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U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration
Cover:
The Windward Viaduct is a spectacular 1.6-kilometer (one-mile) section of the H-3 highway, “island interstate” on Oahu. The viaduct is sup- ported by 23 sets of piers, which vary from 3.7 to 48.8 meters (12 to 160 feet) in
height.
Public Roads
Summer 1993. Vol. 57, No. 1
Public Roads—75 Years and Going Strong by Robert V. Bryant A Close Look at Road Surfaces by Rudolph R. Hegmon
Highway, Bridge, and Transit Conditions and Performance Adapted from the 1993 Biennial Report to Congress
H-3: The Island Interstate by Craig Sanders
A New Approach to Public-Private Cooperation in Transportation Research by Daniel Ae Metzger
Side Impacts: The ; Highway Kets pective by Jerry A. Reagan
Along the Road
New Research Recent Publications
Technology Applications
—— ae eee
U.S. Department of Transportation Federico Pena, Secretary
Federal Highway Administration Rodney E. Slater, Administrator Office of Research and Development
John A. Clements, Associate Administrator
“Anne N. Barsanti, Managing Editor Robert V. Bryant, Editor
Editorial Board
J.A. Clements, E.D. Carlson, A.R. Kane, D.C. Judycki, G.S. Moore, D.S. Gendell, R.J. Betsold, R.J. Kreklau
Notice
The United States Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or mz a iecoarere names appear herein solely because they are considered essen- tial to the object of an article.
_ Public Roads (ISSN 0033-3735; USPS 516-690) is published quarterly by
_ the Office of Research and Development, Federal Highway Administration | (FHWA), 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20590. Second class
| postage paid at Washington, DC, and additional mailing offices.
| POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Public Roads, HRD-10, FHWA, | 6300 Georgetown Pike, McLean, VA 22101-2290.
| Public Roads, is sold by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. | Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402, for $7.50 per year | ($1.90 additional for foreign mailing) or $2.50 per single copy ($0.63
additional for foreign mailing). Check or money order should be made
| payable and sent directly to New Orders, Superintendent of Documents, | P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954. Subscriptions are avail- _ able for one-year periods.
_ The Secretary of Transportation has determined that the publication of | this periodical is necessary in the transaction of the public business
required by law of this Department.
_ All articles are advisory or informational in nature and should not be _ construed as having regulatory effect.
| Articles written by private individuals contain the personal views of the _ author and do not necessarily reflect those of FHWA.
_ All photographs are provided by FHWA unless otherwise credited.
| Contents of this publication may be reprinted. Mention of source _ is requested.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE G35.
eo ISSUED BY Ge.
F PUBLIG ROADS AND RURALENG
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER « 1993
PUBLIC
A JOURNAL OF HIGHWAY RESEARC
y UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF lunireD STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE A: BUREAU OF PUBUC ROADS 3 v MA
GHAVEL ROAD AT ARLINGTON EXPERIMENTAL STATION
try. The magazine has a limited free mailing list to universities and government Officials. It is anticipated that subscriptions will increase with the expansion of the scope and audience.
A major part of the new scope is the transition to a transporta- tion system that is more fully integrated to meet the more complex needs of society. This transitioning transportation sys- tem has three operational requirements. Highways must be integrated into a complete transportation network that includes railways, airports, waterways, etc. Social factors such as environmental quality and traffic congestion must be taken into account in new pro- jects. FHWA must work much more closely with state and local governments to plan the overall impact of new highway projects.
The magazine will also emphasize the commitment of FHWA to continue to be a world leader in promoting highway research and technology transfer.
Being involved at the cutting edge of new technology and new developments is old business for Public Roads. Public Roads was the original publisher of many landmark papers in highway research. A paper published in
Page 2
Over the years Public Roads has been a part of the Department of Agriculture,
VOL. 44, NO. 8 JUNE 1967
= Department of Commerce, and Te) iY IS Department of Transportation. Dy i¢ Oa \\ ‘Aco,
JOURNAL OF HIGHWAY RESEARCH
== Public Roads ‘ce
PUBLISHED BIMONTHLY BY THE QUREAU OF PUBLIC ROADS,
U, S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, WASHINGTON
‘Thowas Creck Bridge eu the Oregon Coast Highway, US. 101, Curry Connty in Suatheen Orcyea-
the May 1929 issue,
“Interrelationship of Load, Road and Subgrade” by C. Hogentogler and C. Terzaghi, “laid the foundations of subgrade soil classification and marked a turning point in studies of sub- grade soils.” (2) During the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, highway researchers were constantly mak- ing new discoveries and invent- ing new instruments to measure what had never been measured before. Information about many of these new instruments—for example, the Goldbeck Pressure Cell for measuring pressures under pavement, the electric eye and road tube traffic counters, the Benkelman Beam for mea- suring minute deflections in pavements under load—“first reached the scientific world through the pages of Public Roads.” (2)
The following account of the history of Public Roads, which made its debut in May 1918, is taken from America’s Highways 1776-1970: A History of the Federal-aid Program.
