Overview

It can be quite frustrating when you come home in the middle of the night only to be stopped by a red light when no one is in sight for a mile. It is even more frustrating when you go on a 55 mph road only to brake and stop every half mile at a traffic light. These are the functions of antiquated traffic signals designed several decades ago to manage peak traffic. The lights are not controlled in real-time, but rather are optimized (if at all) for conditions observed in the past.

Executive Summary

The complex activity and travel patterns in the New York Metropolitan Region are currently modeled by the “Best Practice Model” (BPM), maintained by New York Metropolitan Transportation Council. Though representing the state of practice, it does not include a land use model that can create feedback loops between urban system and regional traffic patterns. A key component of a land use model is households’ residential location choice model.

The challenge to minimizing or eliminating deck cracking is the contradiction between the flexibility needed to accommodate shrinkage strains and the stiffness/bonding required to provide full composite action. It is possible to achieve both of these contradicting goals through the use of controlled composite action (C2A) connectors for the deck-girder system.