Analysis of Alaska Transportation Sectors to Assess Energy Use and Impacts of Price Shocks and Climate Change Legislation

We analyzed the use of energy by Alaska’s transportation sectors to assess the impact of sudden fuel prices changes. We conducted three types of analysis: 1) Development of broad energy use statistics for each transportation sector, including total annual energy and fuel use, carbon emissions, fuel use per ton-mile and passenger-mile, and cost of fuel per ton-mile and passenger-mile. 2) Economic input-output analysis of air, rail, truck, and water transportation sectors. 3) Adjustment of input-output modeling to reflect sudden fuel price changes to estimate the potential impact on industry output and employment. Alaska air transportation used approximately 1.9 billion gallons of fuel annually; 961 million gallons were used for intra-state and exiting Alaska flights. Water transportation used 101.8 million gallons annually, approximately 84.3 million gallons for intra-state and exiting segments. Railroad and truck transportation used 5.1 and 8.8 million gallons annually, respectively. Simulated fuel price increases resulted in an estimated $456.8 million in value-added losses to the Alaska economy through the increase in cost of transportation services, as well as an equivalent loss in income to Alaska household of$26.8 million. A carbon emissions tax would have the greatest impact on the cost of air transportation services followed by water, trucking and rail.309002 DTRT06-G-0011List of Figures / List of Tables / Acknowledgements / Abstract / Executive Summary / Introduction / Background / Research Approach / Findings and Applications / Conclusions / References / Appendix A. Marine Transportation Companies / Appendix B. Barge Fuel Use Calculations / Appendix C. Data Dictionary of Variables and Sources Used for Aviation Fuel Estimates / Appendix D. Glossary of Economic Impact Term

Sustainability-based lifecycle management for bridge infrastructure using 6D BIM

A number of bridge infrastructures are rising significantly due to economic expansion and growing numbers of railway and road infrastructures. Owing to the complexity of bridge design, traditional design methods always create tedious and time-consuming construction processes. In recent years, Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been developed rapidly to provide a faster solution to generate and process the integration of information in a shared environment. This paper aims to highlight an innovative 6D BIM approach for the lifecycle asset management of a bridge infrastructure by using Donggou Bridge as a case study. This paper adopts 6D modelling, incorporating 3D model information with time schedule, cost estimation, and carbon footprint analysis across the lifecycle of the bridge project. The results of this paper reveal that raw materials contribute the most embodied carbon emissions, and as the 6D BIM model was developed in the early stage of the lifecycle, stakeholders can collaborate within the BIM environment to enhance a more sustainable and cost-effective outcome in advance. This study also demonstrates the possibility of BIM applications to bridge infrastructure projects throughout the whole lifecycle. The 6D BIM can save time by transforming 2D information to 3D information and reducing errors during the pre-construction and construction stages through better visualisation for staff training. Moreover, 6D BIM can promote efficient asset and project management since it can be applied for various purposes simultaneously, such as sustainability, lifecycle asset management and maintenance, condition monitoring and real-time structural simulations. In addition, BIM can promote cooperation among working parties and improve visualisation of the project for various stakeholders

Quantifying the Impact of Truck Only Lanes on Vehicular Emissions on a Limited-Access Highway

This thesis seeks to estimate CO2 emissions on a portion of the U.S. 101 highway in San Luis Obispo County before and after construction of a truck only lane on the Cuesta Grade. Towards that aim, the microsimulation software, VISSIM, was used in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency’s emissions model, MOVES. The microsimulation model was calibrated and validated against historical and present traffic volumes obtained from Caltrans with good results using several validation measures. It was found that CO2 emissions did decrease between 1998 and 2012 (pre and post lane addition), but this effect was shown to be different for the northbound (uphill) and southbound (downhill) directions. It was shown that the truck lane in the northbound (uphill) direction had a 9.5% decrease in volume with 10.7% decrease in emissions, and the southbound (downhill) direction had a 20.3% increase in volume but 7.4% decrease in emissions. For the northbound (uphill) direction, emissions seemed to correlate more closely with volumes, while the southbound (downhill) direction was less sensitive to these changes

Engineering Research 2013

Table of Contents Energy Earth, Air & Water Engineered Materials Health Research Centers Innovation Graduate Research & Educationhttps://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/engineering-magazine/1008/thumbnail.jp

A PROJECT-LEVEL INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE ROADWAYS

