The CRP was created in 1993 and served as the initial impetus for the creation of the UMass Transportation Center. Under this program, MassHighway and UMass established a multi-year Interagency Service Agreement under which Task Order contracts for faculty research at the several UMass campuses are entered. Research under this program encompasses all aspects of MassHighway's activities including structural and pavement analyses, planning, and Intelligent Transportation Systems.

RTIC was established as a cooperative venture between the U.S. Department of Transportation, MassHighway and the University of Massachusetts for the purpose of providing travel information in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts. The initial focus RTIC was travel times and congestion information over the Coolidge Bridge, and is currently expanding its coverage area. The primary funding for RTIC is a congressional appropriation matched by a combination of money, equipment and staffing committed to the program by MassHighway and UMass Amherst. Arrangements are currently underway to coordinate RTIC activities with related emergency management activities being organized by the University and local communities.

RTIC maintains a website of traffic conditions at MassTraveler.com

MassSAFE is a dynamic partnership between the Massachusetts Governor's Highway Safety Bureau (GHSB) and the University of Massachusetts College of Engineering Transportation Center. The partnership combines the GHSB's program expertise with the University's evaluation and research capacities, creating a unique entity able to examine traffic safety issues from academic and applied perspectives, simultaneously. MassSAFE is a transportation research program that houses a statewide data warehouse, conducts transportation safety research on various topics, and translates research into the development of highway safety programs.

MassSAFE has the unique ability to examine highway safety problems from both a research and programming perspective, allowing the team to develop distinctive solutions to transportation safety problems. Idea exchange across disciplines -- transportation engineering, public policy, public health, traffic safety education and enforcement -- is combined with the application of a rigorous scientific structure of problem identification, program development and program evaluation. MassSAFE's core function continues to be reducing crashes and crash injuries by methodically applying the best of research and the practical know-how of community practice.

Dr. Michael Knodler, Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, assumed the role of UMassSAFE director, effective June 16, 2006. While this is a new role for Dr. Knodler, he has been actively involved with UMassSAFE since its inception, as a Research Fellow and most recently as the Principal Investigator on several projects. Dr. Knodler's areas of interest include transportation safety, traffic operations, and human factors research. In addition to his research interests, Dr. Knodler has taught classes in highway design, traffic operations, advanced concepts in traffic safety, and transportation engineering.

Click here for a brief description of MassSAFE's current tasks.

UMassSafe, in conjunction with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) and the student chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), has developed the Transportation Engineering Applied Academics Mentoring (TEAAM) program. The 2006-2007 academic year will serve as the pilot year for this program which has four components: Graduate Mentoring, Undergraduate Mentoring, Career/Skills Development Seminars, and Drop-In Hours. The TEAAM program is aimed at helping students identify how to meet their academic requirements while simultaneously using the resources available to them to understand career options and develop skills that will make them strong candidates for employment in transportation engineering. The TEAAM program received a grant from the UMass Graduate School for its implementation.

Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) was established nationally in 1981, while the Baystate Roads Program (Massachusetts LTAP) began in 1986. It is a cooperative effort of the Federal Highway Administration, Massachusetts Highway Department, and the University of Massachusetts.

Its purpose is to provide information and training on transportation and related topics, to answer the needs and problems of local agencies, to identify and transfer new technologies and innovations into a usable format, and to operate as a link between transportation research and practicing highway personnel.

It provides a wide variety of free publications, free videos from an extensive lending library of transportation and training tapes, technical support, and computer information, as well as referral assistance. It offers free training or information workshops that can be arranged to cover community-specific concerns, while a variety of prescheduled workshops are also held throughout Massachusetts. It publishes a quarterly newsletter, Mass Interchange, to keep state and local agencies informed of new technologies, innovations, seminars, and service changes.

MTAP coordinates and delivers customized in-house workshops to Executive Office of Transportation (EOT) personnel throughout the state. Technical training is at the core of this program, however, personal development topics are also included to meet the needs of both technical and administrative staff. Workshop topics have included:

• NEPA & Transportation Decision Making
• MUTCD Millennium Edition
• Chain Saw Skill & Safety
• Hot Mix Asphalt Construction
• Storm Water Management

Trainers include public and private sector engineering professionals, communications consultants, and safety experts. Some classes are custom-designed for EOT, while others are prepackaged courses available through the National Highway Institute. Whether created specifically for EOT or prepackaged, instructors are called on to provide informative, interesting and cost-effective training. MTAP staff advertises, host workshops, provide technical representation and guide course content, when necessary.

MTAP Library publications are available through the University of Massachusetts Transportation Center.

