Measuring users\u27 impact to support economic growth through Transportation Asset Management planning

The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), was enacted by the US Congress to support the economic growth of regions. With this in mind, the state Departments of Transportation (DOT) policies for allocating construction and maintenance funds for infrastructural rehabilitation represent a mechanism to spur economic growth. Economic downturns highlight the importance of a transparent, cost-effective methodology for allocation of scarce resources that provide equity to the entire population of road users. The paper proposes adding social and economic components to the current traffic-based prioritisation method for low-volume, rural bridges in Iowa and evaluates the potential change in the distribution of funding among the state\u27s structurally deficient bridges. The proposed method illustrates the value-added of transportation infrastructure projects to the state\u27s agricultural economy, concluding that the addition of socioeconomic factors to the current decision-making process can increase the net benefit of the investments in low-volume bridges to the state\u27s agricultural economy

Social Return on Investment as a Metric to Prioritize Use of Accelerated Bridge Construction in Rural Regions

Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) techniques have a great potential to minimize the traffic disruptions during the bridge repairs/replacements, promote traffic and worker safety, and improve the overall quality of the built bridges. Despite the major advances in design and construction of ABC techniques, transportation agencies are still hesitant about using ABC techniques largely due to perceived risks during construction and higher initial costs. Furthermore, the current decision process used to prioritize the candidate bridges for this type of construction is oftentimes solely based on metrics such as the average annual daily traffic (AADT). This paper proposes to use a metric employed by the World Bank to prioritize funding for aid in developing countries: social return on investment (SROI). SROI will measure the value of investment in ABC techniques to reduce social, economic, and environmental impacts to the road network users. The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) completed the replacement of more than 500 bridges as part of the “Safe and Sound” project using the ABC techniques. This paper considers five counties, mostly with agricultural demographics in the state of Missouri, as the case study and estimates the SROI of the utilization of ABC. The results show that SROI provides a holistic measure to incorporate the socioeconomic aspects in the prioritization of the bridges that could benefit from ABC techniques

Asset Management for Mobility and ITS

MoDOT project # TR202117The Federal Highway Administration currently requires pavement and bridge National Highway System assets to be managed through a formal plan at the statewide level regardless of ownership. The methods for Transportation Asset Management planning for pavements and bridges are relatively well defined and mature. To incorporate evolving technologies and new industry standards, methods and practices need to continue to progress and evolve. New Intelligent Transportation System and Transportation Systems Management and Operations assets must be managed and maintained, with similar methods to bridges and pavements, to keep the asset management processes consistent. This project outlined a literature review, a state of the practice survey, an assessment of several state-published Transportation Asset Management Plans, and the development and application of a tool for use in varied settings across the Missouri to manage Intelligent Transportation Systems and other new mobility assets and highlights the importance of a common asset management approach, risk management, and quality data management plans. Future recommendations and strategies are provided to the Missouri Department of Transportation to improve and incorporate new mobility assets into existing transportation asset management plans

Machine Learning Solutions for Top-Down Cracking Design of Airport Rigid Pavement

692M15-20-T-00033The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rigid pavement design process is based on bottom-up cracking failure resulting from tensile stress at the bottom of a flat slab under aircraft loads. The FAA has a long-term goal to add top-down cracking failure mode to the FAA Rigid and Flexible Iterative Elastic Layered Design (FAARFIELD) program. The existing design procedure is not suitable to support design for the top-down cracking failure mode. Critical stresses for rigid pavement design can be calculated by Finite Element Analysis \u2013 FAA (FEAFAA), the FAA three-dimensional finite element (3D-FE) program. However, direct use of 3D-FE methods in design software is typically far more time-consuming than is acceptable for design procedures

Examining the Seizure Standard for Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers: Evidence Report, Systematic Review, and Medical Expert Panel Report

Task Order 1: 693JJ420F000049 Prime Contract: 693JJ420D000001Individuals with an established medical history or clinical diagnosis of epilepsy or any other condition that is likely to cause loss of consciousness or any loss of ability to control a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) are not allowed to operate a CMV in interstate commerce by Federal regulations. However, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issues exemptions from the regulatory requirements for select drivers who meet criteria based primarily on long periods of medical stability without a seizure. This report includes systematic reviews that addressed key questions largely by published data, with an additional key question addressed by a medical expert panel. Five key questions address risk of seizure recurrence over time for individuals who have or have had unprovoked seizures, provoked seizures, a seizure caused by stroke, epilepsy, or surgery for epilepsy. Another key question addresses commercial driving requirements for each State in the United States and driving requirements generally for select other countries regarding seizures. A medical expert panel addressed questions concerning recommendations for the current processes to address seizures among potential CMV drivers. The medical expert panel determined there was no evidence to support major changes to the regulation or exemption criteria. However, several minor changes were advised, including multiple recommendations for clarifying definitions and the eligibility criteria for exemptions

Assessment of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems for Pavement Inspections

692M15-20-T-00034Pavement inspections play an integral role in ensuring airport safety. The FAA Airport Technology Research and Development (ATR) branch performed research to assess the integration of small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) into an airport\u2019s Pavement Management Program (PMP). To conduct sUAS-based pavement inspections, the research team tested across five different airports between 2020 and 2022. The objective was to provide a repeatable set of processes and procedures for data collection, analysis, and reporting for sUAS-based pavement inspections. This report presents sUAS data collection parameters, data processing techniques, and data analysis, as well as workflows associated with each inspection. A summary of distresses identifiable via sUAS is also provided

Investigation of Exposure Based Pedestrian Accident Areas: Crosswalks, Sidewalks, Local Streets, and Major Arterials

DTFH61-84-C-00017Previous FHWA research on pedestrian exposure identified four problem areas as promising candidates for accident reduction: intersections without marked pedestrian crosswalks, major arterial streets, local streets, and locations lacking sidewalks or pedestrian pathways. This report describes the results of a project undertaken to examine those four problem areas. The objectives of the project were to: evaluate past research on pedestrian crosswalk markings and develop guidance for when and what type of crosswalk markings should be provided; investigate traffic engineering improvements for major arterial streets to increase pedestrian safety; investigate traffic engineering improvements for local streets to increase pedestrian safety; and examine existing guidance/warrants for the provision of pedestrian pathways and sidewalks and prepare revised guidance/warrants