“(Public Roads) provided the State highway officials with a welcome forum for the discus- sion of current problems. The first issue brought the industry up-to-date by summarizing motor vehicle licensing laws and fees for registration and operators’
licenses. This wartime issue also urged highway builders to conserve scarce fuel by proper attention to the firing of boil- ers and the careful use of steam in road machines and in quarrying. An entire issue June 1918) was devoted to the cata- strophic road breakups caused by heavy trucking during the 1918 spring thaw. The May 1919 issue dealt with the social and economic benefits of using con- vict labor on the public roads. When the Government distrib- uted the huge surpluses of mili- tary equipment to the States, Public Roads ran articles on how to take care of the equipment and convert it to civilian high- way use.
“Public Roads published the resolutions adopted by the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) at its annual meetings of December 1918, 1919, and 1920, and also the papers read at those conven- tions. In effect, its was the offi- cial journal of AASHO until that organization launched its own publication, American Highways, iy F922:
“Within a year of its first issue, Public Roads was an important voice of the young highway industry, with a long waiting list of would-be-sub- scribers. In fiscal year 1920, the authorized monthly circulation was raised to 4,500 copies, but hundreds of requests for the magazine had to be refused.
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER e 1993
Budgetary cuts reduced the cir- culation to 4,000 copies per month for fiscal year 1921, and, without explanation, publication was suspended altogether after tnesecempber 1921 issue. The suspension drew an immediate protest from the American Road Builders’ Association, AASHO, and other organizations interest- ed in roads and also ‘... many expressions of regret not only from its engineer subscribers, but also from the non-technical administrative heads of county highway activities to whom it had been helpful. Not the least gratifying of such expressions were those which came entirely without solicitation from the edi- tors of other technical engineer- ing journals.’ (3)
“Public Roads resumed publi- cation in March 1924, with the return of better times. However, the magazine was no longer a forum for the administrative and technical problems of the States, this function having been assumed by American Highways after Public Roads ceased publi- cation. Instead, the new Public Roads was exclusively a house research journal...
“Publication has continued without interruption from March 1924 down to the present, although the frequency of issues
VOL. 16,NO.12
(_A JOURNAL OF HIGHWi AY RESEARCH
Fay (iree sere cera or sence © STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE oNeD stares CeparTMeNT oF AeRtoUTURE| BUREAU OF PUBLIC ROADS:
FEBRUARY ~—
has varied widely. Through the years, Public Roads again expand- ed to include articles on highway research and development from sources Outside of the Bureau of Public Roads. Throughout its long history, Public Roads has maintained a high standard of sci- entific accuracy and literary clarity and, taken as a whole, is a remarkable chronology of the development of highway engi- neering and economics in the motor age.” (2)
Public Roads has been redesigned and rejuvenated to become a magazine more in tune with a new era and the needs of FHWA—the Public Roads of the 21st century. So, this birthday is a celebration of the strength of tradition and the dynamics of changing times.
References
(1) Logan Waller Page. “Salutatory,” Public Roads, Vol. 1, No. 1, May 1918.
(2) America’s Highways 1776- 1976: A History of the Federal-aid Program, Federal Highway Administration, Washington, D.C., 1976.
(3) Bureau of Public Roads Annual Report, Bureau of Public Roads, Washington, D.C., 1922.
The past issues of Public Roads are a
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PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER « 1993
chronicle of highway research.
See page 2 at ewer Her peters
VOL. 24, NO. 10
Robert V. Bryant has been the editor of Public Roads since September 1992. He works for Walcoff and Associates as the pro- ject manager of an editorial sup- port team in the Federal Highway Administration’s Office of Research and Development Operations and Support. For the preceding 22 years, he was an U.S. Army infantry and public affairs officer. His last military assignments were at the Pentagon as acting chief of Army Command (internal) Information and as edi- tor-in-chief of Soldiers, the Army’s official magazine.
