The Governor of the State of New Jersey, Jon Corzine in his State of the State Address on January 8, 2008 proposed a major set of initiative to solve the general financial problems of the state. A key component of that proposal was a monetization proposal for a number of existing toll roads in the state as well as the addition of tolls to a five mile segment of an existing highway. The core of this proposal is the transfer of control of the toll roads to a public benefit corporation using a concession agreement.

The Governor of the State of New Jersey, Jon Corzine in his State of the State Address on January 8, 2008 proposed a major set of initiative to solve the general financial problems of the state. A key component of that proposal was a monetization proposal for a number of existing toll roads in the state as well as the addition of tolls to a five mile segment of an existing highway. The core of this proposal is the transfer of control of the toll roads to a public benefit corporation using a concession agreement.

Assessing the importance of transportation facilities is an increasingly growing topic of interest to federal and state transportation agencies. This work proposes an optimization based model that uses concepts and techniques of complex networks science to assess the importance of transportation facilities.

A detailed investigation was performed on developing highly sensitive and portable hydrocarbon sensors using tailored quantum dot materials. These studies focused on using an Ocean Optics fiber optics based spectrometer for monitoring quantum dot arrays to detect the hydrocarbon targets. Studies were performed to determine the viability of using arrays for these studies, tailoring the quantum dot materials for higher sensitivity through energy transfer mechanisms, and tailoring the materials for enhanced stability.

There is a large body of literature that studies the impact of transportation investment on the economy, mainly in the mid to long term. However, there is a potential to track the performance of the economy, to increase understanding of the short-term relationships among different sectors of the economy, and to forecast the performance of the economy-- particularly its business cycles--through the effective use of monthly transportation-related indicators in addition to other traditionally used economic indicators.

Infrastructure system components such as bridges, highways, tunnels, traffic systems, road pavements, and other systems are considered assets that should be protected and properly managed. Yet, the degree of deterioration and the risk of exposure to natural (e.g., earthquakes, floods, etc.) as well as malicious disasters are dangerously high. Major decisions must be made to allocate the available but limited funds for maintaining and safeguarding our national infrastructure.

The project will help NYSDOT and NYCDOT better quantify and predict the non-recurring delay (NRD) from incidents on the City?s highway network.  NRD is a substantial portion of the total delay that occurs within the City and it can be mitigated through various actions.  If NYSDOT and NYCDOT can better predict NRD and trace it to the causing factors, they can take actions to reduce it.  Those actions range from TSM and ITS measures to geometric changes and capacity investments.