Inappropriate traffic speeds are a major cause of traffic fatalities. Since driving is a task with a substantial contribution from vision, the use of lighting and visual information such as signage could assist in providing appropriate cues to encourage appropriate driving speeds. At locations such as sharp roadway curves, an overall reduction in driving speed might be desirable to prevent rollover crashes.
<p>New York?s northern and western borders with Canada have long served as important commercial and tourist gateways for the entire United States. With recent and projected growth in cross-border travel, and heightened security concerns arising from the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the transportation infrastructure in the border regions is being pushed to its limits.
Since the signing of the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993, rapid growth in crossborder travel has stretched the capacity of the border
transportation network. Heightened security since
September 11, 2001 and expedited clearance initiatives
have also placed new demands on the infrastructure.
<p>The changing perception of the safety of transportation modes is, in particular, affecting the way in which the traveling public makes choices concerning mode of transportation, place of work, and location of residence. On September 10, most travel analysts would have said that reliability, travel time, and cost were the primary determinants of mode choice. On September 12, personal security became, and still remains for many New Yorkers, a key concern.</p>
<p>The tragic events of September 11th, 2001 (9/11) have had a profound and unimaginable impact on activities in all of lower Manhattan, and the New York City metropolitan region. Profound, of course, because of the huge loss of life, and because of the continuing sense of trauma of the survivors. These events have also provided a monumental challenge to transportation and city planners because there are no guidelines in US planning/engineering literature on how to manage after such an event occurs.</p>
The main objective of this project is to assess the impacts of 9/11 upon passenger travel behavior. Models based on Random Utility Theory (RUT) were used to assess behavioral changes. In this context, the random utility models provided the methodological framework for the assessment of behavioral changes, while transportation surveys provided the data to be used in the analyses and model estimation processes.
Professors Satish Ukkusuri and Jose Holguin-Veras of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), as a result of an RFP process through the UTRC, have been selected by a selection committee to conduct an assessment of the emerging and promising technology that is likely to impact transportation in the NYMTC region.