PUBL
A JOURNAL. OF HIGHWAY RESEARCH
FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY PUBLIC ROADS ADMINISTRATION
OCTORER-NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1346
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A JOURNAL OF HIGHWAY RESEARCH
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FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY « PUBLIC ROADS ADMINISTRATION
JANUARY-FEBRUARY-MARCH 1946
ROAD SURFACES
Introduction
To most people, including the majority of readers of Public Roads, road surfaces are just gray areas stretching for miles and miles. Road surfaces are expected to provide safe driving conditions in dry and wet weather, provide a smooth and quiet ride all the time, minimize splash and spray during rain, provide good visi- bility under adverse conditions, and have a long service life.
A close look at the surface reveals many features including tex- ture, which is needed to provide skid resistance, reduce splash and spray in heavy rain, and reduce headlight glare in night driving. But texture may increase noise and reduce the life of both pavement and tire. Further, as roads age and deteriorate from the effect of heavy truck traffic and weather, signs of distress appear. Road roughness is one sign of distress and is detrimen- tal to both pavement life and ride quality. This article discusses only road roughness, how roughness is measured, and the effect of rough- ness on the highway user and on pavement life.
Effects of Roughness Roughness causes a number of problems to the highway user, includ-
ing poor ride quality, unsafe driving conditions, excitation of truck dynam- ics leading to further pavement deteri- oration, and damage to vehicles and cargo. The vast majority of highway
Page 4
by Rudolph R. Hegmon
users is most sensitive to ride quality; therefore, ride quality is the primary criterion in setting pavement rehabili- tation priorities. Since it is not possi- ble to build perfectly smooth pave- ments, paving specifications usually prescribe the maximum acceptable roughness.
Measuring Ride Quality
Two basic approaches to measur- ing ride quality are currently used. One measures the effect of rough- ness on ride quality through rating panels or equipment correlated with rating panels. The second approach, called profiling, describes pavement surfaces independent of the measur- ing equipment.
Ride quality can be determined by pavement serviceability ratings (PSRs) given by panels of drivers and passengers who ride over sec- tions of highways in passenger cars. The PSRs range from zero to five; five represents a perfectly smooth ride. Because of the expense, rating panels are usually limited to a relatively small num- ber—generally about 10 to 20 peo- ple. To ensure rating accuracy, the panels are instructed in advance about what to rate and what to ignore. Studies have explored issues of panel rating reliability and accuracy across panels and states, for various pavements, and over time. In one study, a small but sig- nificant difference was found between the ratings of two panels
from different states in the rating of 31 pavements. (7) In another study, no significant differences were found in two ratings conduct- ed five years apart. (2) A relatively simple way to estimate ride quality by objective means is to measure the dynamic response of a passen- ger car as it is driven over a pave- ment. The Federal Highway Administration’s predecessor, the Bureau of Public Roads, developed a single wheel trailer—the roughometer—to perform this mea- surement. Commercial ride meters, installed in passenger cars or trail- ers, were later introduced. (3)
Most Response Type Road Roughness Measuring (RTRRM) sys- tems measure the accumulated sus- pension deflections over the length of the test sections. The results are expressed as the ratio between sus- pension deflections in meters (or in inches) and the length of the test section in kilometers (or miles). This roughness index of m/km or in/mi has been in use for many years. The International Roughness Index (IRI), now in commom use, has the same units of measure.
The standard IRI is derived from a computer simulation using a set of standard suspension parameters and a recorded road profile to drive the simulation. (4) The Pavement Serviceability Index (PSI) computed from the m/km statistics is an estimate of PSR, the panel rat- ing. A statistical relationship
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER « 1993
and IRI has been developed under a current study. (5)
PSR = 5/exp(C*IRI).
The value of C is 0.226 for flexi- ble pavements and 0.286 for rigid and composite pavements. IRI is in m/km. If the IRI is given in in/mi, it must be divided by 62.6 to convert it to m/km.
Profiling Road Surfaces
Road-surface profiling is another means of measuring road roughness. Road-surface profiles present a “pro- file,” or picture, of the road described in terms of wavelengths and ampli- tudes.
The road surface profile is mea- sured by road-profiling systems, or profilers for short. Attempts to mea- sure the pavement profile go back to the 1920s. These early profilers, however, lacked an independent ref- erence, and the measurements were therefore affected by the geometry of the profiler.
In 1964, General Motors built a profiler using accelerometers to establish an inertial reference. (6) The inertial reference is used to cor- rect for the bounce of the survey vehicle. This makes it possible to measure true pavement profiles over a wide range of roughness wave- lengths. The recorded profile is independent of the type of survey vehicle and of the profiling speed. This system is commercially avail- able under the trade name “Profilometer.”
