| SPR Active Projects |
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| SPR 662 |
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Multi-Modal Investment Criteria & Freight's Economic Importance
Project Coordinator:
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Amanda Pietz
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Research Agency:
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Oregon State University
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Principal Investigator:
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Starr McMullen & Chris Monsere
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| Start Date for ODOT: |
October 2007
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End Date for ODOT:
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September 2008
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BACKGROUND:
The Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC) makes decisions about investments on the highways and to a lesser extent for other freight-moving modes; e.g., through special funding programs for specific purposes such as rail spur improvements. To guide investment decisions, the OTC has adopted project eligibility criteria and prioritization factors. For example, “projects that support freight mobility” is one of the prioritization factors established for the 2008-2011 Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). As used for the STIP, projects that support freight mobility are defined as modernization projects on freight routes of statewide or regional significance. These are projects that would remove identified barriers to the safe, reliable, and efficient movement of goods and/or would support multimodal freight transportation movements.
More recently, the OTC has been charged by the Oregon Legislature with making decisions on state-authorized funding for aviation, marine, public transit, and rail projects through the ConnectOregon program. ConnectOregon I (ORS 367.080) from the 2005 Oregon Legislative session directed the OTC to consider factors, such as transportation cost reduction, multi-modal connections, system efficiency, project costs, and economic benefits, in selecting projects to be funded via the ConnectOregon program. However, these broadly-defined investment criteria have not been used consistently to assess alternative multi-modal projects in the ConnectOregon program, highlighting the research need for a data-driven yet practical procedure for applying investment criteria and achieving policy objectives. Systematic methods (e.g. risk analysis and management) for decision-making under imperfect information (due to future uncertainty and data inadequacy) can be employed to improve the existing investment criteria and decision-making processes.
Past work related to multimodal investment criteria includes a 1998 ODOT research report titled The Prioritization of Mobility Improvements using a Multi-Criteria Prioritization Algorithm [1], which develops a ranking procedure for selecting multimodal mobility improvement projects. Similar freight investment criteria have been proposed in Vermont, Washington State, and the Midwest corridor studies [2, 3, 4]. However, these previous studies emphasize a comprehensive and deterministic approach that often assumes substantive data availability and agency commitment. More promising probabilistic methods that are likely to produce immediately useful investment criteria and procedures have not been adequately explored.
The proposed research is especially timely due to several recent developments in multimodal transportation planning in and outside Oregon. The 2006 Oregon Transportation Plan (OTP) provides guidance on addressing freight’s economic importance through an economic vitality goal as well as calling for on-going public information and education about transportation needs and funding alternatives. During 2007, ODOT expects to begin work on a Freight Master Plan, which will help shape freight policies and future investments in freight transportation systems. The master plan will include further development of criteria and procedures for prioritizing multimodal projects. The new National Freight Cooperative Research Program sponsored by the US Department of Transportation and managed by the Transportation Research Board (TRB), also identifies freight investment criteria as a key research area.
OBJECTIVE:
The proposed research will be conducted in two phases. The goal of Phase One, detailed in this research work plan, is to review multimodal investment criteria adopted by public sector transportation agencies, and summarize how system performance and economic impact issues are currently considered in multimodal planning and investment decision-making. The Phase One project has the following specific research objectives:
1. Review literature on multi-modal investment criteria for freight projects, ways to describe the economic importance of freight transportation, and ways of communicating freight’s economic importance. Given the observed difficulty and inconsistency in implementing qualitative investment criteria in Oregon and elsewhere, the review will focus on measures and techniques for quantifying project benefits and costs.
2. Identify Oregon perspectives on multimodal investments and project selection criteria.
3. Recommend new or refined multimodal freight investment criteria that ODOT could use.
IMPLEMENTATION:
The research findings will be implemented in a variety of ways to help ODOT and other relevant agencies improve freight investment decision-making and achieve the identified policy goals with minimum costs, including:
- Production of a research report which details the background, methodology, findings and limitations of the research;
- Presentations to ODOT staff, advisory committees, the OTC, and at other meetings/seminars;
- Preparation of written and visual materials for inclusion in ODOT documents and web pages where appropriate;
- Preparation of papers for submission to professional journals.
