectivity levels. In addition, and based on the need to improve curve safety, the 2009 Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) introduced a table of required traffic control devices for curves based on speeds but did not include RRPMs in Table 2C-5. Many southern state departments of transportation (DOTs) that use RRPMs regularly feel that this Table 2C-5 is incomplete because it does not include considerations of RRPMs. The objective of this research is to identify the visibility performance requirements of RRPMs for nighttime drivers, particularly during inclement weather, and develop guidelines appropriate for MUTCD. The research should consider pavement marking condition and retroreflectivity, spacing of RRPMs, minimum maintained service levels, and how RRPMs can be combined with other delineation traffic control devices to achieve adequate nighttime visibility of the highway, especially by drivers 65 years of age or older. KW - Aged drivers KW - Highway traffic control KW - Night visibility KW - Rain KW - Raised road markings KW - Retroreflectivity KW - Road markings KW - State departments of transportation KW - Traffic control devices UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3859 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330734 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543372 TI - Understanding Urban Bicyclist Facility Type Preferences and Facility Type Impacts on Transportation System Performance AB - The design and engineering of on-street bikeways in the United States is an adolescent field in comparison to the design and engineering of roadways for automobiles. As the field matures, bikeway design types must be understood in relation to their impact on ridership, operations, and in the way they can engage broad segments of the population in cycling. At the same time advances in global positioning system (GPS) data gathering, smartphone data gathering, on-line incident tracking systems, and bicycle counting technology have given transportation practitioners new techniques for assessing bicyclist route choice and the systemic impacts that result from those choices. This research will analyze bikeway designs in the context of contrasting urban area types including a dense large-city downtown and exurban areas characterized by smaller cities served by one or few major roadways (often state routes running through the center of what used to be rural communities). The research will inform practitioners at state departments of transportation, regional planning agencies, and cities about the types of bicycle facility designs that are most preferred by bicyclists and focus on: (1) Analyzing the relationship between urban bicyclist demographics and attitudes and bicyclist facility type preferences, including a review of existing studies to guide this research on potential correlations between those factors; (2) Understanding bicyclist route choice effects and resulting system impacts of bikeway installations in different types of urban regions by studying locations where on-street bicycle facilities have been deployed in urban areas. The studied facility types will include relatively new design options, the impacts of which are not yet well-understood, such as shared bus/bike lanes and sharrows. The area types will include a variety of U.S. locations and at least one dense large-city downtown and one or more smaller cities whose downtown is served by a major arterial or state highway. A review of the existing literature confirms that such research is both unique and necessary. While a volume of research has been completed assessing traveler preferences for facility types, past efforts are typically missing either specific route choice information (in the case of stated preference studies) or fully detailed traveler information (in the case of route choice studies). This makes assessing the impact on the system (potential changes in bicycle demand) difficult to quantify while also obscuring specific facility preferences by market segment. The proposed research will overcome these limitations by addressing traveler characteristics, traveler attitudes, and physical environment factors (route and facility) simultaneously. The work must leverage both new techniques and the best of past research to deliver a unified statistical examination of bicyclist preferences across multiple market segments and physical contexts. KW - Bicycle facilities KW - Bikeways KW - Demographics KW - Global Positioning System KW - Incident management KW - Literature reviews KW - Route choice KW - Smartphones KW - Tracking systems KW - Urban areas UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3861 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330733 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543358 TI - Update of Crash Modification Factors for the Highway Safety Manual AB - Highway safety practitioners were given a significant new tool in 2010 with the publication of the first edition of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Highway Safety Manual (HSM). In Part D of the HSM, crash modification factors (CMFs) are provided for a variety of treatments. These CMFs provide practitioners with the means to estimate the safety effects of countermeasures. By the time the second edition HSM is published, many more important CMFs will have been developed. It is critical that the next edition of the HSM incorporate these CMFs in order to continue to push forward this significant tool. In the first edition HSM, only the best available CMFs for individual treatments are provided. Questions that have arisen since the first edition of the HSM include: (a) Do the inclusion criteria need to be revised? (b) Should more than one CMF be presented for a particular countermeasure? (c)Is uncertainty of the CMFs adequately represented? (d) Should CMFs from multiple studies for the same treatment be combined and if so, how? There is a need to establish inclusion criteria for CMFs and guidelines on how CMFs should be incorporated in the next edition of the HSM. Also, CMFs for use in the second edition of the HSM need to identified, assembled, and documented. The objectives of this research are to: (a) Assess the current criteria and existing process for evaluating and identifying the quality of CMFs for appropriate use with the HSM. (b) Develop proposed revisions to the criteria and process, including how existing and new CMFs may be incorporated in the HSM. Provide guidance for practitioner application of the revised process. (c) Apply the evaluation criteria to identify and assess CMFs and develop a list of appropriate CMFs for the HSM. KW - Countermeasures KW - Crash modification factors KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Guidelines KW - Highway safety KW - Highway Safety Manual KW - Revision KW - Traffic crashes UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3875 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330719 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543357 TI - Development and Preparation of Materials for the Highway Safety Manual and Associated Documents AB - The AASHTO Highway Safety Manual (HSM) is rapidly becoming a key safety management and evaluation tool for state and local highway agencies, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), and design and traffic consultants. The HSM was developed largely through National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) research and the first edition was published in 2010. As the first edition was being developed, it was clear that high priority research could not be completed without delaying publication. An example is the safety prediction models for freeways and interchanges developed under NCHRP 17-45--while this research is important, the decision was made to publish the first edition without this material. Several other research efforts to develop models for additional facility types for inclusion in the HSM are underway and, like the freeways and interchanges chapters, they are considered critical to increasing safety knowledge and practice. The HSM has fostered significant advances in analytical methods in highway safety and this evolution continues with new knowledge, safety performance functions (SPFs) and Crash Modification Factors (CMFs) being developed on an ongoing basis. Users and researchers now have gained sufficient experience with the HSM and have outlined priorities for enhancements to HSM chapters, procedures, and models. An example of current research to address user needs is the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) decision tree to determining whether to develop a state-specific safety performance function or to calibrate the functions provided in the HSM and its potential inclusion in the next edition of the HSM. Beyond applying the HSM in specific situations such as network screening, crash diagnosis, and design exceptions, state departments of transportation and other users are developing their own safety performance functions, policies, and agency-wide training programs and pursuing other implementation activities that more completely test the information in the HSM. There is also a significant amount of research underway through NCHRP, FHWA, and pooled fund initiatives. This research is further developing and promoting the quantitative, data-driven approach to safety. These research efforts are not specifically developing new chapters for the HSM or enhancing models already in the manual, but are expected to result in advances that are suitable for inclusion in the manual or other American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) documents such as the AASHTO's "Green Book". Incorporating this material throughout the HSM will take specialized knowledge and research skills in order to appropriately identify, evaluate, refine, and include this knowledge in a manner ideal for practitioners using the manual. Substantial HSM-related research has been completed and other research has begun since the first publication in 2010 in an effort to prepare a second edition of the HSM to address unanswered questions and to incorporate recent and upcoming research results into appropriate locations within the HSM. This research would represent an important advance in safety management and evaluation capabilities for highway agencies. The objective of the research is to prepare the second edition of the HSM in a form ready for publication, incorporating new chapters on safety prediction for freeways and interchanges; new safety prediction procedures for six-lane arterials, one-way arterials, new intersection types and roundabouts; increased consistency in the form and presentation of SPFs and CMFs; improved treatment of roadside design issues; and a thorough updating of the entire manual based on user feedback and needs. KW - Arterial highways KW - Crash modification factors KW - Highway safety KW - Highway Safety Manual KW - Intersection elements KW - Metropolitan planning organizations KW - Roundabouts KW - Safety management KW - Safety Performance Functions UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3874 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330718 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01557313 AU - Osborn, David A AU - Stickles, James H AU - Warren, Robert J AU - Miller, Karl V AU - University of Georgia, Athens AU - Georgia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Development and Evaluation of Strategies to Reduce the Incidence of Deer-Vehicle Collisions: Phase III – Operational Field Trial, Part A PY - 2014/11/11/Final Report SP - 56p AB - To better understand deer movements that might contribute to deer-vehicle collisions (DVC), the authors conducted preparatory field work necessary for an operational field trial of the efficacy of a 1.2-m woven-wire fence with a top-mounted outrigger. The authors worked with officials from Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration-Georgia Division to select a 5-mile segment of I-20 near Madison, Georgia. During February-June 2012 and January-April 2013, the authors captured 32 deer within the 5-mile test roadway and fitted them each with a Global Positioning System collar, programmed to collect 24 locations per day, and monitored surviving deer until April 2014. Each deer was classified as: (1) frequent user, (2) occasional user, or (3) rare user based on highway right-of-way (ROW) utilization. Frequent users (359.5 + 41.7 m) were closer (P < 0.01; F2, 27=8.46) to the median of I-20 than occasional (715.3 + 236.4 m) and rare (766.6 + 72.3 m) users, but occasional and rare users were the same distance (P > 0.05) from the median. Within the frequent user group, the percentage of ROW locations for individuals ranged from 1.7% to 25.8%. Deer ROW use occurred primarily during nighttime hours with about 37% of locations within the ROW occurring between 2200-0300 hours. Increased ROW use by female deer that were frequent users during May and June was likely due to females selecting the ROW for parturition. The authors also evaluated the annual distribution of DVCs in Georgia based on records of DVCs from 2005-2012 (n = 45,811) to identify peaks in DVCs for each of Georgia’s 159 counties, compared to deer breeding data from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. The authors observed high concurrence among timing of peak DVCs, peak conception, and peak rut movement. To potentially reduce DVC risk, the authors recommend: (1) lethal removal of frequent ROW users, (2) warning motorists of the increased risk of encountering deer in the ROW during deer breeding seasons and while driving late at night, and/or (3) modifying ROW habitat to help maintain ROW fences and reduce food and cover resources that can attract deer to roadways. KW - Deer KW - Evaluation KW - Fences KW - Field tests KW - Global Positioning System KW - Right of way (Traffic) KW - Seasons KW - Traffic crashes KW - Wildlife crossings UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1346744 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543359 TI - Developing a Systemic Safety Analysis Tool for Pedestrians AB - Over the past decade, pedestrians accounted for approximately 12 percent of all traffic fatalities in the United States, amounting to more than 4,500 deaths per year. Worldwide, pedestrians suffer the largest share of the 1.2 million yearly traffic fatalities. As people are being encouraged to walk more for their transportation needs in order to reduce environmental impacts and improve public health, transportation professionals are obligated to make walking as safe as possible. Many of the risk factors and the spatio-temporal distributions of crashes that involve pedestrians are inherently different from crashes that involve motorized vehicles only. Moreover, the set of potential safety improvements for pedestrians are typically dedicated only for pedestrian safety applications. In light of this, many of the existing safety practices cannot be applied to improve pedestrian safety without significant modifications. To date, there are two approaches used by state agencies to allocate safety resources. One is the hotspot approach which focuses on identifying and recommending improvements for high collision concentration locations, while the other is the systemic approach which seeks improvements that can be implemented at various sites across the network, based on specific roadway features that are associated with a particular crash type. Systemic improvements typically have a lower per-site cost as they are implemented at multiple locations across the network. Currently, the hotspot approach is the dominant funding mechanism for most state agencies in the United States. However, some agencies are increasing the proportion of funding allocated to systemic road safety improvements to complement the hotspot approach. The systemic approach is valuable for facilities that have relatively low crash frequencies (e.g., rural roads) and are therefore less likely to be flagged as hotspots and be considered for safety improvements. Similarly, pedestrian crashes exhibit lower crash frequencies; using this approach, few resources are allocated to conduct site investigations to improve pedestrian safety. In addition to that, pedestrian data are often missing essential elements (e.g., exposure) that are needed for hotspot identification methods. In light of this, there is an urgency to increase the knowledge base available to public agencies and others for identifying systemic prevention mechanisms for pedestrian fatalities and injuries. These needs are related to Strategies 3 and 4 of Goal 4 of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Standing Committee on Highway Traffic Safety (SCOHTS) Strategic Plan; these strategies are related to promoting national safety research and developing analytical tools that evaluate safety performance. Road safety researchers and professionals have already identified the value of the systemic approach to safety. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Office of Safety has acknowledged four benefits of the systemic approach: Solves an Unmet Need in Transportation Safety; Uses a Risk-Based Approach to Prevent Crashes; Results in a Comprehensive Road Safety Program; and Advances a Cost Effective Means to Address Safety Concerns. The FHWA Office of Safety has also outlined the core steps needed to implement this approach and a report describing a tool that helps states learn about and apply the systemic approach to safety is about to be released. The project proposed would follow these steps, but would develop and enhance it with a focus on pedestrian safety. The proposed project would also build on the findings described in National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Research Results Digest 345 which presents the results of NCHRP Project 17-18(19). The study conducted a survey practice of all 50 states to review how states are allocating resources using black-spot (i.e., hotspot) analysis methods and systematic (i.e., systemic) methods. The Rural Road Safety Policy, Programming, and Implementation Joint Subcommittee; Low-Volume Roads Committee; and Transportation Safety Management Committee of the Transportation Research Board sponsored a Human Factors Workshop at the 2013 Annual Meeting titled: Systemic Safety Program Improvement Location Prioritization: Processes and Risk Factors. The workshop described the Systemic Safety Project Selection Tool and several pilot studies that are using the tool. The objective of this research is to develop a tool to conduct systemic safety analysis for pedestrians using analytical techniques to identify road features that are high-risk for pedestrians and recommend the appropriate and cost-effective systemic pedestrian safety improvements. The research would be conducted through the following tasks: (1) Develop an analytic method to identify prevalent pedestrian crash types and the predominant facilities for these crashes. The conjecture here is that there is an association between specific crash types and design attributes that can be identified. (2) Develop a procedure to select the appropriate safety improvements given the pedestrian crash type and the attributes of the facility. (3) Develop a technique to calculate the benefit-cost ratio of systemic pedestrian safety improvements. This technique would ideally consider the economies of scale of implementing the same improvements across multiple locations. (4) Develop a prototype tool that incorporates the above tasks. These objectives also meet Strategies 3 and 4 of Goal 4 of the SCOHTS Strategic Plan. This project is a necessary step in the development of pedestrian road safety plans that could eliminate thousands of pedestrian fatalities and injuries. The project would also allow agencies to allocate the appropriate resources for pedestrian safety improvements despite the shortage of data. Moreover, the tool could also be used to improve global pedestrian safety since similar safety and data challenges are relevant around the world. KW - Fatalities KW - Government funding KW - High risk locations KW - Pedestrian safety KW - Resource allocation KW - Strategic planning KW - Traffic safety KW - United States UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3876 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330720 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543356 TI - Update of the AASHTO Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities AB - The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities was published in 2012 but written in 2009 based on a plan developed in 2004. The bicycle transportation field is evolving rapidly so it is important to ensure the guidance is current. Even while the AASHTO guide was being developed, new types of bicycle facilities and treatments were being considered and installed in the United States. As evidence of this, the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) published Separated Bikeways in 2013 and the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) published the Urban Bikeway Design Guide in 2012 that included several design elements not included or only briefly mentioned in the AASHTO Guide (e.g., bike boxes, green lanes, cycle tracks, bicycle signals). In August 2013, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a Bicycle and Pedestrian Facility Design Flexibility memorandum supporting the use of the AASHTO Guide, NACTO Guide, and ITE report to "further develop nonmotorized transportation networks, particularly in urban areas." Many state departments of transportation (DOTs) would like to see additional research on innovative bicycle treatments so that they can make better informed decisions at the project level, including consideration of the tradeoffs between the different modes of traffic using the road. The AASHTO Guide covers all aspects of bicycle planning and design for on-road and off-road bikeways, including fundamental operating characteristics of bicyclists and geometric design. It is referred to in the FHWA memorandum as the "primary national resource for planning, designing, and operating bicycle facilities" so there is a need to keep it accurate and up to date. The objective of the research is to update the AASHTO Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities and develop a draft guide suitable for review and balloting by the AASHTO Technical Committee on Nonmotorized Transportation. KW - Bicycle facilities KW - Bikeways KW - Design of specific facilities KW - Handbooks KW - United States UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3873 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330717 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543355 TI - Horizontal Sightline Offset Criteria for Freeways, Ramps, and Other Similar Roadways AB - When horizontal curves are bound by barrier walls or other potential sightline impediments (i.e., retaining walls, parapet walls, abutments, piers, columns, and sound barrier), especially in high-speed roadways and system ramp connections, designers compensate for the impact to driver sight distance in various ways including lowering design speed, increasing shoulder width, providing additional signage, or other mitigation strategies. There are drawbacks to each of these mitigation strategies. Lowering the design speed can result in decreased superelevation without any other visual cues for the driver to lower their speed. Another adverse result can lead to extra wide shoulders (ranging from 16 feet to 20+ feet) along the inside of the horizontal curve when the barrier/&#8204;visual impediment is located on the same side. Providing extra wide shoulder increases costs (especially if on structure), may increase right of way (ROW) needs, and may encourage erratic behavior from drivers who believe the additional area was intended for parking or as an additional driving lane (this can lead to operational and safety implications). In addition, these concerns may prevent agencies from installing high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to manage capacity problems. Because of these conflicting factors, many agencies have used the design exception processes to address the tradeoffs for sight distance in such situations. This research would examine these situations to determine whether criteria for horizontal sightline offset could be developed to better address these conflicting factors. The research should evaluate this condition and determine what criteria will provide an acceptable design. Research should examine existing research, current design criteria, performance, and safety of existing locations with such geometrics; identify mitigation techniques; and determine whether the design criteria should be revised. The researchers should take into consideration the impact of the vertical alignment in addition to the horizontal offset to the wall or impediment. The researchers should also examine the geometrics under various traffic conditions. Dense traffic may be another impacting factor in determining the highway safety office (HSO) criteria. In the case of barrier wall and parapets, glare screens may also be a desirable design element. The objective of this research is to provide horizontal offset design criteria for curved alignments adjacent to barrier and similar types of impediments that may impact the driver's line of sight. The research would be helpful to the transportation design professional and facility owners. The findings may lead to modification of the design criteria and could reduce costs, reduce ROW needs, and eliminate some future design exceptions. The results of the project should be developed in a manner that allows it to be directly used within future updates to the American Association for State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Green Book. KW - Freeways KW - Geometric design KW - Highway safety KW - Ramps (Interchanges) KW - Sight distance UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3872 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330716 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543351 TI - The Detection and Remediation of Total Soluble Salt Contamination Prior to Coating Structural Steel AB - Bridge steel protective coatings typically fail in localized areas of a bridge. The failed areas normally comprise less than 5 percent of the coated surface area. Identification and remediation of soluble salts (chlorides, sulfates, and nitrates) could greatly extend the service life of protective coatings by eliminating those areas of premature coatings failure. Current test methods are not effective in evaluating problematic soluble salt levels in bridge steel when the soluble salts are concentrated randomly (i.e., in pits). This may allow retention of high localized concentrations that will promote premature failure in subsequent coating applications. A second issue is the identification of practical, effective methods for surface preparation of existing bridge steel substrates to minimize or eliminate these localized "hot spots" prior to coating application. Studies have shown that pressure washing, abrasive blasting, or a combination of the two are not effective in removing soluble salt "hot spots." Effective soluble salt contamination identification and remediation is essential to maximizing the life of structural steel maintenance coatings. This research supports the performance management and research strategic focus areas of the Subcommittee on Maintenance, Bridge Technical Working Group. The objective of this research is to develop methods to identify and remediate total soluble salt contamination prior to coating structural steel. Accomplishing these objectives will require the following tasks: (1) Identify and quantify existing methods for the location/&#8204;distribution of soluble salts on steel. (2) Develop new methods for identifying the location/&#8204;distribution of soluble salts on steel surfaces. (3) Identify effective soluble salt remediation method(s). (4) Develop training for bridge owners in the identification and remediation of soluble salts in order to achieve accurate field use of the methods. KW - Contaminants KW - Protective coatings KW - Remediation (Corrosion induced damage) KW - Soluble salts KW - Steel bridges KW - Surface preparation UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3863 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330712 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543195 TI - Long-Range Strategic Issues Affecting Preservation, Maintenance, and Renewal of Highway Infrastructure AB - Over the past decade, numerous advances in the materials, technologies, and processes that favorably affected preservation, maintenance, and renewal of highway infrastructure emerged, and others will certainly emerge in the next 30-50 years. For example, improved asphalt and concrete mixtures, LiDAR (light detection and ranging), global positioning system (GPS)-controlled snow plows, innovative contracting and financing methods, and accelerated bridge construction are often used in preservation, maintenance, and renewal of highway infrastructure; the next generation could see the application of nanotechnology and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). However, affordability and cost-effectiveness of these innovations will depend largely on future economic, social, political, and technology trends. There is a need for a research effort to anticipate future issues; explore the potential role of new and emerging materials, tools, approaches, and technologies in developing and preserving highway infrastructure; and develop guidance on how they can be used to enhance system preservation, maintenance, and renewal in response to anticipated challenges. This guidance will help highway agencies better anticipate and deal with the future. Recent work completed under NCHRP Project 20-83(03) provided further review of some of the long-range strategic issues affecting preservation, maintenance, and renewal of highway infrastructure (see Special Note A). Research is needed to develop guidance on the use of emerging and innovative materials, tools, and approaches, and technologies to address these and other issues. The objective of this research is to develop guidance for transportation stakeholders on the application of emerging and innovative materials, tools, approaches, and technologies to deal with long-range (30 to 50 years) highway infrastructure maintenance, preservation, and renewal needs and ensure enhanced system condition and performance. KW - Bridge construction KW - Global Positioning System KW - Highway maintenance KW - Infrastructure KW - Nanotechnology KW - Preventive maintenance KW - Strategic planning UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3894 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330429 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543194 TI - Dynamic Properties of Earth Material during Rolling Compaction AB - The rolling compaction of earth material for roadway construction is one of the primary construction activities to prepare subgrade and build embankment, base, and subbase of highways. Current standards of state highway agencies require contractors to build uniform pavement structural layers, but with no means to check and quantify it continuously. Usually, the typical sampling of every 1000 ft. for dry density and moisture content as quality assurance tests at selected point locations is expected to represent the entire section. The implementation of intelligent compaction technology has the potential to address this problem. Roller Integrated Compaction Monitoring (RICM) [i.e., intelligent compaction (IC) or continuous compaction control (CCC)] refers to the compaction of road materials, including subgrade soils, aggregate bases, stabilized materials, and asphalt-paving materials, using modern rollers equipped with an integrated IC or CCC measuring system. The technology continuously records the roller's location and reaction to layer stiffness and plots the result during compaction operations, so the field-generated data and plots can provide useful information for quality control/&#8204;quality acceptance (QC/QA) of compaction operations. However, the current intelligent compaction technology depends solely on the roller measurement values (MVs), which "are a composite reflection of typical base, subbase, and subgrade structures with a surface to top-of-subgrade thickness of less than approximately 1 m (3.3 ft.)