Between 1974 and 1987, FHWA built two prototypes of profiling equipment, combining longitudinal and transverse profiling. The first, named SIRST (System for Inventory- ing Road Surface Topography), used 12 infrared sensors to cover the full lane width. (7) It was too costly to be promoted for wide use. The sec- ond profiler, named PRORUT (Profile and Rut Depth Measuring System), uses only three sensors. (8) Two sensors measure the profile in each of the wheel tracks; the third sensor measures an average rut depth. PRORUT was evaluated and used successfully by a number of state highway agencies. (9) The cost for building a similar system was estimated to be between $100,000 and $150,000. A new, upgraded PRORUT is now being built in the Pavement Performance Laboratory at the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, VA. It is similar in layout to the first PRORUT, but uses state-of- the-art data aquisition and computer equipment.
The major cost items of profiling
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER « 1993
systems are the optical non-contact sensors used for measuring the vertical distance to the pavement. A profiler using ultrasonic instead of optical sensors was built by South Dakota. The cost of such sensors is about 1/20 or less of the cost of optical sensors, enabling South Dakota to build a profiler for less than $50,000. (170) This substi- tution of sensors reduces the verti- cal resolution and limits the num- ber of samples per unit length. However, for many applications the performance with ultrasonic sensors is adequate. South Dakota offered assistance to any state interested in building a South Dakota-type profiler.
Currently, there are about 40 South Dakota-type systems in operation. Because of the wide interest and in order to promote use of profiling instead of response-type measurements, the Road Profiler Users Group was formed in 1989 and has met annu- ally. (71) The 1993 meeting is scheduled to be held in Pennsylvania. For more informa- tion, contact Gaylord Cumberledge at (717) 787-1199.
FHWA has initiated a pooled fund study entitled “Interpretation of Road Roughness Profiles.” The objective is to develop relation- ships between longitudinal pave- ment profiles and ride quality, pavement performance, dynamic loads, highway safety, and vehicle and cargo wear. This study is expected to show that different ranges of the pavement profile (dif- ferent wavelengths) are associated with the various effects outlined in
Figure 1—Typical road surface profile.
the objective. As an example, it was found in a recent study that panel ratings of ride quality in pas- senger cars correlate best with an pavement index computed from wavelengths between 0.5 and 2.5 m (1.6 and 8 ft) corresponding to vibration frequencies of 10 to 50 Hz at a speed of 85 km/h (about Bo ues GL
The pooled fund study is coordi- nated by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. UMTRI is responsible for develop- ing the test program and develop- ing the relationships mentioned above. Some of these relationships will be empirical, while others will have to be developed from comput- er simulations, using profile data as one of the inputs. A combination of these two, empirical and simula- tion, will probably yield the best relationships.
The participating state highway agencies agreed to conduct tests and provide the data and related infor- mation to UMTRI. Most states are known to operate South Dakota- type profilers with limited resolution and sampling rates. These limita- tions may affect some of the planned analyses. Some profilers with better resolution, including FHWA’s PRORUT, will be available for this study when more detailed profiles are needed.
A real road-surface profile con- tains many wavelengths and amplitudes. The larger amplitudes are generally associated with longer wavelengths. Figure 1 shows a record of a typical bitumi- nous road surface over a distance of 100 m (330 ft). The maximum
amplitudes here are about 50 mm (2 in). When the long waves are removed by filtering down to 10 m (33 ft), the same surface looks quite different, and the maximum amplitudes are now about half. (See Figure 2!)
Another way of presenting the road profile is by the so-called spec- trum. ( See Figure 3.) The horizon- tal axis shows cycles per unit dis- tance (cycles/m or cycles/ft) which is the inverse of wavelength L. The amplitudes corresponding to each wavelength are plotted on the verti- cal axis and are seen to decrease with decreasing wavelength (increasing spacial frequencies).
Ride quality, however, is better discussed in terms of frequency of vibration because humans are more sensitive to some frequencies than to others. Frequency is obtained by dividing the speed of travel by the
wavelength, giving lower frequen- cies for longer wavelengths. Car suspensions are tuned to reduce the vibration amplitudes at the frequen- cies to which humans are most sen- sitive. The two curves are similar but are from two different roads. The distribution of wavelengths is about the same, but the amplitudes of one road are greater than for the other one. Ride quality gets worse as the amplitudes increase.
Truck suspensions are designed to support heavy loads and are much stiffer than passenger car sus- pensions. This is a compromise between the desire to provide good ride quality to truck drivers and car- rying full loads without excessive suspension deflection. This results in larger dynamic forces damaging the pavement, the truck, and the cargo. Dynamic forces also lead to momentary reductions of the wheel
Figure 2—Same surface as in Figure 1 with long waves filtered out.
