All posts by trac

Promises of Data from Emerging Technologies for Transportation Applications

Emerging technologies such as automated vehicles, advanced data analytics and machine learning, and on-demand ride services will not only fundamentally alter the transportation landscape but provide new data that can be used for the purposes of transportation planning and analysis. This project is examining the properties of these new data and identifying potential applications. The goals of Phase I are to develop a preliminary framework of methods for integrating emerging and conventional data from diverse sources and to identify planning applications that closely align with state and federal DOTs’ missions related to connected and autonomous vehicles, performance monitoring, and safety. Advance data analytics and machine learning methods will be investigated for use in development of the framework. Phase I will also include two technical focus group discussions involving participants from academia, government, the data science community, commercial data providers, and private on-demand rider service operators and automobile manufacturers.

Principal Investigators:
Jeff Ban, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UW
Cynthia Chen, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UW

Sponsor: WSDOT
WSDOT Technical Monitor: Natarajan Janarthanan
WSDOT Project Manager: Doug Brodin
Scheduled completion: January 2019

Recycled Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites Incorporated in Mortar for Improved Mechanical Performance

In this study, recycled glass fiber reinforced polymer composites from end-of-life wind turbine blades were evaluated as a replacement for sand in cement mortar. In the last two decades, glass-based materials in the form of powder or fibers from recycled bottles and other products, and more recently recycled glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) composites from end-of-life products or industrial waste, have been incorporated into cement-based mixtures in various proof-of-concept designs. To understand better how GFRP would affect the properties of mortar, researchers conducted a feasibility study to compare different GFRP sizes and percentages.

Alley Inventory and Truck Use Assessment

The UW Supply Chain and Transportation Logistics (SCTL) Center will conduct an alley inventory and truck load/unload occupancy study for the City of Seattle. Researchers will collect data identifying the locations and infrastructure characteristics of alleys within Seattle’s One Center City planning area, which includes the downtown, uptown, South Lake Union, Capitol Hill, and First Hill urban centers. The resulting alley database will include GIS coordinates for both ends of each alley, geometric and traffic attributes, and photos. Researchers will also observe all truck load/unload activity in selected alleys to determine minutes vacant and minutes occupied by trucks, vans, passenger vehicles, and cargo bikes. The researchers will then develop alley management recommendations to promote safe, sustainable, and efficient goods delivery and pick-up.

Principal Investigators:
Anne V. Goodchild, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UW
Edward D. McCormack, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UW

Sponsor: Seattle Department of Transportation
Scheduled completion: September 2018

Airport Infrastructure Resource Manual

To be adequately and better prepared for earthquakes and other hazard events, the state needs to have a complete inventory of existing airport facilities. At present, there is no single source of information on all such facilities in Western Washington. The primary objective of this project is to collate existing materials and develop missing ones for each airport of interest to be used as an appendix of the Washington State Aviation All Hazards Plan. That inventory is required for the state’s Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan. The primary benefit of the project will be a consolidated database and report of information that officials can use in the event of an emergency. The improved availability of this information will increase emergency preparedness and overall safety for Washington state residents.

Principle Investigator: Mark E. Hallenbeck, Washington State Transportation Center, UW
Sponsor: WSDOT
WSDOT Technical Monitor: John MacArthur
WSDOT Project Manager: Jon Peterson
Scheduled completion: April 2019

TWIN Study of Environment, Lifestyle Behaviors, and Health

This project builds on the Washington State Twin Registry, which includes some 8,000 twin pairs participating in a range of medical studies. The use of twins allows researchers to control for genetic and childhood social and environmental factors in ways that are not possible in studies based on singletons. This project is using a twin design and cutting edge measurement tools and spatial data to examine how the built environment is associated with physical activity and eating habits, and how aspects of the built environment affect physical activity and nutrition in its association with body mass index. Researchers at the UW Urban Form Lab are providing and analyzing data on development densities, land uses, transportation systems, and socio-demographics characteristics of areas of interest in Washington state, as well as processing data from accelerometers, GPS, and travel diaries to produce detailed, time-stamped Life Logs. From the Life Logs, physical activity and walking bouts will be identified, as will eating and food shopping episodes. Further processing of these data will include the identification of mobility patterns and activity spaces over the course of 7-day assessment periods. As twins living in the same locations are compared to those living separately, it will be possible to isolate the effects of the built environment on physical activity

