Luminous Intensity for Traffic Signals: A Scientific Basis for Performance Specifications

Humnan factors experiments on visual responses to simulated traffic signals using incandescent lamps and light-emitting diodes are described

Dynamic structure selection and instabilities of driven Josephson lattice in high-temperature superconductors

We investigate the dynamics of the Josephson vortex lattice in layered high-T$_{c}$ superconductors at high magnetic fields. Starting from coupled equations for superconducting phases and magnetic field we derive equations for the relative displacements [phase shifts] between the planar Josephson arrays in the layers. These equations reveal two families of steady-state solutions: lattices with constant phase shifts between neighboring layers, starting from zero for a rectangular configuration to $\pi$ for a triangular configuration, and double-periodic lattices. We find that the excess Josephson current is resonantly enhanced when the Josephson frequency matches the frequency of the plasma mode at the wave vector selected by the lattice structure. The regular lattices exhibit several kinds of instabilities. We find stability regions of the moving lattice in the plane lattice structure - Josephson frequency. A specific lattice structure at given velocity is selected uniquely by boundary conditions, which are determined by the reflection properties of electromagnetic waves generated by the moving lattice. With increase of velocity the moving configuration experiences several qualitative transformations. At small velocities the regular lattice is stable and the phase shift between neighboring layers smoothly decreases with increase of velocity, starting from $\pi$ for a static lattice. At the critical velocity the lattice becomes unstable. At even higher velocity a regular lattice is restored again with the phase shift smaller than $\pi/2$. With increase of velocity, the structure evolves towards a rectangular configuration.Comment: 28 pages, 12 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Podcar City Washington, MTI Report S-13-03

On October 23-25, 2013, the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) co-presented a two-and-one-half day conference offering insights, strategies, and opportunities for cities to develop personal rapid transit (PRT) systems in their jurisdictions. These PRT systems are also known as automated guideway transit (AGT) or “podcars.” They are small driverless cars (4-6 passengers) that operate on an automated guideway system. Typically, they are used to transport passengers for first- and last- mile trips, such as between a transit station and an airport. However, they may be used for longer distances within or between neighborhoods or commerce centers. The International Institute of Sustainable Transportation (INIST) was the primary producer for the conference. Along with MTI, other co-producers included the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the Swedish Transportation Administration, George Mason University, Advanced Transit Association (ATRA), and Kompass. Sponsors included Encitra, Lea+Elliott, and Citizens for PRT

Using Bicycles for the First and Last Mile of a Commute

Bicycle ridership as a partial or total workday method of commute is increasing in popularity. With that increase in cyclists comes challenges for transportation agencies: how can the needs of cyclists fit seamlessly with the needs of non-cyclists, especially those utilizing light rail and commuter rail such as Caltrain On June 3, 2009, MTI, the Commonwealth Club of California and the United States Department of Transportation sponsored Using Bicycles for the First and Last Mile of a Commute in San Jose Co-sponsors of the event included Caltrain, Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, Silicon Valley Leadership Group, and Valley Transit Authority (VTA). Introducing keynote speaker Carl Guardino was MTI\u27s Executive Director Rod Diridon, Sr. A panel discussion, moderated by newspaper columnist Gary Richards included Dr. Kevin Krizek from the University of Boulder, MTC\u27s Sean Co; Federal Transit Administration representative Alex Smith, San Francisco Bicycle Coalition founder Shirley Johnson, Silicon Valley Bicycling Coalition Executive Director Corinne Winter, City of San Jos? Bicycle and Pedestrian Program Coordinator John Brazil, and Caltrain Special Assistant to the CEO Mark Simon

No Road, No Rage: A Forum on Expanding Bay Area Ferry Service, MTI Report F-02-01

As part of the Mineta Transportation Institute\u27s ongoing efforts to promote dialogue addressing surface transportation issues, it is my pleasure to share this edited transcript of No Road, No Rage: A Forum on Expanding Bay Area Ferry Service . As the title suggests, expanding water transit services has been proposed as one way to ease congestion on the roads. The San Francisco Bay Area Water Transit Authority is seeking to expand ferry service for the Bay Area, and this forum offered an opportunity for interested citizens to hear more about the proposal, ask questions, and share their concerns and hopes. This event was the result of many people\u27s efforts, and I thank all those individuals and organizations referenced in the Acknowledgements section. I especially want to thank George Dobbins, Program Director of The Commonwealth Club, for working with MTI to sponsor this event; Senator Don Perata for being a leader in the legislature on this issue and also for being our keynote speaker; Tom Vacar for taking the time to be our moderator; and our panelists, Steve Kinsey, Russell Long, Cynthia Murray, and Gavin Newsom. The Mineta Transportation Institute has three primary functions: research, education, and information transfer. It is in this last role that we organized and presented this discussion. We hope that this edited transcript will contribute to an understanding of the issues and possible solutions, not only for those in our community, but also for anyone considering water transit issues

Third National Garrett Morgan Sustainable Transportation Symposium, MTI Report S-02-01

On May 2, 2003, the Mineta Transportation Institute joined numerous authorities in the surface transportation industry with several middle and elementary schools to discuss the topic of sustainable transportation. The purpose of this forum was to expose the students (from Maryland, Virginia, and California) to the many opportunities available to them in transportation-related careers, and to discuss the utilization of many natural resources to develop alternatives to current modes of transportation. Each of the schools participated in a videoconference to present projects for sustainable transportation options for the future. Their ideas included powering buses, cars, light rail, and ultra-light rail systems with solar energy, fuel cells, and wind. The symposium concluded with a question and answer session at the end. This publication is an edited version of the May 2 Forum

