The WSDOT’s Northwest Region operates a Traffic Management Center (TMC) in its regional headquarters in north Seattle. This center manages the freeway systems in the central Puget Sound by controlling ramp meters, identifying incidents with closed-circuit televisions cameras, and informing the traveling public in real time. With this effort, the Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium (PacTrans) and WSDOT are cooperatively providing professional experience, training, and research opportunities to students from the UW’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at WSDOT’s TMC. Under the supervision of WSDOT engineers, students operate the region’s intelligent transportation system and perform various tasks such as identifying congestion and other problems that affect the operation of the Seattle area freeway system, operating high profile systems such as the I-405 Express Toll Lanes and SR 167 HOT Lanes, and managing centralized traffic signal control, variable messages signs, and ramp meter optimization. This arrangement helps WSDOT reliably staff the TMC without increasing costs while also helping UW students prepare for a future in transportation engineering.

Principal Investigator: Yinhai Wang, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UW
Sponsor: WSDOT
WSDOT Technical Monitor: Sayuri Koyamatsu
WSDOT Project Manager: Doug Brodin
Scheduled completion: June 2025

For over a decade the University of Washington (UW) and WSDOT have worked cooperatively to provide professional experience, training, and research opportunities to UW Civil and Environmental Transportation Program students at WSDOT’s Toll Division. Under the supervision of WSDOT engineers, these students assist in collecting, storing, and processing data related to the operation of WSDOT’s toll facilities, as well as in speed studies, data analysis, report writing, field work, and other tasks as assigned. This arrangement helps WSDOT further staff the Toll Division office in Seattle at a reasonable cost while also helping UW students gain valuable experience and prepare for a future in transportation engineering.

Principal Investigator: Yinhai Wang, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UW
Sponsor: WSDOT
WSDOT Technical Monitor: Tyler Patterson
WSDOT Project Manager: Doug Brodin
Scheduled completion: June 2025

This project will develop four, one-credit courses on zero-emissions vehicles and associated infrastructure specifically designed to meet the training needs of WSDOT personnel. The four courses will cover the topics of transit decarbonization, electric buses and charging, meeting the power needs for electric vehicle charging stations, and hydrogen vehicles and infrastructure. When completed, each online course will entail 30 to 40 hours of largely self-directed learner effort, spread over four to five modules.

Principal Investigator: Don MacKenzie, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UW
Sponsor: WSDOT
WSDOT Technical Contact: Sayma Rahman
WSDOT Project Manager: Jon Peterson
Scheduled completion: June 2024

Two decades ago the Transportation Research Board and National Academies produced lengthy reports recommending the preparation and training of a workforce to support an efficient transportation system. Today, with new challenges such as quickly changing technologies and environmental sustainability, the need for transportation workforce development is more pressing than ever. This need requires a holist approach, beginning with the exposure and education of pre-college students. The objective of the Summer Youth Transportation Program will be to provide high school students, including but not limited to young minorities, women, and disadvantaged individuals, an awareness of careers in the transportation industry to encourage them to pursue a vocation in transportation. The project leads will review programs sponsored by the FHWA National Summer Transportation Institute (NSTI), develop a complementary course structure, prepare course materials, and make all necessary preparations, including outreach to prospective students, to teach the course at both the UW and WSU over summer 2023.

Principal Investigators:
Yinhai Wang, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UW
Jia Li, Civil and Environmental Engineering, WSU

Sponsor: WSDOT

WSDOT Technical Contacts:
Pam Vasudeva
Jackie Bayne

WSDOT Project Manager: Doug Brodin
Scheduled completion: December 2023