All posts by trac

Long-Term Bond Characteristics of the Interface between the Substrate and Overlays in Shotcrete Applications, Phase III

Shotcrete is increasingly used for fascia walls and soil nail retaining walls. Properly placed shotcrete is structurally sound and durable. It is particularly well adapted to vertical and overhead work where conventional formwork and repairs are difficult to make, costly, and often short-lived. However, use of shotcrete could also possibly reduce the life expectancy of structures if the bond between the overlay and substrate is not well developed. In addition, long-term freeze-thaw weathering can degrade bond strength and result in debonding from the existing structures and rebar corrosion. In close consultation with the shotcrete industry and WSDOT, the goal of this phase three project is to investigate short-term and long-term debonding issues between the substrate and overlays. The study will develop specification recommendations for best practices and test methods to assure the effective bonding and monolithic behavior of shotcrete structures for wall fascia, slope stabilization, and other applications.

Project Investigator: Haifang Wen, Civil and Environmental Engineering, WSU
Sponsor: WSDOT
WSDOT Technical Monitors: Patrick Glassford, Marco Foster
WSDOT Project Manager: Mustafa Mohamedali
Scheduled completion:  June 2021

Development of a Protocol to Maintain the Winter Mobility of Different Classes of Pervious Concrete Pavement Based on Porosity

Municipalities in the Pacific Northwest are increasingly using pervious concrete pavements (PCP). While this class of pavements offers significant ecological advantages, transportation departments must ensure that the pavements are safe for drivers and pedestrians in the region’s typical adverse winter conditions. To assist transportation departments in implementing more effective winter operations, this study aimed to develop a simple, image-based method to characterize the porosity of PCP.

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A Construction Project Classification Framework: Mapping the Dimensions for Classification of Pacific Northwest Highway Project Types

Although construction projects differ in terms of size, materials, location, construction methods, and complexity, a proper classification system for project types does not exist. To help administrators of highway projects find consistency in data gathering and reporting, and validity in their analyses of contract performance, this project developed a framework for classifying project types.

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If You Provide, Will They Ride? Motivators and Deterrents to Shared Micro-Mobility

Bike share, e-bike share, and e-scooter systems (collectively known as shared micro-mobility) are gaining popularity throughout the United States and internationally, but no one has yet determined the optimal system design. This study investigated motivators for and deterrents to the use of such systems in the Pacific Northwest.

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Dynamic Metering in Connected Urban Street Networks: Improving Mobility

As traffic congestion increases on urban street networks, a network’s ability to process vehicles decreases because of queue spillovers and gridlock. Traffic metering can help regulate the flow of vehicles entering congested areas to allow the network to operate at its optimum level. This study sought to develop a traffic metering method for urban street networks and to study the effects of metering on traffic operations.

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Deployment of the Washington State Virtual Environment for Multimodal Integrated Corridor Management

A UW Human Centered Design and Engineering team is building the Virtual Coordination Center (VCC), a cloud-based platform for real-time data sharing and coordinated response to quickly clear roadway incidents—while preparing Seattle-area agencies for a collaborative response to major incidents. In summer 2023 the Washington state legislature approved approximately $2 million to maintain the VCC and expand it to up to five additional jurisdictions in King County. Work on the VCC began several years ago when regional public agency executives signed a charter establishing the Seattle Area Joint Operations Group and committing to “collectively design and implement a regional strategy for enhancing mobility and reducing impact when a major incident drastically reduces capacity along the Seattle I-5 corridor.” This integrated transportation community—including WSDOT, Seattle DOT, Seattle Police, Seattle Fire, Washington State Patrol, King County Metro, and Sound Transit—jointly participated in a process to design the cloud‐based VCC. A $3 million federal award has allowed the VCC regional partners to focus on deployment of the VCC and to develop a virtual collaborative working environment that includes integrated computer-aided dispatch, map-based situation awareness, a real-time incident alerting system, and coordinated interagency congestion management and public communication. When deployed, the VCC will dramatically reduce the time and increase the effectiveness of incident operations. It will provide a framework within which regional transportation, transit, and law enforcement agencies will be able to coordinate traffic management strategies using real‐time data.

Principal Investigator: Mark Haselkorn, Human Centered Design and Engineering, UW
Sponsor: WSDOT
WSDOT Technical Monitor: Travis Phelps
WSDOT Project Manager: Doug Brodin
Scheduled completion: December 2023

Washington State School Walk Score

Walking and biking to school help children be healthy. They also reduce air pollution, local noise, and traffic congestion. Poor walkability environments pose barriers for children to walk to school. This project developed two school walkability scores that can help parents and school staff assess walkability levels around individual schools and that can also guide jurisdictions in selecting strategies that will increase walkability and safety around schools.

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Freight and Transit Lane Case Study

In January 2019 the City of Seattle opened a local freight and transit (FAT) lane to explore ways to address the challenges of freight mobility. This study evaluated the performance and utilization of the FAT lane. Analysis included the percentages of buses and freight vehicles that chose the FAT lane, violation rates of the FAT lane, and factors that most influenced lane choice. The city will be able to use these findings to guide the development of future FAT lane projects.

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Cargo E-Bike Delivery Pilot Test in Seattle

This study evaluated the pilot test of a cargo e-bike delivery system in Seattle, Washington. Researchers compared the performance of an electric-assisted tricycle with a removable cargo container used to perform last-mile deliveries and pick-ups in downtown Seattle with that of a traditional, truck-only delivery system. In evaluating and comparing both systems, the researchers looked at delivery area, number of delivery locations, number of packages delivered, and failed first delivery rate. The results are intended to provide information to help the city in developing future urban freight policies.

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Adjustments to the Public Records Act to Allow for Advanced Transportation Operations and Management

The State of Washington’s Public Records Act (PRA), originally passed as a public initiative in 1972, was designed to provide more transparency in the decision-making process at all levels of government. At the same time, the law also directly acknowledges that citizens have privacy rights that deserve protections. Unfortunately, the PRA was not written to account for the ways that modern technology has changed the collection of data, how those data are used for business applications and to manage the transportation system, nor how those data can be abused. The primary objective of this project is to develop recommended changes to the state’s Public Records Act that would enable the state’s public agencies, cities, and counties to obtain and use a variety of new electronic data. Those data—often collected by the private sector—describe transportation system use of individuals, vehicles, and companies, so the revisions must allow their use without releasing to the public detailed data that could compromise the privacy of individuals and the trade secrets of companies. The intent is to clarify privacy and trade secret protections of individuals and companies within the law, while maintaining transparency in government decision making, and to remove barriers to the sharing and use of private sector data to enable public agencies to more effectively manage the transportation system.

Principal Investigators:
Mark E. Hallenbeck, Washington State Transportation Center, UW
Hugh Spitzer, School of Law, UW

Sponsors:
WSDOT
Sound Transit
King County Metro
Milligan Partners

WSDOT Technical Monitor: Ricardo Gotla
WSDOT Project Manager: Jon Peterson
Scheduled completion: March 2021