Ouarter Reports:
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| SPR 663 |
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Copper Toxicity and ESA Listed Salmon
| Project Coordinator: |
Matthew Mabey |
| Research Agency: |
Oregon State University |
| Principal Investigator: |
Jeffrey A. Nason |
| Start Date for ODOT: |
September, 2007 |
| Completion Date for ODOT: |
December, 2008 |
BACKGROUND:
Highway stormwater runoff is a non-point source of many pollutants to surface receiving waters in the State of Oregon and across the United States. Because many of the pollutants found in stormwater are toxic, these discharges represent a potential threat to aquatic species. One contaminant of particular concern is copper. Copper is a common constituent in stormwater, with the primary sources being tailpipe emissions and the wear of tires, brake linings, moveable engine parts and asphalt pavement (Makepeace et al., 1995). The toxicity of copper to a number of aquatic species ranging from diatoms, to fish has been shown (USEPA, 2007). For example, recent research by Sandahl et al. (2007) has shown that low concentrations (2-5 μg/L) of dissolved copper can impair the olfactory system of juvenile coho salmon, one of several ESA-listed fish species. Damage to the chemosensory system reduces the ability of fish to navigate and avoid predators, likely increasing mortality.
Taking these results into consideration, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has changed the way it evaluates the potential impacts of transportation projects with regard to stormwater discharges to surface receiving waters inhabited by T&E species. Historically, Section 7 Biological Assessments were made by comparing pre- and post-project pollutant concentrations. Following the dissolved copper/salmon research, NMFS began basing effects determinations on dissolved copper concentrations as well. Consequently, even if an ODOT project decreases pre-project concentrations and loads of dissolved copper in runoff, if the concentration in post-project runoff is greater than 1 μg/L, NMFS may determine that project is “Likely to Adversely Affect” T&E species. As the severity of effects determinations increases, so does the potential for project delays and increased project costs (e.g., requirements for advanced stormwater treatment).
In aquatic systems, copper partitions between the dissolved and particulate phases by adsorption processes. Additionally, in the aqueous phase, free (ionic) copper forms weak complexes with inorganic anions (e.g., Cu(OH)2) and strong complexes with dissolved organic matter. It is generally accepted that the ionic and weakly complexed fractions of the dissolved copper are the most bioavailable to aquatic species (Campbell, 1995; Paquin et al., 2002). However, copper speciation is not the only factor that influences toxicity; as the concentration of hardness causing cations (calcium and magnesium) increase, copper toxicity decreases. This effect is conceptually framed as the competition between hardness cations and bioavailable copper for binding sites on the organism (Campbell, 1995; Paquin et al., 2002). In light of these complicated interactions, it is clear that measurements of total, or even dissolved copper are conservative estimates of toxicity and do not result in a complete picture of the propensity of a given water to exert copper toxicity to aquatic organisms.
A number of researchers have investigated the speciation of copper in ambient freshwater and marine environments; recent examples include Bryan et al.(2002) and Ploger et al. (2005) (freshwater) and Buck and Bruland (2005), and Nuester and van den Berg (2005) (seawater). Results from these studies and previous research show that in natural waters, the vast majority of dissolved copper (90-99.9%) is strongly complexed with organic matter. However, despite the increased regulatory scrutiny surrounding copper, little is known about copper speciation in stormwater. In one study, Boulanger and Nioloaidis (2003) found that ionic copper concentrations ranged from <0.05 to 0.39 μg/L while the dissolved copper ranged from 8 to 14 μg/L in urban stormwater runoff from paved and grassy areas (much higher values were found in runoff from a copper roof and in the ambient receiving water). Here, the dissolved concentrations would raise a red flag when compared with the study by Sandahl et al., but the concentrations of ionic copper (which is likely a better indicator of toxicity) were much lower. It is clear that an improved understanding of copper speciation in highway stormwater runoff is necessary to make fundamentally sound decisions regarding potential impacts.
