Current Projects

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

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: Matt Neeley
WSDOT Project Manager: Doug Brodin
Scheduled completion: December 2025

Extended Molecular Monitoring for Padden Creek

This study is evaluating the ecological impacts of culvert replacements on Padden Creek near Bellingham, Washington. Padden Creek supports runs of coho and chum salmon and migrating Chinook salmon and steelhead trout. WSDOT began construction in April 2021 to replace two culverts that have slopes that prevent fish passage to improve habitat for migratory species and other wildlife along the 2.7 miles of Padden Creek between Padden Lake and Bellingham Bay. A contractor is replacing the existing concrete box culvert at I-5 with two fish passable bridges and the double concrete box culvert at SR 11 with a 20-foot single span concrete box culvert. To evaluate the impacts of those replacements, UW researchers are sampling the water for DNA at Padden Creek and two control creeks monthly through September 2022. They will develop molecular assays for three to five species that are a priority for WSDOT, such as salmonids, lamprey, and freshwater mussels, by using CRISPR-Cas12a technology. The goal is to hand off these assays to WSDOT and other state agencies so that they may autonomously use these techniques in the future for evaluating these and other waterways.

Principal Investigator: Ryan Kelly, School of Marine & Environmental Affairs, UW
Sponsor: WSDOT

WSDOT Technical Monitors:
Tammy Schmidt
Susan Kanzler

WSDOT Project Manager: Jon Peterson
Scheduled completion: March 2023

WSDOT Developing and Calibrating Fragmental Rockfall Models

Managing rock slopes adjacent to highway infrastructure requires considering possible slope instability and designing mitigation efforts to prevent rockfall damage to the roadway and travelers. When engineers design a slope scaling program, rockfall catchment area, or rockfall barrier, they generally use a rockfall simulation model to predict the potential path and distribution of falling rocks. However, current 2D models tend to significantly overestimate the length of falling blocks’ travel paths, which leads to more expensive and extensive protection than required for slope maintenance. Recent studies have demonstrated that rockfall models built in game engine environments can replicate the observed pathways and fragmentation sizes of rockfall events. The ultimate goal of this pooled fund study, led by WSDOT, is to develop “game-engine”-based 3D rockfall simulation software, based on data from LiDAR or photogrammetry models, that has the potential to more realistically model rockfall fragmentation and large block interaction.

Transportation Pooled Fund details

Principal Investigators:
Joseph Wartman, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UW
Jean Hutchinson, Geological Science and Engineering, Queen’s University
Michael Olsen, Civil and Construction Engineering, Oregon State University

Sponsors: WSDOT
with pooled funds from Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, New York, Tennessee, and Texas
WSDOT Technical Monitor: Marc Fish
WSDOT Project Manager: Jon Peterson
Scheduled completion; December 2023

Determination of Laboratory Aging Conditions for Hot Mix Asphalt Cracking Test (IDEAL-CT)

Previous WSDOT studies have indicated that a majority of asphalt pavements fail as a result of cracking first. This is especially concerning with the increased use of recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) and recycled asphalt shingles (RAS), both of which can become severely oxidized and brittle, which can lead to accelerated pavement cracking. WSDOT plans to implement a cracking performance test as a part of hot mix asphalt (HMA) design to improve the cracking performance of asphalt pavement and has selected the IDEAL-CT test. However, before a cracking test can be conducted on an HMA mixture, the HMA samples must be appropriately aged. One of the goals of this project is to develop an aging protocol that will accurately mimic the aging of pavement in the field at the time that cracking occurs—in Washington, typically between three and five years after overlay construction. The researchers also intend to develop a mix design procedure that will improve the cracking resistance of mixes with high percentages of RAP, RAS, and reclaimed asphalt materials. Each year WSDOT spends more than $100 million on asphalt roadways. The results of this study should increase the service lives of asphalt pavements, thereby reducing life cycle costs and also the frequency of traffic disruption during repair.

Principal Investigator: Haifang Wen, Civil and Environmental Engineering, WSU
Sponsor: WSDOT
WSDOT Technical Monitor: Steve Davis
WSDOT Project Manager: Mustafa Mohamedali
Scheduled completion: June 2023

Enhancing the Stability of Simulated Streambeds in Stream Water Crossings by Using Natural Organic Matter to Promote Fish Passage

Stream simulation culverts (SSCs) are engineered into road-stream crossings to promote fish passage. Current design guidelines focus on the construction of SSCs with “clean,” granular, non-cohesive sediments such as sand, gravel, and boulders, but natural stream corridors also contain significant amounts of organic matter that is not currently part of SSC design and construction. Roots, decaying plant matter, trees, grasses, and other similar organic materials can also significantly contribute to the stability of sediments and play an important role in the ecological functioning of a streambed. Such natural organic matter (NOM) could likely provide stabilization in a low-cost, naturally adaptive manner that would boost ecosystem function. However, it is not clear how NOM can be efficiently incorporated into a simulated streambed during SSC construction. The objective of this project is to study in detail how organic materials can be used in SSCs to help promote their long-term stability. To facilitate the recovery of fish populations, agencies will need to prevent or minimize the formation of barriers to fish passage when they replace SSCs. In addition, ensuring that SSCs function like natural streambeds will increase the likelihood that they can function properly for years without incurring large maintenance costs.