Figure 3—Profile spectrum of two different road surfaces. Upper line is rougher surface.
Page 6
to pavement contact force, which can lead to reduced traction and loss of control.
At this time, the principal use of the profile is to compute and report IRI values to the Highway Perform- ance Monitoring System. This sys- tem is the responsibility of the Office of Highway Information Management. The IRI and other information are compiled in an annual report on the state of the highway system. Before the wide- spread changeover to profiling, the IRI was derived from response-type measurements. The IRI computed from profiles is more reliable and will lead to an overall improved per- formance measurement.
Some profilers can measure rut- ting of flexible pavement and fault- ing of rigid pavements. Ruts are depressions in the transverse pave- ment profile. Some measuring sys- tems record transverse profiles. A profiler with the two sensors in the rutted wheel tracks and one or more additional sensors can measure rut depth directly. The precision need- ed for rut depth measurement is not as high as for profiling, so ultrasonic sensors are adequate.
Faults can be measured at travel speeds from profile records, provided the profiler is capable of a high sam- pling rate. Figure 4 shows a profile recorded by PRORUT at a rate of 10 samples per 0.3 m (10/ft). Faulting is clear from this record, and the fault steps are about 10 mm (3/8 in).
Summary
The pavement surface shows many features. Although some are needed for good performance, most develop from exposure to traffic and the elements and are manifesta- tions of distress. Pavement distress affects the highway user in many ways. Ride quality is the most obvious and is a primary factor in pavement management decisions. The highway engineer needs reli- able tools to determine the condi- tion of the highway system. Early detection of distress can help to
take preventive actions instead of
more expensive repairs later on. Profiling systems are very effective in measuring road roughness at travel speeds, and if properly equipped can also measure rut depth and faulting.
References
(D M.S. Janoff, J.B. Nick, and P.S. Davit. “Pavement Roughness and Rideability,” National Cooperative Highway Research Program Report 275, Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C., 1985.
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER e 1993
| | . | | {
(2) E.B. Spangler and W,J. Kelly. “Long- Term Time Stability of Pavement Ride Quality Data,” Publication No. FHWA/OH-91/001, Ohio Department of Transportation, Columbus, Ohio, 1990.
(3) T.D. Gillespie, M.W. Sayers, and L. Segel. “Calibration of Response-Type Road Roughness Measuring Systems,” National Cooperative Highway Research Program Report 228, Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C., 1980.
(4) M.W. Sayers, T.D. Gillespie, and W.D. Paterson. “Guidelines for Conducting and Calibrating Road Roughness Measurements,” World Bank Technical Paper Number 46, World Bank, Washington, D.C., 1986.
(5) B. al-Omari and MI. Darter. “Relationship between IRI and Pavement Condition,” Department of Civil Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, 1992.
(6) E.B. Spangler and WJ. Kelley. “GMR Road Profilometer—A Method for Measuring Road Profile,” Highway Research Record 121, Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C., 1966.
(7) J. Derwin King and Stephen A. Cerwin. “System for Inventorying Road Surface Topography (SIRST),” Publication No. FHWA-RD-82-062, Federal Highway Administration, Washington, D.C., 1982.
(8) T.D. Gillespie, M.W. Sayers, and M.R. Hagan. “Methodology for Road Roughness Profiling and Rut Depth Measurement,” Publication No. FHWA- RD-87-042, Federal Highway Administration,
Washington, D.C., 1987.
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER « 1993
Figure 4—Profile of rigid (portland cement) pavement, showing faulting at joints.
(9) K. Ksaibati, K. Kercher, Sedat Gulen, and T.D. White. “The PRORUT Evaluation in Indiana,” Transportation Research Record 1260, Transportation Research Board,
Washington, D.C., 1990.
(10) D.L. Huft, Debra C. Corcoran, Blair A. Lunde, and Paul A. Orth. “Status of the South Dakota Profilometer,” Transportation Research Record 1117, Transportation Research Board,
Washington, D.C., 1987.
(11) D.L. Huft, D. Bolling, and R. McQuiston. “South Dakota Road Profiler Users’ Group,” Report of the Meeting, Wyoming Department of Transportation, Cheyenne, Wyoming, 1990.
Rudolph R. Hegmon is a mechanical engineer in the Pavement Division of the Office of Engineering and Highway Operations at the Federal Highway Administration’s Turner- Fairbank Highway Research Center. He has worked for FHWA in the areas of traffic safety and truck ride quality since 1973. Dr. Hegmon currently is working on the development of instru- mentation for the measurement of pavement performance. His research responsibilities include pavement-vehi- cle interactions and their effect on traf- fic safety, dynamic axle loads, and ride quality. He manages the Pavement Performance Laboratory at TFHRC.