A standardized test for the bioavailable fraction of dissolved copper does not exist. Furthermore, the recent EPA guidance document for determining copper criteria in ambient freshwater (USEPA, 2007), notes that such an approach is not justified due the heterogeneity of different surface waters and the fact that such a measure would not include the effects of hardness and pH. The EPA approved approach for determining the toxicity of a given freshwater is based on the use of a biotic ligand model (BLM) that accounts for copper speciation and binding to a biochemical site on an organism. Model inputs include temperature, pH, dissolved organic carbon, major geochemical cations (calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium), dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC, the sum of dissolved carbon dioxide, carbonic acid, bicarbonate, and carbonate), and other major geochemical anions (chloride, sulfate). To date, these methods give the greatest insight to copper toxicity and are the most broadly applicable. However, to our knowledge, these models have not been applied to stormwater systems, nor have the models been used to evaluate the potential toxicity to the olfactory system evidenced in recent research.
OBJECTIVE:
In planning, designing, and constructing or rehabilitating transportation facilities, ODOT is always balancing the State’s transportation needs with environmental stewardship. Current assessments of the environmental impact of highway stormwater runoff are based on conservative estimates of copper toxicity. The trade-offs for these conservative assessments are lengthened project timelines and increased costs. In large part, the conservative estimate of copper toxicity (total dissolved copper) is used because little is known about copper speciation in stormwater. In other words, the fraction of the dissolved copper that is bioavailable and the extent to which that fraction interacts with other constituents (e.g., calcium and magnesium) and biological organisms to exert toxicity is largely unknown. The proposed research aims to bridge that gap in understanding.
The objective of the proposed research is to develop a fundamental framework for estimating the likely impact of copper in highway stormwater runoff that discharges to surface receiving waters inhabited by ESA-listed fish species in the State of Oregon. This guidance will allow ODOT to predict when, where and to what extent copper toxicity is likely to be a problem and will inform NMFS in their assessment of the risks associated with transportation projects. Copper speciation and the concentrations of other constituents (e.g., hardness and dissolved organic carbon) that influence copper toxicity are keys to this analysis and therefore are the focus of the proposed study. The overall objective of the research will be accomplished by answering the following questions:
(1) What are the concentrations and ratios of various copper species (i.e., ionic, weakly complexed, and strongly complexed) in highway stormwater runoff and can those quantities be predicted (modeled) knowing something about key stormwater quality parameters?
(2) What are the concentrations of other water quality parameters that are known to influence copper toxicity (e.g., hardness and dissolved organic carbon) in highway stormwater runoff?
(3) How do the metrics measured as part of (1) and (2) vary across the highway system, across seasons, and with impervious surface area, adjacent land use and traffic volume?
(4) Are there trends in commonly utilized measures of water quality (e.g., total suspended solids, dissolved organic carbon) that can be correlated with copper speciation? If so, how do those parameters vary with the independent variables described in (3)?
(5) How do the concentrations and speciation of copper in highway stormwater runoff compare with the concentrations and speciation of copper in the surface receiving waters to which they are discharged and what are the potential impacts in terms of copper toxicity?
APPROACH:
The proposed work lies at the interface between several scientific disciplines (e.g., civil engineering, environmental engineering, chemistry, biology, and toxicology) and different aspects of the proposed projects will be of interest to each group. Furthermore, there are a great number of stakeholders that are likely to be interested in the results; these include the general public, tribes, municipalities and State and Federal environmental and transportation agencies (e.g., ODOT, Oregon DEQ, USEPA, USDOT, FWHA). As such, it anticipated that multiple outlets for technology transfer will be required to effectively disseminate the results to all interested parties.
Dissemination of the results to the scientific community will be accomplished through publication of the findings in appropriate peer-reviewed journals and oral or poster presentations at local and national conferences. Specific journals, trade journals and conferences will be selected in an attempt to reach a broad population of interested scientists and policymakers.
The results of the research will be directly communicated to the ODOT staff through workshops and targeted presentations. Results will also be directly communicated to NMFS biologists and researchers at OSU who performed many of the recent toxicological studies. It is hoped that the findings of this research will spur further research on the toxic effects of complexed copper and copper in stormwater matrices.
The environmental impacts of highway stormwater runoff are a current concern of DOTs around the country. Transportation officials from across the USwill be reached through links to the research from relevant websites. For example, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Center for Environmental Excellence (http://environment.transportation.org/), is a clearinghouse for environmental information for transportation professionals. The general public, local municipalities and Oregontransportation professionals will be reached through links to the research from the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Geo-Environmental Section webpage (http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/GEOENVIRONMENTAL/index.shtml).