Over the past two decades, roadway infrastructure in the United States has experienced severe deterioration, costing road users billions of dollars in wasted fuels, lost time, and higher numbers of accidents. Transportation infrastructure asset management initiatives, which aim at providing and maintaining physical infrastructure assets at an acceptable level, need to address various economic, social, and environmental issues. Therefore, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) has encouraged public agencies to incorporate sustainable development principles into their decision-making and organizational operations at a program level. Meanwhile, at a project level, maintenance, repair, and rehabilitation (MRR) projects for roadway infrastructure are still mostly undertaken by traditional techniques, resulting in higher overall life cycle impacts. The use of non-traditional techniques including accelerated methods is expected to reduce the overall impacts; however there is a lack of infrastructure management frameworks that support public agencies’ decision-making procedures in justifying the use of non-traditional techniques. Therefore, the goal of this research is to develop a project-level infrastructure management framework to consider multiple factors in decision-making and to analyze the life cycle economic, social, and environmental impacts of traditional and non-traditional (including accelerated methods) roadway MRR techniques. The proposed framework utilizes decision flowcharts and multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods to shortlist alternatives that meet project requirements to facilitate preliminary decision-making. And then, this framework applies life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) to quantify the life cycle impacts of candidate project alternatives following the triple bottom line of sustainability. MRR techniques analyzed by the framework include hot mix asphalt (HMA) and warm mix asphalt (WMA) overlay, hot-in-place recycling (HIPR), cold-in-place recycling (CIR), full depth reclamation (FDR), intelligent compaction (IC), and use of precast concrete pavement systems (PCPS). The decision flowcharts and MCDM model in the proposed framework are developed based on existing literature and the results of a survey of state departments of transportation in the United States. Analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and analytical network process (ANP) are used to determine the weights of criteria for the MCDM model, and a customizable decision support tool is created in a spreadsheet program to facilitate application of the model. For the LCA-LCCA model, the overall life cycle impacts include: i) agency costs and environmental impacts, ii) user costs and environmental impacts due to lost time and wasted fuel, and iii) user costs due to increased crash events. Software programs and databases including Athena Pavement LCA, GREET®, MOVES, and other miscellaneous data sources are used for LCA; while survey results, RSMeans 2016, and other miscellaneous cost sources are used for LCCA. The LCA-LCCA model is also capable of performing what-if analysis by adjusting variables. Thus, the model allows public agencies to apply their own data and priorities based on their sustainability goals, objectives, and performance measures to obtain relevant results. The proposed framework is illustrated through case studies and validated by expert opinion and literature contrasts. Future studies may expand this framework to include more factors in the MCDM model and additional impact items in the LCA-LCCA model

A Framework for Comparative Life-Cycle Evaluation of Alternative Pavement Types

Researchers and practitioners agree that the selection of an appropriate pavement surface material type should be made based on a comprehensive evaluation that incorporates the costs and benefits associated with each alternative for the stakeholder. The most appropriate material type generally is the most cost-effective alternative over the pavement life cycle. Hypothetically, the most appropriate material type will vary across the various geographical regions of the U.S. because material costs and performance are influenced by the deterioration agents at play and the construction costs in a region. To address this issue, this dissertation proposes a comprehensive methodology to identify the most appropriate choice of pavement material type under different climatic and traffic conditions and thereby establish the conditions under which any one of two pavement materials can be considered superior. The case study of this dissertation uses data for an interstate highway section from the Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) program database. The stakeholder costs include the agency cost, the user cost, and the community cost. The benefits (effectiveness) were evaluated using the concept of an area bounded by a performance curve and a pre-determined threshold. For each of the four LTPP zones and the two material types, the optimal maintenance and rehabilitation (M&R) schedule was established, and the corresponding optimal life cycle cost-effectiveness was determined using both deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analysis. The results using the former approach suggest that the most cost-effective pavement material types in wet climates and dry climates are rigid and flexible, respectively, irrespective of the discount rate. When the latter approach was used, the flexible pavement material was found to be the stochastically-dominant pavement material type irrespective of the climatic zone or discount rate. This framework can be scaled down to a state or scaled up to the national or continental level, given the availability of cost, traffic loading, pavement condition, and environmental datasets

The Oyster River Culvert Analysis Project

Studies have already detected intensification of precipitation events consistent with climate change projections. Communities may have a window of opportunity to prepare, but information sufficiently quantified and localized to support adaptation programs is sparse: published literature is typically characterized by general resilience building or regional vulnerability studies. The Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC observed that adaptation can no longer be postponed pending the effective elimination of uncertainty. Methods must be developed that manage residual uncertainty, providing community leaders with decision-support information sufficient for implementing infrastructure adaptation programs. This study developed a local-scale and actionable protocol for maintaining historical risk levels for communities facing significant impacts from climate change and population growth. For a coastal watershed, the study assessed the capacity of the present stormwater infrastructure capacity for conveying expected peak flow resulting from climate change and population growth. The project transferred coupled-climate model projections to the culvert system, in a form understandable to planners, resource managers and decision-makers; applied standard civil engineering methods to reverse-engineer culverts to determine existing and required capacities; modeled the potential for LID methods to manage peak flow in lieu of, or combination with, drainage system upsizing; and estimated replacement costs using local and national construction cost data. The mid-21st century, most likely 25-year, 24-hour precipitation is estimated to be 35% greater than the TP-40 precipitation for the SRES A1b trajectory, and 64% greater than the TP-40 value for the SRES A1fi trajectory. 5% of culverts are already undersized for the TP-40 event to which they should have been designed. Under the most likely A1b trajectory, an additional 12% of culverts likely will be undersized, while under the most likely A1fi scenario, an additional 19% likely will be undersized. These conditions place people and property at greater risk than that historically acceptable from the TP-4025-year design storm. This risk level may be maintained by a long-term upgrade program, utilizing existing strategies to manage uncertainty and costs. At the upper-95% confidence limit for the A1fi 25-year event, 65% of culverts are adequately sized, and building the remaining 35%, and planned, culverts to thrice the cross-sectional area specified from TP-40 should provide adequate capacity through this event. Realizable LID methods can mitigate significant impacts from climate change and population growth, however effectiveness is limited for the more pessimistic climate change projections. Results indicate that uncertainty in coupled-climate model projections is not an impediment to adaptation. This study makes a significant contribution toward the generation of reliable and specific estimates of impacts from climate change, in support of programs to adapt civil infrastructures. This study promotes a solution to today\u27s arguably most significant challenge in civil infrastructure adaptation: translating the extensive corpus of adaptation theory and regional-scale impacts analyses into localscale action