." The roller MVs are also "influenced by layer thickness, relative stiffness of layers, vibration amplitude, and drum/&#8204;soil interaction issues." These characteristics have become an obstacle for the further advancement and implementation of IC technology. Possible solutions to overcome this obstacle require a better understanding of the dynamic properties of earth material during rolling compaction. Such an understanding is essential to advance the current IC technology and make it implementable to maximize benefits for highway construction. In order to achieve this objective, a laboratory testing procedure that simulates rolling compaction should be identified or developed, and the testing procedure should be verified and validated with various earth materials. Through a comprehensive laboratory study, parameters that can better reflect the properties of earth material during rolling compaction can be identified. These parameters should be measurable during the field rolling compaction to improve or modify current integrated IC or CCC measuring systems. There is a big difference in response to rolling compaction between un-compacted and compacted earth materials. Loose earth materials will be compacted and structured by absorbing the compaction energy (work) exerted by rolling compaction through the change of internal microstructure. Limited studies indicate that the ability of earth materials to absorb external energy is affected by the material types, conditions, and environment. This capability of earth materials can be investigated through unsaturated/&#8204;saturated soil mechanics. Finally, this study will be of paramount importance for understanding the dynamic properties of various earth materials during rolling compaction. The objective of the research is to identify or develop a laboratory testing procedure that simulates rolling compaction of earth materials in order to study their properties during this dynamic process. Based on the study findings, recommendations to improve current IC technologies are expected. The improved IC technology should be able to measure the properties of a layer being compacted. It can be predicted that deformation or deflection measurements on compacted layers might be needed in addition to resistance. Therefore, this study should evaluate and compare various available in-situ measuring mechanisms. Prototype development for this study should seek the participation of manufacturers. Building uniform pavement structural layers has always been the desire of highway engineers as it will secure a long pavement service life. Improving the construction quality of earth materials in highway construction will help in realizing this desire and have a fundamental impact on highway engineering since it will allow state highway agencies to use highway funds more cost effectively. The successful execution of this study will make IC technology a more suitable tool for state highway agencies to continuously check and quantify the compaction quality of earth material. It will promote and expedite the implementation of intelligent compaction technology in highway construction so a better construction quality can be achieved. Therefore, the potential for a payoff from the achievement of project objectives is significant and cannot be overestimated. KW - Asphalt pavements KW - Compaction KW - Properties of materials KW - Rolling KW - Service life KW - Stiffness KW - Subgrade (Pavements) KW - Thickness UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3888 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330428 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01558330 AU - Bischak, Greg AU - Mann, Chris AU - Vadali, Sharada AU - Gkritza, Konstantina AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Proceedings of ITED 2014 International Transportation Economic Development Conference: Economic Development Implications of Global Trade, Transport Investments, Climate Change, Environmental, and Urban and Rural Policies Summary and Research Agenda PY - 2014/11/10 SP - 93p AB - There were two broad objectives of the 2014 International Transportation Economic Development Conference which produced two related outcomes. First, the conference successfully brought together private sector stakeholders in transportation sectors, international representatives, state and local transportation officials, regional development agencies and transportation researchers to highlight and discuss key policy issues emerging within different transportation modes, promote cross fertilization of thinking and identify major challenges and discuss potential solutions. The conference plenary and panel sessions summarized in this report is testimony to the diverse array of stakeholders who contributed to the content and policy discussions at the conference. From these interactions the participants and rapporteurs identified many new directions of policy analysis and future research. Second, many of the panels developed well formulated new research topics that emerged from the give and take of the panel discussions and debates. The conference covered the following thematic areas: Economic development implications of alternative transportation funding and financing strategies; Economic development potential of passenger transport and freight rail infrastructure; Assessing the economic development effects and community change of transit-oriented development; International, national, and regional economic development impacts of the Panama Canal expansion; Linkages of international trade, economic development, and transportation corridors and facilities; Economic development implications of transportation disinvestment; Climate change mitigation effects on transportation investments and sustainable economic development; New perspectives on economic impact evaluation; Economic development within the context of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21); and Transportation improvements and market competitiveness. U1 - International Transportation Economic Development Conference (ITED 2014)Dallas,Texas,United States StartDate:20140409 EndDate:20140411 KW - Climate change KW - Economic development KW - Financing KW - Freight transportation KW - International trade KW - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) KW - Panama Canal KW - Passenger transportation KW - Policy analysis KW - Stakeholders KW - Sustainable development KW - Transit oriented development KW - Transportation corridors UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/economic_development/i-ted_2014/ited2014.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1347317 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01576059 TI - Applications of Massive Data and Data Mining Techniques Concerning Safety Data AB - Two Exploratory Advanced Research (EAR) projects have been approved to develop algorithms suitable for aggregating and synthesizing disparate data to optimize the use of the second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP2) data. KW - Algorithms KW - Data analysis KW - Data mining KW - Exploratory Advanced Research Program KW - Optimization KW - Safety KW - Strategic Highway Research Program 2 UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/research/tfhrc/projects/projectsdb/projectdetails.cfm?projectid=FHWA-PROJ-14-0055 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1370014 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01542976 TI - Inspection, Repair, Retrofit Procedures, and Design Recommendations for Non-Redundant Steel Structures AB - There are approximately 1,500 structures in Ohio with the designation of fracture critical. Of these, approximately 900 pony trusses reside on the county system. As a result, counties are responsible for conducting specialized arms-length inspections on the fracture critical members (FCM) of these structures every twenty four months, in addition to the annual routine inspection. The FCM inspections are both costly and difficult to perform often due to the location of the members. While the tension zones in the steel pony members are categorized as fracture critical per Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA's) Bridge Inspection Reference Manual (BIRM), a detailed analysis may prove otherwise. Research is needed to develop a modeling standard to analyze these structures and establish protocols, consistent with provisions outlined by FHWA, in order to refine fracture-critical designations. The goal of this research is to provide analytical evidence and protocols that allow for the reduction of the number of fracture critical members to inspect on pony trusses utilized on Ohio's local roadway system. In addition to the analytical goal, there is an objective to develop a repair/retrofit procedure to eliminate non-redundancy or fracture critical elements of pony trusses, thereby transitioning from a non-redundant to quasi-redundant designation. The results of this research will provide local engineers with enhanced knowledge and understanding of the function of this structure type. It will also aid to educate bridge inspectors as to the actual in-field performance of pony trusses. Positive findings from this research will position locals for potential savings in terms of cost and time through the elimination of excessive and onerous inspections. This would further increase the desirability of the pony truss as a viable option to own and maintain; thereby, expanding its consideration for use by local transportation officials. KW - Bridge members KW - Fracture mechanics KW - Inspection KW - Ohio KW - Retrofitting KW - Steel structures KW - Trusses UR - http://worldcat.org/arcviewer/9/OHI/2014/10/28/H1414523602145/viewer/file1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1329556 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01539803 TI - Stabilization of Peat Deposits for Roadway Construction and Remediation AB - Peat, a soil with very high organic content, is often encountered in roadway construction in Ohio, especially in Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) Districts 1, 2, 4, 6 and 12. In contrast to other problematic soils such as soft clays, the majority of deformation in peat is caused by secondary compression (volume changes by soil particle rearrangement), instead of primary compression (pore water dissipation). Therefore, the deformation of roadways on peat is a long-term phenomenon, and it evolves with time. Roadways constructed on peat often experience premature distress in the form of rutting, cracking and differential settlement. The goal of this study is to identify potential remediation strategies for settlement control of pavements on Ohio peats and to evaluate the performance of the most promising and cost effective strategy with field experiments. The outcome of this research is expected to provide an alternative option in ODOT's toolbox for peat treatment in roadway construction and maintenance. Engineers from the ODOT Central Office or district offices can also refer to the guidelines and recommendations developed in this research in the design and implementation of the polymer injection method, which has the potential to greatly reduce ODOT's pavement maintenance costs in terms of material, labor, and time in areas where peat deposits are encountered. The project has been divided into two phases. Phase I of the project aims to identify the potential ground improvement technologies which are applicable to roadways on peat deposits, to assess the cost-benefit of each technology and to rate each technology considering the various selection factors. ODOT will review the cost benefit analysis and decide whether it will beneficial to move forward to Phase II. Phase II will evaluate the effectiveness of the selected technologies with a comprehensive field test plan and provide recommendations to ODOT on the future implementation of the technology. KW - Cracking KW - Deformation KW - Pavement performance KW - Peat soils KW - Pore water pressures KW - Road construction KW - Rutting KW - Soil stabilization KW - Subbase materials UR - http://worldcat.org/arcviewer/9/OHI/2014/10/28/H1414523602145/viewer/file1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1325136 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01625800 AU - Krile, Robert AU - Feng, Jingyu AU - Schroeder, Jeremy AU - Battelle AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Assessing Roadway Traffic Count Duration and Frequency Impacts on Annual Average Daily Traffic Estimation: Assessing Accuracy Issues with Current Known Methods in AADT Estimation from Continuous Traffic Monitoring Data PY - 2014/11 SP - 23p AB - Numerous factoring and baseline values are required to ensure annual average daily traffic (AADT) data are collected and reported correctly. The variability of numerous methods currently used are explored so that those in the traffic community will clearly know the limitations and the extent of each method used and how to properly utilize methods for their agency to obtain the necessary results. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Travel Monitoring Analysis System (TMAS) data from 14 years consisting of 24 hours of the day and 7 days of the week volume data from over 6000 continuous permanent volume traffic data sites in the United States comprised the reference dataset for this research. Randomly selected (with some constraints) sites each include one year of 100% complete daily reporting and the set of sites represent 12 functional classes, years 2000 through 2013, 43 states and DC, and various volume ranges. Four AADT estimation methods were examined for accuracy when data from various time periods were removed. This report is a final task report that summarizes identified inaccuracies with current methods that are used for AADT estimation, and includes the analysis methodology and summary statistics findings. KW - Accuracy KW - Annual average daily traffic KW - Continuous monitoring KW - Traffic counts KW - Traffic data KW - Traffic estimation UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/travel_monitoring/pubs/aadt/aadt_task_2_final_report_jan_2015.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1442738 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01610801 AU - Amirkhanian, Serji AU - Xiao, Feipeng AU - Herndon, David AU - Tri-County Technical College AU - South Carolina Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - The Evaluation and Specification Development of Alternate Modified Asphalt Binders in South Carolina PY - 2014/11//Final Report SP - 216p AB - In this research project, asphalt binders containing various polymer modifiers were investigated through examining both binder and mixture properties.  Two additional topics were also investigated, including: a) the effects of liquid anti‐strip additives on asphalt mixtures; and b) the effects of natural sands in asphalt mixtures. The asphalt binder modifiers in this project included: two plastomers; an elastomer; polyphosphoric acid (PPA)+styrene butadiene styrene (SBS); terminally blended ground tire rubber (GTR) binder; and a lab‐prepared GTR binder.  The binder properties of 16 binder combinations were obtained (e.g., viscosity, dynamic shear rheometer (DSR), etc.) and compared.  In addition, these modified binders were used in mixtures with two aggregate sources, three anti‐strip additives, and varying reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) contents.  There were 32 different Superpave mix designs conducted for this project.  Many engineering properties of the mixtures were obtained, including: indirect tensile strength, tensile strength retained, rutting, and asphalt mixture performance tester (AMPT) values.  The AMPT testing was conducted at different temperatures and frequencies.  The results indicated that, in general, many of the alternate modified binders could be utilized in South Carolina hot mix asphalt (HMA) mixtures.  The results also indicated that RAP and natural sand could be utilized, in limited quantities, in many mixtures used on South Carolina secondary roads.  In addition, the mixtures made with liquid anti‐strip additives in this project in many cases produced moisture susceptibility values (e.g., indirect tensile strength (ITS), tensile strength ratio (TSR)) that were compatible with those obtained with mixtures containing hydrated lime.    KW - Antistrip additives KW - Asphalt mixtures KW - Bituminous binders KW - Evaluation KW - Mix design KW - Reclaimed asphalt pavements KW - Sand KW - South Carolina KW - Specifications KW - Strength of materials UR - http://www.clemson.edu/t3s/scdot/pdf/projects/SPR703-report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1420972 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01598880 AU - Banks, David AU - Persaud, Bhagwant AU - Lyon, Craig AU - Eccles, Kimberly AU - Himes, Scott AU - VHB AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Enhancing Statistical Methodologies for Highway Safety Research – Impetus from FHWA PY - 2014/11//White Paper SP - 46p AB - The Federal Highway Administration Development of Crash Modification Factors (DCMF) Program was established in 2012 to address highway safety research needs for evaluating new and innovative safety strategies (improvements) by developing reliable quantitative estimates of their effectiveness in reducing crashes. A goal of the DCMF is to advance highway safety and related research by establishing a sound foundation for the development of highway transportation specific statistical methodologies in cooperation with the American Statistical Association and other statistician communities. In pursuit of that goal, a two-day Technical Experts meeting brought together researchers from the road safety, statistics, and other statistics-related fields such as epidemiology, biostatistics, and agent based modeling that have methodologies relevant to highway safety research applications. The meeting resulted in guidance and materials that supported the development of this white paper, which identifies and discusses opportunities for advancing methodologies to estimate crash modification factors and safety performance functions. The paper outlines considerations and future steps to encourage researchers to explore these techniques in their research. KW - Crash modification factors KW - Highway safety KW - Research KW - Safety performance functions KW - Statistical analysis UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/14081/14081.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1405287 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01597257 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Tabletop Exercise Guidelines for Planned Events and Unplanned Incidents/Emergencies PY - 2014/11//Final Report SP - 29p AB - When planned special events are held, they generally increase traffic demands in or near the location of the event. In order to address this influx of traffic, transportation management plans are developed with the intent of minimizing the effect the event has on the transportation system. For a transportation management plan to be successful, however, it is strongly recommended that the plan be tested and reviewed prior to the event. One of the most effective ways to test a transportation management plan is through a tabletop exercise. A tabletop exercise uses the transportation management plan as the basis for action. It enables participants to role play in a scenario-based exercise conducted in an informal stress-free environment. During this low cost/low stress activity, key stakeholders involved in the planning and implementation of transportation management plans test the plan through a facilitated scenario based discussion. Tabletop exercises allow traffic management team officials to review the effect of certain event-specific action plans on other concurrent events. Through this interaction, contingencies are vetted and resolved. In addition, a tabletop exercise can be used to train and familiarize personnel with their roles and responsibilities within the planned special event’s transportation management plan. No matter how thorough a transportation management plan may be, it cannot account for all contingencies. The purposes of a tabletop exercise are to (1) test the written assumptions in the transportation management plan and (2) see what must be changed and how the plan can be improved from regional good practices and tabletop after actions. The tabletop exercise allows the participants to see how they react to unexpected events such as equipment failure or personnel shortages. Though originally designed for planned special events, the information in the guide can be used for the management of unplanned incidents including traffic incidents and responses to emergencies. KW - Disasters and emergency operations KW - Emergencies KW - Emergency management KW - Guidelines KW - Highway traffic control KW - Incident management KW - Role-playing KW - Special events KW - Tabletop exercise KW - Test scenarios KW - Traffic incidents KW - Training UR - http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop15004/fhwahop15004.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1401539 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01596686 AU - Almodovar-Rosario, Natalia AU - Dorney, Chris AU - Flood, Mike AU - Lennon, Justin AU - Lockman, J T AU - Parsons Brinkerhoff AU - Catalysis Adaptation Partners AU - Minnesota Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - MnDOT Flash Flood Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment Pilot Project PY - 2014/11//Final Report SP - 84p AB - Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) planners and engineers have long considered minimizing the risk of flash flooding in the siting and design of the state’s roadway network. However, as has been the standard practice worldwide, they have traditionally assumed that future climate conditions will be similar to those recorded in the past. Climate change challenges this assumption and calls for new approaches to understanding vulnerabilities across the highway system and at specific transportation facilities so that appropriate actions, adaptations, can be taken to minimize expanding risks. This project, one of 19 Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) climate vulnerability pilot studies nationwide looking at the effects of climate hazards on the transportation system, represents a starting point for developing these new approaches. The focus of this pilot study is on flash flooding risks to the highway system. While flooding is not the only threat to the state’s highway system posed by climate change, it is likely to be one of the most significant and has already caused extensive disruptions to the transportation system in many areas. KW - Climate change KW - Floods KW - Highways KW - Minnesota Department of Transportation KW - Risk assessment KW - Weather and climate UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/climate_change/adaptation/resilience_pilots/2013-2015_pilots/minnesota/final_report/mndotreport.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1403121 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01596086 AU - Necci, Ray AU - Bazzi, Ali AU - Park, Sung Yeul AU - Pasaogullari, Ugur AU - Singh, Prabhakar AU - Butterfield, Nathan AU - Weiss, Jonathan AU - Xenophontos, Antony AU - Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering AU - Connecticut Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Energy Efficiency and Reliability Solutions For Rail Operations and Facilities PY - 2014/11//Final Report SP - 79p AB - The objectives of the study included examining energy consumption of the facilities comprising the three major rail yards on the New Haven Rail Line as well as platform stations and identifying energy efficiency and cost savings opportunities for rail operations/facilities. This study will focus on identifying opportunities and options to improve energy efficiency and reliability. Solutions for reducing energy costs and reliance on fossil fuels that take into account the needs of Connecticut’s rail operations/facilities will be recommended. The primary conclusions include the following: Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) should assign a staff person to serve as an energy manager tasked with leading energy efficiency and conservation efforts for all rail facilities/stations and incorporating the importance of these efforts into the culture of the department. Under the energy manager’s leadership, CTDOT should implement a comprehensive process to exploit energy efficiency and reliability opportunities for rail facilities/stations. This process should include conducting periodic energy audits of facilities, developing an energy management plan, and incorporating the findings into an asset management plan. Project planning, engineering and design, and construction, as well as rail operations that are conducted at the facilities/stations should be integrated into this process. Importantly, initiatives and projects should be evaluated with results integrated into future planning. KW - Asset management KW - Connecticut KW - Connecticut Department of Transportation KW - Energy consumption KW - Energy efficiency KW - New Haven Railroad KW - Operations KW - Railroad facilities KW - Railroad stations KW - Railroad yards KW - Railroads UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54800/54863/CT2283-F-14-5.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1401061 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01567489 AU - Fratta, Dante AU - Newgard, Jeff AU - University of Wisconsin, Madison AU - Wisconsin Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluating the Methodology and Performance of Jetting and Flooding Granular Backfill Materials PY - 2014/11 SP - 163p AB - Compaction of backfill in confined spaces on highway projects is often performed with small vibratory plates, based solely on the experience of the contractor, leading to inadequate compaction. As a result, the backfill is prone to erosion and often exhibits excessive settlements, causing loss of support beneath pavements. The scope of this project includes developing standard specifications for two alternative hydraulic compaction methods, flooding and jetting, which additionally are suitable in confined spaces. During flooding, or compaction by drainage, the backfill layer is saturated with water from the surface and allowed to drain. During jetting, a probe emitting a high pressure jet of water is inserted into the layer, and the backfill is allowed to drain. In slurry flooding, a slurry mix is flood into place and it is allowed to drain so the lift gains strength. In these cases the energy of the flowing water and residual suction upon drainage increase the effective stress and move the grains into a denser arrangement. The results in the lab indicate that for compaction by drainage applications, uniform, rounded soils achieve the highest relative density due to their minimal particle interlocking upon deposition and subsequent high drainage capacity. Meanwhile during jetting applications, soils liquefy locally around the jet of water, and their compactness upon drainage is highly dependent on the hydraulic gradient, or the energy with which water drains from the pore space. Greater hydraulic gradient during the drainage phase of jetting has been observed to produce more compact soil structure. KW - Backfill soils KW - Drainage KW - Evaluation KW - Hydraulic jetting KW - Laboratory tests KW - Slurry KW - Soil compaction UR - http://wisdotresearch.wi.gov/wp-content/uploads/WisDOT-WHRP-project-0092-11-03-final-report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1356958 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563670 AU - Knapp, Keith AU - Chandler, Brian AU - Atkinson, Jennifer AU - Welch, Thomas AU - Rigdon, Heather AU - Retting, Richard AU - Meekins, Stacey AU - Widstrand, Eric AU - Porter, R J AU - Leidos AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Road Diet Informational Guide PY - 2014/11 SP - 72p AB - A classic Road Diet converts an existing four-lane undivided roadway segment to a three-lane segment consisting of two through lanes and a center two-way left turn lane (TWLTL). A Road Diet improves safety by including a protected left-turn lane for mid-block left-turning motorists, reducing crossing distance for pedestrians, and reducing travel speeds that decrease crash severity. Additionally, the Road Diet provides an opportunity to allocate excess roadway width to other purposes, including bicycle lanes, on-street parking, or transit stops. This Informational Guide includes safety, operational, and quality of life considerations from research and practice, and guides readers through the decision-making process to determine if Road Diets are a good fit for a certain corridor. It also provides design guidance and encourages post-implementation evaluation. KW - Bicycle lanes KW - Bus stops KW - Decision making KW - Guidelines KW - Highway design KW - Highway safety KW - On street parking KW - Road diet KW - State of the practice KW - Three lane highways KW - Two way left turn lanes UR - http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/road_diets/info_guide/rdig.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54700/54742/rdig.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1352969 ER - TY - SER AN - 01560604 JO - TechBrief PB - Federal Highway Administration TI - Bond Behavior of Reinforcing Steel in Ultra-High Performance Concrete PY - 2014/11 SP - 12p AB - This document is a technical summary of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) report "Bond Behavior of Reinforcing Steel in Ultra-High Performance Concrete" (FHWA-HRT-14-090). Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) has garnered interest from the highway infrastructure community for its greatly enhanced mechanical and durability properties. The objective of this research is to extensively evaluate the factors that affect bond strength between deformed reinforcing bar and UHPC, and to facilitate the development of design guidelines for using field-cast UHPC in innovative connection details. The results of the research effort and the design recommendations for reinforcing bar embedded in UHPC are provided in this TechBrief. KW - Bond strength (Materials) KW - Design KW - Guidelines KW - Reinforcing bars KW - Ultra high performance concrete UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/structures/hpc/14089/14089.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1350345 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01558319 AU - Williams, R Christopher AU - Cascione, Andrew AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Assessment of Asphalt Interlayer Designed on Jointed Concrete PY - 2014/11//Final Report SP - 37p AB - Reflective cracking in hot mix asphalt (HMA) overlays has been a common cause of poor pavement performance in Iowa for many years. Reflective cracks commonly occur in HMA overlays when deteriorated portland cement concrete is paved over with HMA. This results in HMA pavement surfaces with poor ride quality and increased transportation maintenance costs. To delay the formation of cracks in HMA overlays, the Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT) has begun to implement a crack-relief interlayer mix design specification. The crack-relief interlayer is an asphalt-rich, highly flexible HMA that can resist cracking in high strain loading conditions. In this project, the field performance of an HMA overlay using a one inch interlayer was compared to a conventional HMA overlay without an interlayer. Both test sections were constructed on US 169 in Adel, Iowa as part of an Iowa DOT overlay project. The laboratory performance of the interlayer mix design was assessed for resistance to cracking from repeated strains by using the four-point bending beam apparatus. An HMA using a highly polymer modified binder was designed and shown to meet the laboratory performance test criteria. The field performance of the overlay with the interlayer exceeded the performance of the conventional overlay that did not have the interlayer. After one winter season, 29 percent less reflective cracking was measured in the pavement section with the interlayer than the pavement section without the interlayer. The level of cracking severity was also reduced by using the interlayer in the overlay. KW - Assessments KW - Bituminous overlays KW - Field tests KW - Hot mix asphalt KW - Iowa KW - Mix design KW - Pavement interlayers KW - Pavement performance KW - Performance tests KW - Portland cement concrete KW - Reflection cracking KW - Test sections UR - http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/intrans_reports/108 UR - http://publications.iowa.gov/19041/1/IADOT_InTrans_Williams_Asphalt_Interlayer_Designed_Jointed_Concrete_2014.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1347301 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01556720 AU - Anderson, Keith AU - Russell, Mark AU - Uhlmeyer, Jeff AU - Weston, Jim AU - Roseburg, Jerry AU - Moomaw, Tim AU - De Vol, Joe AU - Washington State Department of Transportation AU - Washington State Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Warm Mix Asphalt Final Report PY - 2014/11//Final Report SP - 86p AB - The performance of pavements constructed using warm mix asphalt (WMA) technology were compared to the performance of conventional hot mix asphalt (HMA) pavements placed on the same project. Measurements of friction resistance, rutting/wear, ride and pavement condition (alligator, longitudinal and transverse cracking) did not show that the WMA either improved or worsened performance. WMA is an allowable substitute for conventional HMA on all projects using less than 20 percent recycled asphalt pavement (RAP). WMA is not allowed when the RAP content exceeds 20 percent or when any percentage of recycled asphalt shingles (RAS) is incorporated. KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Cracking KW - Friction KW - Hot mix asphalt KW - Pavement performance KW - Recycled materials KW - Rutting KW - Warm mix paving mixtures UR - http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/research/reports/fullreports/723.2.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54600/54620/723.2.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345503 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01556500 AU - Klabunde, Kenneth J AU - Shrestha, Khadga AU - Kansas State University, Manhattan AU - Mid-America Transportation Center AU - University of Nebraska, Lincoln AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Sustainable Asphalt Pavements Using Bio-Binders from Bio-Fuel Waste PY - 2014/11//Final Report SP - 22p AB - Asphaltic binders that are used for asphalt pavements have been traditionally obtained either from fossil fuels or from natural sources. However, due to growing interest in sustainability, a search has been initiated for a non-petroleum binder that could be used for asphalt pavements. The objective of this study is to develop a modified asphalt binder from bio-refinery byproducts and wastes that can be used as a replacement for bituminous adhesives/binders derived from fossil fuels for asphalt pavements. The chemical structures of the residue from fossil fuel processing and bio-fuel processing proved to be somewhat different. The Bio-Oil contains more oxygen (therefore, oxygen bearing organic functional groups, such as alcohols and ketones [-OH and C=O]). The Bio-Oil is more functionalized and polar in nature. Chemical structure studies were carried out by spectroscopic methods (nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)), infra-red, and thermal gravimetric analyses, as well as solubility in a series of solvents. Future work would involve (1) studying a wider variety of Bio-Oil derived samples, (2) employing further analytical techniques, and (3) determining how the Bio-Oils can be converted to chemical structures more similar to the petroleum derived oils. KW - Asphalt pavements KW - Binders KW - Biomass fuels KW - Chemical analysis KW - Oils KW - Recycled materials KW - Spectroscopic analysis KW - Sustainable development KW - Waste products UR - http://matc.unl.edu/assets/documents/matcfinal/Klabunde_SustainableAsphaltPavementsUsingBio-BindersfromBio-FuelWaste.