A great resurgence of interest in High Speed Rail (HSR) Systems is occurring in the U.S. Several intercity corridors are under detailed scrutiny for application of various HSR technologies that have been developed or are in use outside the U.S. At present, all the HSR studies are in the physical and financial feasibility Stages. The HSR industry is projecting that the U.S. has a potential for spending several billions of dollars on HSR systems. If the studies show that these systems are feasible, especially financially, the feasibility studies will lead to preliminary engineering, detailed design and eventually, to the deployment of HSR systems in the U.S.; in such a case, civil engineers around the country will play a major role in planning, design, construction and operation of the new intercity transportation systems. This paper reviews the ongoing effort in the area of HSR systems in the U.S. and presents an overview of the state‐of‐the‐art HSR and Magnetic Levitation (Maglev) technologies presently considered for the intercity corridors of the U.S. The paper also includes an examination of issues associated with implementing HSR systems in the U.S.

A method for estimating pedestrian trips on the sky walk system in the central business district of Cincinnati, Ohio has been developed. The central business district experiences congestion and conflicting pedestrin‐vehicle movements, especially at signalized intersections. Attempts have been made to reduce the complexity of the problem by the construction of the skywalk system. Data on pedestrian trips on the skywalk system was obtained from a manual count conducted simultaneously at twelve strategic points on the skywalk system. Land use data was obtained from published sources and from related public and private agencies. Regression analysis was conducted to estimate pedestrian trips on the skywalk system during lunch peak (11:30a.m.–1:30p.m.) and evening peak (3:30p.m.–5:30p.m.). The results have shown that restaurants (number of seats), floor space area for office use (sq ft or $m^2$), floor space area for retail use (sq ft or $m^2$) and hotels (number of rooms) are the most significant independent variables. Parking space was not found significant. The analysis shows that simple quantitative models for estimating pedestrian trips on the skywalk system can be conveniently developed on the basis of a relatively simple data base.

Abandonment of rail branches and secondary lines with low traffic density is an effective means of maintaining railway company profitability in many countries such as Britain, Canada, Australia, and Japan. In the United States, it was not until passage by Congress of the Stagger's Act in 1980, that the industry's abandonment vigor became fully manifested. This is because the Stagger's Act substantially reduced the time required for the Interstate Commerce Commission to act upon abandonment applications. An economic model is developed to predict losses in a railroad branch line without going through the cumbersome and lengthy calculations normally undertaken, thus reducing the time necessary for the decision‐making process. To this purpose, regression analysis has been performed between losses incurred in 50 railroad branch lines and independent variables extracted from the abandonment applications made for these lines to the Interstate Commerce Commission. The resulting statistically significant model indicates that losses can confidently be predicted by making use of cost and revenue data that are readily obtainable by railway companies freight revenues, maintenance costs for way and structures, rehabilitation costs and equipment maintenance costs.

The location of corridor rights‐of‐way has been approached by a number of investigators dealing with problems of transmission power lines, pipelines, highways, and other transport systems. A commonly used three step approach in computerized approaches for locating a transmission corridor is reviewed. This three step methodology is widely accepted and employed in virtually all computerized corridor models. Unfortunately there can be significant geometric errors in the actual application of these techniques due to the underlying network representation. The sources of error are discussed and an approach is presented that can measurably reduce such errors. Applications to a hypothetical data set and to a statewide geo‐based inforniation system data base are presented.

The Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 increased the Federal funding for highway improvements by well over 50%. In that act, Congress also directed that a large portion of the non‐Interstate funds be used for resurfacing, restoring, rehabilitating and reconstructing (3R/4R) existing highways and bridges in a manner which would enhance highway safety. The extent of appropriate safety improvements on 3R/4R projects varies depending on a number of factors such as the existing highway condition, the scope of the pavement improvement, social or environmental impacts, available right‐of‐way and cost/Appropriate safety improvements include better skid resistance quality of the pavement; cross‐slope changes to improve drainage; superelevation corrections; better signing, marking and delineation; regrading of roadside slopes; removal or upgrading of roadside hardware; and removal or mitigation of hazardous roadside features. Improvements to the geometries may also be included, suchas lane and shoulder widening, and horizontal or vertical curve reconstruction. Designing the rehabilitation of a highway is a greater challenge to the skills of highway designers than is the designing of a new highway. For a 3R project, designers cannot simply lay a template on the paper and proceed. They need to use accident and traffic data and all that is known about safety design to custom tailor safety into the remodeled highway. The challenge is there for highway administrators and designers to take up the enormous task of revitalizing the Nation's highway system.

The feasibility of the development of high flow urban arterials by means of an integration of flyover technology with signal optimization is examined. Simulation results, using a modified version of the TRANSYT model, are presented for a case study arterial in the Greater Los Angeles area. These results indicate that the use of prefabricated flyovers, in conjunction with signal optimization, can effectively reduce travel delays and stops along heavily congested major arterials. The resulting high flow arterials can function effectively as “continuous flow boulevards,” even when embedded in relatively dense urban traffic networks.

One of the most commonly available types of data available to transportation public and private properties are monthly data on ridership and revenue. A technique, based almost solely on such data, for determining the of various factors on ridership and revenue and for making forecasts various pricing assumptions is presented. The technique is very simple analysis on which this paper is based took less than 2 hr without the use computer)Jand the results are easy to present to a non‐technically oriented audience. The approach consists of first smoothing the data using running me and then examining the smoothed data for patterns, using data for In Airlines.

The development of a methodology to assist in the evaluation of alternative highway projects is described. The methodology selected is based on a multiple objective decision making approach and uses a goal programming technique as the evaluation mechanism. To examine the effectiveness of the technique, goal programming was compared to linear programming and to costbenefits analysis. Proposed improvements to the road system in the Acadian Peninsula of New Brunswick, New Brunswick, Canada were selected as the case study to demonstrate the effectiveness of the technique. Goal programming was considered to be the most suitable technique for evaluating sets of alternative highway projects with mutiple policies and objectives. The technique provides an easy method of assessing the impact of different policy structures on the selection of alternative highway improvement programs. The methodology is capable of multiyear analysis as used in programming of highway projects and accepts input from both the public and the decision makers in the highway planning process.

In 1970, the Direccion de Aercmautica Civil (DAC) of the Republic of Panama realized that its facilities at Tocumen International Airport could not accommodate the heavy jumbo jet traffic of world airlines using the airport as a stop on routes between cities in North and South America. The existing single runway, built in 1933–34, was of inadequate pavement thinkness, lacked modern lighting and instrumentation services, and badly needed improvement in surface and subdrainage to relieve hydroplaning and pavement pumping In 1972, the DAC implemented the final design and construction of a second parallel runway and new modern passenger terminal in accordance with its master plan, prepared by The Ralph M. Parsons Company. Design and construction problems were successfully surmounted, resulting in extremely low‐cost maintenance programs and highly satisfactory service conditions of the new runways, taxiways, apron area and terminal of the now‐named General Omar Torrijos International Airport.