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Traveler Oriented Traffic Performance Metrics Using Real Time Traffic Data from the Midtownin- Motion (MIM) Project in Manhattan, NY

In a congested urban street network the average traffic speed is an inadequate metric for measuring speed changes that drivers can perceive from changes in traffic control strategies.

A driver – oriented metric is needed. Stop frequency distributions were developed for avenue segments in Manhattan, NYC, from known vehicle travel times for the am, midday, and pm peak hours.

Shared-Use Bus Priority Lanes on City Streets: Case Studies in Design and Management

This report examines the policies and strategies governing the design and, especially, operations of bus lanes in major congested urban centers. It focuses on bus lanes that operate in mixed traffic conditions; the study does not examine practices concerning bus priority lanes on urban highways or freeways. Four key questions addressed in the paper are:

Field Methods for Determining Lead Content in Bridge Paint Removal Waste

The removal of paint from bridges and other structures is a significant issue facing transportation agencies because of the presence and potential for release of lead and other contaminants upon disposal. A large percentage of the bridges are reaching a critical level of deterioration, resulting in management issues for paint waste. The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) applies a conservative approach by assuming all waste generated from bridges previously painted with lead-based paint (LBP) is hazardous.

Developing Self-cleaning and Air Purifying Transportation Infrastructure Components to Minimize Environmental Impact of Transportation

Creating transportation infrastructure, which can clean up itself and contaminated air surrounding it, can be a groundbreaking approach in addressing environmental challenges of our time. This project has explored a possibility of depositing coatings on the existing materials to address a feasibility of this approach. More specifically, we have quantified the rates of removal of pollutants from the air by a new generation of coatings, which can be applied on any architectural elements and transportation infrastructure.

Lessons from Hurricane Sandy for Port Resilience

New York Harbor was directly in the path of the most damaging part of Hurricane Sandy causing significant impact on many of the facilities of the Port of New York and New Jersey. The U.S. Coast Guard closed the entire Port to all traffic before the storm hit on October 28th. It was not fully reopened to vessel traffic until November 4th. Then, even though the waterways were open, numerous port terminals and maritime facilities did not resume their operations for several more weeks because of power failures and damages to the facilities and equipment.

A Decision Support Model to Understand Route Choice Decisions and Siting of Facilities in Emergency Evacuation

In this research, we present the results of a behavior model to capture different routing strategies executed by evacuees during hurricane evacuation by using a random‐parameter logit‐based modeling approach. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to model evacuees’ strategic behavior for evacuation routing decisions using a random‐parameter model. A probabilistic model incorporating the demographic characteristics of evacuees and evacuation related characteristics would predict the routing behavior of evacuees’ in a better way.

Corrosion Damage Assessment of Post-Tensioned Concrete Structures

Detecting corrosion in the tendons of post-tensioned (PT) concrete structures is technically challenging. The general inaccessibility of the tendons makes evaluation difficult, costly and often inconclusive. This study had two objectives. The first objective was to design, implement and validate the use of an innovative monitoring system based on embedded arrays of low profile piezoelectric transducers to generate and receive guided ultrasonic waves (GUW) over the length of a pre-stressing tendon.

Characterization of Fatigue Properties of Binders and Mastics at Intermediate Temperatures using Dynamic Shear Rheometer

The paper compares the fatigue life of neat and modified PAV-aged binders and mastics and determines the influence of dust on fatigue life using the Linear Amplitude Sweep (LAS) method. It will also compare these results with results from the DER and 50% Drop Methods as reported in previous research. The binders used were PG 58-28, PG 64-22, PG 70-22, PG 76-28 and PG 82- 22. The dust content for the mastic binder was 0%, 5%, and 15% dust to binder by mass.

Leveraging Brightness from Transportation Lighting Systems through Light Source Color: Implications for Energy Use and Safety for Traffic and Pedestrians

Roadway transportation lighting is installed for multiple reasons including traffic safety and pedestrian security. Judgments of pedestrian safety and security along roadways are not strictly correlated to specified light levels, but the color of the light source influences pedestrians' judgments as well. In general, the brighter a roadway location appears, the safer and more secure it is judged as being.

Relating the 2010 Signalized Intersection Methodology to Alternate Approaches in the Context of NYC Conditions

The Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) has had a delay-based level of service methodology for signalized intersections since 1985. The 2010 HCM has revised the method for calculating delay. This happened concurrent with such jurisdictions as NYC reviewing the use of the HCM method in their environmental impact regulations (e.g. CEQR process), and concurrent with a dialog in the profession on when it is appropriate to use simulation models in lieu of HCM methods.

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