International Conference on Transportation and Development 2021: Transportation Planning and Development

As the emerging mobility options are being implemented in many areas around the country, the benefits and limitations of new systems such as Uber, Lyft, Scooters, Ollie, and other driverless shuttles are becoming understood. Another driverless technology, podcars—currently known as automated transit networks (ATN) from the 1970s—are seeing a modern resurgence in many locations around the world and provide public small vehicles, sustainable automated transit, even solar powered. However, the challenge of how to design the physical environment so that ATN can be fully utilized is minimally explored or understood beyond innovative visions from the 1970s. We can create Complete Connectivity with ATN. Several approaches to explore to meet Complete Connectivity are how can we adapt the existing infrastructure for ATN, create new infrastructure, and what would a sustainable community based solely on ATN look like? We need robust discussions and multiple visions as we struggle with future visions that work for all of us to have full connectivity in our built environment.

Several studies claim that, due to low usage, bikesharing programs could not be a financially sustainable service in small cities. Moreover, six large cities in the U.S. account for about 85% of bikesharing ridership, while the rest of the country generates only 15% of the ridership. This study investigates a thriving bikesharing program in Hoboken, a small city in New Jersey, with a 50,000 population. This paper investigates the socio-economic factors contributing to this success, as well as the riders’ behaviors. A combination of descriptive statistics, data visualization, spatiotemporal, and statistical analyses is used to investigate the program. JerseyBike is compared with three bikesharing programs in small cities in the U.S. The results imply that a positive biking culture, high public transit ridership, partnership with public and private sectors, sustainable business model, existing bike facilities, and population density contribute to this success. JerseyBike provides first-mile and last-mile mobility for public transit commuters, facilitating access to public transit in low population density areas. The results reveal how the purpose of bikesharing trips changes throughout a week and how weather conditions (e.g., precipitation) influence demand for bikesharing. Finally, recommendations for policymakers and investors are presented to assist the adoption of bikeshare programs.

Emissions-reduction pathways in transportation are often characterized as a “three-legged stool,” where vehicle efficiency, fuel carbon content, and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) contribute to lower emissions. The electric mobility (e-mobility) transition provides fast savings, since plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) are nearly three times more energy efficient than internal combustion engines (ICEs), and most nations’ power grids are lowering their carbon intensity irrespective of any further climate policy. The transportation sector’s greenhouse gas (GHG) savings via electrification are subject to many variables, such as power plant feedstocks, vehicle charging locations and schedules, vehicle size and weight, driver behavior, and annual mileage, which are described in existing literature. Savings will also depend on emerging innovations, such as managed charging (MC) strategies and second-life battery use in energy storage systems (B2U-ESS). This paper’s review of MC strategies and B2U-ESS applications estimates additional GHG savings to be up to 33% if chargers are widely available for MC-enabled passenger cars and up to 100% if B2U-ESS abates peaker plants over its second-use lifetime. In this way, an e-mobility transition can deliver additional lifetime decarbonization benefits, both on- and off-road, long term.

Based on principles of the ecological model, this study probes the relationship between nonmotorized travel and built/social environment factors at multiple levels of influence. Mixed-effects models are developed to analyze walking and bicycling trips generated from households in Florida. The results indicate that nonmotorized trips are associated with built environment factors at various levels including at the neighborhood, county, and metropolitan area levels. Increased walking/bicycling trips are correlated with increased compactness, mixed-use development, pedestrian friendliness of streets, intersection density, and transit service frequency within the neighborhood and county. Additionally, more walking trips are associated with improved street connectivity throughout the entire metropolitan area. The analysis further suggests that at various levels of influence, the key social environment factor determining the extent of nonmotorized trips generated from households is vehicle ownership. These findings can assist decision-makers aiming to increase nonmotorized trips in evaluating interventions that involve changes to the built and/or social environment, and in arriving at more potent solutions.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had tremendous social and economic impacts throughout the world. Many cities around the world adopted different lockdown policies impacting how people travel. Micromobility systems, such as scooter sharing and bikeshare, were among the transportation systems impacted by COVID-19. E-Scooters and bikeshares provide convenient and quick rides for short distances and can act as a connection for first/last mile trips, but the shared nature of those modes, along with a lack of understanding of how COVID-19 spread, likely contributed to the decline. This study quantifies the impact of COVID-19 on scooter sharing and bikeshares in Louisville, Kentucky, through a descriptive analysis and discussed the findings.