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1344946 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554328 AU - Hallenbeck, M E AU - Selezneva, O I AU - Quinley, R AU - Applied Research Associates, Inc. AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Verification, Refinement, and Applicability of Long-Term Pavement Performance Vehicle Classification Rules PY - 2014/11//Final Report SP - 162p AB - The Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) project has developed and deployed a set of rules for converting axle spacing and weight data into estimates of a vehicle’s classification. These rules are being used at Transportation Pooled Fund Study (TPF) weigh-in-motion (WIM) sites across the country. This report examines the performance of those rules and the implications of their use for the development and application of default values for use within the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide. The report is divided into three parts. In part I, the report examines 1) how the LTPP rules differ from classification rules used by many States, 2) the performance of the LTPP rules in terms of their accuracy across truck types and at different LTPP WIM sites across the country, and 3) the size of the error that can be introduced into the estimation of traffic loading inputs for pavement design when load spectra developed from the LTPP TPF sites using these rules are combined with truck volume data collected using State-specific classification rule sets. Part II of this report examines the sensitivity of the pavement design models to the errors introduced by the use of these traffic loading inputs. Based on the results of these sensitivity tests, recommendations are made about the use of load spectra computed using Specific Pavement Studies TPF WIM data. Part III of this report describes minor changes to the LTPP classification rules recommended to improve their performance. Finally, the results of field tests of the recommended revised classification rules are presented KW - Long-Term Pavement Performance Program KW - Field tests KW - Mechanistic-empirical pavement design KW - Pavement performance KW - Recommendations KW - Sensitivity analysis KW - Traffic loads KW - Traffic volume KW - Trucks KW - Vehicle classification KW - Weigh in motion UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/pavements/ltpp/13091/13091.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1341969 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554287 AU - Dixon, Michael P AU - Dyre, Brian AU - Wulfhorst, J D AU - Abdel-Rahim, Ahmed AU - Grover, Alex AU - Meyer, Mark AU - Reyna, Monica A AU - Foltz, Barbara E AU - University of Idaho, Moscow AU - University of Idaho, Moscow AU - Idaho Transportation Department AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of IdaShield Sign Safety Benefits at Highway-Rail Crossing in Idaho PY - 2014/11//Final Report SP - 135p AB - This report describes findings from a study aimed at assessing the safety impact of IdaShield signs installed at 1,341 highway railroad crossings in Idaho. Specifically, the research assessed the marker’s effectiveness using three measures: (1) Before-and-after analysis of historical crash data preceding and following installation of the IdaShield marker. (2) User assessment survey measuring user understanding of the IdaShield and changes in user response due to the IdaShield. (3) Simulated driving test environment that exposed participants to various controlled circumstances related to highway railroad crossings. The before-and-after analysis of test data showed crashes were significantly decreased by 38.6 percent after the IdaShield installation and these effects were largely attributed to the IdaShield. The user assessment survey found users understood the purpose of the IdaShield, believed it enhanced intersection visibility, and would improve safety. Finally, the driver simulation showed how the IdaShield changed driver responses at highway railroad crossings, but only for conditions in which it was paired with a YIELD sign and a train was approaching. No significant safety benefit was noted when the IdaShield sign was paired with a STOP sign. Because the IdaShield produces positive overall outcomes on driver safety and does not have any apparent negative effects, the authors recommend the signage should continue to be required to increase visibility and safety at passive at-grade railway crossings in Idaho where a STOP sign is not present. KW - Before and after studies KW - Crash data KW - Driving simulators KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Highway safety KW - Idaho KW - Railroad grade crossings KW - Railroad safety KW - Surveys KW - Traffic signs UR - http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/niatt/research/Final_Reports/KLK567_RP223Final10302014.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1342487 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554284 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Strategic Plan for the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center PY - 2014/11 SP - 40p AB - Located in McLean, Virginia, the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC) is the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA’s) core facility for research, development, and technology within the broader transportation research community. This document describes TFHRC’s plans for providing national leadership in highway research, both by advancing its own endeavors and by coordinating those endeavors with activities managed by other offices within FHWA and the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), and by other public, private, academic, and international entities. Indeed, partnerships constitute a key element of the Strategic Plan. Other major themes of the Plan include identification and implementation of the right research; systematic planning of TFHRC’s research capabilities, both human resources and infrastructure; and accelerated transition of technology from the laboratory to the operating environment. KW - Coordination KW - Highways KW - Research KW - Research and educational facilities KW - Strategic planning KW - Technological innovations KW - Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/general/14022/14022.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1343370 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554215 AU - Konur, Dincer AU - Farhangi, Hadi AU - Long, Suzanna AU - Qin, Ruwen AU - Elmore, Curt AU - Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla AU - Missouri Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Track Inspection Planning and Risk Measurement Analysis PY - 2014/11//Final Report SP - 165p AB - This project models track inspection operations on a railroad network and discusses how the inspection results can be used to measure the risk of failure on the tracks. In particular, the inspection times of the tracks, inspection frequency of the tracks, and times between consecutive inspections on the same tracks should be considered for scheduling inspections on the railroad tracks. Furthermore, an inspection plan should schedule inspections considering the characteristics of different tracks. Therefore, it is important to schedule track inspections such that the potential defects are captured as much as possible within minimum times to increase safety. The project formulates a mathematical optimization problem for the track inspection planning considering the practical settings of track inspection operations such as inspection times, inspection frequencies required, time between consecutive inspections, and importance of distinct tracks. The two objectives simultaneously captured in this model are minimization of total inspection times and maximization of the weighted inspections. An efficient solution method is proposed for solving this model. The solution method is compared to a scheduling procedure, which can be used in absence of the findings in this project, on a set of railroad track networks of different sizes. Based on the comparison, the solution method proposed proves to find improved inspection schedules regardless of the railroad network size. A review of the techniques on how to use the inspection results to measure risk of failure is provided. KW - Inspection KW - Maintenance of way KW - Optimization KW - Railroad safety KW - Railroad tracks KW - Risk analysis KW - Scheduling UR - http://www.modot.org/services/or/documents/cmr15-005.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1341983 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554205 AU - Luna, Ronaldo AU - Mohammedi, Mojtaba Ale AU - Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Effects of Road Construction Intensity and Operations on Rural Freeway Work Zone Capacity PY - 2014/11//Final Report SP - 74p AB - Capacity is affected by construction type and its intensity on adjacent open traffic lanes. The effect on capacity is a function of vehicles moving in and out of the closed lanes of the work zone, and the presence of heavy construction vehicles. Construction activity and its intensity, however, are not commonly considered in estimating capacity of a highway lane. The main purpose of this project was to attempt to quantify the effects of construction type and intensity (e.g. maintenance, rehabilitation, reconstruction, and milling) on work zone capacity. The objective of this project is to quantify the effects of construction type and its intensity on work zone capacity and to develop guidelines for Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) to estimate the specific operation type and intensity that will improve the traffic flow by reducing the traffic flow and queue length commonly associated with work zones. Despite the effort put into field data collection, the data collected did not show a full speed-flow chart therefore extracting a reliable capacity value was difficult. A statistical comparison between the capacity values found in this study using either methodologies indicates that there is an effect of construction activity on the values work zone capacity. It was found that the heavy construction activity reduces the capacity. It is very beneficial to conduct similar studies on the capacity of work zone with different lane closure barriers, which is also directly related to the type of work zone being short-term or long-term work zones. Also, the effect of different geometric and environmental characteristics of the roadway should be considered in future studies. KW - Guidelines KW - Highway capacity KW - Missouri Department of Transportation KW - Road construction KW - Rural highways KW - Traffic flow KW - Traffic queuing KW - Work zone traffic control KW - Work zones UR - http://publications.iowa.gov/18655/1/IADOT_MUST_Luna_Effects_Construction_Intensity_Operations_on_Rural_Work_Zone_Capacity_2014_final_report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1341979 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01552144 AU - Abu-Farsakh, Murad Y AU - Yoon, Sungming AU - Yu, Xinbao AU - Tang, Xiaochao AU - Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge AU - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Structural Health Monitoring of I-10 Twin Span Bridge – Part I: Analysis of Lateral Load Test PY - 2014/11//Final Report SP - 185p AB - The old I-10 Twin Span Bridge over Lake Pontchartrain was heavily damaged by the storm surges during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. A new 5.4-mile long replacement bridge was constructed with higher resistance to extreme events, such as storm surges and ship impacts. During the construction, a structural health monitoring system, including both superstructure and substructure, was implemented to study the lateral response of battered pile groups short-term and to monitor the “health” condition of the new bridge long-term. M19 pier on the main span of east bound, the second highest pier of the bridge, was selected to perform an in-situ large scale static lateral load test. The pier foundation consists of 24 square 3-ft. precast prestressed concrete (PPC) driven piles battered at 1:6 with an average embedment length of 87 ft. Among them, 8 piles were instrumented with micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) In-Place Inclinometers (IPI) to monitor pile deflections. 12 piles were instrumented with sister bar type of strain gauges at two selected locations along the pile length to monitor moment and axial force. Other instruments also include triaxial accelerometers, tiltmeters, water pressure cells, and corrosion meters. A lateral load test was conducted by pulling two high strength steel strand tendons through the west bound and east bound M19 piers with hydraulic jacks; the lateral load was applied in 19 increments with a maximum load of 1870 kips. A high-order-polynomial curve fitting method was selected to best-fit the measured rotation profiles by IPI. From the fitted rotation profiles, bending moments, shear forces, and soil reactions were derived using the classic beam theory. P-y curves were obtained from the derived soil reaction profiles and deflection profiles. The back-calculation results were verified with the measurement data from IPI and strain gauges. FB-MultiPier was used for the analysis of pier behaviors in the design of the I-10 Bridge. Therefore, it was selected to simulate the pier response during the lateral load test and verify its performance with measured data and results from the back-calculation. A sensitivity analysis of the input parameters for FB-MultiPier was first conducted to help make decisions on selecting design parameters. Based on the analysis on the simulation results, a select set of inputs were presented as a reference for the design of similar battered pile group in the future. KW - Bending moments KW - Bridge piers KW - Deflection KW - Highway bridges KW - Inclinometers KW - Instrumentation KW - Load tests KW - Louisiana KW - Precast concrete KW - Prestressed concrete KW - Shear properties KW - Strain gages KW - Structural health monitoring UR - http://www.ltrc.lsu.edu/pdf/2014/FR_529.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1341398 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01551278 AU - Valentine, David AU - Zimmer, Robert AU - Mortensen, Steven AU - Sheehan, Robert AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Transit Administration AU - Battelle Memorial Institute TI - Transit Safety Retrofit Package (TRP): Leveraging DSRC for Transit Safety – Fielding Results and Lessons Learned PY - 2014/11 SP - 10p AB - A team led by Battelle, on behalf of the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office, Federal Highway Administration, and Federal Transit Administration, deployed five collision avoidance applications on University of Michigan transit buses, including two new applications—one for pedestrian crosswalks and one for vehicles turning in front of transit buses at bus stops—identified as high-priority concerns by transit agencies. This system, called the Transit Safety Retrofit Package (TRP), was part of the USDOT’s Safety Pilot Model Deployment—a large-scale field demonstration of the potential benefits of 5.9GHz Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC) wireless technology that is supporting related decisions by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This article provides a summary of results, “fresh from the field”, pertaining to the transit safety applications, as well as the underlying project, system, and technologies. KW - Crash avoidance systems KW - Crosswalks KW - Dedicated short range communications KW - Field tests KW - Michigan KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Pedestrians KW - Transit buses KW - Transit safety KW - Turning traffic UR - http://www.its.dot.gov/safety/pdf/trp_august2014.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1339975 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01549165 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Weingroff, Richard F TI - 100th Anniversary – An Evolving Partnership PY - 2014/11 VL - 78 IS - 3 AB - In honor of the 100th anniversary of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), this article looks at the State-Federal collaboration during the interstate era. Though construction of the interstate system began in 1956, the history of the system dates back to the 1930s, during which proposals for transcontinental superhighways were common. However, it was not until President Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 that the interstate system was truly established. The construction of the interstate system was driven by the partnership of AASHTO and the Federal Highway Administration. AASHTO continues to work to meet the challenges of the United States transportation network. KW - American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials KW - Cooperation KW - Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 KW - Highway planning KW - History KW - Interstate highways KW - Partnerships KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration UR - https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/14novdec/03.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334528 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01549155 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Horton, Jeffrey L TI - Surviving an Interstate Bridge Collapse PY - 2014/11 VL - 78 IS - 3 AB - In May of 2013, a section of the Skagit River Bridge in Washington State collapsed. It was caused by a combination vehicle hauling a permitted oversize load, which struck the northern portal and several overhead sway braces, leading to the collapse of the northern span of the through-truss. Two vehicles fell into the river, but there were no casualties. The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and partners immediately launched a response, including rescue efforts and bridge engineers to assess the damage. WSDOT established detour routes and kept the public informed. Restoration of the bridge was a priority, starting with a temporary span, with a permanent one added later. The project to restore the bridge required constant communication and collaboration between WSDOT and the Federal Highway Administration. KW - Bridge construction KW - Case studies KW - Collapse KW - Detours KW - Emergency management KW - Highway bridges KW - Interstate highways KW - Oversize loads KW - Reconstruction KW - Skagit River (Washington) KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration KW - Washington State Department of Transportation UR - https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/14novdec/05.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334530 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01549113 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Kafalenos, Robert AU - Hyman, Robert AU - Lupes, Rebecca AU - Beucler, Brian TI - Bracing for Hard Times Ahead PY - 2014/11 VL - 78 IS - 3 AB - Transportation officials are constantly developing strategies for adapting to weather-related natural hazards, which are exacerbated by climate change issues such as rising sea levels and air temperatures. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has been studying the impacts of climate change on transportation for over a decade and is leading activities to help partners assess vulnerabilities and develop policies and strategies by building a more resilient transportation system. FHWA has completed studies and developed tools and frameworks to help transportation agencies plan for the future. There are ongoing activities to provide further information and guidance to counter risks. KW - Climate change KW - Risk assessment KW - Transportation planning KW - Transportation policy KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration KW - Weather conditions KW - Weatherproofing UR - https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/14novdec/04.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334529 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01549090 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Murakami, Elaine TI - One Size Doesn’t Fit All PY - 2014/11 VL - 78 IS - 3 AB - Smaller communities in the United States require distinct solutions for overcoming the challenges of multimodal transportation planning. The Transportation Research Board’s (TRB) Committee on Transportation Planning in Small and Medium-Sized Communities works with communities with a population below 200,000. These communities must address many of the same issues as larger towns and cities, but with fewer resources. The Committee on Transportation Planning in Small and Medium-Sized Communities holds a biennial Tools of the Trade conference, which introduces practical tools and techniques for smaller communities. Transportation planning in small communities requires creative thinking to accomplish goals while saving money, and new and emerging tools can help the process. KW - Communities KW - Costs KW - Multimodal transportation KW - Small towns KW - Transportation planning KW - Transportation Research Board KW - United States UR - https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/14novdec/02.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334527 ER - TY - JOUR AN - 01549032 JO - Public Roads PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Gregory, Joe AU - Irwin, Ben TI - A New Approach to Improving Travel Times PY - 2014/11 VL - 78 IS - 3 AB - Traffic congestion is a constant challenge for United States highways, and transportation agencies are looking beyond the traditional methods to increase capacity. One method is transportation systems management and operations (TSM&O). TSM&O involves integrated operations-related strategies and solutions to maximize the capacity of existing infrastructure. The second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP2) has developed a suite of tools called Organizing for Reliability Tools, which is designed to advance systems management and operations. Organizing for Reliability Tools can improve performance of the highway system and enhance safety and reliability of travel times. Many transportation agencies are working to implement this system. KW - Operations KW - Organization KW - Reliability KW - Strategic Highway Research Program 2 KW - Traffic congestion KW - Transportation system management KW - Travel time KW - United States UR - https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/14novdec/01.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334526 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01549009 AU - Hallmark, Shauna AU - Chrysler, Susan AU - Oneyear, Nicole AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Mid-America Transportation Center AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Validation of Traffic Simulation Model Output for Work Zone and Mobile Source Emissions Modeling and Integration with Human-in-the-Loop Driving Simulators PY - 2014/11//Final Report SP - 36p AB - The next generation motor vehicle emission rate model used in the U.S., the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator (MOVES), requires second-by-second vehicle data in order to fully utilize model capabilities. However, field data collection of this type of data is resource intensive and frequently not realistic for local agencies. Some microsimulation models have the capability of outputting instantaneous speed and acceleration, which can be used in MOVES. With these capabilities, microsimulation offers a valuable tool to conduct analyses requiring a large number of data. However, simulation models usually employ theoretical profiles for the relationship between acceleration and speed. The algorithms were intended to model gross measures of traffic activity, such as changes in cycle length or the effect of an incident. Model output, however, remains unvalidated for predicting the level of vehicle activity output required for MOVES. Collecting field data to calibrate Vissim models is often expensive and not always feasible. The use of a driving simulator provides an additional way to provide these data. A simulator has advantages over field data in that it can be used to collect data for new projects where field data cannot be collected. Simulators also allow for complete control over interactions between the driver and other vehicles. Two case studies were used to assess the utility of the microsimulation model, Vissim, in developing output that can be used as input to MOVES. In one scenario, drivers were selected to drive an instrumented test vehicle along a test corridor. In another scenario, five drivers drove through a roundabout in the University of Iowa National Advanced Driving Simulator (NADS). Models for each scenario were also developed in Vissim. Model output was compared to field collected speed/acceleration profile data to assess the accuracy of microsimulation models in providing realistic estimates of vehicle activity as input to MOVES. Results were summarized to demonstrate the applicability of linking microsimulated vehicle activity data with emissions models to better estimate the emission impacts of different transportation strategies. KW - Case studies KW - Driving simulators KW - Microsimulation KW - Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator (MOVES) KW - Traffic simulation KW - Validation KW - VISSIM (Computer model) KW - Work zones UR - http://www.intrans.iastate.edu/research/documents/research-reports/MATC_Vissim_traffic_simulation_model_w_cvr.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1336268 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01548665 AU - Walubita, Lubinda F AU - Faruk, Abu N M AU - Lee, Sang I AU - Nguyen, Dung AU - Hassan, Raenita AU - Scullion, Tom AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - HMA Shear Resistance, Permanent Deformation, and Rutting Tests for Texas Mixes: Final Year-2 Report PY - 2014/11//Technical Report SP - 178p AB - Traditionally run at one test temperature (122°F), the Hamburg wheel tracking test (HWTT) has a proven history of identifying hot mix asphalt (HMA) mixes that are moisture susceptible and/or prone to rutting. However, with the record summer temperatures of the recent years, several shear and rutting failures have occurred with HMA mixes that had passed the HWTT in the laboratory. For the most part, failures occurred in high shear locations, particularly with slow-moving traffic at controlled intersections (accelerating/decelerating), stop-go sections, elevated temperatures, heavy/high traffic loading, and where lower performance grade (PG) asphalt-binder grades have been used. This two-year study was undertaken to improve the performance of the existing laboratory rutting-shear tests including the HWTT in simulating the field rutting conditions of the HMA and exploring new supplementary and/or surrogate HMA rutting/shear tests. In particular, a potential surrogate test should be able to discriminate HMA mixture performance for application in high shear stress areas (i.e., intersections) as well as discern temperature thresholds at which a given HMA mix, with a given PG asphalt-binder grade, becomes unstable and more prone to rutting and/or shear failure. In line with these objectives, this final project report documents the research work completed in this study. Several of the existing HMA rutting-shear tests were comprehensively evaluated with special focus on the HWTT. Researchers propose several enhancements to the HWTT protocol that are expected to improve its overall performance in predicting HMA rutting susceptibility. Additionally, a new supplementary HMA shear test, namely the simple punching shear test (SPST) was developed that showed good potential to be considered as a surrogate to the HWTT. KW - Deformation KW - Hamburg Wheel Tracking Device KW - Hot mix asphalt KW - Recommendations KW - Rutting KW - Shear strength KW - Shear tests KW - Test procedures KW - Texas UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6744-2.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334947 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01548658 AU - Arnold, Terence Stanley AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - The Use of Phosphoric Acid to Stiffen Hot Mix Asphalt Binders PY - 2014/11 SP - 91p AB - This document offers guidelines for the use of phosphoric acid to stiffen asphalt binders for hot mix paving applications. Data are presented on the likely effect on pavement life, moisture resistance, and use with limestone aggregates and liquid amine antistrip additives. Analytical methods for the detection of phosphoric acid in asphalt binders are also presented. Asphalt producers, hot-mix paving contractors, and State departments of transportation are the main audiences. KW - Amines KW - Antistrip additives KW - Bituminous binders KW - Guidelines KW - Hot mix asphalt KW - Limestone aggregates KW - Pavement performance KW - Phosphoric acid KW - Stiffness UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/pavements/14086/14086.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334574 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01548651 AU - Yurdakul, Ezgi AU - Taylor, Peter AU - Ceylan, Halil AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Concrete Pavement Mixture Design and Analysis (MDA): Evaluation of the Fresh and Hardened Properties of Concrete Mixtures Containing Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic Types of Permeability-Reducing Admixtures to Develop a Standard Testing Protocol PY - 2014/11//Technical Report SP - 37p AB - Concrete durability may be considered as the ability to maintain serviceability over the design life without significant deterioration, and is generally a direct function of the mixture permeability. Therefore, reducing permeability will improve the potential durability of a given mixture and, in turn, improve the serviceability and longevity of the structure. Given the importance of this property, engineers often look for methods that can decrease permeability. One approach is to add chemical compounds known as integral waterproofing admixtures or permeability-reducing admixtures, which help fill and block capillary pores in the paste. Currently, there are no standard approaches to evaluate the effectiveness of permeability-reducing admixtures or to compare different products in the US. A review of manufacturers’ data sheets shows that a wide range of test methods have been used, and rarely are the same tests used on more than one product. This study investigated the fresh and hardened properties of mixtures containing commercially available hydrophilic and hydrophobic types of permeability-reducing admixtures. The aim was to develop a standard test protocol that would help owners, engineers, and specifiers compare different products and to evaluate their effects on concrete mixtures that may be exposed to hydrostatic or non-hydrostatic pressure. In this experimental program, 11 concrete mixtures were prepared with a fixed water-to-cement ratio and cement content. One plain mixture was prepared as a reference, 5 mixtures were prepared using the recommended dosage of the different permeability-reducing admixtures, and 5 mixtures were prepared using double the recommended dosage. Slump, air content, setting time, compressive and flexural strength, shrinkage, and durability indicating tests including electrical resistivity, rapid chloride penetration, air permeability, permeable voids, and sorptivity tests were conducted at various ages. The data are presented and recommendations for a testing protocol are provided. KW - Admixtures KW - Concrete pavements KW - Durability tests KW - Mix design KW - Permeability KW - Strength of materials KW - Test procedures KW - Waterproofing UR - http://www.intrans.iastate.edu/reports/waterproofing_admixtures_w_cvr.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1333215 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01548579 AU - Bligh, Roger P AU - Arrington, Dusty R AU - Menges, Wanda L AU - Kuhn, Beverly T AU - Texas Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Skid-Mounted Support System for Temporary Guide Signs PY - 2014/11 SP - 137p AB - A common issue during phased highway construction projects is the need to temporarily relocate large guide signs on the roadside or install new guide signs for temporary use. The conventional concrete foundations used for these signs are costly and time-consuming to install and remove after construction is completed. A freestanding, skid-mounted support system for temporary large guide signs was developed and successfully crash-tested in accordance with the Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) guidelines. The design considered wind loads, ballast requirements, and impact performance. The skid-mounted design eliminates the need for below-ground footers, and permits rapid movement and relocation of the sign. The results of the research have been used to establish guidelines for both the direct embedded temporary wood support system (developed in the first year of the project) and the skid-mounted support system. The guidelines provide the designer with a means of selecting the appropriate number, size, and grade of support posts for a given sign panel size. KW - AASHTO Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware KW - Guide signs KW - Guidelines KW - Impact tests KW - Posts KW - Sign supports KW - Temporary structures UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6782-2.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1335231 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01548546 AU - Overman, John H AU - Storey, Beverly AU - Kraus, Edgar AU - Miller, Kristi AU - Walewski, John A AU - Elgart, Zachary AU - Atkinson, Sam AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute, College Station AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Maximizing Mitigation Benefits-Making a Difference with Strategic Inter-Resource Agency Planning : Year Two Technical Report PY - 2014/11//Technical Report SP - 72p AB - The objective of this research project is to assess current mitigation policies and practices in comparison to resource agency objectives and to identify mitigation strategies and priorities that provide greater cost-benefit potential and implementation speed through strategic inter-resource agency planning. Mitigation for various actions associated with transportation development has been part of the process for decades. Although the science, practice, and technology may have advanced during this time, many of the processes and practices are rooted in traditional rules and regulations that require mitigation. The objective for this project is to assess mitigation policies and practices as a whole, looking at both the current and future of mitigation efforts in the transportation development process. This guide presents a summary of the Integrated Ecological Framework approach for mitigation in the transportation development process. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Environmental impacts KW - Interagency relations KW - Strategic planning KW - Texas KW - Transportation planning KW - Workshops UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6762-2.