Page 7
This article was adapted from and summarizes the 1995 Highway, Bridge and Transit Conditions and Performance (C&P) Report. The C&P Report is a biennial report that provides Congress and other decision makers with an ongoing appraisal of the current condition and performance of the U.S. highway system.
Our nation’s productivity and international competitiveness depends on fast and reliable trans- portation. As we move toward the 21st century, the status of our highways, bridges, and transit is of paramount importance to the vital- ity of our economy.
Americans travel roads and highways more often than any other mode of transportation. Highways provide the United States with an efficient network for moving people and goods. More than 90 percent of all travel- ers and 75 percent of the value of all goods and services are con- veyed on highways. Growth in productivity in virtually every sec- tor of the nation’s economy depends upon adequate trans- portation.
The C&P Report covers all of
the nation’s roads and bridges, including all public-use highway and bridge infrastructure and all privately owned toll facilities. Among other subjects, the report provides assessments of system characteristics, trends, highway investment, and investment levels needed to meet future demands. The information for the report was compiled at the end of 1991 by the states and reported to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in summer of 1992. FHWA assembled and analyzed the information and prepared the report. The report was presented to Congress on January 15, 1993. Prior to this CGP Report, high- way/bridge analyses and transit analyses were submitted as sepa- rate reports. Because of the com- plementary nature of these modes
of transportation, discussions of highways and transit have been merged. Future reports will build upon this merger, with common data systems and analytical proce- dures developed to support more rigorous and consistent multi- modal analyses of investment options.
This C&P Report includes, for the first time, information on envi- ronmental impacts. This reflects the need for surface transportation to meet environmental goals and standards as well as mobility goals and standards.
Future travel forecasts used to estimate investment requirements were developed by the states. All investment estimates are for the period January 1, 1992, through December 31, 2011, and are expressed in 1991 dollars.
The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) of 1991 established a new National Highway System (NHS), consisting of approxi- mately 155,000 miles (249,440 kilometers) of highways. This designation can vary by 15 percent in either direction. Although the states will desig- nate the majority of NHS, the interstate system (45,300 mi or 72,900 km), the Strategic Highway Corridor Network (STRAHNET)(15,000 mi or 24,140 km), major STRAHNET connectors (2,200 mi or 3,540 km), and ISTEA-specified high- priority corridors (4,500 mi or
Page 8
7,240 km) must be included. NHS highways—together with all other arterials, rural major collectors, and urban collec- tors—will be eligible for feder- al aid.
Designation of the flexible mileage portion of the NHS will be carried out by the states in cooperation with metropolitan planning organizations and the Department of Transportation; this designation will be submit- ted to Congress by December 18, 1993. Asa prelude to NHS designation, states are reclassi- fying their roads and streets to establish an updated principal arterial system.
NHS will be the major focus of federal highway investments for the future. The system is expected to carry the bulk of interstate and interregional trav- el and commerce. The benefits of making these investments are manifold, including: eco- nomic growth; national securi- ty; intermodal connectivity; sys- tem connectivity; safety; the ability to accommodate expand- ed trade between Canada, Mexico, and the United States; and the ability to sustain a growing tourism industry. Future editions of the C&P Report will include NHS statis- tics and investment analyses.
: : PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER « 1993 :
System Characteristics
* Total public road mileage reached almost 3.9 million miles in 1991—an increase of almost 13,000 miles over 1989.
¢ Total highway travel reached almost 2.2 trillion vehicle miles in 1991—a total increase of 3 percent over 1989.
e Transit passenger miles trav- eled increased by 8 percent from 1980 and 1990.
Highway and Transit
Finance
@ In 1991, disbursements for highway programs by all lev- els of government totaled $78.3 billion, with $3.8 billion spent on debt retirement and $74.5 billion on current opera- tions. This expenditure for current operations equates to 3.4 cents per mile of travel—a decline in spending of more than 50 percent in constant dollars since 1960. In nomi- nal dollars, however, 1991 spending for current opera- tions increased more than $7 billion over 1989.
In 1991, $36.1 billion was spent on highway and bridge capital improvements, com- pared to $33.1 billion in 1989; $38.3 billion was spent for noncapital purposes. The fed- eral share of capital investment was 41 percent in 1991, down from a high of 56 percent in 1980.