As more pilots retire and urban air mobility (UAM) evolves, the supply of incoming pilots becomes critical to the sustainability of the air transportation system. Student pilots in many cases are unable to complete their training due to the steep training cost. The high costs to the operating are attributed and maintenance costs of the aircraft. To become an airline pilot, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires 1,500 flying hours. The costs of training a pilot with zero flying experience coming into the training are in the range of $90,000–$100,000. To address this issue, electric aircraft could be a potential option to decrease the costs for pilot training. When compared to a conventional aircraft of the same size and payload, electric aircraft has a 70% decrease in the operating and maintenance costs. The Sustainable Aviation Project (SAP), located in the San Joaquin Valley of California, is a pilot training program funded by Measure C, a grant that makes a strong case for embracing the future of electric aviation technology. This paper reviews electric aircraft and studies how they can be used to address the pilot shortage.

The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) recently evaluated performance measures of its Incident Management Team (IMT) program. This study analyzed excess user costs (EUC) generated by incidents, including travel time and traffic volume affected. After data reduction and quality checks, 63 crash cases where IMT units responded were identified to have all data necessary for the analysis. The Mixed Procedure of SAS was employed for the EUC analysis. Results of the statistical analyses showed that, on average, for each minute delay of IMT response time (RT), $925 is added to the EUC with a range from $274 to $1,576 in 2018 dollars, and on average 93 more vehicles are affected with a range of 10–177 vehicles. These analysis results help UDOT to make decisions on how the program needs to be operated and managed to minimize EUC as they plan for future expansion of the program.

High degrees of uncertainties in governing parameters lead to an unavoidable risk in deciding upon duration of construction contracts. Both deterministic and probabilistic models are used by agencies to decide upon contract duration during the planning stage. In this paper, a generalized reliability model based on static resistance-loading interference is developed for the assessment of reliability of any pre-decided contract duration, for a project of a particular estimated cost, and specific length. In the model, the ‘cost per km per year’ and ‘a combination of cost per km and cost per year’ are deemed as the system resistance and external loading, respectively. By examining sets of data, a two-parameter bi-variate log-normal distribution is found to represent the joint probability density function of the resistance and the loading. Monte Carlo simulation is then used to establish the reasonableness of the proposed model, and statistical results are finally used to recommend a reliability factor (range) for the proposed model.

Selection among alternatives is often a requirement in feasibility/planning stages of a road project. Prioritisation, using ranking tools, is then resorted to. While there are many multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods to carry out such prioritisation, compensatory methods for MCDA allow trade-offs between criteria, where a poor result in one criterion can be negated by a good result in another criterion. This provides a more realistic form of modeling than non-compensatory methods which include or exclude alternative solutions based on hard cutoffs. The weighted sum approach (WSA, a simple, but non-compensatory method) and technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS, a compensatory method), finds prominence in their application to prioritisation of alternatives in road projects. As the rankings often vary, it is often deemed necessary to find the rankings using a third alternative method. This paper explores the use of another compensatory method, but one that does not find much application in prioritization for road projects, the concordance-discordance analysis (CDA) and compares the ranking results obtained from different methods for a hypothetical case of route selection that decision makers face during the feasibility stage of a road-project preparation.

Public–private partnership (PPP) models are in demand for infrastructure development all over the world. Due to financial limitations and growing infrastructure sector has lead to the development of various PPP models in developing countries. Indian highway sector is facing many financial challenges in implementing existing PPP models. There are different PPP models in the highway sector such as build-operate-transfer, design-build-operate-transfer, andbuild-own-operate-transfer. A new variant of the PPP—hybrid annuity model (HAM) is introduced by the National Highway Authority of India in 2016. The research work aims to develop a financial risk model for HAM from the government’s perspective in road infrastructure projects. In this study, NPV (net present value)-@-Risk Model is developed. NPV-@-Risk is the NPV at a specific confidence level. It is the decision-making tool in determining the financial feasibility of the project. From the literature, financial risk parameters are identified and a case study of the road project is selected. Project cash flows are drawn for the project. The probability distribution is applied for risk parameters. Model is developed in @Risk software and Monte Carlo simulation is done to analyze the results. This considers uncertainties involved in project cash flow. The result shows the variation of NPV and the most influencing parameter on project cash flow. This research work provides investment decision and risk evaluation of the project for both government as well as a concessionaire. The limitation of the study is, it is applied to one case study due to limitations in the availability of project financial data.