Principal Investigators:
Glen E. Duncan, College of Medicine, WSU
Anne Vernez Moudon, Urban Design and Planning, UW

Sponsor: National Institutes of Health
Scheduled completion: March 2024

RAP Reset: Responsibly Optimizing Recycled Materials Use in HMA and Pavement Performance Life

Concerns with the performance of hot mix asphalt (HMA) that contains recycled materials have recently become the focal point of the asphalt industry. Recycled materials used in HMA in Washington may include reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP), reclaimed asphalt shingles (RAS), and recycled engine oil bottoms (REOB). In the late 2000’s recycled materials use increased as the economy crashed, market competition increased and margins decreased, and virgin asphalt binder cost increased significantly. However, the impacts of that increased usage are beginning to be better understood, and transportation agencies are determining that the durability of HMA may have been compromised as a result. The primary objective of this project is to increase the understanding of the effects of recycled materials on HMA performance and durability to enhance WSDOT’s HMA materials selection, mix design process, and standard specifications. The results are intended to help WSDOT modify its overall recycled materials strategy so that it is informed by current national best practices, takes into account observable local issues and test results, and leads to more durable HMA pavements.

Principal Investigator: Steve Muench, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UW
Sponsor: WSDOT
WSDOT Technical Monitor: Joe DeVol
WSDOT Project Manager: Jon Peterson
Scheduled Completion: March 2021

Underwater Sound Level Meter

This project is devising a new underwater sound level meter (USLM) for WSDOT that will incorporate improvements to current design. These improvements will include a more efficient casing with protected (indented) cable connection ports, a longer recording period over which continuous measurements can be taken, and updated PC software capable of operating with Windows 10. The new software will have attributes for impact and vibratory pile driving that align with NOAA’s most recent Marine Mammal Acoustic Technical Guidance.

Principal Investigator: Peter H. Dahl, Mechanical Engineering, UW
Sponsor: WSDOT
WSDOT Technical Monitor: Marion Carey
WSDOT Project Manager: Jon Peterson
Scheduled Completion: October 2018

Preliminary Procedure for the Structural Design of Pervious Concrete Pavements

The growing popularity of pervious concrete (PC) pavement applications has increased the need for establishing its mechanical properties and understanding their relationships with measurable properties for the purposes of designing layer thickness. In this project researchers developed multi-variable linear regression models to predict strength properties for pavement thickness design and developed a recommended thickness design database for low-traffic-volume PC pavements.

Developing Connections for Longitudinal Joints between Deck Bulb Tees—Development of UHPC Mixes with Local Materials

In past decades, many state departments of transportation and the Federal Highway Administration have begun working with ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC), an advanced cementitious material. WSDOT has not used UHPC in highway bridge applications, such as connection joints for precast concrete decks and girders, because of the concrete’s high cost and because of general lack of experience with it. The goal of this project was to develop a UHPC mixture using materials available locally and domestically as an alternative to commercially available, pre-packaged UHPC products.

Use of Electronic Fare Transaction Data for Corridor Planning

Transit agencies across the nation are increasingly using electronic fare payment methods to speed passenger boarding, reduce the cost of fare collection, provide various other rider benefits, and support more complex fare transactions. This project, jointly sponsored by WSDOT and Sound Transit, explored the use of fare transaction data gathered from the Puget Sound region’s ORCA transit cards, in combination with other sources of transit and non-transit-related data, to produce information that can significantly benefit transit operations and the transportation planning processes for both transit agencies and metropolitan planning organizations.

TRAC