In 1990, the cost to operate mass transit service in the United States was approxi- mately $14.7 billion; capital expenditures accounted for $4.3 billion, for a total of $19 billion. In 1990, fares and other revenue collected from direct transit customers COov- ered about 43 percent of oper- ating costs with state and local subsidies covering 52 percent
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER « 1993
and federal subsidy covering 6 percent. The federal share of total reported capital activity declined from 78 percent in 1980 to 60 percent in 1990,
System Condition and
Performance
* Pavement condition improved throughout the 1980s and continues to do so into the 1990s. However, approxi- mately 234,500 miles of arteri- als and collectors remain rated as in “poor” or “mediocre” condition.
e
Highway performance declined throughout the 1980s, especially in the larger urban- ized areas although most recently, performance has sta- bilized. This is a direct result of the temporary hiatus in urban travel as a result of the economic slowdown over 1989-1990. More than half of the urban peak hour conges- tion occurs in the 33 urbanized areas larger than | million population. Of urban inter- state highways, 70 percent experienced peak hour con- gestion in 1991,
e
In 1992, about 118,500 of the nation’s 575,000 bridges were rated as structurally deficient.
The fatalities on the nation’s highways continue to decrease, dropping from 2.6 fatalities per 100 million vehi- cle miles of travel in 1983 to a low of 1.9 in 1991. However, the total economic cost to the nation of motor vehicle crash- es in 1990 was more than $137 billion.
®
Highway, Bridge, and
Transit Investment
Requirements
¢ The cost to immediately elimi- nate all existing backlog high- way deficiencies on arterials and collectors on December
e
e
®
31, 1991, is approximately $212 billion, $7 billion more than the backlog in 1989.
The cost to eliminate all back- log bridge deficiencies is approximately $78 billion, a $13 billion reduction since 1989, reflecting increased bridge rehabilitation and replacement activity and modi- fications to the procedures used to rate bridge conditions.
The cost to eliminate the 1992 backlog of bus and rail transit deficiencies, including equip- ment and facilities, is estimated at $18 billion.
The total annual cost to elimi- nate highway and bridge back- log deficiencies and to meet additional highway and bridge infrastructure requirements for developing urban and subur- ban areas is $67.1 billion through 2011.
The total annual cost to main- tain overall 1991 highway and bridge conditions and perfor- mance is $51.6 billion through 2011,
The cost to systematically improve transit condition and performance—by eliminating the backlog of bus and rail deficiencies, maintaining cur- rent market share, and adding additional service to accom- modate anticipated urban demand not included in either the highway cost to maintain or improve assessments—is $6.6 billion annually through 2011.
The cost to maintain transit condition and performance, including the cost to meet new statutory obligations to serve disabled Americans and improve vehicular emissions, is estimated at $3.9 billion annu- ally through 2011.
Page 9
———————————————
The percentage of peak hour travel that occurred under congested or severe- ly congested conditions in 1991 exceeded 70 percent on urban interstate high- ways and 61 percent on other urban freeways and expressways.
Highway operating characteristics
Continuing growth in travel is causing increasing highway conges- tion, particularly in urbanized areas. The percentage of peak hour travel on urban interstate highways that occurred under congested or severely congested conditions exceeded 70 percent in 1991, "up from 55 percent in 1983. Urban interstate peak hour congestion has grown at an average annual rate of 3 percent since 1983.
The percentage of congested peak hour travel on other freeways and expressways (OF&E) in urban areas increased from 49 percent in 1983 to more than 61 percent in 1991. Urban peak hour congestion on OF&E has grown at an average annual rate of 2.8 percent since 1983.
For urban interstate peak hour travel, more than 55 percent of the congested travel and more than 73 percent of the highly congested travel occurs in the most populous 33 urbanized areas. Approximately 37 percent of the mileage, almost 41 percent of the lane-miles, and more than 53 percent of the travel on non-local urban roads occurs in these 33 areas. However, more than 65 percent of the overall peak hour congested urban travel is in these same areas.
Highway physical characteristics
Table 1 compares pavement con- dition, based on the pavement ser-
Page 10
Table 1.— Estimated highway mileage by pavement condition, functional system, and year
Functional System Year | Poor |Mediocre| Fair | Good Unpaved | Total
Rural Interstate
Urban Interstate
Rural Other Arterials
Urban Other Arterials
Rural Collectors
Urban Collectors
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER « 1993
viceability rating system, by func- tional system over time. Between 1983 and 1991, the percentage of pavements in poor condition (those needing improvement now) decreased or maintained a stable condition for all functional systems, rural and urban. The total mileage in the mediocre pavement category (those needing improvements in the near future, generally within the next five years) has become relatively sta- ble. For the interstate functional sys- tems, the mileage in the mediocre category is within 2 percent of the value for 1983. For other arterial systems, the percentage of miles in the mediocre category ranges from a low of 7.3 for rural other principal arterials to a high of 14.7 for urban minor arterials.
