Current Projects

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

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

Equity in Planning

To help increase equity in transportation planning, this project will seek to determine key performance indicators that measure the effects of transportation projects on vulnerable populations, overburdened communities, and tribes. The researchers will comb the literature for both leading indicators and the performance metrics to measure them. On the basis of the leading indicators collected, the researchers will survey planners to gather further information about strategies that have been or could be used to address equity issues. This information will be organized into a Table of Equity Strategies, with literature review data presented at the census tract level and community engagement data presented at the county level. Planners will be able to use the resulting information in determining how to approach equity in their transportation projects.

Principal Investigator: Bethany Gordon, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UW
Sponsor: WSDOT
WSDOT Technical Monitor: Faris Al-Memar
WSDOT Project Manager: Jon Peterson
Scheduled completion: February 2024

Evaluation of Closed Crossing Indicators

Tactile paving surfaces can be used to convey important information to visually impaired pedestrians about their environment, such as warnings about hazards, guidance for directions, or information about amenities. However, pedestrian crossing closures are still indicated solely by official signs. Currently there are no low maintenance, cost effective, industry standard treatments for tactilely indicating closed pedestrian crossings. WSDOT is testing a proof-of-concept application in a Seattle neighborhood in partnership with Seattle DOT and The Lighthouse for the Blind. For this project, researchers will take advantage of that closed crossing treatment and pilot test location to evaluate such treatments and develop a set of guidelines that WSDOT can use to determine their frequency, their best locations, and the types of surface treatments and materials that should be used.

Principal Investigator: Anat Caspi, Computer Science and Engineering, UW
Sponsor: WSDOT
WSDOT Technical Monitor: Jay Wells
WSDOT Project Manager: Jon Peterson
Scheduled completion: January 2024

Smart and Cooperative Truck Parking Monitoring and Calibration System Empowered by Machine Learning

Current systems that determine parking lot occupancy to inform drivers of available spaces have issues related to calibration and accuracy. In response, this research is creating a truck parking monitoring and calibration system powered by machine learning. Rather than relying on manual calibration, which is labor intensive, inefficient, and difficult to scale up, this research will monitor and calibrate the installed sensing system by creating a data pipeline that includes deep learning and cooperative AI methods. For the developed system, counting data will be obtained by sensors installed at the entrance and exit of a truck parking lot. A separate video surveillance system will collect ground-truth data. Then real-time parking occupancy will be calculated, and error status will be identified by comparing the results with ground-truth records. The cooperative AI calibration component will generate a calibrated occupancy result, confidence rate, sensing system status, and calibration recommendations. The project will also create a live website to show the status of the installed truck parking sensing system and calibration recommendations.

Principal Investigator: Yinhai Wang, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UW
Sponsor: WSDOT
WSDOT Technical Monitor: Karthik Murthy
WSDOT Project Manager: Doug Brodin
Scheduled completion: December 2024

Transportation Data Equity Initiative, Phases 2 and 3

Detailed, accurate data about pedestrian spaces, travel environments, and travel services are crucial for trip planners, trip concierges, and mobile wayfinding applications—particularly those that serve the needs of people with disabilities, older adults, and rural populations. However, the necessary data are not collected, stored in standardized formats, or published in ways that navigation apps can access. This project is addressing travel inequities by developing a national pipeline of data intended to help all people navigate sidewalks and transit stations more easily. The project will also extend the national data standards for on-demand transit services (GTFS-Flex), which are used extensively by people with disabilities, for pedestrian paths (OpenSidwalks), and for the mapping of multi-level transit stations (GTFS-Pathways). The project will demonstrate the use of those data and standards in three applications: a multi-modal, accessible travel planner (an extension of AccessMap); Microsoft’s Soundscape application, which helps blind and low-vision people navigate the environment; and an auditory tool called Audium intended to help low-vision individuals navigate transit centers. The project will be deployed in six counties: two each in Maryland, Oregon, and Washington state. In Phase 1 the researchers finalized the plans for building the necessary data infrastructure and developing or improving the software needed for the mobility applications. In phases 2 and 3, they will generate the necessary data, extend the data standards, and build/extend the applications. Field tests will be conducted in years 4 and 5. This contribution to a “new mobility ecosystem” will allow more people to access more destinations on foot and with transit than ever before.

Transportation Data Equity website

Principal Investigators:
Anat Caspi, Computer Science and Engineering, UW
Mark E. Hallenbeck, Washington State Transportation Center, UW

Sponsor: USDOT

Team members:
Cambridge Systematics
City of Bellevue
Gaussian Solutions
Microsoft
Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute
Studio Pacifica
XR Navigation

Participating organizations:
Washington State Department of Transportation
Oregon Department of Transportation
Maryland Department of Transportation

Scheduled completion: December 2025

WSDOT Toll Equity

WSDOT uses roadway tolling as a way to manage demand on I-405, SR 167, SR 99, and SR 520 and to fund megaprojects. While tolls are true “user fees,” they can be a significant expense to roadway users, and therefore they raise serious equity concerns. Work for the WSDOT’s Tolling Division by the UW Data Science for Social Good program provided insight into the equity of the tolling program on I-405’s Express Toll lanes. However, little is known about the equity impacts of WSDOT’s other facilities. This project will provide additional insight into the equity of WSDOT’s various toll facilities. The project will help WSDOT better understand current use of its toll facilities, and it will examine how the combination of household income and tolling fees affect the use of state roadways. Researchers will also provide insight into how costs and benefits associated with toll facilities are distributed and will provide a baseline of use against which changes in economic or policy conditions can be measured.

Principal Investigator: Mark E. Hallenbeck, Washington State Transportation Center, UW
Sponsor: WSDOT
WSDOT Technical Monitor: Tyler Patterson
WSDOT Project Manager: Doug Brodin
Scheduled completion: July 2023

Truck Parking Information and Management System (TPIMS)

Truck drivers consistently rank parking availability as a top concern. When drivers cannot readily find parking, they are forced to park illegally or continue searching, often violating federal hours-of-service rules. To help commercial drivers plan their trips and maximize the use of available parking, WSDOT, in partnership with the STAR Lab at the University of Washington, is developing and installing a self-learning and optimizing Truck Parking Information and Management System (TPIMS). The UW researchers will support WSDOT in determining site viability and design to prepare for TPIMS development. They will build the server that will host all relevant data and UW analytics algorithms and will integrate it with WSDOT’s data management system. They will enhance the accuracy and reliability of the truck parking availability prediction algorithm based on the results and findings from a pilot project, including fusing real-time data, historical spatial-temporal data, and attributes information into the framework. Finally, the UW team will work with WSDOT to develop an application programming interface to provide third-party access to the resulting occupancy and prediction data. In addition, they will enhance the mobile app developed in the pilot project, such as allowing it to host more parking sites and making it more effective and user friendly to disseminate critical information to truck drivers.

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

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