Principal Investigator: Nicholas Engdahl, Civil and Environmental Engineering, WSU
Sponsor: WSDOT
WSDOT Technical Monitor: Julie Heilman
WSDOT Project Manager: Jon Peterson
Scheduled completion: September 2023

Development of a Specification for Quality Acceptance of Chip Seals Using a Laser Scanner

Chip seals, used for pavement surfacing, rehabilitation, maintenance, and preservation, cover over 7,000 miles of roadway in Washington state. Chip seals (or bituminous surface treatments) involve the application of emulsified asphalt, followed by the spreading of chips and choke stone, compaction, sweeping, and application of a fog seal. The cost of a chip seal project per lane mile is far less than that of hot mix asphalt. However, an inability to accurately measure and control the percentage of chip embedment contributes to unpredictable variation in the performance of chip seal projects. A laser scanner could be used to determine the percentage of chip embedment both quickly and accurately. The device is portable and smaller than a nuclear gauge. However, even though laser scanners have shown great potential, no one has systematically evaluated this tool for use in chip seal construction. In addition, a specification for the required percentage of chip embedment and a test protocol for the laser scanner are needed. This project will draft a specification for the appropriate percentage of chip embedment and will develop a test protocol for the use of a laser scanner in chip seal construction. The results should help prevent premature failure of chip seals and lower pavement life cycle costs.

Principal Investigator: Haifang Wen, Civil and Environmental Engineering, WSU
Sponsor: WSDOT

WSDOT Technical Monitors:
Kevin Littleton
Kim Schofield

WSDOT Project Manager: Jon Peterson
Scheduled completion: December 2023

Safety of Long Girders during Handling and Transportation: Lateral Stability and Cracking

Today’s girders are much longer and heavier than those that have been used in the past. This poses challenges to transportation agencies in handling, transporting, and erecting the girders, as under their own weight they can buckle laterally and fail. Traditionally, analysis of this potential behavior has ignored torsional deformations because doing so greatly simplifies the calculations. However, although traditional models have so far proved adequate, today’s longer, heavier girders are challenging their assumptions. And with those girders, the potential consequences of ignoring torsional deformation could prove to be not only costly in terms of time and money but also unsafe. This project is seeking to improve the fundamental characterization of girder instability by developing new models that include torsional deformation and consider a broad range of material properties and concrete weights. Models will be developed to analyze both the lateral stability of uncracked girders and the role of cracking in reducing girder stiffness and thus increasing instability. The researchers will assist WSDOT in implementing the findings by providing the lateral stability criteria necessary to develop a set of new girder shapes that will take advantage of the materials that allow the use of longer spans.

Principal Investigators:
John Stanton, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UW
Richard Wiebe, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UW

Sponsor: WSDOT
WSDOT Technical Monitor: Geoff Swett
WSDOT Project Manager: Mustafa Mohamedali
Scheduled completion: March 2024

An Innovative Approach to Enhance Self-Healing in Cementitiously Stabilized Soils and Mitigate Shrinkage Cracking

Although cementitious stabilization of soils offers great advantages, such as the beneficial use of on-site inferior materials and waste by-products (fly ash, kiln dust), the approach also causes material shrinkage and subsequent cracking, which limit its widespread use. This study is investigating an innovative approach that combines the self-healing effects of bacterial spores with a method of mixing the material that involves sequential hydration. The use of bacterial microcapsules has been shown to encourage self-healing of cracking in cementitious materials. Sequential hydration is an approach in which less than optimal moisture is first added to a mix for partial hydration. The partially hydrated mixture develops initial strength but exhibits low shrinkage and cracking. With a second addition of moisture, the mixture develops higher strength but also less final shrinkage strain and stress. Mixes containing bacterial microcapsules that enhance self-healing are expected to benefit immensely from sequential hydration, and that combination may produce a novel process for developing cementitious stabilization of soils with high strength and low shrinkage cracking.

Principal Investigator: Balasingam Muhunthan, Civil and Environmental Engineering, WSU
Sponsors: TriDurLE and WSDOT
Scheduled completion: September 2023

Promises of Data from Emerging Technologies for Transportation Applications: PSRC Case Study, Planned Continuation and Expansion of Phase II

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 will provide new data that can be used for transportation planning and analysis. This project is examining the properties of these new data and identifying potential applications. Phase I developed a preliminary framework for integrating emerging and conventional data from diverse sources. Using the Seattle SR 99 Tunnel Tolling Project as a case study, Phase II began to demonstrate the value of emerging big data (more specifically, app-based data) and their fusion with data from other, conventional sources in evaluating a project’s impact on transportation system performance and in answering critical and time-sensitive planning and policy-related questions. This continuation of Phase II will focus on investigating other potential future data sources, such as transportation network companies, insurance providers, and automakers, and on sharing methodologies created for data processing, origin/destination estimation, and validation. The researchers will make all work open source in order to help state, regional, and local agencies better coordinate among agencies and with data providers.

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: December 2023

TRAC