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334423 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01548524 AU - Knapp, Keith K AU - Hallmark, Shauna AU - Bou-Saab, Georges AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Mid-America Transportation Center AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Systemic Safety Improvement Risk Factor Evaluation and Countermeasure Summary PY - 2014/11//Final Report SP - 91p AB - The majority of crash fatalities in the United States occur along rural roadways. These roadways typically have low volumes and widespread crashes. In other words, no one location generally has an unexpectedly high number of crashes. Systemic safety tools/methodologies can be used in this type of situation because they evaluate and prioritize expected crash risk through the consideration of regional data patterns, research results, and engineering judgment. This project investigated two systemic safety tools/methodologies: the approach followed to produce Minnesota county road safety plans (and now described in the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Systemic Safety Project Selection Tool) and United States Road Assessment Program (usRAP). Both tools/methodologies were applied with data collected from two counties in Iowa and a sensitivity analyses completed on their results. It was concluded that changing the “weight” of the safety risk factors considered as part of Minnesota approach could have an impact on some of the locations in the “top 20” of the rankings and subsequent decision-making. However, the amount of that impact varied and a correlation analysis of the original and alternative rankings developed found a statistically insignificant difference. The change in acceptable benefit-cost ratio for the application of usRAP showed that it impacted the type and number of countermeasures, along with the benefit-cost ratio of the plan suggested by the software. It is recommended that additional research be completed to consider similar input variable changes on transportation systems with a higher level of variability in their characteristics. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Countermeasures KW - Crash risk forecasting KW - Fatalities KW - Highway safety KW - Iowa KW - Minnesota KW - Rural highways KW - Sensitivity analysis KW - Traffic crashes KW - U.S. Road Assessment Program UR - http://www.intrans.iastate.edu/research/documents/research-reports/matc_systemic_safety_improvement_w_cvr1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1335545 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01548519 AU - Wu, Xindong AU - University of Vermont, Burlington AU - Vermont Agency of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Harvesting Data from Advanced Technologies PY - 2014/11//Final Report SP - 41p AB - Data streams are emerging everywhere such as Web logs, Web page click streams, sensor data streams, and credit card transaction flows. Different from traditional data sets, data streams are sequentially generated and arrive one by one rather than being available for random access before learning begins, and they are potentially huge or even infinite so that it is impractical to store the whole data. To study learning from data streams, the authors target online learning, which generates a best–so far model on the fly by sequentially feeding in the newly arrived data, updates the model as needed, and then applies the learned model for accurate real-time prediction or classification in real-world applications. Several challenges arise from this scenario: first, data is not available for random access or even multiple access; second, data imbalance is a common situation; third, the performance of the model should be reasonable even when the amount of data is limited; fourth, the model should be updated easily but not frequently; and finally, the model should always be ready for prediction and classification. To meet these challenges, the authors investigate streaming feature selection by taking advantage of mutual information and group structures among candidate features. Streaming feature selection reduces the number of features by removing noisy, irrelevant, or redundant features and selecting relevant features on the fly, and brings about palpable effects for applications: speeding up the learning process, improving learning accuracy, enhancing generalization capability, and improving model interpretation. Compared with traditional feature selection, which can only handle pre-given data sets without considering the potential group structures among candidate features, streaming feature selection is able to handle streaming data and select meaningful and valuable feature sets with or without group structures on the fly. In this research, the authors propose 1) a novel streaming feature selection algorithm (GFSSF, Group Feature Selection with Streaming Features) by exploring mutual information and group structures among candidate features for both group and individual levels of feature selection from streaming data, 2) a lazy online prediction model with data fusion, feature selection and weighting technologies for real-time traffic prediction from heterogeneous sensor data streams, 3) a lazy online learning model (LB, Live Bayes) with dynamic resampling technology to learn from imbalanced embedded mobile sensor data streams for real-time activity recognition and user recognition, and 4) a lazy update online learning model (CMLR, Cost-sensitive Multinomial Logistic Regression) with streaming feature selection for accurate real-time classification from imbalanced and small sensor data streams. Finally, by integrating traffic flow theory, advanced sensors, data gathering, data fusion, feature selection and weighting, online learning and visualization technologies to estimate and visualize the current and future traffic, a real-time transportation prediction system named VTraffic is built for the Vermont Agency of Transportation. KW - Algorithms KW - Computer online services KW - Data collection KW - Data fusion KW - Forecasting KW - Real time information KW - Technological innovations KW - Traffic data KW - Traffic flow UR - http://vtransplanning.vermont.gov/sites/aot_policy/files/documents/planning/2014%20-%2011%20Harvesting%20Data%20from%20Advanced%20Technologies.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1335036 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01548515 AU - Lee, Jung-Su AU - Stokoe, Kenneth H AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Data Collected on TPAD Implementation Projects PY - 2014/11 SP - 53p AB - Total pavement acceptance device (TPAD) testing was conducted by Center for Transportation (CTR) personnel at the following locations during Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Project 5-6005-01: Statewide Implementation of Total Pavement Acceptance Device (TPAD) (January 2013 through August 2014): (1) San Marcos Airport, (2) IH 10 in El Paso (two tests conducted at this site), (3) US 75 in Sherman, (4) IH 27 in Lubbock and Amarillo, (5) US 287 in Quanah, (6) US 287 in Childress, and (7) SH 288 in Houston. This document consists of the data from the testing. KW - Acceptance tests KW - Data collection KW - Implementation KW - Pavement performance KW - Texas KW - Total Pavement Acceptance Devices UR - http://library.ctr.utexas.edu/ctr-publications/5-6005-01-P3.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1332797 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01548509 AU - Walubita, Lubinda F AU - Hassan, Raenita AU - Lee, Sang Ick AU - Faruk, Abu N M AU - Flores, Maria AU - Scullion, Thomas AU - Abdallah, Imad AU - Nazarian, Soheil AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Data Collection and Population of the Database (The DSS and RDSSP) PY - 2014/11 SP - 82p AB - This study was initiated to collect materials and pavement performance data on a minimum of 100 highway test sections around the state of Texas, incorporating both flexible pavements and overlays. Besides being used to calibrate and validate mechanistic-empirical (M-E) design models, the data collected will also serve as an ongoing reference data source and/or diagnostic tool for Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) engineers and other transportation professionals. Towards this goal, this product provides an itemized documentation of the data collection and population that is being conducted. KW - Data collection KW - Databases KW - Flexible pavements KW - Mechanistic-empirical pavement design KW - Overlays (Pavements) KW - Pavement performance KW - Test sections KW - Texas UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6658-P5.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1335033 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01546179 AU - Whelton, Andrew J AU - Tabor, Matthew L AU - Boettcher, Anne AU - White, Kevin D AU - Newman, Derrick AU - Seward, Eric J AU - Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research AU - Virginia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Standardized Test Method to Quantify Environmental Impacts of Stormwater Pipe Rehabilitation Materials PY - 2014/11//Final Report SP - 43p AB - The purpose of this study was to develop a standardized test method that the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) can apply to evaluate the environmental impact of stormwater infrastructure materials. Three laboratory stormwater infrastructure material leaching protocols named static, stirbar, and modified Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (mTCLP) were developed. These protocols were evaluated for their ability to predict field stormwater quality and aquatic toxicity caused by a pipe rehabilitation material. Cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) was used in this study as a model rehabilitation material because there was prior evidence this technology could cause environmental damage. The study objective was achieved, and during this project it was discovered that the material installation process itself was the main cause of environmental pollution, more than the material. Additional materials and installation processes should be examined in future work. Freshly cured CIPP samples were removed from the field and were submerged in synthetic stormwater and deionized water (54 hr, 23°C, pH 7.2, 120 ppm as CaCO₃). Every 18 hour extractant water was analyzed for chemical oxygen demand (COD), UV₂₅₄ absorbance, and styrene levels along with nonvolatile organic contaminants. CIPP weight gain measurements were also conducted to understand polymer composite water interaction. Results showed that the greatest CIPP weight increase occurred during the first contact period and was roughly 2% to 3%. Water pH and alkalinity levels were unaffected by contact with CIPP specimens. The mTCLP method resulted in the greatest chemical leaching as shown by elevated COD, UV₂₅₄ absorbance, and styrene levels, while the static and stirbar methods both poorly predicted field stormwater quality levels. For mTCLP testing, COD, UV₂₅₄ absorbance, and styrene levels for the material leaching protocols were roughly 12, 43, and 4 times less than levels observed in the field stormwater, respectively. Water type, exposure duration, and agitation methods were found to be statistically significant factors influencing chemical release. Four tentatively identified chemicals were detected in both the laboratory and field testing that included styrene, benzene, 4-(1,1-dimethyl)-cyclohexanol, and 4-(1,1-dimethyl)-cyclohexanone. Several (18) contaminants found in field stormwater were not detected during laboratory material leaching tests. With the exception of styrene, the concentration of detected chemicals was not quantified. None of the laboratory material leaching test extractant waters was acutely toxic to Daphnia magna for any exposure period. As shown by the results of this study, chemicals other than styrene were released by CIPP into stormwater. Any further CIPP testing should not be limited to a few contaminants, but be expanded to include other contaminants of environmental and human health concern. Further work is necessary to determine the ability of the mTCLP method to predict field stormwater levels at multiple installation sites, for broader range of materials, and evaluate additional water quality and toxicity indicators. Additional materials that should be examined with this method include at least those that are created in-situ by chemical reactions such as spray-on coatings and liners. Further testing with additional model systems and individual compounds and at field sites is recommended. KW - Contaminants KW - Cured in place pipe KW - Environmental impacts KW - Laboratory tests KW - Leaching KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) KW - Runoff KW - Test procedures KW - Virginia KW - Water quality management UR - http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/15-r11.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1332696 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01546159 AU - Boriack, Paul C AU - Katicha, Samer W AU - Flintsch, Gerardo W AU - Tomlinson, Christopher R AU - Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research AU - Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg AU - Virginia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Laboratory Evaluation of Asphalt Concrete Mixtures Containing High Contents of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) and Binder PY - 2014/11//Final Report SP - 43p AB - This study investigated the effect of added asphalt binder content on the performance and volumetric properties of asphalt concrete mixtures containing reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) in the amounts of 0%, 20%, and 40%. A laboratory-produced mixture containing 100% RAP was also evaluated. Performance of the mixtures was evaluated based on three criteria: stiffness (dynamic modulus), fatigue resistance, and rutting resistance (flow number and asphalt pavement analyzer). Results showed that a 0.5% increase in binder content improved both the fatigue and rutting resistance of the 0% and 20% RAP mixtures with only slight (insignificant) decreases in dynamic modulus. However, the addition of various amounts of binder to the 40% RAP mixture led to a significant decrease in rutting resistance with little or no improvement to fatigue resistance. Volumetric analysis was performed on all of the mixtures, and detailed results are presented. Based on the results of the study, the authors recommend that the Virginia Department of Transportation supplement current asphalt mixture design procedures that are based on mixture volumetric properties with laboratory-mixture performance testing. KW - Asphalt concrete KW - Bituminous binders KW - Fatigue strength KW - Laboratory tests KW - Mix design KW - Reclaimed asphalt pavements KW - Rutting KW - Stiffness KW - Volumetric analysis UR - http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/15-r8.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1332463 ER - TY - SER AN - 01545304 JO - Civil Engineering Studies, Illinois Center for Transportation Series PB - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Mao, Yiwei AU - Ouyang, Yanfeng AU - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Illinois Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Data Collection and Analysis for Local Roadway Safety Assessment PY - 2014/11 IS - 14-023 SP - 20p AB - The project “Data Analysis for Local Roadway Assessment” conducted systematic road-safety assessment and identified major risks that can be eliminated or reduced by practical road-improvement measures. Specifically, the primary task of this project was to collect and code detailed data on key roadway and traffic control characteristics for 100-meter roadway segments from Internet-based photos on Google Street View®. From November 1, 2013, to April 30, 2014, data on more than 50 key safety-related design characteristics were carefully collected and documented for 1,566 100-meter road segments in Boone County, 3,941 in Champaign County, and 2,545 in Vermilion County. Data were collected at an average rate of 4.16 kilometers per hour. This report summarizes the main activities (training, data coding, and communication), management and control (internal and external supervision), and key results of this project. KW - Data analysis KW - Data collection KW - Google Street View KW - Highway safety KW - Illinois KW - Photographs KW - Roads UR - https://apps.ict.illinois.edu/projects/getfile.asp?id=3302 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1331782 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01544706 AU - Yousefpour, Hossein AU - Helwig, Todd AU - Bayrak, Oguzhan AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Structural Monitoring of the World’s First Precast Network Arch Bridge during Construction PY - 2014/11//Technical Report SP - 183p AB - This report provides an overview of a monitoring study on the West 7th Street Bridge in Fort Worth, Texas that was carried out by The University of Texas at Austin (UT). The West 7th Street Bridge was designed by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and is believed to be the first precast concrete network arch bridge in the world. The bridge consists of a series of prestressed concrete arches that were precast and post-tensioned at a staging area before they were transported to the bridge site and erected. Due to the innovative construction of this bridge, some of the most critical stresses in the life of the arches happened during construction. Therefore, an instrumentation program was conducted to make sure that the arches were not damaged during the fabrication, transport, and erection procedures. The researchers from UT embedded a series of Vibrating Wire Gages (VWGs) in the critical sections of arches and monitored the sensors throughout construction to ensure the safety of the arches. The recorded data also allowed the researchers to evaluate the accuracy of some of the assumptions that were necessary during the design of the arches. An overview of the monitoring effort and the major findings from instrumentation are provided in this document. KW - Arch bridges KW - Bridge construction KW - Fort Worth (Texas) KW - Instrumentation KW - Precast concrete KW - Sensors KW - Stress gages KW - Structural health monitoring UR - http://library.ctr.utexas.edu/ctr-publications/5-5253-03-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330763 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01544700 AU - Clement, J Christopher AU - Stutts, Zachary W AU - Alqarni, Ali S AU - Fowler, David W AU - Whitney, David AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Revamping Aggregate Property Requirements for Portland Cement Concrete PY - 2014/11//Final Report SP - 293p AB - Current Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) procedures for evaluating coarse aggregate for portland cement concrete (PCC) have been in place for over 39 years. Item 421 in the TxDOT “Standard Specifications for Construction and Maintenance of Highways, Streets, and Bridges” describes the tests and test limits that must be met by aggregates before they can be approved for use in portland cement concrete applications. The intention of Item 421 is to ensure that only strong, durable aggregates are used in concrete so that the life of concrete is not cut short by common distress mechanisms, which ultimately lead to costly repairs and replacements. The two main tests currently used by TxDOT to evaluate aggregates are the magnesium sulfate soundness test and the Los Angeles abrasion and impact test. Unfortunately, past research has shown that the magnesium sulfate soundness test and the Los Angeles abrasion and impact test are not able to successfully predict the field performance of an aggregate in concrete. The requirements of Item 421 have thus far done a reasonably good job of ensuring long-lasting concrete; however, the current tests and test limits may be unnecessarily precluding the use of some local materials. As high quality aggregate sources are depleted and transportation costs increase, it will become more necessary to distinguish good performers from marginal and poor performers in the future. If aggregate tests can be found that demonstrate better correlations with field performance, it may be possible to use more local aggregate sources and still provide the desired level of reliability for pavements, bridges, and other TxDOT concrete applications. Researchers will attempt to relate this test data to concrete behavior and ultimately recommend tests for improved TxDOT aggregate specifications. KW - Aggregate tests KW - Coarse aggregates KW - Pavement performance KW - Performance based specifications KW - Portland cement concrete KW - Recommendations KW - Texas KW - Texas Department of Transportation UR - http://library.ctr.utexas.edu/ctr-publications/0-6617-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330350 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01544686 AU - Tremblay, Jason AU - Wild, Jim AU - Vermont Agency of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Concrete Bridge Mix Designs for Control of Cracking, Phase I PY - 2014/11//Final Report SP - 48p AB - Cracking of concrete is a common problem with concrete structures such as bridge decks, pavements and bridge rail. The Agency of Transportation (VTrans) has recently invested in higher performing concrete mixes that are more impervious and has higher early strength. VTrans has also begun to standardize on bare decks on bridge rehabilitation projects. Higher strength concrete is more susceptible to cracking. With more decks being constructed with exposed concrete, the risks of chlorides and other corrosives penetrating to the reinforcing may lead to early deterioration. Additional moisture within the concrete may compound the deterioration during freezethaw periods. These stressors lead to decreased strength, which results in increased maintenance to ensure safety and durability, a reduction in the overall aesthetics of the structures and a decrease in public confidence and support. With closer attention made to the concrete mix by the addition of key admixtures, concrete may be able to perform as desired with fewer resulting problems. With 22 different concrete mix designs produced and tested for various concrete properties, flexural and compressive strength, rapid chloride permeability and shrinkage, it is clear that there are seven candidate designs, given the measured data, which could outperform current VTrans standards. To ensure successful performance of new mix designs, further testing on each, with additional refining, a second phase of this project has been approved, with the same testing parameters, to refine the chosen mix designs further. The refining of designs will entail further optimization of aggregate gradations, as the industry has trended towards reporting benefits of this, lowering only cement content to achieve design strength within 10% at 28 days while other components remain unchanged in a mix, and include shrinkage control measures in most if not all mixes. KW - Admixtures KW - Bridge decks KW - Compressive strength KW - Concrete bridges KW - Cracking KW - Flexural strength KW - Mix design KW - Rapid Chloride Permeability Test KW - Shrinkage KW - Vermont UR - http://vtransplanning.vermont.gov/sites/aot_policy/files/documents/planning/2014%20-%2009%20Evaluation%20of%20Concrete%20Bridge%20Mix%20Designs%20for%20Control%20of%20Cracking%2C%20Phase%20I.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1331770 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01544685 AU - Lincoln, Olivia AU - Tremblay, Jason P AU - Vermont Agency of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon Crosswalk System (PHB) or High-Intensity Activated Crosswalk (HAWK) Evaluation, Initial Report PY - 2014/11 SP - 26p AB - The Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon Crosswalk (PHB) is a type of traffic control system, used to aid pedestrians safely crossing the street and to regulate traffic flow. This study examines the success of the first PHB installed in the state of Vermont. Erected in Colchester, VT, the area is noted for its high traffic flow, as it connects the Fanny Allen Hospital to several travel destination points across VT Route 15. By measuring yielding compliance, approach speed and advance speed, this study seeks to monitor the safety and success of the Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon Crosswalk over a 3-year period. After analyzing the results from the speed study, the Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon Crosswalk has proven more effective, and therefore safer, than having no system in place. Following installation of the PHB, yielding compliance increased by 18% on average, and an 83% increase was found in the number of vehicles slowing down as they approach within 300 feet of the crosswalk. Another pedestrian study will be performed in the future to determine if the system provides long-term benefits once drivers become used to the system. KW - Crosswalks KW - Evaluation KW - Pedestrian safety KW - Traffic control devices KW - Traffic flow KW - Traffic speed KW - Vermont KW - Yielding UR - http://vtransplanning.vermont.gov/sites/aot_policy/files/documents/planning/2014%20-%2010%20Pedestrian%20Hybrid%20Beacon%20Crosswalk%20System%20%28PHB%29%20or%20High-Intensity%20Activated%20Crosswalk%20%28HAWK%29.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1331769 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01544682 AU - Jin, Peter J AU - Fagnant, Dan AU - Hall, Andrea AU - Walton, C M AU - Hockenyos, Jon AU - Krusee, Mike AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Work Plan for Establishing Test Platforms for New Transportation Systems PY - 2014/11 SP - 19p AB - The Texas Technology Task Force (TTTF) reviewed the status and potential of autonomous vehicles (AV), connected vehicles (CV), electric vehicles (EV), and cloud computing (CC) and crowdsourcing technologies. The main objectives of TTTF is to make Texas the pioneering state in the research, development, and deployment of new transportation technologies, to take advantage of its long-standing role as an early adopter, and help to create a market for these new technologies. A cost-effective solution to achieve such goals is the establishment of test platforms, or testbeds. Testbeds can become major resources for accomplishing beta testing (multi-month, pre-commercial testing, etc.) and demonstrating technologies. They allow developers to perform testing in a safe and controlled environment, helping to ensure functionality and quality of the application across multiple platforms and technologies. Testing for feedback and improvement can take place before products go to market. KW - Cloud computing KW - Crowdsourcing KW - Electric vehicles KW - Intelligent vehicles KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Research and educational facilities KW - Strategic planning KW - Technological innovations KW - Testing KW - Texas UR - http://library.ctr.utexas.edu/ctr-publications/0-6803-P4.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1331169 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01544657 AU - Hossain, M Shabbir AU - Kim, Wan Soo AU - Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research AU - Virginia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Estimation of Subgrade Resilient Modulus Using the Unconfined Compression Test PY - 2014/11//Final Report SP - 39p AB - To facilitate pavement design, the new proposed mechanistic-empirical pavement design guide recommends the resilient modulus to characterize subgrade soil and its use for calculating pavement responses attributable to traffic and environmental loading. Although resilient modulus values could be determined through laboratory testing of actual subgrade soil samples, such testing would require significant resources including a high level of technical capability to conduct the test and interpret results. For smaller or less critical projects, where costly and complex resilient modulus testing is not justified, correlation with the results of other simpler tests could be used. The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) uses a simple correlation with the California bearing ratio (CBR) to estimate the resilient modulus in their current pavement design procedure in accordance with the 1993 American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) design guide. As this correlation with CBR is considered to be poor, a simpler unconfined compression (UC) test was explored for better estimation of the resilient modulus of fine-grained soils. Several models were developed in this study to estimate the resilient modulus of fine-grained soil from the results of UC tests. The simplest model considers only the UC strength to predict the resilient modulus with a fair correlation. The more detailed models with stronger correlations also consider the plasticity index, percentage of materials passing the No. 200 sieve, and modulus of the stress-strain curve from the UC test. These models are recommended for implementation by VDOT. KW - California bearing ratio KW - Compression tests KW - Deformation curve KW - Fine grained soils KW - Mechanistic-empirical pavement design KW - Modulus of resilience KW - Pavement design KW - Plasticity index KW - Subgrade (Pavements) KW - Virginia Department of Transportation UR - http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/15-r12.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1331767 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01544644 AU - Seedah, Dan AU - Cruz-Ross, Alejandra AU - Sankaran, Bharathwaj AU - La Fountain, Peter AU - Agarwal, Prateek AU - Kim, Haegon AU - Cebelak, Meredith AU - Overmyer, Sarah AU - Prozzi, Jolanda AU - O’Brien, William J AU - Walton, C Michael AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Integrating Public and Private Data Sources for Freight Transportation Planning PY - 2014/11//Technical Report SP - 160p AB - The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) stipulates that state transportation agencies expand their interest in freight initiatives and modeling to support planning efforts, particularly the evaluation of current and future freight transportation capacity necessary to ensure freight mobility. However, the understanding of freight demand and the evaluation of current and future freight transportation capacity are not only determined by robust models, but are critically contingent on the availability of accurate data. Effective partnerships are clearly needed between the public and private sectors to ensure adequate freight planning and funding of transportation infrastructure at the state and local levels. However, establishing partnerships with firms who are both busy and suspicious of data-sharing, remains a challenge. This study was commissioned by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to explore the feasibility of TxDOT entering into a data-sharing partnership with representatives of the private sector to obtain sample data for use in formulating a strategy for integrating public and private sector data sources. This report summarizes the findings, lessons learned, and recommendations formed from the outreach effort, and provides a prototype freight data architecture that will facilitate the storage, exchange, and integration of freight data through a data-sharing partnerships. KW - Data collection KW - Data sharing KW - Demand KW - Feasibility analysis KW - Freight traffic KW - Mobility KW - Private enterprise KW - Texas KW - Transportation planning UR - http://library.ctr.utexas.edu/ctr-publications/0-6697-ctr-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330353 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01544628 AU - Buddhavarapu, Prasad AU - Smit, Andre F AU - Prozzi, Jorge A AU - Fan, Wei AU - Gurmu, Zegeye AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - University of Texas, Tyler AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Revised Pay Adjustment Factors for HMA and Concrete Pavements PY - 2014/11//Technical Report SP - 190p AB - The current pay adjustment system for hot mix asphalt (HMA) production, placement, and ride consistently rewards contractors, but does not necessarily result in improved performance of constructed HMA pavements and longer service life. The current system needs to be changed in order to improve the quality of pavements in Texas and provide performance-related incentives. A database framework was developed incorporating Texas Department of Transportation's (TxDOT’s) SiteManager quality control/quality assurance (QC/QA) database and network-level performance data in the Pavement Management Information System (PMIS) database, yielding a large dataset comprising more than 600 pavements across Texas with available QC/QA data and performance records spanning 3 to 10 years. The research team evaluated the influence of variations in the construction QC/QA parameters on pavement performance. Advanced statistical modeling of these relationships using econometric approaches was conducted to establish the significance, sensitivity, and consistency of these parameters in regard to pavement performance. The statistical models provided the tools necessary to evaluate the current pay adjustment system with an eye to developing new performance-related specifications. This report provides recommendations for revising the production and placement pay adjustment factors for HMA pavements and revised pay adjustments for the ride quality of HMA and concrete pavements. KW - Concrete pavements KW - Contractors KW - Hot mix asphalt KW - Incentives KW - Pavement performance KW - Payment KW - Performance based specifications KW - Quality assurance KW - Quality control KW - Recommendations KW - Ride quality KW - Texas Department of Transportation UR - http://library.ctr.utexas.edu/ctr-publications/0-6675-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330637 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01544599 AU - Sampson, Laura C AU - Houston, Alexandra V AU - Charbeneau, Randall J AU - Barrett, Michael E AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Water Quality and Hydraulic Performance of Permeable Friction Course on Curbed Sections of Highways PY - 2014/11//Technical Report SP - 103p AB - This paper presents the results of a study on the use of porous overlays on urban highways. Permeable friction course (PFC) is a layer of porous asphalt applied to the top of conventional asphalt highways at a thickness of around 50 mm. The first objective of the study was to determine the impact of porous asphalt on the quality of stormwater runoff on highways with a curb and gutter drainage system. The quality of highway stormwater runoff was monitored before and after the installation of PFC on an eight-lane divided highway in the Austin, Texas, area. Observed concentrations of total suspended solids from PFC were 92% lower than those in runoff from the conventional pavement. Concentration reductions were also observed for nitrate/nitrite and total amounts of phosphorus, copper, lead, and zinc. The data shows that the pollutant reductions on highway sections with curb and gutter are similar to those with a rural cross section. The effect of two different binder compositions was also compared, showing an increase in zinc when recycled rubber is used. The second objective focuses on the drainage capabilities of PFC. While porous overlays can reduce stormwater accumulation on roadways, conveyance capacity at high rainfall intensities is limited. Installing subgrade underdrains within PFC could further improve stormwater conveyance. This research determined the hydraulic profile of runoff as it approached an underdrain with varying flow rates and grades. The results could assist Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) in the sizing and configuration of drains based on rainfall intensity and roadway geometry. KW - Austin (Texas) KW - Before and after studies KW - Binder content KW - Curbs KW - Drainage KW - Friction course KW - Gutters KW - Permeability KW - Porous pavements KW - Runoff KW - Urban highways KW - Water quality UR - http://library.ctr.utexas.edu/ctr-publications/0-6635-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330351 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01544586 AU - Buddhavarapu, Prasad AU - Smit, André de Fortier AU - Prozzi, Jorge A AU - Trevino, Manuel AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of the Benefits of Diamond Grinding of CRCP PY - 2014/11//Final Report SP - 72p AB - This report outlines the testing and evaluation of a continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP) on IH35W near Fort Worth rehabilitated using diamond grinding instead of applying an asphalt overlay to extend the serviceability of the old concrete pavement. Surface macrotexture, skid, roughness and noise testing was done prior to the diamond grinding to establish reference levels for comparison. After grinding, the macrotexture, skid, roughness and noise testing of the surface was repeated after 4, 9, and 15 months to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of this rehabilitation strategy. Statistical analyses of the data collected were done to investigate the change in surface properties with diamond grinding and how the macrotexture, skid, roughness, and noise of the surface changed over time. The influence of pre-existing surface condition as well as traffic load and speed on the deterioration of the diamond-ground surface was also investigated. The study indicates the benefit of diamond grinding as a rehabilitation strategy for enhancing the functionality of aged CRCP but extended monitoring of the diamond-ground sections is recommended to better define the serviceability, service life and benefit/cost ratio of this strategy. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Continuously reinforced concrete pavements KW - Diamond grinding KW - Evaluation KW - Macrotexture KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) KW - Roughness KW - Skid resistance KW - Statistical analysis KW - Tire/pavement noise UR - http://library.ctr.utexas.edu/ctr-publications/5-9046-01-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330352 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01544546 AU - Jin, Peter J AU - Fagnant, Dan AU - Hall, Andrea AU - Walton, C M AU - Hockenyos, Jon AU - Krusee, Mike AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Work Plan for Establishing a Public-Private Consortium for Technology Development PY - 2014/11 SP - 19p AB - The Texas Technology Task Force (TTTF) proposes that Texas launch a public-private consortium (PPC) that will bring together technology industry leaders and experts, public professionals and representatives, nonprofit organizations, and research institutions in order to encourage the adoption of emerging technologies that will contribute to a safer, more efficient, seamless, and enjoyable transportation system. This document includes Texas PPC examples, stakeholders, key issues and a work plan. KW - Public private partnerships KW - Stakeholders KW - Technological innovations KW - Texas UR - http://library.ctr.utexas.edu/ctr-publications/0-6803-P3.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1331170 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01544525 AU - Tremblay, Jason AU - Sanborn, Devon AU - Vermont Agency of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Assessment of ASTM D 6690-12 Type II and Type IV Joint Sealers PY - 2014/11//Final Report SP - 31p AB - To address the issue of water infiltration and debris retention, bituminous crack sealers and fillers have been developed to help prevent premature pavement distress. If applied appropriately, crack sealers and fillers can significantly extend the life of a pavement. To utilize crack sealers and fillers properly, one must understand that sealers and fillers differ in application and material types. Crack sealers are typically used on cracks that move more than one-eighth inch, with the intention to prevent water and debris from entering the pavement structure. The rigorous installation process involves thorough crack preparation followed by placement of high elongation material in a specific configuration. Crack fillers generally use a stiffer material than crack sealers and are typically used on non-working cracks. The purpose of this study was to examine and evaluate the constructability, overall performance and cost effectiveness of American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) M324-12 Type II versus IV Joint Sealers. Research personnel assessed each product’s durability at each location. Cracks were filled according to the project plans. Efforts were made to provide a comparative analysis with regard to performance and cost of both material types by minimizing application variations in weather conditions, equipment used, and application crewmembers by applying material on the same day and/or conditions. Over a three-year span and six data collection timeframes, the type IV material resulted in an average of a 10% less allowance of water passage through the length of a filled crack. A ten percent better performance of a material over a comparable alternative is considerable and should not be ignored, and results in approximately 2 feet less of compromised length of a full width transverse crack. KW - Costs KW - Durability KW - Infiltration KW - Joint sealers KW - Joint sealing KW - Pavement cracking KW - Pavement maintenance KW - Vermont UR - http://vtransplanning.vermont.gov/sites/aot_policy/files/2014%20-%2008%20Assessment%20of%20ASTM%20D%206690-12%20Type%20II%20and%20Type%20IV%20Joint%20Sealers.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1331771 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01573559 AU - Liu, Tieming AU - Wang, Ning AU - Yu, Hongbo AU - Basara, Jeffrey AU - Hong, Yang (Eric) AU - Bukkapatnam, Satish AU - Oklahoma State University, Stillwater AU - Oklahoma Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Black Ice Detection and Road Closure Control System for Oklahoma PY - 2014/10/31/Final Report SP - 74p AB - Black ice is a thin coating of glazed ice on roadways or other transportation surfaces. Black ice has identical appearance with black pavement and wet road, and it often forms during calm weather. It is highly transparent and thus difficult to see. Black ice usually forms at night or early morning, first on bridges and overpasses (due to their elevated nature and being exposed on all sides), then on the roads as temperatures continue to drop. In this project, the authors develop a prototype decision support system (DSS) to predict and detect black ice formation and pinpoint dangerous road sections. To reduce accidents caused by black ice, a wireless controlled module control would activate ice-warning and lane-closure signals and lights remotely. The DSS will help Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) and Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management (OEM) make prompt and effective decisions to reduce the number of traffic accidents caused by ice. KW - Black ice KW - Decision support systems KW - Detection and identification KW - Emergency management KW - Lane closure KW - Oklahoma KW - Prototypes KW - Remote control KW - Warning systems KW - Wireless communication systems UR - http://l92018.eos-intl.net/elibsql16_L92018_Documents/FHWA-OK-14-08%202249%20Liu.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363439 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01559952 AU - Bettisworth, Caitlin AU - Hassol, Josh AU - Maloney, Cynthia AU - Sheridan, Amy AU - Sloan, Suzanne AU - Stuart, John AU - Volpe National Transportation Systems Center AU - Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Dynamic Mobility Applications Policy Analysis: Policy and Institutional Issues for Enabling Advanced Traveler Information Services (EnableATIS) PY - 2014/10/30/Policy analysis white paper SP - 26p AB - This report documents policy considerations for Enabling Advanced Traveler Information Services, or EnableATIS. EnableATIS is the traveler information element of the Dynamic Mobility Applications program, and it provides a framework to develop multi-source, multimodal data into new advanced traveler information applications and strategies. The policy team has documented four policy issues for EnableATIS, none of them high-priority. In conclusion, the policy team finds that additional policy research, outreach, and other steps may be needed, including investigation of public-private partnerships to broaden the reach and improve the effectiveness of ATIS implementation. In summary, the four issues and recommended next steps include: 1) Inequitable distribution of ATIS and other connected vehicle functionality may need to be evaluated for the level of potential impact on underserved populations; 2) Driver distraction—an issue shared by many connected vehicle applications—is among the central concerns of connected vehicle policy research. Analysis is currently under way by USDOT and industry experts; 3) Data integration may result from market forces or from standards development organizations becoming involved in the ATIS application market. The USDOT may choose to provide support if the private sector is motivated to work with public agencies; 4) Similarly, tools for providing ATIS data to transportation management centers may evolve if private-sector stakeholders are motivated to work with USDOT towards greater system-wide efficiency and effectiveness. Based on the results of this analysis, the policy team does not foresee a need for any new policies to be enacted or any major issues that will stand in the way of successful private sector ATIS development. KW - Advanced traveler information systems KW - ITS program applications KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Plan implementation KW - Policy analysis KW - Policy making KW - Public private partnerships KW - Technology assessment UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54600/54616/FHWA-JPO-14-135_v1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1348679 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01559951 AU - Bettisworth, Caitlin AU - Hassol, Josh AU - Maloney, Cynthia AU - Sheridan, Amy AU - Sloan, Suzanne AU - Volpe National Transportation Systems Center AU - Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Dynamic Mobility Applications Policy Analysis: Policy and Institutional Issues for Freight Advanced Traveler Information Systems (FRATIS) PY - 2014/10/30/Policy analysis and white paper SP - 28p AB - This report documents policy considerations for the Freight Advanced Traveler Information System, or FRATIS. FRATIS applications provide freight-specific route guidance and optimize drayage operations so that load movements are coordinated between freight facilities to reduce empty-load trips. The analysis identified the following potential policy issues: 1) Data Privacy. There may be inherent trade-offs for users between the desired functionality of FRATIS and the need to protect confidential information, such as location data, company proprietary information (e.g., pricing, customer lists), and financial transaction data. A privacy impact assessment using the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 800-53 Rev 4 is underway to identify the minimal amounts of data necessary for FRATIS functionality, and to assess any data sensitivities. 2) Data Security. Given the multiple existing systems involved in generating FRATIS data (including the vehicle themselves), FRATIS faces the threat of spoofing or hacking that is intended to corrupt, falsify, disrupt, disable, or end-run the system. Examination as to whether existing freight logistics security offers enough protection against these common security threats is underway. 3) Data Quality and Compatibility. As use of FRATIS expands to involve more carriers and larger geographic regions, the system may find it beneficial to integrate both proprietary and public data from varying sources and formats to have a common set of protocols for data exchange. This raises three potential concerns. First, some needed data elements may be unavailable, reducing the overall quality and usefulness of the data. Second, in cases where data are available, they may exist in incompatible formats. Finally, certain limitations may exist on the collection and use of data. 4) Oversize/Overweight (OSOW) Permitting and Routing. The FRATIS ConOps identified OSOW permitting as a possible capability. However, this capability is not being tested as part of the FRATIS demonstrations. Based on stakeholder outreach, there is some industry interest in exploring use of OSOW for route planning in FRATIS. This capability could be demonstrated with states that already have OSOW routing maps that could be incorporated into FRATIS. This would likely be a technical issue moving forward and would not have any policy implications, but would require institutional coordination to enable any demonstration. 5) Assigning Loads to Unsafe Drivers or Carriers. In theory, the container-load matching capabilities of FRATIS could result in loads being assigned to carriers, drivers, or vehicles that have safety violations or poor overall safety records. Existing FMCSA safety regulations are effectively used by enforcement personnel to identify unsafe drivers, vehicles, and carriers. 6) Conflicts with Existing Intermodal Terminal Policies. Initially, there were concerns that the variable gate capacity needed at intermodal terminals to enable FRATIS drayage optimization would conflict with union shift-work rules. This issue has been resolved by the development team by modifying the FRATIS drayage optimization algorithms to ensure that they do not result in schedules that conflict with established terminal work rules. Based on the results of this analysis, the policy team does not foresee a need for any new policies to be enacted or any major issues that will stand in the way of successful market adoption and use by industry. Ultimately, guidance on installation, integration, operations, and maintenance will be produced by the technical teams when completing their technology transfer to the marketplace. KW - Advanced traveler information systems KW - Drayage KW - Freight traffic KW - ITS program applications KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Policy analysis KW - Policy making KW - Route guidance KW - Technology assessment UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54600/54617/FHWA-JPO-14-139_v1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1348690 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01544637 AU - Medhani, Rezene AU - Khan, Wasi AU - Arhin, Stephen AU - Howard University AU - District of Columbia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Mix Designs and Test Procedures for Pervious Concrete PY - 2014/10/27/Final Report SP - 39p AB - Pervious concrete is a mixture of cement, aggregate, and water that provides a level of porosity which allows water to percolate into the sub-grade. It differs from the conventional concrete since it usually contains a smaller amount of fine aggregate. There is typically single size aggregate in pervious concrete which results in larger air void than conventional concrete. The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) constructed pavements in selected street alleys using pervious concrete on a pilot basis. DDOT does not currently have its own specifications for pervious concrete. As a result, this research was aimed at developing and testing five design mixes of pervious concrete to identify the appropriate mix which would provide the maximum compressive strength with an acceptable permeability rate and flexural strength. The tests were conducted on the five design mixes using three different types of compaction methods (self-consolidating, half-rodding and Standard Proctor Hammer). Based on the results, a design mix with a compressive strength of 3,500 pounds per square inch (psi) with a maximum coefficient of permeability of 57.82 inches per hour (in/hr) was selected. The maximum modulus of rupture of the selected mix was determined to be 565 psi. The in-situ infiltration tests conducted at 3 locations in the District of Columbia (DC) with the optimal pervious concrete mix yielded average infiltration rates between 86.1 and 208.7 in/hr. This falls within the typical infiltration rate of pervious concrete (i.e., 100 to 200 in/hr, on average). KW - Compressive strength KW - Concrete KW - Flexural strength KW - Infiltration KW - Mix design KW - Permeability KW - Porosity KW - Washington (District of Columbia) UR - http://d92016.eos-intl.net/eLibSQL14_D92016_Documents/2014-02_Pervious%20Concrete%20Final%20Report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1331669 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01570472 TI - 11th International Conference on Low Volume Roads and Peer Exchange AB - The focus of this pooled fund project will be to encourage States and other agency participation in the Low Volume Roads Conference. The primary activities of this pooled fund project are technology exchange, information sharing, and the facilitation of partnering relationships among state agencies, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and other appropriate associations. Specifically this pooled fund will: (1) Provide communication and information sharing among member states. Discuss research, development and technology transfer needs in the areas of design, construction, maintenance, and safety on low volume roads and provide research ideas to Transportation Research Board (TRB) in connection with the 2015 11th Low Volume Roads (LVR) Conference. (2) 11th International Low Volume Roads Conference: Provide a technology and knowledge exchange forum to enhance the practical knowledge of conference participants concerning low volume road management with a focus on encouraging State Department of Transportation (DOT) participation in the conference. (3) State DOT Meeting on Low Volume Road Issues: Provide a technology and knowledge exchange forum focused on State DOT Low Volume Road Issues during a workshop at the conference. Topics may include agency collaboration, funding, asset management, shared Right of Way (ROW)/utilities, safety programs, emergency response, training and certifications, maintenance of traffic, federal oversight, standards and specifications, contracting methods, environmental issues, energy development, maintenance, material sources and quality, and bonding. KW - Highway design KW - Highway maintenance KW - Highway safety KW - Low volume roads KW - Road construction KW - Technology transfer UR - http://www.pooledfund.org/Details/Study/559 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1362113 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01546291 TI - Investigation of Highway Asset Inventory and Data Collection Methods AB - The objectives of this project are to: (1) Develop experimental designs for the vendor testing and ground truth testing. (2) Perform ground truth testing (3) Analyze the ground truth test results and the vendors; test results from the vendor testing using statistical methods (4) Develop recommendations for the method of collection of the critical asset data elements. KW - Asset management KW - Data collection KW - Infrastructure KW - State highway departments KW - Statistical analysis UR - http://www.pooledfund.org/Details/Study/465 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1333173 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543371 TI - Drained Timber Pile Ground Improvement for Liquefaction Mitigation AB - This project will improve ground stability by using drained timber piles to improve densification in surrounding contractive soils by draining construction-induced excess pore pressures as well as excess pore pressures generated during earthquake-induced ground motions. The work will be carried out in two stages. Work in Stage 1 will focus on developing drained timber pile prototypes and evaluating their effectiveness in improving soil densification at a selected test site for factors such as spacing, drainage, and time. The work will begin with the development of several drained timber pile prototypes, which will be evaluated for their robustness against installation damage. A suitable test site for full-scale evaluation of selected timber pile prototypes will be identified with assistance from collaborating industrial partners. The site subsurface will be assessed through a series of tests, including soil borings with sampling, cone penetration, and shear velocity soundings. The next task will investigate the effect of spacing, drainage, and time-dependence on the degree of densification achieved with drained displacement piling. Conventional displacement pilings will also be evaluated for comparison. Work in Stage 2 will further investigate the effect of spacing and drainage on the reduction of blast-induced pore pressures followed by application of analytical methods to predict densification pore pressure reduction and comparing analytical data with actual field results. At lease 25 borings will be drilled and packed with small explosive charges to raise the pore pressure. The generation of excess pore pressures is expected to decrease with decrease in pile spacing and, for a given pore pressure, blast-induced excess pore pressures will be smaller in the zones improved with drained piles as compared to conventional piles. Finally, analytical techniques, including finite element modeling, will be used to predict the amount of densification and pore pressure reduction. The predicted values will be compared with those obtained in field experiments. By showing that pore pressures can be adequately predicted using these modeling techniques, contractors and departments of transportation (DOTs) will have strong guidance with which to aid planning and design of drained timber displacement pile ground improvement. KW - Dislocation (Geology) KW - Drainage KW - Liquefaction KW - Piles (Supports) KW - Pore pressure KW - Prototype tests KW - Soil densification KW - Soil stabilization KW - Timber UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3905 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330732 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01544695 AU - Kim, Sangkey AU - Hajbabaie, Ali AU - Williams, Billy M AU - Rouphail, Nagui M AU - North Carolina State University, Raleigh AU - North Carolina State University, Raleigh AU - North Carolina Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Development of Near Real Time Performance Measurements for Closed-Loop Signal Systems (CLS) Using Historical Traffic Data from Existing Loop Detectors and Signal Timing Data PY - 2014/10/17/Final Report SP - 230p AB - The overarching goal of this research project was to investigate the potential for the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) Central Office Signal Timing (COST) Section to monitor and assess the quality of field deployed closed-loop signal system plans using the data inherent in the systems. The project is complete and has produced recommendations and deliverables that should enhance the COST Section’s ability to achieve its mission of developing and maintaining quality signal coordination plans across the state of North Carolina. Key findings and conclusions include the identification of a series of monitoring and analysis elements that can be implemented using the OASIS software detector and split monitor logs. In order to analyze dynamic, cycle-by-cycle bandwidth, a tool entitled the Dynamic Bandwidth Analysis Tool (DBAT) was developed and provided as a project deliverable. The DBAT tool was enhanced to provide exhaustive search optimization that identifies offset combinations that maximize dynamic bandwidth for a given set of split monitor log cycle-by-cycle signal indications. DBAT optimization is feasible for systems up to four or five intersections in length. A linear program (LP) formulation was developed and tested that overcomes the system size limitation. The LP formulation can serve as the basis for future development of an implementable dynamic bandwidth optimization tool. KW - Bandwidth (Traffic signals) KW - Feedback control KW - Linear programming KW - North Carolina KW - Optimization KW - Performance measurement KW - Recommendations KW - Traffic data KW - Traffic signal timing UR - http://www.ncdot.gov/doh/preconstruct/tpb/research/download/2012-12finalreport.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1329808 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01587768 AU - Haider, Zulqarnain AU - Nikolaev, Alexander AU - Kang, Jee Eun AU - Kwon, Changhyun AU - State University of New York, Buffalo AU - University Transportation Research Center AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Real-time Dynamic Pricing for Bicycle Sharing Programs PY - 2014/10/15/Final Report SP - 39p AB - This paper presents a new conceptual approach to improve the operational performance of public bike sharing systems using pricing schemes. Its methodological developments are accompanied by experimental analyses with bike demand data from Capital Bikeshare program of Washington, DC. An optimized price vector determines the incentive levels that can persuade system customers to take bicycles from, or park them at, neighboring stations so as to strategically minimize the number of unbalanced stations. This strategy intentionally makes some unbalanced stations even more highly unbalanced, creating hub stations. This reduces the need for trucks and dedicated staff to carry out inventory repositioning. For smaller networks, a bilevel optimization model is introduced to minimize the number of unbalanced stations optimally. The results are compared with two heuristic approaches. One approach involves a genetic algorithm, while the second adjusts route prices by segregating the stations into different categories based on their current inventory profile, projected future demand, and maximum and minimum inventory values calculated to fulfill certain desired service level requirements. It is shown that the latter approach, called the iterative price adjustment scheme (IPAS), reduces the overall operating cost while partially or fully obviating the need for a manual repositioning operation. KW - Bicycle parking KW - Bicycle travel KW - Capital Bikeshare KW - Genetic algorithms KW - Optimization KW - Pricing KW - Vehicle sharing UR - http://www.utrc2.org/sites/default/files/Final-Report-Real-time-Dynamic-Pricing-Bicycle-Sharing.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1394940 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01579213 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Enhanced Delineation and Friction for Horizontal Curves PY - 2014/10/15 SP - 2p AB - Implementing the recently published curve treatments included in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) should improve curve safety over past practices by providing consistency.  However, additional enhancements can be made with post‐mounted delineation in the curve or an enhanced signing treatment that may include larger chevron signs with enhanced retroreflectivity.  For more challenging curves, dual indicated advanced signs with constant flashing beacons may be effective.  Pavement markings are also an effective communication tool to indicate the alignment change.  Pavement friction is critical for changing vehicle direction and ensuring the vehicle remains in its lane.  Traditional friction courses or high friction surface treatments should be considered for curves with numerous wet weather crashes or severe curves with higher operating speeds. KW - Friction course KW - Highway curves KW - Highway safety KW - Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices KW - Traffic control devices UR - http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/provencountermeasures/fhwa_sa_12_009.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1370742 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01548566 AU - Chitturi, Madhav V AU - Noyce, David A AU - Santiago-Chaparro, Kelvin R AU - Alsghan, Ibrahim AU - University of Wisconsin, Madison AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Elongated Pavement Marking Signs PY - 2014/10/15/Final Report SP - 103p AB - The goal of this study was to evaluate the conspicuity, legibility, and effectiveness of symbolized pavement markings that are elongated (horizontal) versions of the post-mounted signs they complement. Towards this goal, a comprehensive literature and state-of-the-practice review was performed followed by a driving simulator evaluation and field evaluation of elongated pavement markings. Research shows that elongated pavement marking letters and arrows significantly improve recognition distance; however, the effect of elongated pavement marking signs has not been evaluated. Based on a comprehensive literature review and feedback from the Traffic Control Devices Pooled Fund Study members, speed limit (R2-1), curve (W1-2), and pedestrian crossing (W11-2) signs were chosen for the driving simulator evaluation. Results from the driving simulator evaluation indicate that recognition distance increased quadratically as elongation ratio increased. Data suggested an elongation ratio of 5:1 provided maximum visibility distance for drivers. Driving simulator results also showed that operating speeds of drivers in conditions with elongated pavement marking signs complimenting post-mounted signs were similar or lower than operating speeds in locations with only post-mounted signs. The field evaluation was limited to speed limit and curve signs. Field evaluations were conducted in Kansas, Missouri and Wisconsin using the 5:1 elongation ratio for speed and curve warning signs. Operating speed of free flowing vehicles was used as the measure of effectiveness and speed data were collected upstream of-, at-, and downstream of the corresponding post-mounted sign. The speed limit sign was tested at four sites (at least one in each state) and was found to effectively reduce operating speeds at three of the sites. A curve sign was tested at three sites in Kansas and Wisconsin and found operating speed reductions at two of the sites. Research findings demonstrate a measureable effect in operating speed reduction with installing elongated pavement marking regulatory and warning signs to compliment the adjacent post-mounted signs. KW - Driving simulators KW - Field studies KW - Kansas KW - Literature reviews KW - Missouri KW - Operating speed KW - Road markings KW - State of the practice KW - Traffic control devices KW - Wisconsin UR - http://www.pooledfund.org/Document/Download/5366 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1333207 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01548652 AU - Cuddy, Matthew AU - Epstein, Alexander AU - Maloney, Cynthia AU - Westrom, Ryan AU - Hassol, Joshua AU - Kim, Anita AU - Damm-Luhr, David AU - Bettisworth, Caitlin AU - Volpe National Transportation Systems Center AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - The Smart/Connected City and Its Implications for Connected Transportation PY - 2014/10/14/White Paper SP - 52p AB - This white paper outlines the potential for the emerging connected transportation system to interface with smart/connected cities. Its aim is to lay the foundation for defining steps that the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Connected Vehicle Program should take to identify and exploit opportunities to help ensure that connected vehicles and connected transportation fulfill their potential to improve safety, mobility, and environmental outcomes in future complexly interdependent and multimodal environments. The paper describes a framework for understanding the dynamics that animate smart/connected cities: intelligent infrastructure, new knowledge-generating processes, and a smart grid to power it all. In the process, it contextualizes and connects emerging and established concepts that describe technology-enabled changes such as “the sharing economy” and “crowdsourcing.” Drawing on that framework, the paper argues that two trends are likely to predominantly shape the opportunities for connected transportation in future cities: 1) the rise of the Internet of Things and the essential role that vehicles play as nodes in that network, and 2) a transition away from achieving mobility through asset (car) ownership and toward accessing mobility as a service. The paper concludes by recommending eight research objectives to structure future USDOT research in this area. KW - Cities KW - Intelligent transportation systems KW - Mobile communication systems KW - Mobility KW - Multimodal transportation KW - Recommendations UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54200/54204/smart_connected_city_FINAL_111314.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334681 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01541450 AU - Donnell, Eric AU - Gayah, Vikash AU - Jovanis, Paul AU - Pennsylvania State University, University Park AU - Pennsylvania Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Safety Performance Functions PY - 2014/10/08/Final Report SP - 82p AB - This project developed safety performance functions for roadway segments and intersections for two-lane rural highways in Pennsylvania. The statistical modeling methodology was consistent with that used in the first edition of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ Highway Safety Manual. Two realistic case study examples are provided to illustrate how to use the safety performance functions developed in this project. KW - Case studies KW - Highway Safety Manual KW - Intersections KW - Pennsylvania KW - Rural highways KW - Safety Performance Functions KW - Two lane highways UR - http://www.mautc.psu.edu/docs/PSU-2013-09.