Finally, through the participation of graduate students, undergraduates, and K-12 students results will be further disseminated as those students continue their studies and begin careers in the public and private sector.
Quarterly Reports:
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| SPR 664 |
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Freight Performance Measures: Approach Analysis
| Project Coordinator: |
Amanda Pietz |
| Research Agency: |
Oregon State University |
| Principal Investigator: |
Starr McMullen & Chris Monsere |
| Start Date for ODOT: |
January 2008 |
| Completion Date for ODOT: |
March 2009 |
BACKGROUND:
Significant efforts have been made in recent years to improve the collection and analysis of freight data and to better understand and respond to the needs of the freight community. Despite these efforts there exists relatively little research on approaches to examining the performance of the transportation system relative to freight and to assessing the effectiveness of infrastructure investments on freight performance. Traditional highway performance measures have limited applications to freight transportation issues, while previous FHWA studies focus on freight system performance only at the national level. Selecting appropriate performance measures for the freight transportation system in Oregon is critical. They must be robust enough to accurately measure system changes but simple enough to clearly communicate to decision-makers.
OBJECTIVES:
This project will seek to develop one or two key performance measures for each freight transportation mode (highway, rail, air, marine, and inter-modal) in Oregon, and contribute to a data-oriented framework for making investment and management decisions based on specific policy objectives. Although not developing a comprehensive freight planning method, the proposed approach for freight performance analysis is intended to allow decision makers to assess competing funding needs based on their particular policy priorities and available data sources. The focus will be on performance measures that can record the effectiveness and achievements on policies targeting imperative freight needs and prominent freight issues in Oregon. Another research objective is to assess the availability of existing data to support performance measures, and assess data collections needs to support desired performance measures.
PROPOSED ACTIVITIES:
The results of this research will be used to contribute to a system of ongoing performance measures that will serve ODOT's freight transportation program. Performance measures supported by existing data sources can be used by ODOT to improve infrastructure investment and management decisions, i.e., to evaluate alternative freight investment projects, evaluate freight operational improvement policies, and assess potential outcomes for freight transportation planning. The research findings and recommendations can be immediately incorporated into the Oregon Freight Plan and the ODOT project prioritization process. The base-year freight system performance inventory will be applied to evaluate future projects, and to document the benefits of freight transportation investments.
Quarterly Reports:
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| SPR 665 |
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Access Management Best Practices Manual
| Project Coordinator: |
Mark Joerger |
| Research Agency: |
Oregon State University |
| Principal Investigator: |
Karen Dixon |
| Start Date for ODOT: |
May 2008 |
| Completion Date for ODOT: |
April 2009 |
BACKGROUND:
The transportation industry has been aware for several years that there are substantial safety and operational benefits when a transportation system is constructed or retrofitted with strategic access management designs such as shared driveways, raised medians, or driveway restrictions near intersections. In the Oregon Highway Plan, goal number three identifies access management as the single largest contributor to highway safety and essential to the efficiency protection of existing and planned state highways. The Transportation Research Board (TRB) holds a bi-annual meeting on access management and publishes a key document know as the Access Management Manual. This TRB document addresses access management principles, techniques, and basic design configurations. It also includes recommendations for state and local involvement, case examples of access management techniques, public information strategies, and legal considerations. Though this TRB document provides substantial information regarding the application of access management principles and strategies, it does not provide a means for decision makers to make data-driven decisions that can show performance measures or provide information to help these decision makers or designers quantify the expected benefits of potential candidate treatments. Access management has met with significant resistance from the business community as business owners often perceive access management treatments as a means for restricting access to businesses adjacent to the public road. It is important to develop a best practices document for the state of Oregon that includes decision-support tools that will help quantify the anticipated results and determine the costs and benefits of these choices to both the transportation agency as well as to the community.