Eighth National Garrett Morgan Symposium on Sustainable Transportation, Report MTI 08-03

On April 1, 2008, the Mineta Transportation Institute at San José State University hosted a videoconference that brought together experts in surface transportation and students from middle and high schools across the nation to discuss the importance of sustainable transportation. The goal was to introduce students to future career opportunities in transportation and to inspire them to take the high school and college courses that will prepare them for professional careers. Students from California, Maryland and Virginia participated in the 2008 symposium, during which they heard opening remarks from Vice Admiral Thomas J. Barrett, Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Five teams of students presented their ideas on sustainable transportation alternatives for the future. These included a magnetic hover bus that can traverse both land and water, a plug-in electric-biodiesel-solar hybrid car, applications of the Stirling engine, a solar-hydropower bus, and an electric car with back-up power from solar panels and an internal windmill. The formal presentations were followed by a moderated question-and-answer session in which student teams questioned each other about their projects and sought the advice of experts about preparation for transportation careers and the critical issues they will face in the future. This publication is an edited summary of the April 2008 event, named in honor of Garrett A. Morgan, a black American inventor honored by Congress for his contributions to transportation and public safety

Mineta Transportation Institute Report F-00-2

United States Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater, as part of his annual transportation tour for 2000, took part in a round table discussion regarding the transportation needs of the Silicon Valley. The event was co-sponsored by the California Commonwealth Club and the Mineta Transportation Institute on June 24, 2000. Secretary Slater was joined by a panel of local transportation leaders and stakeholders. This publication is a transcript of that forum, 2025 Visioning Session — Silicon Valley.” Panelists included: • United States Secretary of transportation Rodney E. Slater • Steve Berglund, President and CEO, Trimble Navigation • Larry Dahms, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission • Dr. John A. Dearien, CEO, CyberTran International • Rod Diridon, Executive Director, the Mineta Transportation Institute • Dr. Gloria C. Duffy, Ph.D, Chief Executive Officer, Commonwealth Club of California • David Esmaili, Director, Advanced Transportation Technologies, West Valley College • Neil Garcia-Sinclair, Vice President, CyberTran International • Larry Gerston, Professor, Political Science, San José State University • Abdelaziz Hanif, Manager, Realty and Regional Transportation Specialist, NASA-Ames Research Center • Dr. Kathryn Heatley, Director, Outreach, member SVMG • The Honorable Zoe Lofgren, 16th Congressional District of California • Bill Lynch, Director of Navigation Services, Lockheed Martin Corporation • Norm McCraim, Deputy Chief of Staff, U.S. Department of Transportation • Norman Y.Mineta, Senior Vice President, Lockheed Transportation Systems Division • Jeff Morales, Director, Caltrans • The Honorable James Oberstar, 8th Congressional District of Minnesota • Dr. Donald L. Paul, Vice President of Technology and Environmental Affairs, Chevron Corporation • Dr. Stephen Van Beek, Deputy Administrator, U.S.Department of Transportation, Research and Special Programs Administration • Craig Van Kessell, Transportation Coordinator, Altran

17-11 Evaluation of Transit Priority Treatments in Tennessee

Many big cities are progressively implementing transit friendly corridors especially in urban areas where traffic may be increasing at an alarming rate. Over the years, Transit Signal Priority (TSP) has proven to be very effective in creating transit friendly corridors with its ability to improve transit vehicle travel time, serviceability and reliability. TSP as part of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) is associated with great benefits to community liveability including less environmental impacts, reduced traffic congestions, fewer vehicular accidents and shorter travel times among others.This research have therefore analysed the impact of TSP on bus travel times, late bus recovery at bus stop level, delay (on mainline and side street) and Level of Service (LOS) at intersection level on selected corridors and intersections in Nashville Tennessee; to solve the problem of transit vehicle delay as a result of high traffic congestion in Nashville metropolitan areas. This study also developed a flow-delay model to predict delay per vehicle for a lane group under interrupted flow conditions and compared some measure of effectiveness (MOE) before and after TSP. Unconditional green extension and red truncation active priority strategies were developed via Vehicle Actuated Programming (VAP) language which was tied to VISSIM signal controller to execute priority for transit vehicles approaching the traffic signal at 75m away from the stop line. The findings from this study indicated that TSP will recover bus lateness at bus stops 25.21% to 43.1% on the average, improve bus travel time by 5.1% to 10%, increase side street delay by 15.9%, and favour other vehicles using the priority approach by 5.8% and 11.6% in travel time and delay reduction respectively. Findings also indicated that TSP may not affect LOS under low to medium traffic condition but LOS may increase under high traffic condition

17-09 Assessing the Impact of Air Pollution on Public Health Along Transit Routes

Transportation sources account for a large proportion of the pollutants found in most urban areas. Also, transportation activity and intensity appear likely to contribute to the risk of respiratory disease occurrence. This research investigates the impacts of transportation, urban design and socioeconomic characteristics on the risk of air pollution-related respiratory diseases in two of the biggest MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) in the US, Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) and Los Angeles at the block group (BG) level, by considering the US Environmental Protection Agency’s respiratory hazard quotient (RHQ) as the dependent variable. The researchers identify thirty candidate indicators of disease risk from previous studies and use them as independent variables in the model. The study applies a three-step modeling including Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Ordinary Least Square (OLS) and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) to reach the final model. The results of this study demonstrate strong spatial correlations in the variability in both MSAs which help explain the impact of the indicators such as socioeconomic characteristics, transit access to jobs, and automobile access on the risk of respiratory diseases. The populations living in areas with higher transit access to jobs in urbanized areas and greater automobile access in more rural areas appear more prone to respiratory diseases after controlling for demographic characteristics