A Comparison of Emissions-Reduction Strategies to Improve Livability in Freight-Centric Communities

In 2009, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development entered into an interagency “Partnership for Sustainable Communities” to cooperatively increase transportation mode choices while reducing transportation costs, protecting the environment, and providing greater access to affordable housing through the incorporation of six principals of livability (U.S. Department of Transportation, 2014a). This study focuses on strategies to reduce vehicle emissions and improve livability along the Lamar Corridor in Memphis, Tennessee, a location that was designated by the U.S. Government in 2010 as an area to be targeted for livability improvements (Daniels & Meeks, 2010). The results of this study indicate that a common method to reduce emissions at freight terminals, a typical facility along the Lamar Corridor, may actually increase emissions along the corridor itself. Additionally, specific emphasis on the use of alternative fuels as a method to reduce emissions may be warranted

Accelerated Construction of Roadways: Life Cycle Assessment and Environmental Impacts

Sustainability refers to a long-term perspective of economic, social, and environmental progress, which not only addresses the present conditions but also includes the needs of future generations. The massive network of roadways in United States has the potential to contribute considerably towards achieving sustainability in the infrastructure sector. The “triple bottom line” of sustainability, if incorporated in roadway development projects, can address issues like climate change, environmental protection, funds optimization, and social equity. This study focuses on the life cycle assessment (LCA) of arterial improvement projects. Preservation treatments help in extending the remaining service life of roads; but at the same time, they may have substantial environmental impacts due to the acquisition of raw materials, transportation of the processed materials from extraction to production site, manufacturing of the final product, and the use of various equipment during the treatment process. These, in most cases, are accompanied by considerable mobility impacts on the adjacent traffic due to work-zones associated with pavement treatment activities. Accelerated construction techniques are known to have several advantages over traditional construction, such as reducing delay and congestion, decreasing safety concerns, and in turn minimizing environmental and socio-economic impacts associated with work zones. In this study, a comprehensive work zone environmental assessment (WEA) framework has been prepared, which will help highway officials to assess the environmental benefits of accelerated construction, and opt for the most suitable transportation management plan favoring the environment. Existing studies have presented LCA for pavement construction activities, mostly, on a case-study basis. This research tries to calculate and summarize the environmental effects of all the MRR activities, which can occur over the life span of a pavement. Traditional and accelerated maintenance, repair, and rehabilitation (MRR) techniques were identified for both flexible and rigid pavements. A life cycle assessment (LCA) approach was used, taking into account the life extension of the pavement for each type of strategy. The scope boundary includes only the construction activities relevant to pavement MRR. On the traffic side, the simulation models currently in use to predict the emission of work-zones are mostly static emission factor models (SEFD). SEFD calculates emissions based on average operation conditions e.g. average speed and type of vehicles. Although these models produce accurate results for large scale planning studies, they are not suitable for analyzing driving conditions at the micro level such as acceleration, deceleration, idling, cruising, and queuing in a work zone. This study addresses this gap by using an integrated traffic micro-simulation emission model, which can capture the effects of instantaneous changes in vehicle operations, and can provide an accurate prediction of traffic impacts and emissions for work zones. Software program, INTEGRATION, was used to model real life work zone traffic scenarios and traffic emissions around the area. This program is capable of computing vehicle emissions, such as hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx), for eleven vehicle categories. Changes in emissions were computed by simulating traffic management plans related to traditional and accelerated pavement rehabilitation. A section of Interstate 66 was selected as a case study to demonstrate the application of this framework. Sustainability calls for reducing the above-mentioned impacts. Environmental impacts of the commonly used traditional and accelerated MRR activities were calculated in amounts of greenhouse gases emitted due to resource usage, energy consumption, and mobility impacts. Accelerated construction were found to have favorable results for both flexible and rigid pavements. In addition, a guidance model was prepared to assist agencies with selecting appropriate procurement methods and contracting strategies that accelerate construction. The research also looks into existing environmental policies, and suggests strategies to incentivize accelerated construction for stakeholders