The states of Florida and Colorado were early leaders in the areas of access management and both states developed access manual codes to enhance access management needs within their respective states. In addition, the state of Florida developed the Florida Median Handbook in 1997 and the Florida Driveway Handbook in 2005 to specifically address access management techniques for the state of Florida. These documents serve as design recommendations for median and driveway locations. In 2005, the state of Iowa released their Access Management Handbook and a companion Access Management Toolkit. The handbook addresses access management principles and the toolkit quantifies overall benefits of access management principles. In recent years, several access management researchers have made headway towards quantifying specific access management benefits, yet this information is not readily available and may not be applicable to all regions. For example, states where access management has been given substantial attention (Florida, Texas, Colorado, and Iowa for example) have unique issues (such as older drivers, unfamiliar drivers, frontage road systems) that do not completely capture conditions in the state of Oregon or other states.
The state of Oregon needs a comprehensive document that addresses the potential access management treatments and their associated performance measures. The document also needs to be compatible with Oregon regional mobility and safety objectives such as comprehensive bicycle lane configurations. Oregon is also in need of a method for tracking the benefits of these access management improvements so as to provide an empirical basis to aid in the decision making process. This proposed research will compile the best practices from the access management literature, will incorporate the recent research on benefits into a document usable for the state of Oregon, and will provide a resource for decision makers to determine the most effective and efficient use of access management funds.
OBJECTIVE:
This proposed research project will compile information currently available in many documents; however, the research team will critically scrutinize available, often conflicting, information to determine accuracy and applicability for the state of Oregon. The specific objectives of this proposed research are to develop measurable criteria to evaluate access management techniques and improvements, to survey practices in other states and their techniques in developing those practices, and to determine data collection practices necessary to properly measure outcomes.
The product of this research effort will be the creation of the Oregon Access Management Best Practices Manual. This resulting document can be used by engineers, decision makers, and educators to help the transportation community better understand the appropriate application of access management strategies and how to quantify the benefits of various access management options.
3.1 Benefits
This Manual will help Oregon transportation agencies evaluate alternatives and select the access management techniques that best achieve system management goals. A reference manual that quantifies the impacts of using access management techniques will help these agencies make more informed system management decisions. For example, previous research determined that ‘a change from 10 to 20 driveways per mile would result in a 41% increase in accidents’. This kind of information will help representatives of transportation agencies explain the principles and benefits of access management to elected officials, local agency partners, and private developers. Quantifying the impacts access management has on system management will help develop credibility for the use of these access management techniques.
APPROACH:
Oregon will use the Access Management Best Practices Manual in a variety of training classes. The research will be presented at regional, statewide and national land use and transportation conferences, such as the TRB Access Management Bi-annual conference, the annual Oregon Planning Institute, ACEC conferences and the Project Delivery Leadership Academy. The Manual will be made available throughout the Department and to consultants from the Access Management Program’s website. It would also be submitted for inclusion as a resource on the TRB website.
The Access Management Best Practices Manual will be used to help determine and apply the best management techniques to achieve state goals. The Manual will be used to evaluate alternatives and assess outcomes both for state and local transportation system planning and to assess and mitigate development impacts.
The Manual will be an educational tool to help governing jurisdictions communicate and market the principles and benefits of access management. It will help establish consistent statewide understanding, expectations, and application of access management techniques.
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| SPR 666 |
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Density Verification for Hot Mixed Asphalt Concrete Pavement
| Project Coordinator: |
Norris Shippen |
| Research Agency: |
Oregon State University |
| Principal Investigator: |
Todd V. Scholz |
| Start Date for ODOT: |
October 1, 2007 |
| Completion Date for ODOT: |
December 31, 2008 |
BACKGROUND:
As a pavement nears the end of its service life, maintenance costs increase to keep it in a safe and structurally sound condition. Life cycle costs also significantly increase due to a reduction in the time between major rehabilitation treatments and their consequent impace on the road users. Maintenance, rehabilitation, or reconstruction of HMA pavements requires establishing a work zone to carry out the necessary work, which reduces the mobility of the road users traversing the work zone, often resulting in significant delays and, consequently, loss of potential revenue. Scholz et all showed that delaying the need for major rehabilitation work by as little as one year can significantly reduce the life cycle cost of a pavement structure, particularly on higher volume facilities such as urban interstates.