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1325334 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01539804 TI - Performance Comparison of Structural Steel Coating Systems AB - For the last twenty years, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) has primarily specified the use of the Three Coat Organic Zinc primer coat, Epoxy intermediate coat and Urethane finish coat (OZEU) system for the corrosion protection and aesthetic enhancement of structural steel. When the steel is prepared and the paint is applied properly, the three coat system has performed well. Paint manufacturers have developed new technology alternatives to the conventional three coat painting systems. ODOT needs to make sure the most cost effective methods are being used to extend the service life of its infrastructure assets. This research will investigate if the Two Coat Organic Zinc and Polysiloxane Structural Steel Coating Systems would be quicker to apply than the Three Coat Organic Zinc, Epoxy and Urethane (OZEU) Structural Steel Coating Systems, and if they can perform as well or better in protecting structural steel from corrosion, while retaining gloss and color. KW - Coatings KW - Corrosion protection KW - Epoxides KW - Ohio KW - Paint KW - Structural steel KW - Urethane KW - Zinc UR - http://worldcat.org/arcviewer/9/OHI/2014/10/28/H1414523602145/viewer/file1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1325137 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01539802 TI - Performance Comparison of Abutment and Retaining Wall Drainage Systems AB - Drainage behind abutment walls and retaining walls is vital to the performance of the abutment and approach slabs as it relates to potential settlement and rideability. The drainage system must retain the soil backfill while allowing water to pass out from behind the wall providing hydrostatic relief. Lack of proper drainage behind abutment and retaining walls can cause damage to the abutment walls, retaining walls, approach slabs, and expansion joints. Settlement at these locations can cause unsafe driving conditions. This research will conduct a benefit analysis comparing Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT's) current process of two feet of porous backfill with prefabricated composite drainage systems. The benefit analysis should reflect systems with potential to demonstrate a cost benefit. To accomplish this research, the scope of work should be divided into two phases. Phase 2 is contingent upon successful completion of Phase 1 and written authorization from ODOT's Research Program. The scope of work should include, at a minimum, the activities noted below. Additional tasks may be included in the proposal by the research team as appropriate to ensure achievement of research objectives. KW - Abutments KW - Bridge decks KW - Drainage KW - Expansion joints KW - Ground settlement KW - Ohio KW - Retaining walls KW - Ride quality UR - http://worldcat.org/arcviewer/9/OHI/2014/10/28/H1414523602145/viewer/file1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1325135 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01551418 AU - Long, Suzanna AU - Qin, Ruwen AU - Betak, John AU - Ojha, Akhilesh AU - Myers, John AU - Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla AU - Missouri Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Quantifying Economic Benefits for Rail Infrastructure Projects PY - 2014/10/05/Final Report SP - 103p AB - This project identifies metrics for measuring the benefit of rail infrastructure projects for key stakeholders. It is important that stakeholders with an interest in community economic development play an active role in the development of the rail network. Economic development activities in both rural and urban settings are essential if a nation is to realize growth and prosperity. Many communities have developed goals and visions to establish an economic development program, but they often fail to achieve their goals due to uncertainties during the project selection and planning process. Communities often select a project from a vast pool of ideas with only limited capital available for investment. Selecting the right project at the right time becomes imperative for economic and community development. This process is significantly hampered by limited methods for quantifying the economic benefit to key stakeholders. Four methodologies are used in this project to determine the most useful tools for quantifying benefit given the availability of data, relevant expertise, and other information. KW - Construction projects KW - Decision making KW - Economic benefits KW - Infrastructure KW - Methodology KW - Metrics (Quantitative assessment) KW - Missouri KW - Railroads KW - Socioeconomic development KW - Stakeholders KW - Strategic planning UR - http://library.modot.mo.gov/rdt/reports/TR201410/cmr15-004.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1339677 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01558270 AU - Peirce, Sean AU - Puckett, Sean AU - Petrella, Margaret AU - Minnice, Paul AU - Ray, Rosalie AU - Lappin, Jane AU - Volpe National Transportation Systems Center AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Effects of Full-Facility Variable Tolling on Traveler Behavior: Evidence from a Panel Study of the SR-520 Corridor in Seattle PY - 2014/10/03/Final Report SP - 115p AB - This paper uses a two-stage panel survey approach, with roughly 2,000 respondent households, to analyze the impacts of a federally sponsored variable tolling program on SR-520 in the Seattle region. The focus is on corridor users’ daily travel choices and opinions. Key survey findings include a marked decrease in respondents’ travel in the corridor after tolling, particularly on SR-520, and significant diversion to nearby toll-free I-90. There were also increases in transit mode share in the corridor, while carpooling and telecommuting levels were relatively stable. In the post-tolling survey, respondents registered an overall increase in satisfaction with their commutes and less stress associated with driving. Reported satisfaction with the speed and reliability of individual trips on SR-520 also increased substantially, and personal attitudes shifted slightly in favor of tolling. KW - Attitudes KW - Commuting KW - Modal split KW - Panel studies KW - Route choice KW - Seattle (Washington) KW - Travel behavior KW - Variable tolls KW - Washington State Route 520 UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54000/54063/UPA_Panel_Survey_Seattle_Final_Report_Volpe.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1347054 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543402 TI - Research Program Design---Administration of Highway and Transportation Agencies. New CEO Orientation and Peer Exchange on Teamwork Between an Agency CEO and a Transportation Board or Commission AB - As the average tenure of chief executive officers (CEO) of state transportation agencies has declined in recent years, increasing numbers of CEOs may find themselves newly appointed, with limited experience in dealing with the issues that operating a large public transportation agency entails. Many of these issues are common to all state transportation agencies (that is, DOTs--departments of transportation and the like), but the particular institutional and governance arrangements within states may influence how issues arise and are most effectively addressed. For example, a number of CEOs must work with independently-elected or appointed boards or commissions who have significant roles in policy and budget matters. Experience has shown that new CEOs value and benefit from opportunities to discuss the challenges and experience of DOT leadership with their more seasoned peers. American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) staff and leadership seek to make such opportunities available periodically by organizing one- to three-day peer exchanges and leadership forums highlighting current issues facing the organization's member agencies. Research under the NCHRP Project 20-24 series of projects over the past two decades has provided intellectual and logistical support for a number of these events. The objectives of this research are to conduct background analyses, organize, provide intellectual and logistical support, and document a workshop with new and more experienced CEOs to discuss leadership challenges. The National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) anticipates the workshop will engage AASHTO staff and possibly senior Federal Highway Administration officials as well. The research is being conducted in two parts, with funding, principal investigators, and research teams as follows: (1) NCHRP 20-24(99)A Teamwork Between a State Transportation Agency and a Transportation Board or Commission: $40,000, Thomas A. DeCoster and (2) NCHRP 20-24(99)B New CEO Orientation and Peer Exchange Workshop: $210,000; Paula Hammond (Parsons Brinkerhoff) KW - American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials KW - Chief executive officer KW - Information dissemination KW - Leadership KW - Peer groups KW - Policy KW - State departments of transportation KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration KW - Workshops UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3816 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1330799 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01577142 TI - Identification of Effective Next Generation Pavement Performance Measures and Asset Management Methodologies to Support MAP-21 Performance Management Requirements AB - The study involves: (1) The identification or conceptual development of a more strategic pavement performance measure that can be used to effectively and timely assess that investments are made to “…maintain the highway infrastructure asset system in a state of good repair” as it relates to pavement assets. USDOT TIGER II Guidance issued in 2010 by the Department of Transportation, Office of the Secretary, under Docket No. DOT–OST–2010–0076 defined the State of Good Repair (SGR) as “improving the condition of existing transportation facilities and systems, with particular emphasis on projects that minimize life‐cycle costs.” (2) The identification or conceptual development methodologies to guide full implementation of comprehensive asset management, including trade-off analysis from a common ground among disparate assets that are traditionally individually assessed and managed. Section 1106 of MAP-21 defines asset management “a strategic and systematic process of operating, maintaining, and improving physical assets, with a focus on both engineering and economic analysis based upon quality information, to identify a structured sequence of maintenance, preservation, repair, rehabilitation, and replacement actions that will achieve and sustain a desired state of good repair over the lifecycle of the assets at minimum practicable cost.’’ The scope of this effort is limited to identification or conceptual development only. Development, validation, and pilot implementation of promising concept(s), if any, will be pursued in a follow on effort. It is also anticipated that there may be multiple approaches that may merit consideration and that some may draw from approaches in use outside transportation and from international experience. KW - Asset management KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Life cycle costing KW - Maintenance management KW - Methodology KW - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) KW - Pavement performance UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1370389 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01573304 TI - Partnership for the Transformation of Traffic Safety Culture AB - This program is a cooperative effort of participating state departments of transportation (DOTs) and other (traditional and non-traditional) organizations with a vested interest in traffic safety. This long-term partnership will support an evolving and integrated project portfolio developed and revised each year by the partners, and complimentary to other related research activities, such as National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) 17-69: A Strategic Approach to transforming Traffic Safety Culture to Reduce Deaths and Injuries. Together, these projects will accelerate the development and delivery of tools and services to transform the national, state, and community level traffic safety culture. The goal of this transformation is to support the Toward Zero Deaths (TZD) vision with sustainable traffic safety solutions. Funded projects include: (1) Driving After Cannabis Use; (2) Exploring Traffic Safety Citizenship; and (3) Traffic Safety Cultures and the Safe Systems Approach. KW - Crash injuries KW - Fatalities KW - Partnerships KW - State departments of transportation KW - Sustainable transportation KW - Toward Zero Deaths KW - Traffic crashes KW - Traffic safety UR - http://www.mdt.mt.gov/research/projects/trafficsafety.shtml UR - http://www.pooledfund.org/Details/Study/558 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366528 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01552155 AU - Vermont Agency of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Vermont Agency of Transportation Transportation Asset Management Implementation Plan PY - 2014/10/01/Final Report SP - 46p AB - This implementation plan was developed in four steps. The first step was performance of a strategic self-assessment. As part of this process, eighty-four Agency staff participated in an online Gap Analysis survey (AMEC, 2014) based on the American Society of Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Transportation Asset Management Guide, Volume 1 (AASHTO, 2002). The second step included in-depth face-to-face interviews with internal stakeholders to drill down into the results of the online survey and inform the Gap Analysis process (AMEC, 2014). The third step was an asset management workshop with Major Staff and Executive Staff that served as a forum to formulate and discuss Vermont Agency of Transportation's (VTrans') asset management vision and goals resulting in development of specific prioritized initiatives for transportation asset management (TAM) implementation (AMEC, 2014). Finally, the draft implementation plan was developed, reviewed, and presented to Executive Staff. The input received during this step was incorporated into this final TAM Implementation Plan. The report is organized into 5 sections including: Section 2 introduces the topic of TAM. This material is adopted from the AASHTO TAM Guide that was developed through National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Project 20-24(11), Asset Management Guidance for Transportation Agencies. (AASHTO, 2002); Section 3 summarizes current asset management practice at VTrans using the state-of-the-practice asset management framework in the AASHTO TAM Guide as a benchmark; Section 4 establishes a mission and goals for integrating TAM in the Agency business model; and Section 5 recommends an asset management work plan with practical implementation steps that support the vision and goals. KW - Asset management KW - Implementation KW - Vermont Agency of Transportation UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/asset/gap/vtgap.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1341307 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01543612 TI - Proposed Enhancements to Pavement ME Design: Improved Consideration of the Influence of Subgrade and Unbound Layers on Pavement Performance AB - The AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design (formerly DARWin-ME) and the AASHTO Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide Manual of Practice (MEPDG) provide a methodology for the analysis and performance prediction of pavements and overlays. Although the performance of flexible and rigid pavements is known to be closely related to properties of the subgrade and underlying layers (i.e., base and/or subbase), some recent research studies indicated that the performance predicted by this methodology shows a low sensitivity to the properties of underlying layers and does not always reflect the extent of the anticipated effect. There is a need to evaluate the procedures contained in the Pavement Mechanistic-Empirical (ME) Design and identify or develop enhancements to ensure that the procedures appropriately account for the influence of subgrade and unbound layers on the performance of flexible and rigid pavements. These enhancements could be incorporated into the Pavement ME Design procedures to allow an improved analysis and design of flexible and rigid pavements. The objective of this research is to propose enhancements, as needed, to the Pavement ME Design procedures to better reflect the influence of subgrade and unbound layers (properties and thicknesses) on the performance of flexible and rigid pavements. These enhancements may include modifications of the models contained in the Pavement ME Design and/or the development of new models. The research shall address all types of flexible and rigid pavements included in Pavement ME Design. KW - Flexible pavements KW - Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide KW - Overlays (Pavements) KW - Pavement design KW - Pavement performance KW - Rigid pavements KW - Subgrade (Pavements) UR - http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3625 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1331565 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01599885 AU - Ashtiani, Reza S AU - de Haro, Gabriel AU - University of Texas, El Paso AU - Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Performance Determination of Precast Concrete Slabs Used for the Repair of Rigid Pavements PY - 2014/10//Final Report SP - 72p AB - The safety of civilians is of paramount importance during the construction and repair of concrete pavements. A complete understanding of the pavement distresses that compromise the structural stability and performance of rigid pavements are required for a proper selection of the repair method. Additionally, the time required to complete the repair process should be minimized to reduce the delay imposed on the users of the transportation facilities. The US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in association with the Air Force Civil Engineering Support Agency (AFCESA) developed a state of practice protocol for the repair of damaged runways using precast concrete slabs. The current study tends to extrapolate the previous research on this topic to civilian highway pavements. In the AFRL study, three installation techniques, widely used by the transportation industry, were incorporated in the experiment design. The original study did not consider the influence of temperature fluctuations, humidity and the stresses induced by environmental conditions for the performance evaluation of the precast slabs. This study tends to capture the influence of the climatic conditions on the orthogonal load bearing capacity of repaired sections. KW - Bearing capacity KW - Humidity KW - Load tests KW - Pavement performance KW - Precast concrete KW - Repairing KW - Rigid pavements KW - Slabs KW - Temperature UR - https://cait.rutgers.edu/files/CAIT-UTC-017-final_0.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55300/55308/CAIT-UTC-017-final_0.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1407816 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01598791 AU - Stockton, William AU - Newcomb, David AU - Fernando, Emmanuel AU - Epps, Jon AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - An Economic Analysis of Four Options for Dealing with Low-Volume Roads in Energy-Impacted Areas of Texas PY - 2014/10//Technical Report SP - 36p AB - The Texas A&M Transportation Institute undertook an economic analysis to compare the costs of maintaining a typical Texas low-volume road in an energy-impacted area in its current state versus widening and maintaining the road; converting it to an improved, emulsified asphalt surface (IEAS); or rehabilitating the low-volume road for short-term oil/gas field traffic. For each option, three different cost scenarios were considered. For each cost scenario, the analysis shows that converting the road to an IEAS is the lowest-cost alternative among the four options considered. KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Costs KW - Economic analysis KW - Emulsified asphalt KW - Highway maintenance KW - Low volume roads KW - Pavement widening KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) KW - Surface course (Pavements) KW - Texas UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6806-TTI-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1404688 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01596779 AU - Maryland State Highway Administration AU - Stantec AU - Salisbury University AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Maryland State Highway Administration Climate Change Adaptation Plan with Detailed Vulnerability Assessment PY - 2014/10//Final Report SP - 308p AB - This report presents the results of a Climate Resilience Pilot Project conducted by the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) and sponsored in part by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The primary objectives of the Pilot Study are to assess the vulnerability of SHA’s transportation assets (roads and bridges) to climate variables or stressors, to develop engineering approaches to address current and future climate induced risks and to make recommendations for policy or process changes to improve the resiliency of Maryland’s highway system. This Pilot Study serves as a model from which SHA will be able to establish the framework and process for asset vulnerability assessment, prioritization, and adaptation in response to climate change. Another objective of the Pilot Study is interagency knowledge transfer and mutual capacity building. As such, the Pilot Study will share information on methods used and lessons learned with other state Departments of Transportations and government agencies for the purpose of expanding the transportation sector’s ability to respond to ongoing climate change impacts across jurisdictions. A framework was developed for the vulnerability assessment. Asset and climate information was compiled from a variety of reputable sources. Predictive models were developed using recent Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) information from the State of Maryland and Hazus modeling. Three primary assets were evaluated: bridges (including small structures), roadways, and small culverts/drainage conveyances. Each of the climate variables were reviewed and evaluated for their potential impacts on Maryland’s transportation assets and it was determined that sea level change, storm surge from extreme weather events, and increased intensity in precipitation would have the greatest impact on the transportation assets under study. KW - Asset management KW - Bridges KW - Climate change KW - Culverts KW - Highways KW - Laser radar KW - Maryland State Highway Administration KW - Rainfall KW - Recommendations KW - Risk assessment KW - Sea level KW - Storm surges KW - Weather and climate UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/climate_change/adaptation/resilience_pilots/2013-2015_pilots/maryland/mdpilot.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1403118 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01587623 AU - ICF International AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Department of Transportation TI - The Gulf Study, Phase 2: Assessing Transportation System Vulnerability to Climate Change: Synthesis of Lessons Learned and Methods Applied PY - 2014/10//Final Report, Task 6 SP - 46p AB - The U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) conducted a comprehensive, multi‐phase study of the Central Gulf Coast region to better understand climate change impacts on transportation infrastructure and identify potential adaptation strategies. This region is home to a complex multimodal network of transportation infrastructure, and it plays a critical economic role in the import and export of oil and gas, agricultural products, and other goods. Phase 1 of this Gulf Coast Study (completed in 2008) examined the impacts of climate change on transportation infrastructure at a regional scale. Phase 2 (completed in 2014) focused on a smaller region, enhancing regional decision makers’ ability to understand potential impacts on specific components of infrastructure and to evaluate adaptation options. An important goal of Phase 2 was to develop methodologies that could be used by other transportation agencies to evaluate vulnerability and adaption measures. With that goal in mind, the project team developed transferrable methodologies and pilot tested them on the transportation system in Mobile, Alabama. This study evaluated the impacts on six transportation modes (highways, ports, airports, rail, transit, and pipelines) from projected changes in temperature and precipitation, sea level rise, and the storm surges and winds associated with more intense storms. The project resulted in findings on Mobile’s transportation vulnerability, as well as approaches for using climate data in transportation vulnerability assessments, methods for evaluating vulnerability and adaptation options, and tools and resources that will assist other agencies in conducting similar work. KW - Climate change KW - Gulf Coast KW - Infrastructure KW - Methodology KW - Mobile (Alabama) KW - Pilot studies KW - Risk assessment KW - Storms KW - Transportation modes UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/climate_change/adaptation/ongoing_and_current_research/gulf_coast_study/phase2_task6/fhwahep15007.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1395307 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01582441 AU - VanFrank, Kevin AU - VanMilligen, Michael AU - Biel, Tim AU - CME Transportation Group AU - Utah Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Cold In-Place Recycle Phase III: Mix Design PY - 2014/10//Final Report AB - This project’s purpose is to revise the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) accepted design methods for Cold In-Place Recycling so that they better reflect field behavior and target the desirable attributes of the material. The previous design process failed to adequately predict behavior related to temperature as well as did a poor job of characterizing return to traffic performance. This project calls upon both laboratory observation and field experience to obtain optimization between rutting, stripping and intermediate temperature cracking. It also ties down the constructability and return to traffic parameters required by maintenance of traffic constraints. The new design process continues the use of Marshall Stability and Tensile Strength Ratio to set rutting and stripping resistance. It further uses Semi-circular bending to set an intermediate temperature cracking parameter. New compaction/temperature and compaction/gradation relationships are developed to help determine final density and emulsion targets. A new test for emulsion set time is developed to prequalify emulsion construction performance. Modified BBR and Elastic Recovery testing is used to establish cold temperature properties of recovered binder. KW - Asphalt emulsions KW - Cold in-place recycling KW - Compaction KW - Marshall test KW - Mix design KW - Rutting KW - Stripping (Pavements) KW - Tensile strength KW - Thermal degradation KW - Utah UR - http://www.udot.utah.gov/main/uconowner.gf?n=25598123266212453 UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/56000/56700/56728/UT-14.08_Cold_In_Place_Recycle_Phase_III.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1376024 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01582194 AU - Mizuta, Arianne AU - Roberts, Kim AU - Jacobsen, Les AU - Thompson, Nick AU - Parsons Brinckerhoff AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Ramp Metering: A Proven, Cost-Effective Operational Strategy—A Primer PY - 2014/10 SP - 32p AB - This primer poses ramp metering as a potential tool to address commonly occurring congestion and safety issues. Despite initial opposition and skepticism from various stakeholders, ramp metering has been deployed, sustained, and even expanded in many regions. This primer incorporates recent research on challenges agencies experience during their attempts to deploy or expand ramp metering in their regions. While geometric limitations of existing ramps are a common challenge, agency support and project costs also pose difficulties for several agencies. Recent case studies provide insights into how these common challenges could be addressed as well as lessons learned. This primer emphasizes organizational capability, public outreach, and geometric limitations as key considerations when deploying or expanding ramp metering. KW - Case studies KW - Costs KW - Geometric design KW - Outreach KW - Ramp metering KW - Transportation departments UR - http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop14020/fhwahop14020.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1375677 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580466 AU - Raghunathan, Deepak AU - Sadasivam, Suri AU - Mallela, Jagannath AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Wyoming Demonstration Project: Wyoming Hwy 196 – Buffalo South/WMA Overlay Project PY - 2014/10//Final Report SP - 51p AB - The Buffalo project was both the Wyoming Department of Transportation's (WYDOT's) and the contractor’s first experience with additive based warm mix asphalt (WMA). Prior to this project, WYDOT had undertaken a WMA project (foaming based) near College Drive, Cheyenne, WY. On this project, WMA and hot mix asphalt (HMA) overlay of 4.79 miles of a secondary two-lane highway was carried out. The project, located south of Buffalo, Wyoming, involved pavement rehabilitation on Wyoming Highway 196 in Johnson County from milepost 294.63 to milepost 299.42. The last rehabilitation of this section of roadway, excluding the maintenance patching, was carried out in the late 1950s. This project received 80 percent Federal funding and 20 percent State funding. WYDOT undertook this project anticipating that the properties of WMA will allow for easier and better compaction, lower permeability, and reduced segregation, resulting in better long-term pavement performance.The innovative technologies deployed on this project were 1) WMA (additive and foaming methods), and 2) 6:1 taper. A suite of laboratory testing was conducted by WYDOT to evaluate the concerns related to WMA’s potential for increased rutting and moisture damage. The Hamburg Wheel Tracking (HWT) test results indicated that the WMA mixtures have the potential to exhibit higher initial rutting (i.e. consolidation during initial stages after construction); however, their rate of rutting accumulation stabilizes over time and is comparable to that of HMA at later years. The Highways for LIFE (HfL) performance goals on quality and safety aspects of this project were met. The user satisfaction survey conducted by the WYDOT indicated that a high percentage of the local residents and traveling public were satisfied with the project. The contractor received a net bonus of $32,621.98 for mat density, aggregate gradation, asphalt content, and smoothness. Cost comparison between WMA and HMA, based on the winning bid, indicated that the unit prices (i.e. $/ton) that the actual tonnage cost of WMA was 9.4 percent higher than HMA. Since the placement of HMA and WMA would have required the same construction time, there would be no differential user costs between the traditional and as-built scenarios. Hence, the computation of user costs was deemed not necessary. WYDOT had no cost associated with the Warm Mix aspect of the project except what is reflected in the bid prices. Also, the contractor received no incentive except for those related to Quality Assurance. KW - Buffalo (Wyoming) KW - Costs KW - Demonstration projects KW - Highways for LIFE KW - Laboratory tests KW - Overlays (Pavements) KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) KW - Technological innovations KW - Two lane highways KW - Warm mix paving mixtures UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/Wyoming%20HfL%20Hwy%20196%20WMA%20and%20Safety%20Edge_10092014.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1373012 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01580235 AU - Rao, Shreenath AU - Mallela, Jagannath AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Accelerated Bridge Construction over Burnt River on Old US30 using Prefabricated Elements and Ultra High Performance Concrete PY - 2014/10//Final Report SP - 61p AB - As part of a national initiative sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration under the Highways for LIFE (HfL) program, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) was awarded a $300,000 grant to develop plans and specifications, and then construct Bridge 21252 over the Burnt River on Old US30 near Huntington, OR. The key innovation included the use of accelerated bridge construction (ABC) techniques by precasting the deck panels off-site in the controlled environment of a fabrication facility, transporting the panels to the project site, and installing the panels onto prefabricated concrete girders. The innovation also included the use of Ultra High Performance Concrete (UHPC) for the shear pockets and the deck joints which allowed for elimination of post-tensioning of the deck panels. This report documents the entire work effort, including the innovative ABC techniques employed by ODOT, with specific focus on the connection details including haunches, blockouts, and joints. Removal and replacement of the Burnt River bridge was a great success, and ODOT was able to meet the HfL program requirement related to the project goals of safety, construction congestion, quality, and user satisfaction. ODOT and the construction contractor learned some valuable lessons in the process. Since this was the first project of its kind undertaken in Oregon, ODOT’s goal was to use it as a learning and evaluation tool and chose a project site with low traffic volume and minimal anticipated impact to traffic. The overall costs for the construction of this bridge were higher than if the bridge had been constructed using traditional cast-in-place (CIP) techniques; however, if the bridge had been constructed in a location with shorter haul distances for the precast panels, higher traffic impacts, near urban areas with morning and evening peaks, and longer detours, it could potentially result in cost savings to ODOT and the traveling public. KW - Bridge construction KW - Costs KW - High performance concrete KW - Oregon KW - Panels KW - Prefabricated bridges KW - Structural connection KW - Technological innovations UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/OR_OldUS30_Burnt_River_Bridge_10082014.