Solving Congestion and Safety Issues with Roundabouts

The Plainfield Road corridor is a major commuter route in Blue Ash, Ohio. This corridor is plagued by extreme peak hour congestion and intersection crash rates that are the largest in the city. The City intends to construct a series of roundabouts to address both congestion and safety issues. This presentation summarizes the evaluation process used to identify roundabouts as the preferred alternative to address both issues

Downtown Two-Way Conversion

The City of South Bend has launched the Smart Streets initiative to improve the role of streets through implementation of the Complete Streets philosophy. As part of this initiative, the Downtown Two-Way Conversion Plan was developed with a goal of revitalizing South Bend’s downtown. This session will describe the Smart Streets initiative, discuss the traffic study of the Downtown Two-Way Conversion Plan, and provide an update on the conversion process

Indiana’s 1st Displaced Left Turn Intersection

Indiana’s first displaced left-turn intersection was completed in the fall of 2022 at the intersection of US 31 and SR 135/Thompson Road on Indy’s south side. Join this presentation to learn why the project was needed, the design and construction challenges that were over- come, how this project was presented to the public, and how it is operating today

South Bend Smart Streets Before & After Study

The South Bend Smart Streets project, which was completed in the summer of 2017, utilized road diets and the Complete Streets philosophy to transform the way citizens navigate the downtown South Bend area. Traffic analysis was performed both prior to and after construction to guide the design process and to retime 30+ traffic signals located within the project study area. This presentation provides a beforeand-after comparison of traffic conditions and the lessons learned

Construction Work Zone Safety

The need of maintaining safety of motorists and workers during periods of construction activities on interstates has prompted the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) to initiate a study aimed at improving the safety in work zones on rural interstates. The two main objectives of the project are 1) determine if active warning devices or improved signing have an impact in work zone safety and 2) determine if it is appropriate to consider temporary roads and bridges during construction activity on interstates in an effort to maintain two lanes open at all times. This report describes the methods used to meet the objectives set forth by INDOT. The report has been subdivided into four major parts. A review of current work zone practices was conducted in neighboring states and abroad, and is presented in the first part of the report. An evaluation of several traffic management technologies that are currently available for interstate work zones was performed. The goal of the evaluation was to determine the benefit INDOT would gain from using a technology of this type. The third part of the report presents the experimentation and testing conducted during the research project. This part discusses the accident data evaluation conducted in several interstate work zone projects in the state of Indiana. This portion of the report also presents the description of the test pilot project that included the deployment and evaluation of a series of fixed signs in conjunction with variable message signs in the I-65/US-30 reconstruction project near Merrillville, IN. The fourth part of the report covers the evaluation conducted to determine the feasibility of maintaining two lanes open at all times during work zones on interstates. An economic model was developed to provide INDOT with a preliminary tool for deciding if two lanes open should be maintained in a particular project. Along with the model is a case study that provides INDOT with an example of the staging required to complete the highway project in several seasons