OBJECTIVE:
The overall objective of the proposed project is to develop a system that accurately quantifies density of dense-graded HMA pavements. More specifically, the objectives of this research effort are to:
1. Investigate the efficacy of the various methods used by ODOT and other agencies/entities for determining in-place HMA density.
2. Assess current practices used by ODOT and other agencies/entities for determining in-place HMA density using nuclear gauges.
3. Conduct field and laboratory testing and analysis to determine the most accurate and reliable state-of-the practice means for determining in-place HMA density.
4. Provide recommendations for changes to current practices to improve accuracy and reproducibility of in-place HMA density measurements using nuclear guages.
5. Provide recommendations for alternate means for determining in-place HMA density.
IMPLEMENTATION:
The findings from the research efforts will be used to develop recommendations for improved HMA density measurement using nuclear gauges, recommendations for alternate ways to measure HMA density, and recommendations for the optimal system for quantifying dense-graded HMA density (which could be a combination of measurements using nuclear gauges and other means). It is anticipated that ODOT will implement the system beginning in the 2009 construction season.
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| SPR 667 |
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Assessment of Statewide Intersection Safety Performance
| Project Coordinator |
Mark Joerger |
| Research Agency: |
Portland State University |
| Principal Investigator: |
Christopher Monsere |
| Start Date for ODOT: |
May 2, 2008 |
| Completion Date for ODOT: |
August 31, 2009 |
BACKGROUND:
In the United States, intersection crashes accounted for 45% of all crashes and 21% of fatal crashes in 2003 (FHWA). For the period of 2000-2005, the trends in Oregon are similar - approximately 40% of all reported crashes occurred at or near intersections. These crashes accounted for 44% of all injuries and 17% of fatalities. In many highway safety improvement programs, intersections are one of the key focus areas because of this concentration of severity and frequency of crashes. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in enhancing techniques for screening transportation networks to identify high crash locations. The most appealing procedures attempt to identify sites with the most “promise” for improvement since engineering studies are expensive, agencies have limited budgets, and if a site with potential is not identified, an opportunity to substantially improve safety is missed (Hauer, 2002). Typically, the sites with most promise have safety performance for a particular crash type that deviate from some average characteristic. There are number of techniques by which to define average, but it is clear that having knowledge of the expected safety performance as it relates to existing conditions, crash history, and other factors is helpful to both identify problem areas in network screening and once a location is identified, to diagnosis the correctable safety problem.
OBJECTIVES:
The primary objective of this research is to quantify the safety performance of typical intersections for various geometrical and operational categories (rural, urban, suburban, volumes, configuration, traffic control, geography). The objective can be broken down into two sub-objectives:
1.) To assemble a statewide inventory of intersections including location, geometry, control and volume data. This database will be designed to be updated and maintained over time. The intersection inventory data will become a part of the growing Oregon Traffic Safety Data Archive (OrTSDA).
2.) To characterize by a variety of geometric, operational, and volume features the safety performance of typical intersections. This performance will include both statistical summaries and exploration of the applicability of predictive models.
The primary use of these data will be to improve identification of high crash intersection locations and improve diagnosis of these locations. An example of the type of information that can be provided is shown in Figure 2. While preliminary and a simple summary, it is clear that different volume, control, and geometrical features influence the expected crash performance. If the type crash was also shown, overrepresentation (or above average) of a particular crash pattern could be detected. The Oregon Traffic Safety Data Archive (OrTSDA) is another research effort by the principal investigator to catalog a growing knowledge-base of safety data and analysis methods. Incorporating the intersection inventory in the archive will preserve the research and methodology developed in this effort to be continuously updated.
APPROACH:
Quarterly Reports:
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| SPR 668 |
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Fuel Factors
| Project Coordinator: |
Jon Lazarus |
| Research Agency: |
Portland State University |
| Principal Investigator: |
Christopher Monsere |
| Start Date for ODOT: |
5/2/08
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| Completion Date for ODOT: |
8/31/09 |
BACKGROUND:
Fuel factors are used on ODOT and local agency projects. The current fuel factors in use were developed in FHWA Technical Advisory T 5080.3 released in 1980. These fuel factors have not changed over the past 26 years, despite other changes. Of specific concern are the fuel factors used for structures. These fuel factors were established on a gallon/$1,000 worth of work basis. Inflation has certainly impacted this fuel factor, yet it has never been adjusted. This results in fuel cost adjustments for structures increasing with inflation. A fuel cost adjustment paid today may be two to three times that paid for similar work performed in 1980 due to the increased cost of structure construction. Other changes which affect the fuel factors include changes in industry practice, such as using natural gas to run asphalt plants, whereas the current fuel factor is based on the use of diesel.