While countries worldwide have used public–private partnerships (PPP) to improve their road networks, such investments have not yet materialized in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Attracting private financing to road projects would help the country to keep road infrastructure in acceptable condition and carry out required expansions under budgetary constraints. Because of relatively low traffic levels on potential PPP motorways and expressways in BiH, it is anticipated that a combination of government support (e.g., capital grants and/or availability payments) and toll collection would generate enough revenues to attract private partners to compete for PPP road projects in BiH. The paper presents, as a case study, the quantitative financial assessment of a potential PPP project, the Mostar–Zvirovići motorway section, showing that the project could attract private investors with a combination of availability payments and construction subsidies to keep the toll rates at the deemed affordable level of €0.06/car-km.

Developing a new and innovative transportation system requires a comprehensive investment strategy that ascertains the optimal time to invest in the project considering market conditions. Underground freight transportation (UFT) systems offer a sustainable and modernized use of underground space to transport freights and mitigate the challenges associated with this growing need. Revenue from freight shipment is one of the most key variables affecting investment decisions in freight transportation systems, such as UFT systems. However, the freight rate is not a fixed variable and fluctuates over time. Real options (RO) analysis is an analytical approach to evaluate investment projects under uncertainties. While conventional RO models assume a random stochastic behavior (geometric Brownian motion) for the underlying variable, freight rate follows a mean-reverting process. Thus, using a regular RO model could lead to a flawed decision making derived from unrealistic evaluations. This study presents a calibrated RO model that characterizes the stochastic behavior of the UFT revenues more accurately. An optimization approach is adopted to provide an optimal investment schedule for developing UFT systems. A numerical case example is used to demonstrate the implementation of the proposed RO model. Results are compared with the evaluations obtained from a conventional RO model to show the significance of the appropriate calibration. While the conventional RO model results in an overestimation/underestimation of the project, the proposed RO model offers a more pragmatic evaluation of the investment options. The proposed RO model provides transportation decision makers with a more realistic perspective for evaluating UFT development projects.

With the aging transportation network in the U.S. and stringent funds, there is a greater need for robust risk-based transportation asset management (TAM) approaches. To date, several studies have incorporated infrastructure performance uncertainty in infrastructure management. These studies focused on minimizing the uncertainty given a target level of performance at the network level. Observing the success of quantitative risk analysis (QRA) in investment strategies in the world of finance and economics, coupling risk and uncertainty with return to evaluate competing investment strategies can diversify the agency choices and allow for a wider range of strategies. This study presents a preliminary framework to use QRA for budget allocation within a pavement management system. An implementation is presented for a sample pavement network to quantify the impact of preservation activities and the risks associated to different budget allocation strategies. The analysis was conducted using @Risk, which performed Monte Carlo simulation to assess the uncertainty of the network performance. The analysis produced an empirical efficient frontier with Pareto optimal strategies in the risk-return space.

Risk-based cost and schedule estimating approaches have been adopted by many public agencies in recent years to help address the problem of cost and schedule overrun in transportation and other infrastructure projects. However, limited research into the effectiveness of these approaches has been conducted. This paper reviews the progression of the risk-based cost and schedule estimates for 41 representative infrastructure projects across North America (which remain anonymous) that underwent multiple risk assessments at various stages of development using a consistent approach and for which the project scope remained relatively stable. The upper percentile cost and schedule estimates reduced over time, on average, while the base estimates without contingency increased. However, the upper percentile estimates increased over time on some projects for a variety of reasons. Analysis of the estimate trends for these projects is provided along with a discussion of lessons learned and recommendations for utilizing the process for maximum benefit.

