This study examined alternatives for improving the efficiency of the pneumatic system that has been used for collecting residential municipal solid waste on Roosevelt Island, New York since 1975. Alternatives included a basic equipment upgrade; expansion to include separate recyclables streams (metal/glass/plastic; paper); and a further expansion of the system to include commercial and litter-bin waste. These three scenarios (plus the No-Action alternative, representing a continuation of the status-quo system) were compared to conventional truck collection.

This study explored possibilities for using existing transportation infrastructure for the cost-effective installation of pneumatic waste-collection technology in Manhattan. If shown to be economically and operationally feasible, reducing the number of trucks used on the island’s densely encumbered streets could offer significant environmental, public-health, and quality-of-life benefits.

Two large questions informed the research for this article: first, how and why did the mid‐20th century shift from private to public ownership, financing and operation of passenger railways affect the subsequent financing and development of high speed rail? Second, does high speed rail create opportunities for the return of the private sector to a significant role in passenger rail transport, such as financing and operating new lines?

Corrosion of steel bars in reinforced concrete structures is a major durability problem for bridges constructed in the New York State (NYS). The heavy use of deicing salt compounds this problem. Corrosion of steel bars results in loss of steel cross section, deterioration of bond between concrete and reinforcing bars, and more important, in most cases, it results in unsymmetrical concrete section that is susceptible to shear stresses produced by torsion.

In this research, the feasibility of using mobile traffic sensors for binary vehicle classification on arterial roads is investigated. Features (e.g. speed related, acceleration/deceleration related, etc.) are extracted from vehicle traces (passenger cars, trucks) collected from real world arterial roads. Machine learning techniques such as support vector machines (SVM) are developed to distinguish passenger cars from trucks using these features.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, as of December 2008, of the 600,905 bridges 72,868 (12.1%) were categorized as structurally deficient (SD) and 89,024 (14.8%) were categorized as functionally obsolete (FO). Despite healthy economy during the period of 1995-2005, the numbers of SD and FO bridges were on the rise. It is very clear that the current bridge evaluation and maintenance policies are not working efficiently. The high numbers of SD and FO bridges should not be allowed to continue to rise.

Various plant produced Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA) mixtures were evaluated and compared to identical plant produced Hot Mix Asphalt to assess their early life rutting potential. Along with laboratory permanent deformation testing, fatigue and moisture damage potential testing was also included. The test results indicated that the performance of the WMA was very similar to that of the companion HMA with differences in performance a function of mix type, RAP content, and production temperature.

This report presents an overview of the Open Mode Integrated Transportation System (OMITS), introduces its key components and algorithms in the recent development and implementation, and demonstrates the working mechanism of dynamic transit service.

Statistics show that in the U.S., there are about 38 million licensed drivers over age 65; about 1/8 of our population. By 2024, this figure will DOUBLE to 25%. The current research is intended to address the driving capabilities of our older population, as accident and injury risk has been statistically shown to increase – normalized per mile driven – with advanced age.