OBJECTIVES:
Analyze the current fuel factors for accuracy and update them to reflect current conditions. The applicability of some of the fuel factors in FHWA Technical Advisory T 5080.3 are subject to at least two analytically separable sources of error. Updating the fuel factors for Structures work entails making adjustments for inflation in construction costs, and also revalidating the relationship of fuel consumption to a specified unit of construction work. The latter is affected by changes in construction practice due to materials and fuels substitution, fuel efficiency in vehicles and other power equipment, prefabrication, improvements to equipment and other innovations and productivity gains.
An examination of inflationary trends is a relatively simple analysis. Analysis of the impact of process changes on fuel consumption is potentially a far more challenging and difficult objective. We will not know what is entailed in the latter objective until we are well into tasks 2 and 3.
The objectives of this research will therefore be to (1) complete an analysis of inflation on fuel factors, and (2) develop a proposal for a second phase of the project. The proposal will be for a study to determine a contemporary estimate for fuel consumption per unit of structures construction work. Whether phase 2 goes forward will depend on the cost included in the phase 2 proposal. If the proposed research can be completed for $50,000 it will go forward. If it is more costly, other options will also be considered, including pooled fund and NCHRP.
APPROACH:
Quarterly Reports
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| SPR 669 |
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Work Zone Design and Operations Enhancements
Project Coordinator:
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Jon Lazarus
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Research Agency:
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Oregon State University
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Principal Investigator:
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John Gambatese
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Start Date for ODOT:
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October 1, 2007
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End Date for ODOT:
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June 30, 2009
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BACKGROUND:
Crashes continue to occur in roadway construction work zones. In Oregon, the number of crashes in state highway work zones has increased in the past several years (2003: 307; 2004: 341; 2005: 352). The impact on the State goes beyond the loss of life and injured citizens. The cost associated with each fatal crash can amount to millions of dollars. Additional losses to the public due to road closures, decreased mobility, and increased travel times as a result of crashes in work zones have a significant impact to the State’s economy.
OBJECTIVES:
The primary purpose of this research study is to enable improved safety performance through work zones on state roadways. To fulfill this goal, the research contains the following objectives:
- Identify ways to modify TCPs to improve their quality and consistency.
- Identify how the process of designing and reviewing TCPs can be modified to improve their quality and consistency.
- Identify effective processes and practices for implementing and inspecting work zones for compliance with the TCPs.
- Develop suggested guidelines for ODOT to follow to design, review, implement, and inspect TCPs.
APPROACH:
Through the diverse structure of the TAC membership, the research results will be distributed to the various participating agencies and ODOT personnel. In addition, potential modifications to procedures may be identified and provided in a summary report to ODOT. The results of this research may potentially modify the way ODOT plans, designs, and implements work zone TCPs, and result in a safer worksites for construction workers and the general traveling public. It is also possible that additional equipment investments may be identified such as adding supplemental message signs, providing additional traffic control devices, and improving information delivery to the traveling public and freight carriers.
Quarterly Reports
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| SPR 670 |
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Fleet Condition Model Review
Project Coordinator:
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Jon Lazarus
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Research Agency:
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Oregon State University
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Principal Investigator:
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David Kim/J David Porter
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| Start Date for ODOT: |
December 1, 2007
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End Date for ODOT:
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September 30, 2009
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BACKGROUND:
All state DOTs maintain large fleets of equipment. This equipment represents a substantial investment and is a vital set of resources used to maintain roads and highways. An important and difficult challenge of managing such a large amount of equipment is deciding when to replace existing equipment. Such decisions have a clearly documented economic impact, and also affect the ability of the fleet to provide required equipment when needed. In particular, ODOT Fleet Services provides management of ODOT’s fleet, which consists of approximately 4,930 pieces of active equipment representing $300 million worth of assets. This equipment includes a variety of small and large trucks, cars, as well as heavy machinery such as graders, bulldozers, and many types of tractors.
