The Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will lead a collaborative partnership among industry, government, not-for-profit and academic organizations to conduct a demonstration of a light emitting diode (LED) roadway lighting retrofit installation along Central Avenue (Route 5) in the Town and Village of Colonie.

During winter seasons, road surface conditions are subject to adverse weather conditions. The severity of winter weather varies across the country. Weather-related crashes usually occur on slick pavements due to the presence of water, snow, ice, and fog. On average, twenty-three percent (23%) of vehicle crashes each year are weather-related form 2002 to 2012 (NHTSA data). Therefore, winter road maintenance operations are needed to keep roads safe and clean for users.

In urban areas, obstructions of traffic such as double parking, commercial vehicle deliveries, pedestrian jaywalking, taxi pick-ups and drop-offs, are potential impediments to road capacity and vehicular speed, and causes traffic delay as well as safety risks. In 2014, double parking violation had 502,082 ticketed cases in New York City according to NYCDOF records. New York City and many urban areas need to keep track of the impacts of these violations on their transportation system as well as on the residents of the city.

Infrastructure risk due to fire has been well documented. In particular, bridges in the urban environment are susceptible due to low overhead clearances on overpasses, existing simple spans with no redundancy, narrow lane widths, and general alignment congestion. Although the risk is significant, the current AASHTO Bridge Design Specification (AASHTO) does not include provisions for any design due to fire conditions. Additionally, there is a dearth of code requirements for fire protection of bridges.

One of the primary mechanisms in which asphalt binder and asphalt pavement undergoes aging is oxidation. Oxidative aging can be categorized as either thermal oxidation, which occurs primarily during mixing, transporting, and placement, or UV-oxidation which occurs throughout the lifetime of the pavement due to solar irradiance. This project aims to further investigate the UV-oxidation of asphalt binder.

State agencies are hesitant to implement results purely based on laboratory or computational studies because they are not sure how a particular material or technology will perform on roadways. One solution to this issue is to construct full-scale pilot pavement sections and monitor their performance under real traffic. However, conducting such pilot programs is inherently expensive, risky, and requires a significant amount of time to complete.

Technology advancement is bringing many changes to the transportation system. Some well-known examples are connected and autonomous vehicles and on-demand mobility services (including the ridehailing services such as Uber and on-demand home deliveries). In short term, these emerging technologies and services may enhance the efficiency of transportation system operation, improve traffic condition and residents’ quality of life. In long term, they will change people’s perception of travel time and traffic safety conditions, and reshape their behavior.

Vehicle-generated emissions remain a serious threat to the health of urban and suburban communities. Among the strategies implemented to address this environmental problem are area- and cordon-based pricing (ACP) schemes. Experiences in major cities such as London, Stockholm, and Milan show that ACP schemes are effective in reducing traffic emissions and the related public health risks. However, designing ACP schemes continues to be a challenging task given the complexities of estimating the multidimensional effects of this type of strategy.

One of the primary goals of the United States Department of Transportation is to make the U.S. transportation system the safest in the world. In order to fulfill this goal it is important to understand how to improve highway safety for all users – including those users that may have different sensory inputs than the general population. In fact, some highway users belong to groups with special needs that have not been studied previously. The purpose of this proposed research is to initiate the creation of a body of knowledge regarding deaf and hard of hearing drivers.

Many state transportation agencies and research institutions are investing heavily to establish a Congestion Performance Management System (CPMS), which is mandated by the federal legislation, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP 21, PL 112-141), and reaffirmed by the newly enacted Fix America Surface Transportation Act (FAST ACT 2015). The main elements of Congestion Performance Measures, such as travel time and speed, traffic volume, and length of roadway segments are usually not collected by a single entity, public or private.