We propose to analyze and measure the robustness of transportation infrastructure facilities and systems. This proposal falls into the UTRC category of “faculty-initiated research projects”. It addresses a topic related to the goals of “maintaining an infrastructure transportation system in a state of good repair” to “enhance the Nation’s economic competitiveness”, which have been designated by USDOT and UTRC as key research areas.

The Northeast USA, particularly New York State has experienced an increase in extreme 24-hour precipitation during the past 50 years. Recent events such as Hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy have revealed vulnerability to intense precipitation within the transportation sector. For regional resiliency, one has to understand the exposure of regional network/systems to correlated risks or simultaneous extremes.

Public transit agencies often struggle with service reliability issues; when a train or bus does not arrive on time, passengers become frustrated and may be less likely to choose transit for future trips. To address reliability issues, transit authorities increasingly provide real-time information (RTI) to riders via countdown clocks in stations and passengers’ mobile devices. Though these new information technologies are now available in many transit systems throughout the country, their impact on overall transit ridership - particularly train ridership - remains unclear.

The Strategic Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Deployment Plan for New York City was last updated in 2005 by Polytechnic University of New York. The New York City region has invested significant resources on ITS deployment in the past decades. It has involved the deployment of an advanced controller (the ASTC), a wireless communication infrastructure (NYCWiN), detectors, and the overall data management system to process information and to communicate the control settings.

The defined scope of this Task is the development of a Guide to be used in-house by NYCDOT traffic engineers documenting all the necessary steps in requesting and approving traffic signals, with a focus on traffic signal control principles, practices, and technologies. The research team proposes to produce such a guide in the first year of a multi-year undertaking now being proposed, and to focus later phases on modernizing the basic principles that underlie such a Guide. The later phases will be defined in conjunction with NYCDOT during the first year.

NYCDOT along with many other DOTs in the region and around the country have been using probe vehicle data for monitoring time-dependent traffic conditions and conducting before and after studies of various transportation projects. Specifically, NYCDOT has been using probe vehicle data from yellow taxis and other vehicles equipped with GPS and TRNSMIT system. In this project NYCDOT wants to automate and enhance their use of MTA bus data that they are already acquiring under a protocol developed between the two agencies.

This research project builds on the work and goals of the New York City Department of Transportation NYCDOT) in its long standing efforts to promote the safety of pedestrians, as described in the Vision Zero Initiative and the NYCDOT’s 2016 Strategic Plan. As part of the Vision Zero Initiative, in 2015, NYCDOT installed over 400 Leading Pedestrian Intervals, and completed 60 safety projects in Vision Zero Priority Locations.

The purpose of this guide is to provide some elementary guidance to beginning traffic engineers in the NYCDOT Signal Timing Division on the standards of signal timing in NYC. The guide is intended to provide an understanding of the influence of traffic signal design on traffic operations, and is a primer on traffic signal timing, phasing, and coordination.

The objective of this research project is the evaluation of the Construction Impact Analysis (CIA) tool designed and developed by Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT).

In preparation for this proposal, the research team has already conducted a preliminary review of the CIA tool. This included the review of the available material about the CIA tool as well as two interviews including an on-line demonstration of the tool by WSDOT in June 2013.

The fundamental problem to be addressed in the proposed scope of work offered by the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is to provide guidance to NJDOT to tame the "visual chaos" associated with nighttime work zones in New Jersey.