On a more general basis, data from ODOT Fleet Services clearly shows that newer equipment is utilized more than older equipment. As an example, it is common for users of passenger vehicles in a fleet to request newer vehicles to drive when available. The end effect of this is that replacement decisions will not only affect the specific equipment being replaced, but also the utilization of other equipment in the same class (assuming the replacement is new). Furthermore, it is known that reduced utilization as equipment ages extends the equipment’s economic life.
This project addresses the following two separate but interrelated problems:
- ODOT Fleet Services currently uses a relatively simple internally developed condition (replacement) model for prioritizing equipment to replace, and for allocating replacement funds to equipment crews throughout Oregon. The validity of the current condition model is questionable both within Fleet Services and with the various equipment crews that receive and evaluate the model output.
- Existing engineering economic replacement models do not explicitly consider the decreased usage of existing assets as replacements are acquired.
1.1 Background and Significance of Work
- ODOT Fleet Services previously used a replacement model developed in [1]. This model has had validity issues and requires extensive amounts of manual data manipulation and manual data analysis, making it currently unusable. The current fleet condition model was developed internally by ODOT Fleet Services, who have found that the validity of the model is questionable both within Fleet Services and with the various users of the model output. Providing ODOT Fleet Services with an up-to-date fleet condition model will facilitate faster and better equipment replacement decisions.
- Engineering economic models for equipment replacement are not new, and a variety of models can be found in the research literature. However, none of these models addresses the phenomena of “the newer resources are selected first for use” that is present in many organizations that maintain fleets of equipment. Various research addresses, directly or indirectly, different aspects of this problem. In [2], it is demonstrated that decreased utilization as equipment ages leads to longer optimal economic life. In [3-5], replacement models are developed where equipment utilization is a decision criterion that clearly affects the cost of optimal replacement plans. The research presented in [6] is one example that addresses parallel replacement, which in this context translates into replacement within a class of equipment (e.g., small pickup trucks). The equipment replacement situation faced by DOTs is a parallel equipment replacement problem, where equipment utilizations are not directly controllable but instead are affected by replacement decisions. This is a new and unsolved type of engineering economic replacement problem.
OBJECTIVES:
This project will focus on two interrelated topics in equipment replacement modeling for fleets. One topic is research oriented and addresses fundamental assumptions in engineering economic replacement modeling. The second topic addresses the need of ODOT Fleet Services for a modern fleet condition model. This is applications oriented and addresses the applicability and use of existing research, given real-world constraints related to data collection and computational limitations.
The objectives of the research oriented portion of this project are to develop analytical and computational procedures for a new engineering economic replacement model that accurately represents the environment at state DOTs’ fleets. These models will explicitly account for the interdependencies between replacement decisions and equipment utilization that occurs in such fleets. The tangible outcomes of these objectives will be peer reviewed journal articles, and research computer code.
The objective of the applications aspect of this project is to provide ODOT Fleet Services with a reliable, accurate, user-friendly, and valid fleet condition model to assist them in better managing equipment replacement decisions.
1.1 Benefits
The accomplishment of the objectives stated above will assist ODOT and other DOTs nationwide to better assess and manage equipment needs. The creation of a more effective equipment replacement system will be of tremendous benefit both in potential labor and equipment dollar savings. Additionally, it will be possible to identify the limitations of current research when considering the real-world cost, reliability, and availability of data, as well as the computational requirements of many research models in the literature.
APPROACH:
Research results will be submitted to scholarly peer reviewed archival publications. Conference papers and graduate students’ posters will be prepared and submitted to relevant transportation and industrial engineering related conferences such as TRB and the Industrial Engineering Research Conference (IERC). If possible they will also be implemented in the ODOT fleet condition model.
It is envisioned that an updated fleet condition model will be built around the existing MS-Access model (at ODOT Fleet Services) and will be done in conjunction with Fleet Services personnel. Part of creating an updated model will be to conduct a state-of-the-art assessment of fleet replacement models in use by other DOTs, government agencies, and private industry. This will be documented in a final report and will be of use to other DOTs
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