Evaluation of Truck Lane Restriction on Non-Limited Access Urban Arterials

ABSTRACTThe strategy of managing truck traffic through truck lane restriction is very prevalent on limited access highways in Florida and other States. The perceived and real success of truck lane restriction on freeways have led to increasing demands from the public for highway agencies to institute similar measures on non-limited access highways. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of various geometric, traffic, and signalization factors that might affect safety and operational effectiveness of truck lane restriction on non-limited access highways, primarily on urban arterial roadways with significant amount of truck traffic. Because of lack of sufficient sites with truck lane restriction on which to conduct a longitudinal field study, VISSIM simulation software was used to evaluate operational and safety effects of truck lane restriction by varying various parameters related to the restriction.The results of various simulation scenarios showed that restricting trucks to the right lane don't have deleterious effects on both safety and operational roadway performance compared to no restriction at all. In fact, it could improve travel speed on the highway corridor, although not much. However, restricting trucks to the left or center lanes would cause excessive lane changing, reduced travel speed, increased queue length, and delay. The imposition of truck lane restriction of either kind increases speed difference between cars and trucks within lanes. This phenomenon is likely to increase vehicular conflicts in real life but the exact extent of its operational and safety implications need to be studied further in the field

Attribution Theory and Collisions at Intersections

69A3551747117Attribution theory refers to the psychological phenomenon where one person tries to perceive others' cognitive behavior by ascribing their own emotions, opinions, and desires. For instance, while passing at an intersection, a driver expects that the maneuver of other drivers coming from the opposite direction or conflicting movements would be like their own. When expected behaviors do not match the opposite or conflicting movement driver's future behaviors, a collision is likely to occur. This research investigated the application of attribution theory to assume the opposing drivers\u2019 cognitive behavior and performance at a highway intersection. This phenomenon was evaluated by utilizing the second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP-2) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data sources. From the data analysis, it was observed that drivers aged 25-34 years were involved in the highest number of fatal accidents from 2009- 2018 in the USA. Besides, it was found that younger drivers (aged 20-years old or less) contributed fewer fatal collisions (44,404 crashes) than elderly drivers (aged 65-years old or more, 62,572 crashes). The impact of the attribution theory and driver age in highway intersection-related collisions were examined from simulation models. From simulations, it was observed that there was a high possibility of collisions when an elderly driver was turning left. In this research, the combination of an elderly driver turning left, and the younger driver going straight resulted in the highest number of collisions compared to other groups. The key findings confirm elderly and younger drivers have different driving behavior that could be ascribed to their attribution. These results can assist transportation agencies to develop training and design strategies to better accommodate elderly drivers due to their declined physical and cognitive abilities and improve drivers\u2019 education programs for younger drivers.The supplemental file attached to this record includes links to the datasets analyzed for the report

Evaluation of before and after Measures to Curb Distracted Walking

69A3551747117Walking is one of the most common non-motorized modes of transportation. It is a convenient way to move from one place to another if other modes of transport are limited, and it is healthy. However, distracted pedestrians have become an increasing problem, and the main culprit is cellular devices. Cellphones have taken over many people's lives, and an average person cannot go without the usage of their cell phone in a day. Cellphones are used everywhere, like workplaces, homes, driving, and walkways. Every year pedestrians are endangered from texting, talking, or listening to music on their cellphones while walking. Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows that pedestrian fatalities range from approximately 4,110 to 6,080 from 2008 through 2017. In this study, the countermeasures to distracted pedestrian walking behavior are investigated. These research findings will help transportation and enforcement officials to enforce adequate safety measures when curbing distracted walking problem. The outcomes of this study are expected to provide essential information for the public on the effects attributed to distracted walking and the safety of pedestrians

Monitoring of Illegal Removal of Road Barricades Using Intelligent Transportation Systems in Connected and Non-Connected Environments

69A3551747117Illegal removal of road barricades without notice of road emergency officials and road users has resulted in fatalities, injuries, and property damages. It is only after an incident has occurred or someone noticed the removal and alerted the authorities for the barricade to be placed back at its intended location. Due to this event, traditional barricades must be equipped with mechanisms to alert emergency officials and warn road users of impending danger. This research utilized the Global Positioning System (GPS) module, and Radio Frequency (RF) modules to detect barricade movements, and alert emergency officials and road users. The barricade movements were estimated from the haversine distance formula, corrected for errors, and then compared with the distance threshold value for the road users within a geofenced area to be alerted. The geofenced area radius was estimated to be 1.04 miles from the barricade location using the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), National Safety Council (NSC), and TransGuide ITS manuals. The non-parametric bootstrapping method was used to estimate the GPS position error to 10.5 feet and corrected the measured distances. Experimental data of the system from a clear sunny day shows that low-cost GPS modules have the best response to barricade movements compared to a cloudy day where movements can\u2019t be explained easily. This system can communicate with Road-Side Units (RSUs) and On-Board Units (OBUs) and is expected to warn road users and alert emergency officials

Comparison of Alternative Methods for Estimating Household Trip Rates of Cross-Classification Cells with Inadequate Data

This paper investigates the forecast performance of a traditional cross-classification model and alternative models that seek to address the shortcomings of traditional cross-classification analysis, specifically when it has cells with inadequate data. The study uses five cross-sectional datasets collected in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1965, 1981, 1990, 1996, and 2000. Alternative models, estimated with travel data collected in the base year, were assessed for their ability to replicate the number of trips made by households in each cell of a cross-classification matrix and at the traffic zone level, respectively, in each of the five years. The results showed that the traditional crossclassification analysis (CCA) model, notwithstanding having a few unreliable cells provided more consistent predictions of travel than any of the alternative methods. They also show that it is better to synthesize trip rates for only those cells of the cross-classification matrix with inadequate data rather than to adjust the entire trip-rate matrix as is currently the practice

Spatial Transferability: Analysis of the Regional Automobile-Specific Household-Level Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Emissions Models

This paper compared performance of methods for combining model information estimated in one region and applied to another region to improve estimation results. The application is for models developed to estimate household-level automobile-specific CO2 emissions. The results indicated that automobile-specific CO2 emissions models can be transferred from one geographical region to another. The estimates of CO2 emissions can assist agencies such as policy makers, businesses, and transportation planners to track trends and identify opportunities to reduce CO2 emissions and increase efficiency of transportation systems to lessen their impact on global warming, climate change, and air quality standards

Investigating RFID for Linear Asset Management

A linear asset is defined as an asset whose length plays a critical role in its maintenance. Examples of such assets include roads, pipelines, and railroad tracks. Major features of a roadway asset include traffic lights, number of lanes, speed limits, guardrails, and highway billboards. Linear assets, along with their features, are hard to physically access; therefore, previously captured inventory information files may be inaccurate. To address this problem, some of the transportation agencies are investigating technologies that will assist in solving this asset inventory problem. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a technology that uses communication via radio waves to exchange data between a reader and an electronic tag attached to an object for the purpose of identification and tracking. The primary focus of this paper is to evaluate the feasibility of utilizing RFID as a means of gathering, verifying, and storing information for linear assets. The study investigates the convergence of factors that affect the performance of RFID. The factors investigated in this study are driving speed, tag location on signposts, delineators, and guardrails. The study tested the active RF Code type of RFID technology. The results indicate that for the three (10mph, 20mph, 30mph) vehicle speeds tested, tag readability decreased with an increase in speed