• Field Studies of Concrete Containing Salts of an Alkenyl-Substituted Succinic Acid

  
  The overall objective of this research is to determine the field applicability of using DSS (a sodium salt of an alkenyl-substituted succinic acid) in concrete for transportation structures. Specifically, the study will develop mixing and placing procedures for concretes containing DSS and will study how well DSS added to concrete in highway and bridge structures protects against reinforcement corrosion and freeze-thaw damage. Field placements using DSS will be made in the various New England states. Procedures for long term monitoring will be implemented. In addition, recommendations for laboratory and field testing to address any concerns with long term performance will be developed.

  Principal Investigator: Dr. Scott A. Civjan, P.E., Assistant Professor
  Sponsor: New England Transportation Consortium

• Using Real-Time Traffic Data to Improve Traffic Flow
  
  

  
  
  The recent installation of traffic monitoring equipment in the greater Providence, RI area provides an unprecedented opportunity to study real traffic flows in a mix of urban and suburban New England. This equipment provides average speed, occupancy, and volume data (on 30-second intervals) at 40 sensor sites on roadways blanketing the Providence area. The University of Massachusetts Transportation Center in collaboration with the University of Rhode Island Transportation Center, and through agreements with Mobility Technologies and the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, plans to employ this data to refine methods and calibrate models for travel time prediction and incident detection under normal and incident conditions.
  

Evaluation of PC-Based Novice Driver Risk Awareness Training Program
Principal Investigator: Dr. Daheng Ni, Assistant Professor
Sponsor: Massachusetts Institute of Technology






Novice drivers continue to have higher crash involvement and fatality rates per vehicle mile than all other cohorts except those 85 years old and older. In the past, this was attributed to novice drivers' greater risk taking or poorly developed psychomotor skills. More recently, however, the high crash involvement rate has been hypothesized to be due largely to the relative inability of novice drivers to acquire and assess information in inherently risky situations. Efforts to remedy this problem include standard driver education, graduated driver licensing (GDL), and advanced PC- and simulator-based training programs. Standard driver education programs (30 classroom hours, 6 driving hours), despite their continuing widespread presence, do not appear radically to decrease the crash rate. Graduated driver licensing programs do reduce the fatality rate among novice drivers when an adult is supervising them. However, the crash rate increases, sometimes dramatically, when the novice driver is alone behind the wheel. The most promising approach appears to be the PC- and simulator-based training programs.Typically, novice drivers are exposed to the training program and then the performance of both the novice drivers so trained and novice drivers who have not been trained are evaluated on a driving simulator. The risk awareness of novice drivers often more than doubles under such training programs, equal at times to that of experienced drivers. However, the effectiveness of such PC-based risk awareness training programs have not been evaluated in the field. The overall objective of the research proposed is to undertake such an evaluation. This evaluation will include: (1) the development of a broadly based, internet accessible PC-based risk awareness training program; (2) the evaluation of that program using data gathered in a driving simulator, in an actual vehicle, and from crash and citation records; and (3) the development and evaluation of a pilot training program that uses feedback from in-vehicle technologies further to strengthen novice drivers' awareness of risky behavior.

Principal Investigator: Professor Donald Fisher
Sponsor: US Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Full-Scale Pilot Study to Reduce Lateral Stresses in Retaining Structures Using GeoFoam

The primary goal of this project is to assist the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VAOT) regional agencies, and local jurisdictions in considering the use of traffic signal systems and technologies to implement traffic signal priority strategies for buses. The study will include an evaluation of the impacts, merits, and limitations associated with alternative traffic signal priority strategies and a review of the lessons learned in communities, similar to those in Vermont, where such transit priority strategies have been deployed. A major product of this project will be a set of guidelines tailored for use in Vermont with an illustration of their application along selected arterials in the Burlington Region and Greater Chittendon County area. An underlying aim of the project is to assist VAOT and other public agencies in the State in planning and deploying signal priority strategies for transit buses in concert with other preferential signal treatments such as those currently in place and being planned for fire and rescue services. The coordination of traffic signal priority strategies for multiple types of vehicles is of utmost importance to preserve safety, enhance traffic flow, and improve mobility.

Traffic signal priority strategies have been designed and deployed with interests and concerns for mobility, safety, and traffic flow. For example, signal priority strategies for bus services are often employed to improve schedule adherence and to reduce overall travel time, while at the same time recognizing the potential impacts on other vehicles and pedestrians in terms of safety and overall traffic flow. The overarching aim of this project is to assist the Vermont Agency on Transportation (VAOT), regional agencies, and local jurisdictions in considering the use of traffic signal systems and technologies to implement traffic signal priority strategies for buses. A major product of this project will be a set of guidelines tailored for use in Vermont with an illustration of their application along selected arterials in the Burlington Region and Greater Chittendon County area. The guidelines will be designed to ensure that transit priority strategies are planned and deployed in concert with other preferential signal treatments such as those currently in place and being planned for fire and rescue services. The coordination of traffic signal priority strategies for multiple types of vehicles is of utmost importance to preserve safety, enhance traffic flow, and improve mobility. Included in these guidelines will be a review of the best practices and lessons learned in communities in the U.S. and abroad similar to those in Vermont.