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1372994 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01578188 AU - Bhajandas, Amar AU - Mallela, Jagannath AU - Sadasivam, Suri AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - I-84 Bridge Over Dingle Ridge Road Replacement Using Superstructure Slide-In Technology PY - 2014/10//Final Report SP - 81p AB - As part of a national initiative sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration under the Highways for LIFE program, the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) was awarded a $2.1 million grant to demonstrate the use of proven, innovative technologies for accelerated bridge removal and replacement. This report documents accelerated bridge construction techniques using prefabricated superstructure slide-in technology to replace two Interstate 84 bridges over Dingle Ridge Road in Putnam County. Each new superstructure was installed during a 20-hour time period over a weekend. This report includes project/site challenges, construction details, deployment of the lateral slide-in technology, and NYSDOT’s public outreach efforts to minimize impact to traffic. Under conventional construction methods, the project would have taken 2 years to build and would have required the construction of a temporary roadway and bridge to channel traffic during construction. This would have increased delays during peak hours of travel. Using precast elements and lateral slide-in technology, the project was built in 1 year, and the impact to travelers in each direction on I-84 was reduced to a detour for 20 hours. Furthermore, by reducing traffic impacts substantially, it is estimated that NYSDOT avoided six crashes, one of which could have potentially resulted in injury/fatality. The innovative technology resulted in savings of $0.9 million in construction costs and $1.37 million in user delay costs. Together, the savings represent 22 percent of the $10.2 million construction cost of the project. Because of the success of this project, the NYSDOT plans to use the lateral slide-in technology on future projects where this innovative technology is feasible and appropriate for conditions. KW - Bridge construction KW - Bridge replacement KW - Bridge superstructures KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Costs KW - Demonstration projects KW - Highways for LIFE KW - Prefabricated bridges KW - Putnam County (New York) KW - Slide-in technology KW - Technological innovations UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/NY%20I-84%20Final%20Report_10092014.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1371168 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01577862 AU - Mallela, Jagannath AU - Sadasivam, Suri AU - Ullman, Jerry AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Massachusetts Demonstration Project: Reconstruction of Fourteen Bridges on I-93 in Medford Using Accelerated Bridge Construction Techniques PY - 2014/10//Final Report SP - 109p AB - As part of a national initiative sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration under the Highways for LIFE program, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) was awarded a $1 million grant to demonstrate the use of proven, innovative technologies to deliver a $91.0 million project in less time than conventional construction. This report documents the use of accelerated bridge construction techniques and Design-Build (D-B) contracting to replace 14 bridges on Interstate 93 in Medford, Middlesex County. The bridge superstructures were installed during a 55-hour weekend closure over 10 weekends between June 3 and August 15, 2011. This report describes project/site challenges, construction details, D-B contract administration, fabrication, shipping and installation of prefabricated modular steel elements, traffic operations management, and MassDOT’s extensive public outreach and communication efforts to minimize the impacts of weekend closure on I-93 motorists and adjacent detour routes. Under traditional construction methods, the project would have taken 48 months (4 years) to build all 14 bridges. With five stages of construction and the placement of single-lane closure, the project would have impacted I-93 traffic for the full 48 months. Using accelerated bridge construction and D-B contracting, the project was completed 39 months earlier, with only 550 hours of travel impacts to motorists. The D-B contracting allowed MassDOT to overlap design and construction phases and issue a notice to proceed for construction 17 months earlier than the anticipated issue date. The use of innovations resulted in savings of $1.75 million in construction costs and $8.45 million in user delay costs. The use of accelerated bridge construction instead of traditional staged and cast-in-place construction also resulted in user cost savings of approximately $136 million. KW - Bridge construction KW - Bridge replacement KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Demonstration projects KW - Design build KW - Highways for LIFE KW - Massachusetts KW - Medford (Massachusetts) KW - Prefabricated bridges KW - Reconstruction KW - Technological innovations UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/MA%20I-93%20Fast-14%20Final%20Report_10_09_2014.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1370469 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01577852 AU - Raghunathan, Deepak AU - Sadasivam, Suri AU - Mallela, Jagannath AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Iowa Demonstration Project: Massena IA-92 Bridge Replacement Project PY - 2014/10//Final Report SP - 62p AB - As part of a national initiative sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration under the Highways for LIFE program, the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) was awarded a $400,000 grant to demonstrate the use of proven, innovative technologies, including lateral bridge slide and prefabricated bridge element systems (PBES), to deliver this $2.0 million project in less time and with less impact to motorists than conventional construction. The project consisted of replacing the Iowa Highway 92 bridge (Maint. No 1563.4S092) over a small natural stream, 1 mile west of Iowa Highway 148. The replacement bridge was designed to increase the structural capacity of the bridge, improve roadway conditions, and enhance user safety by providing a wider bridge and approaching roadway. This project focused on implementation of an accelerated bridge construction (ABC) policy and first-time use of the demonstrated innovative construction methods. This was the first lateral bridge slide project in the State of Iowa. The project was let on April 16, 2013 using a design-bid-build contract, and the winning bid amount was $1.3 million. The project involved three phases: 1) construction of the bridge structure off-alignment, 2) the bridge slide-in, and 3) revetment, grading, and clean-up. The replacement structure was a single-span 120-foot by 44-foot bridge with cast-in-place abutment footings, precast wingwalls, and a precast superstructure fabricated adjacent to the existing bridge and moved into position by lateral slide. The ABC approach resulted in a full closure of 9 days with no incentives or disincentives awarded to the contractor at the end of this project. A 12.89 mile detour was utilized during the full closure, thus resulting in an out-of-distance mileage of 6.89 miles. To estimate the cost savings for the ABC method, the total costs were computed for both the as-built bridge and a baseline (cast-in-place) scenario by adding the agency costs and user costs. The results indicated a cost savings of around 43 percent over the baseline scenario, mainly attributable to the significantly reduced user costs of the as-built project. KW - Bridge construction KW - Bridge replacement KW - Construction management KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Demonstration projects KW - Design bid build KW - Highways for LIFE KW - Iowa KW - Lateral bridge slide KW - Prefabricated bridges KW - Technological innovations UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/Iowa%20Massena%20Route%2092%20ABC_Draft%20Report_10092014.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1370462 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01577098 AU - Bhajandas, Amar AU - Sadasivam, Suri AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Colorado Demonstration Project: Pecos Street over I-70 Bridge Replacement Using SPMT Technology PY - 2014/10//Final Report SP - 60p AB - As part of a national initiative sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration under the Highways for LIFE program, the Colorado Department of Transportation was awarded a $3.76 million grant to replace the Pecos Street Bridge over I-70 to demonstrate the use of an alternative contract delivery method called construction management/general contractor (CM/GC) and the use of proven, innovative technologies for accelerated bridge removal and replacement. This report documents accelerated bridge construction technique using a self-propelled modular transporter (SPMT), which allowed substructure and superstructure work to proceed concurrently. Under conventional construction methods, the project would have taken 15 months to build, causing significant delays to traffic on Pecos Street and I-70 due to limited closures and shutdowns. However, using the CM/GC approach and SPMT methodology, the bridge was replaced in only 7 months. The impact to travelers on I-70 was reduced to 50 hours over a weekend. Travelers on Pecos Street were impacted for 10 weeks, which were required to build roundabouts at both ends of the bridge to improve safety and capacity. By compressing the construction time, it is projected that 15 crashes were avoided at the site. The construction costs for the innovative option were $0.65 million more than traditional methods would have been. However, user delay costs were reduced by an estimated $2.24 million. When bundled together, there was a net saving of $1.59 million. This represents about 9 percent of the $18.6 million spent for the construction and construction engineering for this project. A public online survey indicated that, overall, more than 85 percent of the respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the approach to minimizing traffic disruption during project construction. Because of the success of this project, Colorado plans to accelerate bridge construction using SPMT on future projects, where this innovative technology is feasible and appropriate for conditions. KW - Bridge construction KW - Colorado KW - Construction management KW - Contract administration KW - Costs KW - Demonstration projects KW - Self-propelled modular transporters KW - Surveys KW - Technological innovations KW - Traffic delays UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/Colorado%20I-70%20Pecos%20Street%20Draft%20Report_12_4_2014_Final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1370099 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01576184 AU - Cope, Evan D AU - Hotchkiss, Rollin H AU - Brigham Young University AU - Utah Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Rock Stream Stability Structures in the Vicinity of Bridges PY - 2014/10//Final Report SP - 51p AB - This report was sponsored by the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) to determine if rock stream stability structures could be used as scour countermeasures and to protect streambanks. Traditional scour countermeasures, such as rock riprap, are effective in minimizing erosion but may not provide the best aquatic habitat. UDOT is interested in finding countermeasures that are effective in minimizing erosion at design flows and also benefit the aquatic habitat. David Rosgen, a specialist in fluvial geomorphology, has developed restoration structures that are friendly for aquatic habitat and also provide streambank protection and stream stability. These structures are the J-Hook Vane, Cross-Vane and W-Weir. Based on the findings outlined in this report, Cross-Vanes and W-Weirs can help protect bridges because they will protect both sides of a streambank while also providing grade control of the streambed. For stream stability structures to withstand design flows and shear stresses experienced near bridges, they should follow the design guidelines specified in this report. One of the most important design guidelines is that the structures discussed in this report have an attached portion of floodplain where the structure meets the streambank. This portion of floodplain area can help to disperse the energy of the flow, thereby reducing shear stresses at abutments. Cross-Vanes and W-Weirs can help protect bridges and other infrastructure against scour by reducing shear stresses at piers and abutments at the design flood event. To further investigate their use as a scour countermeasure, it is recommended that this type structure be installed near a bridge following this report’s design criteria. UDOT believes that Cross-Vanes and W-Weirs should not be used as a primary scour countermeasure and that rock riprap (or other equivalent structural countermeasure) should be used as the primary protection for bridge foundations, abutments and piers. KW - Banks (Waterways) KW - Bridges KW - Countermeasures KW - Design KW - Erosion control KW - Habitat (Ecology) KW - Hydraulic structures KW - Scour KW - Shear stress KW - Stream restoration KW - Utah UR - http://www.udot.utah.gov/main/uconowner.gf?n=21195118296789782 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1369249 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01573558 AU - Refai, Hazem AU - Othman, Ahmad AU - Tafish, Hasan AU - University of Oklahoma, Norman AU - Oklahoma Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Portable Weigh-In-Motion for Pavement Design PY - 2014/10//Final Report SP - 93p AB - Keeping Oklahoma’s roadways, highways, and bridges in good condition is necessary to the state’s safety and to avoid expenditures in billions of dollars each year for road repairs and replacement. According to a study done by state of Oregon in 2009, heavy vehicles account for 79% (or $60 million) of annual expenditures required for roadway repaving. Likewise, they were also responsible for 66.8% (or $27 million) of pavement and shoulder reconstruction; 65.1% (or $145 million) of pavement and shoulder rehabilitations; and 61.5% (or $140 million) of pavement maintenance. To weigh traveling trucks, the state of Oklahoma has installed 20 permanent Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) sites. Expanding site coverage to include additional roadways and highways improves data accuracy; however, it requires significant roadside construction and costly infrastructure support. This report presents deployment results of a novel portable WIM system and compares captured data with that collected at a nearby permanent WIM system. Design, development, and road-installation details of the heavy-vehicle centric, portable WIM system are also provided. Outcomes demonstrate that the portable system maintains data quality but for short intervals and provides a viable alternative to permanent systems at merely 10 percent of the cost. The portable WIM system uses off-the-shelf components and commercially available WIM controllers. The WIM controller used was IRD iSINC Lite. The fabricated portable system could be promoted as an alternative WIM monitoring solution to permanent WIM systems and/or static scale stations, both of which are extremely expensive to install on highways. The portable WIM uses RoadTrax BL piezoelectric class-1 sensors, galvanized metal fixtures equipped with pocket tapes to house the sensors, and a trailer with cabinet to house WIM electronics, batteries, and REECE device for real-time monitoring. The system is solar powered with three 100-Watt panels, and it costs roughly $20,000. KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Data quality KW - Oklahoma KW - Portable equipment KW - Solar power KW - Weigh in motion UR - http://l92018.eos-intl.net/elibsql16_L92018_Documents/FHWA-OK-14-07%202240%20Refai.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363440 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01573557 AU - Commuri, Sesh AU - Zaman, Musharraf AU - Barman, Manik AU - Nazari, Moeen AU - Imran, Syed AU - University of Oklahoma, Norman AU - Oklahoma Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Performance of Asphalt Pavements Constructed Using Intelligent Compaction Techniques PY - 2014/10//Final Report SP - 158p AB - The long-term performance of asphalt pavements depends on the quality of the subgrade and asphalt layers. Intelligent compaction methods continuously monitor the modulus/stiffness of subgrade and asphalt layers during compaction process and have been proposed for ensuring uniform compaction. The use of the Intelligent Compaction Analyzer (ICA) developed at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK in determining the subgrade modulus and asphalt layer density/dynamic modulus during construction was addressed in this project. Several case studies were conducted to demonstrate the application of the ICA in real-time estimation of compaction quality. Results from these case studies show that the ICA was able to estimate the modulus of the stabilized subgrade with accuracy suitable for the control of compaction quality. Similarly, the ICA was found to accurately estimate the density/dynamic modulus of asphalt layers during construction of asphalt pavements. Project results demonstrate that the ICA was helpful in identifying and remediating the under-compacted regions in stabilized subgrades as well as asphalt layers. It was also found that the average subgrade modulus, average asphalt layer density/dynamic modulus, and overall uniformity of compaction could be improved with the use of the ICA. KW - Asphalt pavements KW - Case studies KW - Dynamic modulus of elasticity KW - Intelligent compaction KW - Modulus of resilience KW - Pavement layers KW - Pavement performance KW - Quality control KW - Road construction KW - Subgrade (Pavements) UR - http://l92018.eos-intl.net/elibsql16_L92018_Documents/FHWA-OK-14-15%202246%20Commuri.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363434 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01573556 AU - Kosmopoulou, Georgia AU - Zhou, Xueqi AU - University of Oklahoma, Norman AU - Langston University AU - Oklahoma Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Understanding A+B Bidding Patterns and Policy Implications for ODOT Project Lettings PY - 2014/10//Final Report SP - 57p AB - A key challenge for Departments of Transportation around the country is to keep the cost of construction low while ensuring that projects will be completed in a timely manner. Those goals can often be conflicting. The purpose of this research project was to investigate the empirical relationship between project cost and project duration to offer recommendations to the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) on the optimal use of time incentives in the procurement process. The authors first surveyed all Transportation Agencies on their rules of implementation of A+B and incentive/disincentive designs. A complete survey of A+B and I/D letting practice is presented. Policy details such as application, scope and parameter choice are included in the report. The authors utilized program evaluation techniques to assess the performance of A+B bidding in comparison to the standard contracting low bid practice. Using their statistical knowledge and information on alternative contracting methods adopted by ODOT and other state Departments of Transportation, the authors conducted economic evaluation of contracting practices. The end goal was to prepare guidelines for distinguishing between costly projects and those that are economically practical to speed up, and help ODOT to improve efficiency in highway construction. The authors found evidence that item bids respond to the time incentive asymmetrically. As an example, items 202(C)0184 (Unclassified Borrow) and 619(B)2500 (Removal of Bridge Items) display especially favorable reactions to time incentives and hence projects that prescribe such items more heavily are desirable candidates for A+B letting consideration. There is evidence suggesting that bids (and the underlying cost) rise less steeply than for other items when time is a constraint. Naturally, acceleration on such items may be achieved at a relatively lower cost to the state department. KW - A + B bidding method KW - Competitive bidding KW - Construction projects KW - Contracting KW - Costs KW - Disincentives KW - Economic analysis KW - Incentives KW - Oklahoma Department of Transportation KW - Policy KW - Procurement KW - Road construction KW - State departments of transportation KW - Time duration UR - http://l92018.eos-intl.net/elibsql16_L92018_Documents/FHWA-OK-14-12%202257%20Kosmopoulou.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363437 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01573555 AU - Ley, M Tyler AU - Hajibabaee, Amir AU - Khatibmasjedi, Morteza AU - Oklahoma State University, Stillwater AU - Oklahoma Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Development and Implementation of a Mechanistic and Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) for Rigid Pavements - Phase 2 PY - 2014/10//Final Report SP - 87p AB - The work investigates the impact of curing methods and their impact on subsequent curling in both the laboratory and the field in different drying environments. Results are also presented for a field instrumentation of a continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP) in Tulsa, Oklahoma that uses a number of different curing methods. Next, a sensitivity analysis is completed for typical Oklahoma jointed plain concrete pavement (JPCP) and CRCP with different base friction parameters. Then the results from Darwin-ME are compared with field performance of CRCP and JPCP in Oklahoma. Finally, the shrinkage and coefficient of thermal expansion of concrete pavement mixtures are investigated with different paste contents. KW - Cement content KW - Coefficient of thermal expansion KW - Concrete curing KW - Continuously reinforced concrete pavements KW - Curling (Pavements) KW - DARWin-ME (Computer program) KW - Field studies KW - Jointed plain concrete pavements KW - Mechanistic-empirical pavement design KW - Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide KW - Rigid pavements KW - Shrinkage KW - Tulsa (Oklahoma) UR - http://l92018.eos-intl.net/elibsql16_L92018_Documents/FHWA-OK-14-13%202208%20Ley.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363436 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570383 AU - Alotto, Anthony AU - Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Lone Star LTAP Peer Exchange PY - 2014/10//Technical Report SP - 84p AB - On April 7–9, 2014, Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) center directors from Arkansas, Connecticut, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin met in San Antonio, Texas, to discuss two key topics: marketing LTAP center services and obtaining/developing curriculum for LTAP center use. Also supporting the discussion were representatives from the Texas Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration. Independent facilitation staff from the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service, which also operates the Texas Lone Star LTAP Center, conducted the meeting. The final results of the meeting were prioritized lists of best practices that the center directors identified as key to greater success in each of the topic areas. In the area of marketing LTAP center services, all of the centers experienced a high volume of service requests and a variety of expectations. Solutions centered on close affiliation with elected officials, cooperation with industry associations, and effective use of advisory committees. In the area of obtaining/developing curriculum, the problem centered on identification and funding of the needed curriculum. Solutions included partnering with industry associations and each other, as well as exploring new delivery technologies. These problems and recommended solutions apply not only to the centers represented at the peer exchange, but also to LTAP centers nationwide that may be experiencing similar problems. KW - Best practices KW - Curricula KW - Education and training KW - Local Technical Assistance Program KW - Marketing KW - Peer exchange KW - State departments of transportation UR - https://teex.org/documentsresources/LTAP%20Peer%20Exchange%20Report%20May%202014.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1359790 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570288 AU - Muthumani, Anburaj AU - Veneziano, David AU - Huang, Jiang AU - Shi, Xianming AU - Western Transportation Institute AU - Colorado Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Benefit-Cost Analysis of CDOT Fixed Automated Spray Technology (FAST) Systems PY - 2014/10//Final Report SP - 103p AB - The Western Transportation Institute (WTI) conducted research on behalf of the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to study the cost effectiveness of existing CDOT FAST systems. Both the national survey and the CDOT survey confirm the need for significant maintenance activities to ensure successful operation of FAST systems. Safety analysis of CDOT FAST system reveals a reduction in the number of annual crashes on multilane rural highways by 2 percent, urban interstates by 16 to 70 percent, rural interstates by 31 to 57 percent and interchange ramps between interstates by 19 to 40 percent. Overall, CDOT FAST systems included in the analysis have reduced crash severities at many sites resulting in potential safety benefits of $196,428 per winter season during the “after deployment” study period. Further, a benefit-cost excel sheet was developed based on the estimated crash reductions observed for each of the different roadway types. The study found that FAST systems have demonstrated the potential to reduce the number of crashes and reduce the cost of winter maintenance activities, if sited at appropriate locations (e.g., high-traffic-volume ice-prone ramps). However, improved installation techniques and involvement of maintenance crews during FAST installation are necessary to further increase the cost-effectiveness of a FAST system deployment. Extra effort will be made in sharing the information gained from this research study by focusing on CDOT personnel involved in planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance of FAST systems. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Colorado Department of Transportation KW - Crash rates KW - Crash severity KW - Fixed automated spray technology KW - Installation KW - Snow and ice control KW - Sprayers KW - Surveys KW - Winter maintenance UR - https://www.codot.gov/programs/research/pdfs/2014/benefit-cost-analysis-of-cdot-fixed-automated-spray-technology-fast-systems/view UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1360224 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01570268 AU - Truschke, Carrie AU - Peshkin, David AU - Smith, Kelly L AU - Smith, Kurt D AU - Applied Pavement Technology, Incorporated AU - Colorado Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Colorado Department of Transportation Hot-Mix Asphalt Crack Sealing and Filling Best Practices Guidelines PY - 2014/10//Final Report SP - 173p AB - Crack sealing and filling on hot mix asphalt (HMA) pavements are cost-effective pavement preservation techniques that improve pavement performance and extend the life of existing pavements. If performed in a timely and effective manner, crack sealing can extend the life of HMA pavements. The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) supports the sealing of cracks on HMA pavements. Under Study No. 11.40, CDOT Pavement Crack Seal and Fill Best Management Practices, CDOT sponsored this study to update its procedures and guidelines for crack sealing and filling of HMA pavements. The draft Guidelines included in this report reflect CDOT experience, current state-of-the-practice, and the most recent research findings, and address where and when to perform crack sealing and filling, material selection, installation methods, construction inspection, and follow-up evaluation. Three primary tasks were undertaken to meet the project objective including a literature review and survey of agencies, a draft of recommended best practices guidelines, and recommended procedures for monitoring, evaluating, and documenting the effectiveness of crack sealing and filling methods and materials. Once the final guidelines are developed, CDOT will broadly communicate the existence of the new guidance, highlighting any changes and how they will contribute to improved performance. Developing and presenting a 2- to 4-hour workshop and training session on improved crack sealing practices would also benefit all maintenance crews engaged in the activity. KW - Best practices KW - Colorado Department of Transportation KW - Guidelines KW - Hot mix asphalt KW - Literature reviews KW - Pavement cracking KW - Sealing (Technology) KW - Sealing compounds KW - State of the practice KW - Surveys UR - https://www.codot.gov/programs/research/pdfs/2014/cdot-hot-mix-aaphalt-crack-sealing-and-filliing-bes-practices-guidelines/view UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1360226 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01563486 AU - Rossi, Thomas F AU - Bhat, Chandra R AU - Cambridge Systematics, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Guide for Travel Model Transfer PY - 2014/10//Final Report SP - 78p AB - Travel demand models are important tools used in transportation planning to forecast the amount of travel expected to occur under various scenarios and to estimate the effects of changes in transportation supply or policies. The mathematical relationships in these models depend on parameters that reflect the sensitivity of travelers’ choices to the model’s input variables. The process of model transfer from one region to another has become commonplace as a way to obtain model parameter estimated when sufficient local data for model estimation. This report provides guidance to transportation planners on alternative approaches to model transfer based on the amount of available resources. The guidance, which is based on research that has been conducted on model transferability, is supplemented with simple examples of the various model transfer methods. KW - Calibration KW - Transportation planning KW - Travel demand KW - Validation UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/tmip/publications/other_reports/travel_model_transfer/fhwahep15006.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1353320 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01560908 AU - Hallmark, Shauna L AU - Hawkins, Neal R AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Synthesis of Iowa Research to Address Rural Safety PY - 2014/10 SP - v.p. AB - The objective of these web pages is to synthesize safety research to address the top traffic safety needs in Iowa. Information about roadway departures, rural intersections, and rural speed management relevant to Iowa is summarized to help agencies more effectively target specific types of crashes in Iowa. KW - Countermeasures KW - Fatalities KW - Intersections KW - Iowa KW - Ran off road crashes KW - Research KW - Rural highways KW - Speeding KW - Traffic crashes KW - Traffic safety UR - http://publications.iowa.gov/19162/1/IADOT_InTrans_Hallmark_Synthesis_of_Iowa_Research_Rural_Safety_2014_summary.pdf UR - http://publications.iowa.gov/id/eprint/19162 UR - http://www.ctre.iastate.edu/research-synthesis/ UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1347717 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01556727 AU - Kramer, Steven L AU - Valdez, Carlos AU - Blanchette, Benjamin AU - Baker, Jack W AU - University of California, Berkeley AU - Washington State Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Performance-Based Design Factors for Pile Foundations PY - 2014/10//Final Report SP - 213p AB - The seismic design of pile foundations is currently performed in a relatively simple, deterministic manner. This report describes the development of a performance-based framework to create seismic designs of pile group foundations that consider all potential levels of loading and their likelihoods of occurrence in a particular area. Because of the multitude of factors that can exist at a site, development of a complete, integrated procedure that would extend from ground motions to limit state exceedance was not practical. To make the problem more useful to the research sponsors, a modular approach was developed. The framework allows for the development and use of a structural model with a simplified representation of the foundation system. The discrete soil model was developed using an equivalent linear format so that stiffness and damping characteristics were consistent with deformation levels. The foundation loads computed in these analyses were then applied to a three-dimensional soil-pile group model to compute the resulting displacements and rotations of the pile cap. A computer program was developed to perform the calculations required to develop load and resistance factors and demand and capacity factors. The calculations allow a designer to select a return period for limit state exceedance and then select the corresponding factors that will produce a design that corresponds to the desired limit state exceedance rate. KW - Computer programs KW - Deformation KW - Dislocation (Geology) KW - Earthquake resistant design KW - Load and resistance factor design KW - Performance based specifications KW - Pile foundations KW - Structural models UR - http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/research/reports/fullreports/827.1.