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

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

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

Assessment of Dynamic Modulus Testing of Airfield Asphalt Mixes Using Small-Scale Test Specimens [Technical Note]

Dynamic modulus is a fundamental property of viscoelastic materials and is typically used as an indicator of mix performance and input for the structural design of flexible pavements. Dynamic modulus can be measured in the laboratory using the Asphalt Mixture Performance Tester (AMPT) using the standard-size test specimen geometry (100-mm diameter by 150-mm length). However, determining dynamic modulus from specimens representing field conditions (field cores) is challenging because the lift thickness of pavement layers is usually less than 150 mm. Therefore, this study compared dynamic modulus test results measured from three airfield asphalt mixes using the standard-size and two small-scale test specimen geometries. The comparative study used several approaches, including evaluating dynamic modulus magnitudes, master curves, statistical variability, and modeled pavement responses from pavement analysis software. Overall, dynamic modulus values from small-scale test specimens show uniformity and good agreement compared to the standard geometry and present less than a 10% difference. Therefore, it is recommended to implement small geometries in dynamic modulus testing to determine performance properties in the laboratory. However, results from small-scale test specimens conducted at high temperatures may need a careful review before implementation since they show more variability and less consistency than the standard-size test specimen\u2019s results

Analysis of Material Source Mergers and Acquisitions on Project Delivery Quality and Costs [techbrief]

DTFH6117C0002LMerger and acquisition (M&A) activity, particularly in the transportation materials and construction industry, is analyzed relatively infrequently. However, this activity can significantly affect project completion, market control, and pricing. In many cases, collaboration between firms with similar goals and corporate growth strategies in a healthy market motivate consolidations. Attempts to increase market share and efforts targeting wider market access may also be factors in M&A activity. Companies may engage in consolidation activity with other entities possessing complementary strengths and assets. They may also want to consolidate with other companies to increase the diversity of the product they can offer to the market. M&A activity can potentially eliminate cost brackets, harm competition, create inequitable market control, or result in price increases. Any of these occurrences within the transportation materials and construction industry can alter bidding processes, consumer behaviors, and market attributes. The goal of this study was to investigate M&A activity and help transportation professionals become aware of how to identify consolidation activities and the influences these activities can have

Monitoring Report for Bacterial Source Tracking, Segments 0806, 0841, and 0805 of the Trinity River, Bacteria TMDL

TextThis report addresses bacteria source tracking activities to support allocations of loadings. This report includes information on study area, characteristics, materials and methods of bacterial source tracking, and results and findings of the source tracking study.TCEQCenter for Research in Water Resource