Between 1981and 2011, the State of Florida and private corporations, sometimes jointly, sometimes alone, made four different attempts to implement very high speed rail lines between Miami, Orlando, and Tampa, on which trains would run at very high speed, between 150 and 220 miles per hour. Yet, at present, the only new passenger line that is likely to begin operations between these cities is not very high speed, and will not run on dedicated track. Why did all the earlier attempts at very high speed lines fail, while a moderate speed line appears likely to succeed?

In 2006, the Panama Canal Authority decided to expand the Canal by investing more than $5 billion to accommodate bigger vessels than now to traverse the current facility. Along with the Nicaragua Canal construction that is optimally expected to finish 2019 (Miller, 2014), the widening of the Panama Canal will allow larger tankers to be able to go directly to the East or Gulf of Mexico ports and bypass the West Coast ports where so many imports currently change modes to cross-continental trucks or rail.

The objectives of this research are to understand the economic importance of border bridges on the U.S.-Canada economies, especially involving the various US states proximate to the Provinces of Ontario, and to simulate various the U.S.-Canada border bridge policy and security scenarios. To this end, we combined a novel bi-national highway network data with a freight flow dataset using ports of entry (POE) via highway border crossings. Through several sub-procedures, the US and Canada highway systems are integrated into a single network dataset.

This paper develops a random utility based estimation framework for the Household Activity Pattern Problem (HAPP). Based on the realization that output of complex activity-travel decisions form a continuous pattern in space-time dimension, the estimation framework is treated as a pattern selection problem.

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) are likely to increase in popularity in the near future. However, the environmental benefits of PHEVs involve tradeoffs between the benefits of reduced tailpipe emissions against the drawbacks of increased emissions at marginal electric generation plants and reduced gasoline tax income. In this report, a model is developed that will enable these tradeoffs to be studied. The model accounts for local commuting patterns and marginal electric generation in New Jersey.

Evidence is rapidly accumulating that attaining the full set of benefits from Automated Vehicles (AVs) will require that they do not merely mimic human-driving behavior.

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) in transportation infrastructure projects refer to contractual agreements formed between a public Agency and a private sector entity to allow for greater private sector participation in project delivery. At the current time, most Agencies do not have a set of straightforward guidelines by which they decide whether to adopt PPP for a given project, and if to adopt one, which type of PPP should be adopted.

This report summarizes the findings of an experimental evaluation into alkali silica reaction (ASR) in cement free alkali-activated slag and fly ash binder concrete. The susceptibility of alkali-activated fly ash and slag concrete binders to deleterious ASR was evaluated in accordance with relevant ASTM standards.

The objective of this research was to develop a systematic methodology to understand overall demand, destination type choice, and route choice decisions in the aftermath of a hurricane. It will consider transportation, social and other relevant factors such as actions of agencies dealing with emergency operations. Data collected from past hurricanes will be used to estimate and calibrate the evacuation demand and behavior models. This research is focused on the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area, and will utilize available data sources in this area to conduct the proposed work.

This research aims to evaluate the different parking conditions that drivers face in critical areas of New York City, to examine the variables that impact their curbside behavior, and to develop recommendations to improve curb management.