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54600/54621/827.1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1345502 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01555791 AU - Shariati, Ali AU - Schumacher, Thomas AU - Ramanna, Nakul AU - University of Delaware, Newark AU - Rutgers University, Piscataway AU - Delaware Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Exploration of Video-Based Structural Health Monitoring Techniques PY - 2014/10//Final Report SP - 40p AB - Structural health monitoring (SHM) has become a viable tool to provide owners with objective data for maintenance and repair. Traditionally, discrete contact sensors such as strain gages or accelerometers have been used for SHM. However, distributed remote sensors could be advantageous since they don’t require cabling and can cover an area rather than a limited number of discrete points. Digital image correlation (DIC) has been used successfully but has disadvantages in terms of complexity and computational costs when applied to videos. In this research project, the authors investigated and proposed a different approach. The basic concept is that small changes in the intensity value of a monitored pixel with fixed (or Eulerian) coordinates caused by the vibration of structures can be captured, even if it is not visible to the naked eye. In this research report, the authors explain the basic concept and mathematical theory for their proposed so-called virtual visual sensors (VVS), present a set of laboratory experiments to demonstrate the accuracy of the approach, and provide two practical monitoring examples of in-services bridges. Finally, the authors discuss future work to improve the current methodology. KW - Bridges KW - Case studies KW - Digital video KW - Eulerian coordinate systems KW - Pixels KW - Structural health monitoring KW - Vibration KW - Virtual visual sensors UR - https://cait.rutgers.edu/files/CAIT-UTC-038-final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1342954 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554339 AU - Ng, Kam W AU - Sritharan, Sri AU - Ashlock, Jeramy C AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Development of Preliminary Load and Resistance Factor Design of Drilled Shafts in Iowa PY - 2014/10//Final Report SP - 232p AB - The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) mandated utilizing the Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) approach for all new bridges initiated in the United States after October 1, 2007. To achieve part of this goal, a database for Drilled SHAft Foundation Testing (DSHAFT) was developed and reported on by Garder, Ng, Sritharan, and Roling in 2012. DSHAFT is aimed at assimilating high-quality drilled shaft test data from Iowa and the surrounding regions. DSHAFT is currently housed on a project website (http://srg.cce.iastate.edu/dshaft) and contains data for 41 drilled shaft tests. The objective of this research was to utilize the DSHAFT database and develop a regional LRFD procedure for drilled shafts in Iowa with preliminary resistance factors using a probability-based reliability theory. This was done by examining current design and construction practices used by the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) as well as recommendations given in the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) LRFD Bridge Design Specifications and the FHWA drilled shaft guidelines. Various analytical methods were used to estimate side resistance and end bearing of drilled shafts in clay, sand, intermediate geomaterial (IGM), and rock. Since most of the load test results obtained from O-cell do not pass the 1-in. top displacement criterion used by the Iowa DOT and the 5% of shaft diameter for top displacement criterion recommended by AASHTO, three improved procedures are proposed to generate and extend equivalent top load-displacement curves that enable the quantification of measured resistances corresponding to the displacement criteria. Using the estimated and measured resistances, regional resistance factors were calibrated following the AASHTO LRFD framework and adjusted to resolve any anomalies observed among the factors. To illustrate the potential and successful use of drilled shafts in Iowa, the design procedures of drilled shaft foundations were demonstrated and the advantages of drilled shafts over driven piles were addressed in two case studies. KW - AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications KW - Bridge design KW - Bridge foundations KW - Calibration KW - Case studies KW - Databases KW - Dislocation (Geology) KW - Iowa KW - Iowa Department of Transportation KW - Load and resistance factor design KW - Load tests KW - Resistance (Mechanics) UR - http://publications.iowa.gov/18672/1/IADOT_InTrans_RB03_012_Ng_Dev_preliminary_Load_Resistance_Factor_Drilled_Shafts_Iowa_2014.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1342483 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554327 AU - Bennett, Caroline AU - Matamoros, Adolfo AU - Barrett-Gonzalez, Ron AU - Rolfe, Stan AU - University of Kansas Center for Research, Incorporated AU - Kansas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Enhancement of Welded Steel Bridge Girders Susceptible to Distortion-Induced Fatigue PY - 2014/10//Final Report SP - 96p AB - The goal of this study was to develop and evaluate the performance of retrofit techniques for existing steel bridges that have already sustained damage due to distortion-induced fatigue, or are anticipated to experience distortion-induced fatigue cracking within their design life. A second goal was to evaluate the use of new technologies and materials for repairing distortion-induced fatigue damage in steel bridges. While a number of retrofit techniques exist for repairing distortion-induced fatigue cracking, many of them require partial or full bridge closure to perform the repair. The retrofits developed under this project are intended to be able to be installed with minimal disturbance to traffic. Four primary subject matters are reported on within this document: (1) the development of the “angles-with-plate” distortion-induced fatigue repair; (2) development of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) repairs for distortion-induced fatigue and in-plane fatigue; (3) development of Piezoelectric Induced Compressive Kinetics (PICK) technology for treatment of crack-arrest holes; and (4) a series of analytical investigations aimed at better understanding distortion-induced fatigue susceptibility of skewed bridge systems. KW - Distortion (Structures) KW - Fatigue cracking KW - Fiber reinforced polymers KW - Girders KW - Piezoelectricity KW - Retrofitting KW - Steel bridges UR - http://idmweb.ksdot.org/PublicLib/publicDoc.asp?ID=003836741 UR - http://idmweb.ksdot.org/PublicLib/publicDoc.asp?ID=003836742 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1341457 ER - TY - SER AN - 01554306 JO - TechBrief PB - Federal Highway Administration TI - Alkali-Silica Reaction Mechanisms and Detection: An Advanced Understanding PY - 2014/10 SP - 12p AB - The deterioration caused by alkali-silica reaction (ASR) was first described 70 years ago in the pioneering paper by Stanton and has since been extensively researched. The traditional attempts to mitigate ASR in concrete structures focused on preventing and/or reducing the amount of gel formed by modifying the chemical environment. Limiting the alkali content of concrete, using supplementary cementitious materials, or using chemical admixtures all have been found to be effective and have been extensively used for that purpose. However, the complexity of chemical and mechanical mechanisms of ASR made it difficult to develop reliable quality control test methods and performance prediction models. Therefore, increased understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of ASR may lead to the development of additional (and possibly better) options for ASR control and for reactivity characterization of susceptible aggregates. The main purpose of this research was to investigate the fundamental mechanisms involved in the ASR process and to advance approaches to detect the damage caused by ASR. A more indepth understanding of the mechanisms underlying ASR, combined with the methods to detect ASR damage developed in the course of this study, is expected to help establish more reliable methods of mitigating ASR and increasing the design life of newly constructed concrete structures. KW - Alkali silica reactions KW - Concrete structures KW - Deterioration KW - Flaw detection UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/structures/bridge/14079/14079.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1342275 ER - TY - SER AN - 01554305 JO - TechBrief PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Muench, Steve AU - Van Dam, Tom TI - Pavement Sustainability PY - 2014/10 SP - 12p AB - An increasing number of agencies, companies, organizations, institutes, and governing bodies are embracing principles of sustainability in managing their activities and conducting business. A sustainable approach focuses on the overarching goal of considering key environmental, social, and economic factors in the decision-making process. Sustainability considerations are not new, and in fact have often been considered indirectly or informally, but in recent years significant efforts are being made to quantify sustainability effects and to incorporate them in a more systematic and organized fashion. The purpose of this Tech Brief is to present a summary of the application of sustainability concepts to pavements. It provides an introduction to these concepts and how they are applied as best practices in the industry, focusing on current and emerging technology and trends. KW - Best practices KW - Pavements KW - Paving KW - Sustainable development KW - Technological innovations UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement/sustainability/hif14012.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1342626 ER - TY - SER AN - 01554299 JO - TechBrief PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Harvey, John AU - Meijer, Joep AU - Kendall, Alissa TI - Life Cycle Assessment of Pavements PY - 2014/10 SP - 10p AB - An ever-growing number of agencies, companies, organizations, institutes, and governing bodies are embracing principles of sustainability in managing their activities and conducting business. This approach focuses on the overarching goal of emphasizing key life cycle economic, environmental, and social factors in the decision-making process. Sustainability considerations are not new, and in fact have often been considered indirectly or informally, but in recent years increased efforts are being made to quantify sustainability effects and to incorporate them into the decision-making process in a more systematic and organized fashion. One instrument that can be used to quantify the environmental performance of sustainability considerations is life cycle assessment (LCA). LCA is a structured methodology that quantifies environmental impacts over the full life cycle of a product or system, including impacts that occur throughout the supply chain. The purpose of this Tech Brief is to describe LCA principles, define the main elements of LCA, and provide an introductory overview of how LCA may be applied to pavements. KW - Environmental impacts KW - Life cycle analysis KW - Pavements KW - Paving KW - Sustainable development UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement/sustainability/hif15001.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1342627 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01554279 AU - Brown, Michael C AU - Gomez, Jose P AU - Hammer, Maureen L AU - Hooks, John M AU - Rutgers University, Piscataway AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Long-Term Bridge Performance High Priority Bridge Performance Issues PY - 2014/10//Final Report SP - 102p AB - Bridge performance is a multifaceted issue involving performance of materials and protective systems, performance of individual components of the bridge, and performance of the structural system as a whole. The Long-Term Bridge Performance (LTBP) Program was initiated to collect, store, and analyze the data necessary to better understand high priority bridge performance issues. The success of the program depends on first being able to identify the most important performance issues bridge owners face. To identify these issues, input from those bridge owners and other key stakeholders was sought. As part of this outreach, bridge experts in 15 State transportation departments were interviewed and asked to name the performance issues in their bridge inventory that are most common and/or most difficult to solve. The findings of these interviews are included in this report. To supplement these interviews and identify high priority issues related to bridge substructures, a workshop on substructure performance issues was held. The findings from the interviews and the substructure workshop were used to develop a list of 22 high priority performance issues. From this list, a shorter list of six bridge performance issues was recommended as the first group of issues for study under the LTBP Program. KW - Bridge substructures KW - Bridges KW - Data collection KW - Long-Term Bridge Performance Program KW - Stakeholders KW - State departments of transportation KW - Structural health monitoring KW - Workshops UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/structures/ltbp/14052/14052.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1342276 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01548541 AU - Okeil, Ayman M AU - Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge AU - Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Data Collection and Evaluation of Continuity Detail for John James Audubon Bridge No. 61390613004101 PY - 2014/10//Final Report SP - 106p AB - This report summarizes findings from monitoring data that was collected over a two-year period from Bridge No. 61390613004101 in the John James Audubon Project, which was formerly designated as Bridge #2 prior to construction completion. The bridge was instrumented as part of an earlier project (LTRC Project No. 08-1ST). Results from the first monitoring project warranted resuming data collection to monitor the performance of Bridge No. 61390613004101 over a longer period of time. The focus of the monitoring effort for both projects is on the employed continuity detail, which is based on the recommendation of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Final Report 519. Continuity details are typically used to eliminate the needs for high-maintenance joints that often lead to the acceleration of element deterioration near the joints. The employed positive moment continuity detail transfers forces between adjacent girders via positive moment reinforcement that extends out of the bottom flanges of the prestressed concrete (PSC) girders into a continuity diaphragm. The 96-channel monitoring system that was installed as part of Project 08-1ST was reactivated in February 2012. Data from the embedded and surface-mounted sensors that measure strains, temperatures, rotations, and gap openings in critical locations in the monitored segment were collected for a period of two years. The collected data from both projects (12-1ST and 08-1ST) was analyzed and interpreted. Furthermore, four field visits were conducted to document the condition of the girder ends in the monitored segment. Recommendations based on the project findings are drawn. Data shows that 5 years after the construction of the bridge, some long-term effects such as creep and shrinkage have diminished. It is also evident that temperature effects are still a major factor that continues to strain the bridge in such a way that should not be ignored in the design of bridges with similar continuity details. The high-localized strains at girder ends due to thermal variation caused cracking in a few girder ends. KW - Continuous girder bridges KW - Data collection KW - Field studies KW - Girders KW - John James Audubon Bridge KW - Monitoring KW - Recommendations KW - Structural analysis KW - Structural health monitoring KW - Temperature UR - http://www.ltrc.lsu.edu/pdf/2014/FR_526.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1333212 ER - TY - SER AN - 01548507 JO - TechBrief PB - Federal Highway Administration TI - Development of Phased-Array Ultrasonic Testing Acceptability Criteria (Phase I) PY - 2014/10 SP - 12p AB - There has not been broad acceptance of phased-array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) in the bridge fabrication industry because it is currently not a recognized inspection technology in the American Welding Society’s (AWS) D1.5 bridge-welding code. One situation the technology would excel at would be inspection of complete joint penetration (CJP) butt welds. Currently, AWS D1.5 requires CJP welds subjected to tensile or reversal stresses to be inspected by radiographic testing (RT). However, discontinuities normally seen by RT should also be seen with PAUT. Until specification language is adopted into D1.5, there will continue to be hesitancy to use PAUT for the inspection of CJP butt welds, but acceptance criteria and the specification language must first be developed. Phase I of this research effort involved a review of the current state of the art of weld inspection using PAUT, development of the preliminary technical approach to inspecting CJP butt welds with and without transitions, fabrication of suitable test specimens, and the use of appropriate calibration blocks for inspection of thick weld specimens. Based on a literature review, it was deemed necessary to first explore the phased-array pulse-echo (PE) technique for all inspections in this phase. The preliminary results from the inspections conducted on four butt-weld specimens are presented in this TechBrief. Phase II of the research will include development of scan plans for transition butt-welds. In-depth analysis of PAUT data obtained in phase I and phase II will determine the exact location and sizing information of the defects. Phase II will also compare PAUT results with those obtained using conventional ultrasonic testing (UT) and radiography. Phase III of this project will explore the time of flight diffraction and combined time of flight diffraction (TOFD)-PE approach. Phase I developmental efforts are presented in this TechBrief. KW - Bridges KW - Butt welds KW - Calibration KW - Inspection KW - Literature reviews KW - Nondestructive tests KW - Ultrasonic tests UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/structures/bridge/14074/14074.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1334575 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01546188 AU - Barnes, David AU - Connor, Billy AU - Alaska University Transportation Center AU - Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Managing Dust on Unpaved Roads and Airports PY - 2014/10//Final Report SP - 83p AB - Fugitive dust emanating from vehicle traffic on unpaved roads and runways can have significant impacts on safety, health, quality of life, and the cost of maintenance. Managing dust provides a means of reducing these impacts. Shearing forces created at the interface between the surface and vehicle tires produce dust on unpaved surfaces. The dust produced becomes airborne as a result of turbulence created by moving vehicles. Once airborne, different monitoring techniques can be used to assess the amount of fugitive dust produced and to measure the effectiveness of dust management strategies. Communities can manage dust by properly constructing and maintaining the unpaved surface, reducing vehicle speed on roads, and with the proper use of dust palliatives. The proper gradation of aggregate, the right profile, and good drainage are all necessary for reducing fugitive dust from unpaved roads and runways. Moreover, reducing vehicle speed on unpaved roads can dramatically reduce the amount of fugitive dust and result in longer periods between maintenance events. Several different types of palliatives are available for both managing dust on unpaved roads and runways. The choice of palliative is dependent on aggregate gradation, traffic amounts, climate, and location (remote or accessible). KW - Aggregates KW - Airport runways KW - Costs KW - Dust KW - Dust control KW - Environmental monitoring KW - Traffic speed KW - Unpaved roads UR - http://tundra.ine.uaf.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Final-Report-Managing-Dust-on-Unpaved-Roads-and-Airports.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1332727 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01546173 AU - Conway, Alison AU - Kamga, Camille AU - Cheng, Jialei AU - Eickemeyer, Penny AU - Chen, Quanquan AU - Singhal, Abhishek AU - City College of New York of the City University of New York AU - University Transportation Research Center AU - New York State Energy Research and Development Authority AU - New York State Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Freight Tricycle Operations in New York City PY - 2014/10//Final Report SP - 192p AB - As cities become more congested and increasingly focused on sustainability, cargo cycles offer a potential alternative to motorized vehicles for local and last-mile goods delivery. However, few studies have examined this mode in the North American context. This project seeks to address this existing gap in research on cargo cycles/freight tricycles in North America and in New York City (NYC). The goals of this project are: (1) to understand the potential commodities moved and sectors served by cargo cycles; (2) to identify the expected benefits, challenges, and barriers to operation for cargo cycles operating in NYC; (3) to understand freight tricycle traffic performance in NYC conditions; and (4) to understand the capability of cargo cycles for use in cold chains – such as food and pharmaceutical delivery – that require temperature control. KW - Bicycle travel KW - Commodities KW - Delivery vehicles KW - Freight transportation KW - New York (New York) KW - Refrigerated cargo KW - Temperature control KW - Urban goods movement UR - http://www.utrc2.org/sites/default/files/pubs/Final-Freight-Tricycles-NYC.pdf?utm_source=10-13-15+Final+Reports&utm_campaign=07-06-14+PR-Final+Reports&utm_medium=email UR - https://www.dot.ny.gov/divisions/engineering/technical-services/trans-r-and-d-repository/C-11-11%20Final%20Report_Oct%202014.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1332465 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01546160 AU - Ban, Xuegang (Jeff) AU - Kamga, Camille AU - Wang, Xiaokun (Cara) AU - Wojtowicz, Jeffrey AU - Klepadlo, Eric AU - Sun, Zhanbo AU - Mouskos, Kyriacos AU - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute AU - New York State Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Adaptive Traffic Signal Control System (ACS-Lite) for Wolf Road, Albany, New York PY - 2014/10//Final Report SP - 96p AB - Adaptive Control Software Lite (ACS-Lite) is a traffic signal timing optimization system that dynamically adjusts traffic signal timings to meet current traffic demands. The purpose of this research project was to deploy and evaluate the ACS-Lite adaptive traffic control system on a congested urban corridor in New York State (NYS). In this case, the Wolf Road Corridor in Albany, New York, was chosen. The primary goal was to document the experiences and key lessons learned from the deployment and evaluation regarding how an adaptive control system can be deployed, the advantages and disadvantages of the system, and whether it is suitable for use in other corridors in NYS. The results of the project showed that for heavily congested corridors adaptive control can improve flow within its own system, but may cause extra delays at the boundaries where there are interactions with other traffic control systems. Therefore, a more comprehensive control/management framework may be needed in some cases. The specific ACS-Lite software also needed to be upgraded and improved in order to work for the selected corridor, which caused delays to this project. KW - Adaptive control KW - Albany (New York) KW - Before and after studies KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Evaluation KW - Software KW - Traffic congestion KW - Traffic signal timing KW - Urban areas UR - http://www.utrc2.org/sites/default/files/pubs/Final-Adaptive-Traffic-Signal-Wolf-Road.pdf UR - https://www.dot.ny.gov/divisions/engineering/technical-services/trans-r-and-d-repository/C-10-13%20Final%20Report_10-7-14.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1331986 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01544688 AU - Scullion, Tom AU - Estakhri, Cindy AU - Wilson, Bryan T AU - Texas A&M Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Statewide Implementation of Very Thin Overlays PY - 2014/10 SP - 70p AB - Very thin overlays are defined as overlays where the final lift thickness is 1 inch or less. These are designed to be high performance overlays in that they to pass both a rutting (Hamburg Wheel tracking Test) and reflection cracking (Overlays Test) requirements. In this study three different types of thin overlay were designed and placed in the field; these being the open graded (fine Permeable Friction Course), gap graded (fine Stone matrix Asphalt) and fine dense graded mix. To meet the performance requirements, only high quality aggregates are recommended for these mixes, and for most applications the use of a PG 76-22 binder is recommended. Consequently these mixes cost approximately 30% more per ton than traditional Item 341 dense graded mixes. However, because of the thin placement temperatures a substantial savings per square yard has been reported when using these mixes. In this study, test sections were built in several districts around the state, and the performance to date has been excellent. Specifications were written, and many of the recommendations have been incorporated into the Construction Division's current statewide specifications. KW - Aggregates KW - Bituminous overlays KW - Field tests KW - Friction course KW - Pavement performance KW - Specifications KW - Stone matrix asphalt KW - Test sections KW - Texas UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1331067 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01544677 AU - Lyon, Jillian AU - Zhu, Zhengyuan AU - Kaiser, Mark AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Iowa Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Quantifying Uncertainty in Real Time Performance Measurement for Highway Winter Maintenance Operations – Phase 2 PY - 2014/10//Final Report SP - 30p AB - Winter weather in Iowa is often unpredictable and can have an adverse impact on traffic flow. The Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT) attempts to lessen the impact of winter weather events on traffic speeds with various proactive maintenance operations. In order to assess the performance of these maintenance operations, it would be beneficial to develop a model for expected speed reduction based on weather variables and normal maintenance schedules. Such a model would allow the Iowa DOT to identify situations in which speed reductions were much greater than or less than would be expected for a given set of storm conditions, and make modifications to improve efficiency and effectiveness. The objective of this work was to predict speed changes relative to baseline speed under normal conditions, based on nominal maintenance schedules and winter weather covariates (snow type, temperature, and wind speed), as measured by roadside weather stations. This allows for an assessment of the impact of winter weather covariates on traffic speed changes, and estimation of the effect of regular maintenance passes. The researchers chose events from Adair County, Iowa and fit a linear model incorporating the covariates mentioned previously. A Bayesian analysis was conducted to estimate the values of the parameters of this model. Specifically, the analysis produces a distribution for the parameter value that represents the impact of maintenance on traffic speeds. The effect of maintenance is not a constant, but rather a value that the researchers have some uncertainty about and this distribution represents what they know about the effects of maintenance. Similarly, examinations of the distributions for the effects of winter weather covariates are possible. Plots of observed and expected traffic speed changes allow a visual assessment of the model fit. Future work involves expanding this model to incorporate many events at multiple locations. This would allow for assessment of the impact of winter weather maintenance across various situations, and eventually identify locations and times in which maintenance could be improved. KW - Iowa KW - Mathematical prediction KW - Performance measurement KW - Real time information KW - Traffic flow KW - Traffic speed KW - Weather conditions KW - Winter maintenance UR - http://publications.iowa.gov/17902/1/IADOT_InTrans_RB03-013_Quantifying_Uncertainty_RT_Perf_Meas_Highway_Winter_Maint_Ops_Phase_2_2014.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1329668 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01544673 AU - Hu, Sheng AU - Zhou, Fujie AU - Scullion, Tom AU - Texas Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Texas Cracking Performance Prediction, Simulation, and Binder Recommendation PY - 2014/10 SP - 88p AB - Recent studies show some mixes with softer binders used outside of Texas (e.g., Minnesota's Cold Weather Road Research Facility mixes) have both good rutting and cracking performance. However, the current binder performance grading (PG) system fails to justify/identify this phenomenon, particularly as it applies to softer but highly modified binders. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the current asphalt grading system and recommend associated specification limits, especially for modified binders. The major objectives of this research were to (a) identify/develop simple lab evaluation methods to characterize binder properties, (b) recommend potential binder specification changes, (c) track the field performance of pavements using different binders including softer but highly modified binders, and (d) develop a statewide catalogue of binder recommendations for each district based on cracking performance simulation and life cycling analysis results. KW - Bituminous binders KW - Cracking KW - Evaluation KW - Life cycle analysis KW - Pavement performance KW - Performance based specifications KW - Recommendations KW - Simulation KW - Texas UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6674-2.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1329338 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01544641 AU - Scullion, Tom AU - Wilson, Bryan T AU - Estakhri, Cindy AU - Texas Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Construction and Monitoring of Thin Overlay and Crack Sealant Test Sections at the Pecos Test Track PY - 2014/10 SP - 51p AB - In this project, several crack sealant sections were constructed at the Pecos RTC. Six different sealants were applied in routed and non-routed configurations on both older and newer pavement. The following summer, the sections were reevaluated including simulated heavy traffic testing. The sealants were also tested in the lab with a sealant adhesion test. Also in this project three different thin overlays were constructed at the test track, these being the fine-graded permeable friction course (PFC), fine stone matrix asphalt and a crack attenuating mix. The fine PFC used at Pecos was also placed on Loop 338 around Odessa. These new thin overlays and crack sealant demonstration projects will be evaluated in coming years for future research projects. The researchers recommend applying more test sections on regularly trafficked pavements using a standard sealant (Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Class A or B), and the two best performing sealants (AR Plus and Roadsaver 203). These should be applied to pavements with different levels of traffic and different amounts of crack movement. The thin overlays first demonstrated in these test section have now become widely used around Texas. They are now included in the most several specification (SS 3228 and Item 347) and sections constructed in at least half of the Texas Districts. KW - Bituminous overlays KW - Fine aggregates KW - Friction course KW - Pavement performance KW - Performance tests KW - Sealing compounds KW - Test sections KW - Texas UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/9-1529-2.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1329324 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01544627 AU - Overman, John H AU - Storey, Beverly AU - Kraus, Edgar AU - Miller, Kristi AU - Elgart, Zachary AU - Texas Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Introductory Guide to Integrated Ecological Framework PY - 2014/10 SP - 24p AB - This guide introduces the Integrated Ecological Framework (IEF) to Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) engineers and planners. IEF is step-by-step approach to integrating ecological and transportation planning with the goal of avoiding impacts, minimizing mitigation costs, conserving resources, and improving project delivery. Transportation agencies do their best to avoid and minimize any impacts to the environment, but some impacts are unavoidable. Compensatory mitigation is used to offset these unavoidable impacts to the environment. The environmental permitting process under federal and state legislation constitutes a major component of the transportation project development and delivery process. Over $3.3 billion is spent annually on compensatory mitigation under the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act programs, so there are significant incentives to minimize the cost of mitigation from transportation impacts. KW - Conservation KW - Ecology KW - Environmental impacts KW - Resource allocation KW - Strategic planning KW - Texas KW - Transportation planning UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6762-P1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1329838 ER - TY - SER AN - 01544617 JO - Technote PB - Federal Highway Administration AU - Graybeal, Ben TI - Design and Construction of Field-Cast UHPC Connections PY - 2014/10 SP - 36p AB - Advancements in the science of concrete materials have led to the development of a new class of cementitious composites called ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC). UHPC exhibits mechanical and durability properties that make it an ideal candidate for use in developing new solutions to pressing concerns about highway infrastructure deterioration, repair, and replacement. Field-cast UHPC details connecting prefabricated structural elements used for bridge construction have proven to be an application that has captured the attention of owners, specifiers, and contractors across the country. These connections can be simpler to construct and can provide more robust long-term performance than connections constructed through conventional methods. This document provides guidance on the design and deployment of field-cast UHPC connections. KW - Bridge construction KW - Fiber reinforced concrete KW - Prefabricated bridges KW - Structural connection KW - Ultra high performance concrete UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/structures/14084/14084.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1331780 ER -