The increased number and intensity of extreme events means that transport infrastructure (FRSs) is being affected more often. The chaotic and dynamic nature of a post-disaster environment leads to serious time delays in their reconstruction, and this research aims to determine the key factors that contribute to the delays, as well as to classify them as highly or minimally damaged systems. A structured survey that consisted of identified potential FRSs was designed and distributed to professionals who were involved in completing similar reconstruction projects. After collecting and analyzing the data, the results revealed that effective coordination is critical to complete a project with minimum schedule delays in both highly and minimally damaged reconstruction projects. The results also demonstrated that ineffective information management as well as ineffective logistics management cause serious delays in reconstruction of transport infrastructure after disasters. The results clearly showed that when the transportation infrastructure experiences minimum damage, less traffic disruption usually occurs through reconstruction procedure compared with highly damaged reconstruction projects. The outcomes of this study can help project managers effectively manage the timeline of a reconstruction project and substantially mitigate delays.

Weather-related hazards have a significant impact on labor cost fluctuations. These fluctuations lead to construction cost under- or over-estimation that impacts the overall success of transportation projects. However, the effect of weather-related natural disasters on the post-disaster labor wage fluctuations in the transportation infrastructure sector has not been studied. The objective of this research is to examine the spatiotemporal effect of natural disasters on the fluctuation of the labor weekly wages in the transportation construction sector. In this research, the required construction data of 254 counties in Texas (from 2014 to 2018) were collected to create the panel data models. Multiple spatial Durbin models (SDM) were developed to examine the effect of natural disasters on labor wage fluctuations in the transportation infrastructure sector. The results obtained from the SDM models combined with the multiple imputation method to address the missing data indicate that natural disasters significantly affect increasing weekly labor wage in the transportation infrastructure sector in counties affected by weather-related disasters. It is expected that this study helps cities, the Departments of Transportation (DOTs), Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), and infrastructure construction companies to have a better understanding of post-disaster construction cost fluctuations resulting from natural disasters.

The cost estimation process has undergone fundamental changes with the advancement of technology, and has been converted from cost estimation that employs two-dimensional maps to cost estimation using building information modeling (BIM). This technology has been recently implemented to estimate the costs of several transportation projects, but there is not a tool that accurately estimates the cost in a continuous spectrum and keeps pace with the progress of the transportation project. The main objectives of this study were to (1) create a cost estimation mechanism that operates in a continuous spectrum from the study phase to the construction phase of transportation projects, and (2) automate the cost estimation process. Open standards such as the industry foundation classes (IFC) were used, and the level of confidence (LOC) mechanism were introduced and implemented for determining the risk of the estimated costs. The developed cost estimation approach will be implemented as a web-based application developed by C# and ASP.NET MVC Core. The results of implementing this tool showed that a higher LOD level results in greater reliability in the cost estimation and quantity take-off, and will help transportation project managers accurately estimate project costs throughout the construction process.

The reconstrcution of transport infrastructure is crucial in the restoration of emergency responses and other recovery procedures that are vital to communities following natural disasters, amid a chaotic and complex post-disaster environment. Therefore, the goal of this study was to determine and classify the key factors that are innate in the reconstruction complexity of transportation infrastructure (CRTs), and to develop a list of effective strategies to address and minimize the complexity of the projects. To fulfill the study’s objectives, the existing literature was comprehensively reviewed and potential CRTs were identified. Then, a structured survey was designed, using the potential CRTs to collect data and information related to completed post-disaster reconstruction. After statistically analyzing the results, it was concluded that ineffective information management and coordination significantly escalate the complexity level of reconstruction projects, and shortages of materials and equipment make the reconstruction of transport infrastructure damaged by disasters highly complex. The results also showed that centralizing the necessary information regarding reconstruction projects would be of significant value to those involved in future disaster recovery. The results of this study will help authorities allocate resources effectively so that they can adopt the most beneficial strategies and mitigate serious consequenses of project complexity.

The implementation of transportation infrastructure projects plays a vital role in maximizing network accessibility and optimizing system users’ mobility. In this study, a network-accessibility-based project prioritization framework was developed. Candidate infrastructure projects were prioritized based on their importance to network accessibility considering stakeholders’ preferences for candidate road projects. The case study results showed that the spatial locations of LVR projects in the network affect their contribution to the overall network accessibility. The projects’ ranking was affected by the degree of preferences of transportation stakeholders to the candidate projects. Therefore, infrastructure investment decision-makers should consider all transportation stakeholders and their preferences for candidate projects in the investment decision-making process. The simulation results also showed that network accessibility could increase after network disruption events due to the implementation of LVR roadway projects. Therefore, the proposed framework could help transportation planners reduce the network accessibility impacts of natural and human-made network-disruption events.

Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) has been sponsoring the National Center of Asphalt Technology (NCAT) test track studies since its first inauguration cycle in 2000. In each cycle, ODOT had direct involvement in constructing Oklahoma sections with clearly defined research themes but also participated in group experiments. ODOT’s participation and the benefits received from the track testing have been followed but not documented in a single place, and the benefits received from the track testing also needs to be documented and reported. In this paper, the ODOT’s detailed participation, materials testing results, research focus and conclusions, potential benefits, and implementation of NCAT results in Oklahoma pavement projects are particularly presented.

Adequate curing of concrete is a fundamental step in concrete manufacturing to meet performance and durability requirements. Internal curing is a technique that can provide water to concrete for extended durations towards thorough hydration of the cement and reduced cracking. This work addresses potential use of two substitutes of ordinary aggregates for internal curing. Perlite as well as recycled concrete aggregates were incorporated at three dosages each to replace the coarse aggregates. Sets of concrete mixtures were prepared as fully cured in three different techniques: water, applying a curing compound, and with no curing. Fresh concrete and hardened concrete properties were evaluated. Results revealed that the incorporation of pre-wetted/saturated perlite and recycled aggregates can lead to significant enhancement in concrete workability and durability through reduced shrinkage. An enhancement of concrete strength at various stages was recorded, and recommendations were given for future use of perlite and recycled aggregates.

The extent to which the construction of a new toll road influences the land use developments and travel demand is evaluated and presented by considering the Triangle Expressway in Raleigh, North Carolina, as the study corridor. The raw data, such as the land use, road characteristics, and annual average daily traffic (AADT) for different years, for the toll road and the roads in its vicinity, were gathered from the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT). The Triangle Expressway has stimulated urban spatial expansion and residential growth in its vicinity. A marginal reduction in the vehicle miles traveled (VMT) on the parallel route and a significant increase in VMT on the toll road were observed. The methodological framework illustrated in this research helps to evaluate the influence of a toll road or a similar road project on land use developments and travel demand.

This paper proposes a new, highly collaborative approach to reduce the financial risks that infrastructure development faces and thus to expand the pipeline of feasible projects. The approach innovatively combines advanced engineering methods with financial analysis to de-risk project outcomes. It relies on the concept of flexibility in engineering to navigate uncertainty and improve the risk profile of projects to sustainably bridge the gap between supply and demand for infrastructure services. The approach has four main elements: (1) explicit recognition of relevant design uncertainties; (2) proactive analysis of attendant financial risks; (3) development of real options that confer protection against these risks; and (4) definition of a strategic plan for a de-risked design that improves financial results across different futures and priorities. This paper illustrates the process with an example dealing with LNG infrastructure, but conceptually generalizable to a broad range of infrastructure projects and types.

Pune is one of the fastest-growing metro cities in the country. To improve the transportation system in the Pune city, metro as mass rapid transit system (MRTS) was proposed. The work has been initiated since June 2019, intention to connect the different areas and the peripheral population to their workplaces and core of the city. The greater connectivity through the technology is bringing the different areas of the city closer to each other and the core area of the city. The government and planning authority published a transit-oriented development (TOD) policy, which states about the development control and promotion through rules and regulations for the TOD zone. This study hypothesizes that the Pune TOD Policy is the highly influencing factor for the development along the metro corridor, which along with the other co-influencing factors determines the development pattern of the study area. The paper focuses on exploring the impact of TOD policy on the land use, development potential, and development density of the TOD influence zone with a case study of the Pune, Maharashtra state, India. From the present study, it is observed that results show that, TOD development regulations have shortcomings concerning plot area, plot size, and adjacent road width to consume the FSI four.

The open graded friction course (OGFC) is a type of porous pavement that has been used as a surface layer to improve riding quality and safety, mainly in wet conditions. In contrast to having some benefits, it also exhibits poor durability and strength-related issues due to its higher air voids. Currently, there are different aggregate gradations being used by different states. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of different aggregate gradations on the performance of OGFC mixtures. Two different aggregate gradations with two different nominal maximum aggregate sizes (NMASs) were used in this study: NMAS-12.5 with 12.5 mm NMAS aggregate and NMAS-9.5 with 9.5 mm NMAS aggregate. The permeability, stripping potential, and durability performances of both mixtures were examined and compared with each other. It is found that the NMAS-12.5 mixture is more permeable than the NMAS-9.5 mixture. On the other hand, the indirect tensile strength of NMAS-9.5 is slightly higher than the NMAS-12.5. Similarly, abrasion loss for the NMAS-9.5 mixture is relatively low compared to the NMAS-12.5 mixture.