Advancements in traffic signal technologies and other factors have generated a great deal of interest in the provision of preferential traffic signal strategies and treatments for transit buses and other vehicles at signalized intersections. In order to plan and deploy such signal priority strategies and treatments safely and efficiently, careful analyses should be conducted using fundamental traffic engineering and transit management and operating principles. To this end, this Project intends to develop a set of guidelines based on these principles and other considerations to assist in planning and deploying signal priority strategies for bus transit in Vermont, where appropriate. These guidelines and other project results will be documented and presented in a workshop as described above.

Principal Investigator: Professor John Collura
Sponsor: Vermont Agency of Transportation

Development and Implementation of Early Detection Systems for Ground Movements

The goals of this project are to (1) develop a methodology and guidelines for instrumentation systems that detect ground movements, (2) install and monitor two slopes, one of which will be the St. Johnsbury Railroad Slide Area project and the second of which will be identified within the first six months of the project, and (3) develop an automated method for remote near real-time detection of ground movements.

Moderate and catastrophic ground movements, which can induce undesirable foundation movements and result in irreparable damage, respectively, can create unsafe and/or costly damage that could be prevented with continuous monitoring and early detection systems. Conventional monitoring is personnel and time intensive, resulting in periodic site visits and the inability to detect specific times of movement or early detection system. In recent years alternative systems such as continuous inclinometer arrays, time domain reflectometry (TDR) using cased coaxial cables, and fiber optic methods have been developed that allow for continuous, safe, and remote measurement of ground movements. This project will identify the appropriate system for VTrans needs, implement the system at two VTrans projects, evaluate the performance against conventional methods, develop early detection algorithms that will predict excessive ground movement prior to occurrence, and develop guidelines for VTrans for continuous system use.

Continuous monitoring of slope movement is personnel and time intensive, resulting in periodic site visits and the inability to detect specific times of movement or early detection system of slope failure. An economic alternative is needed to enable remote monitoring of slope movements and the early detection of catastrophic movements. The system preferably would require minimal down-hole costs, making the majority of equipment transferable to another site when required.

The detection of ground movements has historically been performed manually at each depth increment in each boring (casing) through the use of an inclinometer. While a reliable and common measurement device, the measurement method requires one operator at all times. This limits the frequency and location of measurements due to personnel costs and required access to the top of the inclinometer casing, respectively.

In recent years alternative inclinometer systems as well as alternative measurement systems have been developed that allow for continuous, remote measurement of the deformation profile with depth. These methods include continuous inclinometer arrays, time domain reflectometry (TDR) using cased coaxial cables, and various fiber optic methods among others. Continuous inclinometer arrays consist of inclinometer units attached in series and installed within a conventional inclinometer casing. Measurement of all inclinometers can be obtained at predefined time intervals. The array can be removed and transported to a new location with access to the casing opening. TDR is a method adapted from telecommunication companies and operates based on analysis of the reflected signature of a pulse propagated along the coaxial cable. Deformation of the coaxial cable generates a spike in the reflected signature and analysis yields an estimate of the deformation profile. TDR only requires in situ installation of a coaxial cable by either drilling or CPT-type penetration followed by grouting to ensure full coupling with the soil. The majority of the equipment costs (i.e. data acquisition and communication unit) reside above ground. For relocation the coaxial cable is disconnected from the data acquisition unit and left for possible later use. Finally, a series of new fiber-optic sensors developed recently in other fields provide new alternatives for in situ ground movement detection. For example, ShapeTape is fiber optic ribbon that is currently being adapted for monitoring of ground movements.

Principal Investigator: Don DeGroot
Sponsor: Vermont Agency of Transportation

An Evaluation of Dilemma Zone Protection Practices for Signalized Intersection Control

One of the most critical elements at signalized intersection is the design of detection equipment and timing of clearance intervals. Improperly timed clearance intervals can potentially place drivers in a dilemma zone, when approaching motorists can neither proceed through the intersection before opposing traffic is released or safely stop in time in front of the stop bar. The dilemma zone issues becomes even more prevalent at high speed intersections when there is greater potential for serious crashes and more variability in vehicle operating speeds. The primary goal of this project is to assist the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) in evaluating current and potential dilemma zone protection practices for use at signalized intersections in Vermont. The study will include an assessment of existing VTrans clearance interval timing practices and detector design layouts, a review the current state of the practice with respect to clearance interval design, and recommendations of potential methods of improved design practices.

