Research News

Flume-Based Design Recommendations for Coarse Bands and Boulder Bars to Improve the Retention of Channel Shape in Stream Simulation Culverts

Fish populations have decreased in the Puget Sound area in part because fish barriers such as culverts have limited the ability of fish to swim upstream to reach their food supplies and spawning grounds. This project looked at better ways to maintain a common replacement for traditional culverts, stream simulation culverts.

Use of a Microwave Method to Prototype Electrically Conductive Concrete

The heavy use of various kinds of deicers has proved to have undesirable effects on the natural and built environments. As an alternative, electrically conductive concrete (ECC) pavements, which contain different types of conductive components, can melt surface ice and snow when an electric current is passed through the slab. This study explored additives that can increase the electrical conductivity of pavement materials as a replacement for traditional deicing approaches and also investigated a method for evaluating conductive mixes.

Hierarchical Priority-Based Control of Signalized Intersections in Semi-Connected Corridors

Connected vehicles, the internet of things, and smart infrastructure technologies support the exchange of real-time, highly granular traffic information among transportation network users, system operators, and the supporting infrastructure. This project worked to harness this emergent connectivity and to improve traffic mobility by optimizing the timing of signalized intersections.

Longitudinal Analyses of Washington State Student Travel Surveys

This project analyzed changes in the rates of active school transport captured in the 2016 and 2019 Washington State Student Travel Surveys and also evaluated the likely impacts of Safe Routes to School projects on rates of active school transport. It was part of a long-term collaboration between the University of Washington and the Washington State Department of Transportation to model the environmental determinants of active school transport (AST) in order to help support and promote AST and to ensure the safety of students traveling to school.

Seattle Obesity Study

This project assessed whether environmental, social, and economic variables could be related to diet, physical activity, and health behaviors. By looking at the built environment and its relationship to food shopping, diet quality, obesity, and related physical activity for residents, researchers sought to provide information to help public decision-makers create healthier environments.

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Guidelines for Obtaining AADT Estimates from Non-traditional Sources

Passively collected traffic data from sources such as smart phones, vehicle transponders, and vehicle tracking devices have great potential to determine traffic volume information such as annual average daily traffic (AADT). This project developed a guide that contains a comprehensive technical checklist and data quality acceptance criteria that highway agencies can use to purchase or test traffic volume estimates such as AADT from private sector vendors that base those estimates on non-traditional data sources.

Supporting a Living Flora of the Pacific Northwest, 2nd Edition: Expanding Online Resources and Updating Identification Keys with New Information

Flora of the Pacific Northwest, 2nd Edition, published in October 2018 by the University of Washington Herbarium, Burke Museum, provides users with dichotomous keys to 5,085 wild-growing Pacific Northwest native and introduced plant species. This project expanded the existing Flora 2nd edition website to include automatically updating distribution maps for all taxa in the book and produced revised identifications keys for families, genera, and species that have undergone taxonomic changes.

Accessible Transportation Technologies Research Initiative Performance Metrics and Evaluation

Many agencies and companies are interested in developing technologies that will remove barriers to mobility and transportation for individuals with disabilities, but how can the success of such technologies be accurately evaluated? This project created a framework that the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Accessible Transportation Technologies Research Initiative (ATTRI) can use to develop evaluations of new technologies intended to improve mobility for people of all abilities.

Adjustments to the Public Records Act to Allow for Advanced Transportation Operations and Management

Individuals provide substantial amounts of data about themselves to private transportation companies and others in connection with their requests for transportation services. This project developed recommended changes to the state’s Public Records Act that will enable the state’s public agencies to obtain and use a variety of new electronic data that describe transportation system use of individuals, vehicles, and companies, without releasing to the public detailed data that could compromise the privacy of individuals and the trade secrets of companies.

Advancing Multimodal Safety by Reducing Pedestrian Crash Potential

Although crash fatalities have decreased for motor vehicles in Washington state, pedestrian fatalities have remained relatively steady. To help WSDOT prioritize safety-related pedestrian projects, this study used data from a variety of sources to develop pedestrian risk models that identify the characteristics that contribute to pedestrian crashes that result in severe injuries and fatalities and the locations that are most likely to benefit from investments aimed at zero pedestrian fatalities and zero serious injuries.

Washington State Transportation Center