Warm mix asphalt (WMA) technologies are the greatest advancement in asphalt technology that allows mixing and compaction at significantly lower temperatures than regular hot mix asphalt (HMA). Though laboratory characterization of WMA technologies were addressed in numerous past studies, the long-term field performance characteristics are not clearly understood. This study evaluates long-term field performances of various WMA technologies in comparison to regular HMA. The study utilized the long-term pavement performance (LTPP) specific pavement studies (SPS-10) project. The LTPP SPS-10 project includes (1) control HMA, (2) foaming, (3) Evotherm, (4) Cecabase 1, and (5) Cecabase 2 mixtures. Cecabase 2 mixture consists of a polymer modified binder (PG 70-28+), where the other mixtures consist of PG 70-28 binder. Field performances such as rutting, moisture damage, cracking, individual distress index (IDI), international roughness index (IRI), and pavement condition rating (PCR) were evaluated based on Mandli’s pavement profile scanner, a laser-based distress evaluation technology. The study found that WMA exhibits slightly higher rutting but lower cracking compared to HMA. The overall conditions of WMA mixtures were found as equivalent as regular HMA based on IRI and PCR.

The climate in Canada has warmed and will continue to warm faster in the future, which will result in more intense and frequent temperature variations. Asphalt binder selection based on the Superpave performance grade (PG) system relies on historic climatic conditions in relation to the expected in-service temperature range of the flexible pavement. In view of climate change, it is crucial to investigate the extent to which pavement surface temperatures will be affected by ambient conditions of the future in order to assess the relative impact on the appropriate PG for more durable and resilient pavement construction. In this study, the latest long-term pavement performance (LTPP) model was used to determine the asphalt pavement surface temperatures. For different representative concentration pathways (RCP), the relative impact of climate change on pavement temperature extremes and thereby appropriate PG to meet projected pavement temperatures was assessed using the LTPP models. The results of this study indicate that in the future, climate variations will cause changes to asphalt binder grades across the examined locations in Ontario, which depend on the severity of the projected warming. This research offers useful suggestions that can be incorporated by the road agencies and designers towards adaptation of pavement construction materials suitable to the changing climate.

Researchers have developed several dimensions for measuring the resilience of transportation infrastructure while considering the interdependency among different critical infrastructure. Only a few of them are fully capable of measuring the resilience of an existing roadway as a standalone system. Therefore, this study aimed to identify and prepare a list of dimensions to measure the technical and organizational resilience of the roadway network. To achieve this goal, a comprehensive literature review of over 100 peer-reviewed articles was conducted and fourteen dimensions were listed. Results indicated that the number of nodes (intersections) on roads has a significant negative correlation with the resilience of the pavement network. Also, information dissemination and preparedness action are two dimensions that have a high level of impact on transportation network resilience. The findings of this study will help practitioners in developing appropriate strategies to enhance the resilience of transportation roadway networks.

To date, moisture induced damage is the most common pavement damage observed in warm-mix asphalt (WMA) pavement. This study evaluated moisture damage resistance of WMA with chemical additives through laboratory experimentation and repeated load-deformation analysis. To facilitate the study, two chemical WMA mixtures (Evotherm and Cecabase) and one control hot-mix asphalt (HMA) have been employed in this study. In addition, another Cecabase WMA containing polymer modified binder (PMB) has been employed to assess the polymer effect on chemical WMA. Laboratory evaluation have been conducted through Hamburg wheel tracking test (HWTT) results analysis. A new HWTT analysis encompassing viscoplastic and stripping induced strain have been successfully employed for better moisture damage evaluation. Two recently proposed moisture damage evaluation parameters, stripping number and stripping life, have been estimated. In addition, tensile strength ratio (TSR) test have been conducted for validating newly HWTT analysis results. Results and analysis revealed that permanent strain-based HWTT analysis is better predictive in moisture damage evaluation. The study found that chemical additives with non-polymerized binder showed equivalent moisture damage resistance as HMA. However, PMB utilization in chemical WMA resulted in improved moisture damage resistance.