The timing and operation of traffic signals is a critical component of roadway safety and mobility. Arguably one of the most critical elements at signalized intersection has become the timing of the yellow (change) interval and an all-red (clearance) interval. The change interval alerts motorists of the change from the preceding green indication, and is typically based upon recommended models which attempt to provide sufficient time for motorists to make an appropriate maneuver free of harm. Nevertheless, improperly timed change intervals can potentially place drivers in a dilemma zone, when approaching motorists can neither proceed through the intersection before conflicting traffic is released or safely stop in time in front of the stop bar. Another approach to timing dilemma zones is to use a standardized value across intersection with varied detector location design practices. The dilemma zone issues become even more prevalent at high-speed intersections when there is greater potential for serious crashes and more variability in vehicle operating speeds. The intent of this research is to identify and evaluate current VTrans practices for signal timing practices, as related to the potential creation of a dilemma zone, and the current detector design practices in both theory and in the field. Additionally, a review of the current state of the practice and lessons learned in the U.S. and abroad regarding innovations in dilemma zone protection practices will be completed.

Principal Investigator: Michael A. Knodler Jr
Sponsor: Vermont Agency of Transportation

Evaluation and Implementation of Traffic Simulation Models for Work Zones

Current research at the UMass Transportation Center focuses on modeling driver behavior inside of work zones. Questions central in this research include: "How do work zone delineation strategies and ITS-based work zone solutions impact traffic flow and crash potential in and around work zones given the local driver population makeup? Answering this question requires the ability to assess actual traffic situations under local conditions in microscopic simulation tools." Existing simulation packages are not sufficiently flexible to give accurate and reliable estimations of the various work zone impacts ranging from delay to safety, congestion, pavement quality, worker conditions, productivity, public relations and work scheduling. Improved computer based simulation modeling techniques may prove to be a useful tool to help assess alternative work zone configurations and identify the optimal work zone strategy to balance traffic management and safety concerns with construction timelines.

A major concern of transportation agencies is the ability to have reliable information regarding conditions that will occur with the implementation of a work zone strategy. This ability provides the decision makers the information needed to make informed decisions on the best work zone implementation for the local conditions in the area of the work zone.

An effective way to assist traffic planners, consultants, and contractors is to have user friendly computer simulation models that are adaptable to the many work zone configurations that can be used by all people involved in the planning, design and implementation of the work zone.

A matrix will be developed to assess the strengths and weaknesses of current simulation packages, including but not limited to QUEWZ (Queue and User Cost Evaluation of Work Zones), FRESIM (CORSIM), QuickZone, SimTraffic (Synchro), and CA4PRS (Construction Analysis for Pavement Rehabilitation Strategies), TRANSIMS, Integration, and VISSIM using the following evaluation constraints and parameters:

A one-day training workshop will be developed for each of the New England and New York State Transportation Departments as desired. The workshop will provide information about and training on the different simulation software, including advantages and disadvantages of each for various scenarios. Emphasis will be on training that uses the most practical/relevant work zone simulation software for the Transportation Departments. Communication will be conducted with the Transportation Departments in order to tailor the training to the needs of each individual department. Coordination of the training program will occur with the assistance of the participating states Local Technical Assistance Program.

Principal Investigator: Dr. John Collura
Sponsor: New England Transportation Consortium

Principal Investigator: Heather Rothenberg
Sponsor: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

• Automated Detection and Classification of Non-Motorized Transportation System Users
  Phase II

  
  The overall objective of the research proposed in Phase II is to make the recommended modifications to the active infrared device and conduct further field tests on it. To do this the researchers will modify the Autosense II detector in an attempt to improve the ability of it to detect and classify pedestrian and bicycle traffic. If the results of the field tests are promising, the researchers will develop application guidelines for more general deployment. The specific objectives of the proposed research are:
  1. To make modifications to the active infrared device tested in Phase I so as to improve its detections and classification capabilities.
  2. If these modifications prove to be successful, to expand the field test to multiple sites, analyze the results, and determine whether a more general deployment of the modified detector should be considered by EOTC/MassHighway.

  Principal Investigator: Dr. Russell Tessier, Assistant Professor
  Sponsor: Massachusetts Highway Department

  (The objective of Phase I of the research was to identify and evaluate existing technologies that may accurately and efficiently detect, count, and classify non-motorized modes of transportation (i.e., pedestrians and bicycles). Additionally, the research was aimed at recommending best-suited technology(s) for use in pedestrian and bicycle data collection.)