All posts by trac

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

Shotcrete, concrete applied pneumatically at high velocity, has the potential to save costs and construction time when used to replace cast-in-place concrete for retaining walls and slope stabilization. It is becoming popular for vertical and overhead applications where conventional formwork and repairs are difficult and costly. The results of this project will be helpful to highway agencies in achieving the best structural quality and durability when shotcrete is used.

Impacts of Cascadia Subduction Zone M9 Earthquakes on Bridges in Washington State: Single-Degree-of-Freedom (SDOF) Idealized Bridges

The Cascadia Subduction Zone is capable of producing large-magnitude, megathrust earthquakes that will affect the performance of every new and existing bridge in the western half of Washington state. This project evaluated the impacts on bridges of a magnitude 9 (M9) earthquake to help agencies prioritize earthquake retrofit efforts and to support the development of emergency response plans.

WSDOT Zero-Emissions Vehicle Course Development

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

Automated Traffic Sign Recognition Using Computer Vision and Deep Learning

The importance of traffic signs for traffic operations and safety requires transportation agencies to maintain an inventory of them and their condition. To conduct such an inventory, WSDOT staff must physically visit locations for sign verification and data collection. Given the huge number of posted traffic signs, this means that traditional sign asset management is time-consuming and costly. New, automated solutions are needed to collect traffic sign data and manage them in a timely and cost-effective manner. To address this issue, this study is developing a traffic sign data collection system from open street images, an algorithm for detecting and recognizing traffic signs in those images, and an expandable sample data inventory of traffic signs in a designated region in Washington, including both freeways and local streets. The final products will provide an automated solution to reduce manual labor and will significantly contribute to traffic sign asset management.

Principal Investigator: Yinhai Wang, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UW
Sponsor: WSDOT
WSDOT Technical Monitor: Dina Swires
WSDOT Project Manager: Doug Brodin
Scheduled completion: September 2024

King County Metro Support for ORCA Data Analysis Improvements

Analysis of electronic transit farecard data can provide insight into how travelers use the system and how their behavior changes as both the urban form and transit services change over time. It can be used to answer a variety of policy questions, ranging from the impacts of adopted policies on transit use, to the quantity and quality of trips taken, to the differences in transit services provided to neighborhoods of different income levels to determine the equity of transit services provided throughout the region. The Next Generation One Regional Card for All (NG ORCA) effort includes the development and deployment of a database system called DARe (Data Access and Reporting), which is being used to collect, manage, and store data on the use of ORCA cards and accounts. However, to date transit agency analysts have not fully taken advantage of its reporting function. The UW has an ORCA data reporting system that currently houses data from January 2019 through May 2022. This project is funding continued improvements to the UW system.

Principal Investigator: Ryan Avery, Washington State Transportation Center, UW
Sponsor: King County Metro
Metro Technical Monitor: Melissa Gaughan
Scheduled completion: September 2023

2022 Seattle Commute Survey

The 2022 Seattle Commute Study captured insights into Seattle area commuter trip choices and motivators, as well as origins and destinations. The results give transportation planners a clearer picture of travel trends in relation to demographic groups, employment types, and housing.

WSDOT PacTrans Summer Youth Transportation Program

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

Using LCA to Reduce Embodied Carbon in Pavement Infrastructure at WSDOT

The 2022 FHWA Climate Challenge included a call for state departments of transportation and other public sector stakeholders to explore the use of life cycle assessment (LCA) and environmental product declarations (EPDs) as a standard practice to inform more sustainable pavement material and design selection and to quantify the emissions and impacts of those practices. EPDs are transparent, objective reports that communicate what a product is made of and the life cycle environmental impacts of that product. LCA and EPDs are needed to credibly inventory carbon and determine greenhouse gas emissions. In response to the Climate Challenge, and in collaboration with the Minnesota DOT and Michigan Technological University, this study is working to meet three research objectives: 1) train WSDOT and industry personnel about carbon emissions measurement and reduction, 2) collect life cycle assessment data on WSDOT paving projects, and 3) enable WSDOT to include EPDs in project procurement processes and specifications. Integrating these into WSDOT standard practices will be a critical step in decreasing the carbon footprint of its transportation infrastructure.

Principal Investigators:
Steve Muench, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UW
Kim Schofield, WSDOT
Curt Turgeon, Minnesota DOT
Zhanping You, Michigan Technological University

Subcontractors:
Headlight Inc.
WAP Sustainability Consulting

Sponsors:
FHWA
WSDOT

WSDOT Technical Monitor: Karen Strauss
WSDOT Project Manager: Jon Peterson
Scheduled completion: December 2024

Innovative Freight Movement through Inland Multi-Use Ports: Estimating Public and Private Benefits

The aim of this research effort is to develop an analytical approach that will allow public transportation agencies to evaluate potential locations, value, and benefits from proposed inland rail port alternatives. Previous research has focused predominantly on the size and scale requirements for inland ports to sustain their economic viability without adequately addressing how inland port terminals generate public benefits by improving freight efficiencies that shift import/export freight movements away from congested urban highways and onto rail. These efficiency improvements span multiple commodities and supply-chain systems and can potentially advance new business opportunities. This innovative analysis framework may be applied nationwide as congested ports in urban areas face similar challenges in providing safe, efficient, and inclusive transportation that satisfies many states’ climate and equity policy goals. The focal area will include agricultural export commodities produced in Washington state and will consider an inland port terminal on the east side of the Cascade mountains near Ellensburg, Washington.

Principal Investigators:
Eric Jessup, School of Economic Sciences, WSU
Jake Wagner, School of Economic Sciences, WSU

Sponsor: WSDOT
WSDOT Technical Monitor: Jason Beloso
WSDOT Project Manager: Doug Brodin
Scheduled Completion: April 2023

WSDOT Maintenance Performance Measure Algorithm

The many challenges facing the WSDOT Highway Maintenance program are continually increasing, stretching WSDOT’s ability to keep highway infrastructure in a good state of repair. Since the mid-1990s, WSDOT Maintenance has been evaluating the effectiveness of its Maintenance Program through outcome-based performance measures, referred to as level of service (LOS). The Maintenance Accountability Process (MAP), as it has become known, is a comprehensive planning, measuring, and managing process that provides a means for communicating the impacts of policy and budget decisions on program service delivery to key customers, including WSDOT executive leadership, the legislature, and the public. The objective of this project is to give WSDOT Maintenance the ability to forecast LOS performance by creating an algorithm to predict trends based on different performance measures across different maintenance activities. Based on a data-driven approach, this algorithm will utilize performance measures to forecast LOS at different investment levels.

Principal Investigator: Kishor Shrestha, Construction Engineering, WSU
Sponsor: WSDOT
WSDOT Technical Monitor: Kelly Shields
WSDOT Project Manager: Doug Brodin
Scheduled Completion: June 2023

TRAC