The number and cost of rework in most construction projects are usually greater than expected, but the the frequency and cost of rework in a reconstruction project in the midst of a chaotic and dynamic post-disaster environment are commonly even greater. Although a considerable number of research studies have been performed to identify the root causes of rework, few of them focus on reconstruction projects affected by disasters. The present study aimed to determine the key factors in the reconstruction of infrastructure that has been highly damaged by disasters (RHRs). In addition, the relations and interactions between the RHRs were investigated. A structured survey consisting of 46 questions was designed and distributed to professionals who had sufficient experience in post-disaster reconstruction projects. After collecting the data, it was statistically analyzed, and the results revealed that when the reconstruction project is highly complicated, the rework due to mistakes rise remarkably. The results also demonstrated that rework is directly related to shortages of resources such as materials and equipment. It was concluded that an adequate number of project managers with sufficient skills and similar project experiences should be assigned to projects to accelerate the pace of decision-making and to mitigate the opportunities for errors. The results of this research will help program managers and decision makers prevent unnecessary cost overruns and time delays in the reconstruction of highly damaged projects following extreme events.

Transportation infrastructure plays key role in timeliness of post-hurricane reconstruction process. Therefore, timely reconstruction after hurricanes is of high importance for the decision makers. Various factors lead to delays in the reconstruction of transportation infrastructure. To lessen the adverse impacts of these factors, not only the individual study of the effects of these factors but the interactive consequences of them need to be accurately investigated. The objective of this study was to (1) explore the causal relationships among the factors affecting timeliness of post-hurricane reconstruction of transportation infrastructure and (2) the extent to which these factors and their interactions affect the timeliness of reconstruction process. Implementing data from 44 experts in post-hurricane reconstruction of transportation infrastructure and 195 of the general public, the interrelated network of 14 factors was modeled using structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. Then, the impact of the factors on the time of the reconstruction was evaluated. The outputs demonstrated that severe damage to major transportation systems, insufficient number of available active contractors, and low revenue of local government are the top-three factors affecting the time of reconstruction of transportation infrastructure according to both groups. This research assists decision makers in understanding the critical paths that lead to delays in the post-hurricane reconstruction of transportation infrastructure and how different is the perspective in this regard. In addition, the decision makers would be able to predict the impacts of interdependent factors during the reconstruction process after hurricanes.

Small cells are low-powered antennas that provide cellular and data coverage to supplement and stretch the cellular providers’ microcell networks. In 2018, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandated to extend the cellular networks using small cells and stepped forward to adopt 5G bandwidth. To date, thirty-six states have acted and passed legislation to deploy small cells. The purpose of the research is to explore the state-of-the-practices of installing small cells in transportation infrastructure. However, there are numerous challenges encountered by State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) regarding the small cell deployment in their existing transportation infrastructure. The challenges exist in planning, construction, contract execution, implementation, operation, and maintenance activities. For example, an existing streetlight pole may not have adequate space inside the pole to run service lines to power the small cells; the existing pole may not have the structural capacity, or the anchor bolts may not have adequate diameter and depth to hold the extra load coming from small cell accessories; the right of way (ROW) may have access limitations, and many other uncertainties that are currently being taken into account by the DOTs. Despite such limitations, small cells are expected to provide robust support to transfer high definition video data due to its high demand in today’s infrastructure in major cities and offer many more benefits that will come along with it.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has challenged the established societal structure, and the transportation sector is not out of this new normal. The primary objective of this research is to analyze and review the performance of software models used for extracting and processing large-scale data from Twitter streams related to COVID-19. The study extends the previous research efforts of machine learning applications on social media by providing a review of contemporary tools, including their computing maturity, and their potential usefulness. The paper also provides an open data repository for the processed data frames to facilitate the swift development of new transportation research. Transportation researchers and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) community are believed to benefit from this study.

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) is a suburban campus of 2,660 acres with a core campus surrounded by forest and lakes/ponds. Core campus can be accessed via six roads and one multi-use path. Located next to the City of Edwardsville and just a short drive (about 20 min) to the City of Saint Louis, MO, this university has a notable commuter student population. The student body is approximately 13,300 students who are predominantly regional, from the state of Illinois and the St. Louis metropolitan area. Because of the unique characteristics of the University campus, the authors sought to measure student, faculty, and staff travel modes, housing locations, and sustainability perceptions. The findings suggest that the cost of parking passes would need to nearly double before students would seriously consider alternatives to personal vehicles for traveling to/from campus. On the contrary, travel choices for trips within campus were more responsive to changes in mode attributes. Overall, the isolation of SIUE campus provides a unique environment to observe the travel choices of University students and employees.

The study of youths’ mobility-related decisions is of great significance to the nation’s future transportation planning. Although developing countries like India have a considerable share of youth, research exploring travel behavior of youth is scant. Besides, females and males are proven to have dissimilar travel patterns in developing countries, thus need to be studied separately. With this viewpoint, this study aims to analyze the factors influencing travel behavior of female students commuting by public transport in Dehradun, India. The survey employs 400 respondents whose travel characteristics, attitude towards public transport, and socio-economic characteristics data have been collected and analyzed using multinomial logistic regression model. Study findings conclude that household income, age, location factor, and attitude towards public transport significantly influence female students’ travel mode choices. Thus, this study provides useful inputs for future public transport planning and policy implications.

The number of disabled and senior citizens in the United States has been rising in the recent past. Accordingly, many cities provide on-demand door-to-door paratransit ride services to improve the mobility of this population. Few studies have investigated the ridership trends in small cities where on-demand ride services are the only available transportation option. This study explores the determinants of ridership for the paratransit service in the City of Arlington, TX, using Handitran ridership data. We find that the shares of the male population, senior citizens, vehicle ownership, and average household size are significant predictors of the ridership at the geographical block group level. The aforementioned predictors’ predictive power varies significantly in different city blocks, indicating diverse needs for different areas. Our findings also provide new insights into the implementation of a wheelchair-accessible autonomous vehicle fleet designed to expand accessibility to people with limited mobility.

As a consequence of our population living longer, society must work to accommodate the needs of older people. One of the most pressing needs for older people is mobility. Safe and convenient mobility is critical to maintaining physical and mental health, as well as avoiding social exclusion. Declining physical capabilities and mental acuity cause older drivers to cease driving, placing them at greater risk for social exclusion due to mobility gaps. Shared electric automated mobility (SEAM) has the potential to provide sustainable mobility solutions for vulnerable older people populations. SEAM can help close mobility gaps that cause social exclusion, thereby improving social sustainability. In addition, SEAM has the potential to provide improved access to economic activity for the older people, improving economic sustainability. However, older drivers must be accepting of both shared and automated mobility options to fully leverage the potential advantages of these technologies. This paper identifies barriers to the use of mobile and vehicle technology amongst older populations as well as a proposed framework of strategies for mitigating those barriers.

The City of Chicago, with the second-largest public transit authority operating the nation, has undoubtedly a large and robust transit network; however, are they providing equal public transportation services to all of its residents, particularly those who are transit-dependent? To answer this question, in this study, we evaluated transportation equity throughout the city by a series of spatial analyses, identifying the transit-dependent hot spots within the city and transit-desert areas, for which we use data sets of current service areas and service quality. The results of this study found multiple areas throughout the City of Chicago that had a high demand for transportation but were not being met with adequate transit frequency. The majority of the discovered transit desert areas were located in the poor neighborhoods at the far south side and west side of the city. The findings of this study can assist in policy developments and planning transportation equity challenges.

The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) has drastically impacted workers and workplaces across the globe. It has totally changed the workplace environment and increased workers’ concerns about economic insecurity, mental health and physical well-being, isolation, challenges of working remotely, and returning to the workplace safely. COVID-19 has also had an impact on job-related factors that affect the diversity and dynamic nature of the workplace. This study aims to identify the challenges and recommended strategies that management can implement to positively impact the health and safety of workers who construct and maintain transportation infrastructure. A through literature search that was performed to identify the challenges revealed that in addition to the factors like wages, hours of work, and access to paid leave, field workers are also facing increased risk of exposure to the virus, heavier workloads, etc. While most office workers are working remotely, factors like isolation, working patterns, technology, home situations, and concerns about job stability often contribute to anxiety, depression, and even suicide. The outcomes of this study will help the project managers and authorities in the transportation industry adopt effective strategies that will improve the health and safety of field and office employees during the pandemic.