The pavement rated as fair will like- ly need improvement in the five- to 10-year range, and pavement in good condition will not likely need improve- ment for 10 to 15 years or more.
The mileage in poor condition in most states has declined over the
“past few years. This represents a real accomplishment in addressing the worst pavement needs. However, because of traffic loads and the environment, pavements will continue to deteriorate, and substantial resurfacing and rehabili- tation programs will be required to maintain pavement structure in an acceptable condition.
Bridges
The percentage of interstate, arterial, and collector bridges classi- fied as structurally deficient
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER « 1993
increased from 1984 to 1992—rising from 13.2 to 14.3 percent. Generally, the higher functional systems have fewer deficient bridges than lower systems. However, the proportion of inter- state bridges classified as structural- ly deficient increased from 5.1 per- cent in 1984 to 6.8 percent in 1992. This is indicative both of the heavy use of the interstate system and the fact that many of these bridges are nearing the point when rehabilita- tion will be required.
Most bridges that are structurally deficient are not in danger of col-
Substantial resurfacing and rehabilitation pro- grams will be required to maintain pavement struc- ture in an acceptable con- dition.
lapse, but they are likely to be load- posted so that heavier trucks will be required to take an alternative, longer route. Functionally deficient bridges are those that do not have adequate lane widths, shoulder widths, or vertical clearances to serve traffic demand or whose waterway may allow occasional flooding of the roadway.
The major increase in functionally deficient bridges between 1988 and 1990—especially on the interstate system—resulted from changes in the Recording and Coding Guide for the Structure Inventory and
me
Building new highways and bridges today requires techniques which limit environmental damage.
Page 11
Appraisal of the Nation’s Bridges. More specific criteria are used to assess condition and identify defi- cient bridges. In 1992, 25.3 percent of the interstate bridges were classi- fied as being deficient, compared to 13.1 in 1984.
Highway safety
Fatality rates decreased from 1983 to 1991 for both rural and urban interstate, other arterials, and collectors. Rates ranged from a high of 3.27 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled on rural collectors to a low of 0.67 on urban interstate highways. The fatality rates on the interstate highways—the system with the lowest accident rate— decreased from 1.50 in 1983 to 1.25 in 1991 in rural areas and from 1.01 to 0.67 in urban areas. Overall fatality rates are 2.76 for rural high- ways and 1.32 for urban highways, with an overall average of 1.91.
Although fatality rates decreased to a historic low in 1991, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that the total economic cost to the nation of motor vehicle crashes in 1990 was more than $137 billion.
Environmental conditions and performance
The environmental consequences of transportation arise from both construction and use. Indices of performance pose both conceptual and practical challenges. However, an initial set of categories were
Approximately 42 percent of the highway backlog is pavement cost.
Page 12
a a ———SSsCis
identified: air quality, water quality, wetlands, energy, noise, land and open space, threatened and endan- gered species, and community impacts.
Progress is being made in each of these categories. As an example, there was significant progress in reducing the overall levels of the major transportation-related air pol- lutants over the last decade. According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Air Quality and Emissions Trends Report in 1990, pollution from car- bon monoxide, lead, nitrogen monoxide, and smog were all reduced along the nation’s high- ways from 1981 to 1990 despite a 39-percent increase in vehicle miles traveled. Emissions of carbon monoxide were down by 39 per- cent, of lead by 85 percent, of nitrogen dioxide by 6 percent, and of smog (hydrocarbons) by 12 per- cent.
Transit service quality
The perception of quality among customers and potential customers is an important determinant of transit use and is often more important than the cost of the fare. According to National Personal Transportation Survey (NPTS) data, the majority of transit users spend very little time waiting for service. Approximately 47 percent of transit trips involve one or more transfers. In addition, approximately 17 percent of transit trips involve a transfer from a private
vehicle—e.g., park and ride situa- tions. According to NPTS 1990 data, over 40 percent of all transit com- muters reported trip times of 10 min- utes or less; nearly 87 percent of tran- sit riders arrive at work in less than half an hour.
Bus and paratransit condition
The Federal Transit Administra- tion has established minimum requirements for the period of time an asset must remain in mass transit service before it will be considered eligible for replacement. If it were possible for transit agencies to replace vehicles on this schedule, the average age of each type of vehicle would be one-half the use- ful life guideline. In reality, howev- er, the average fleet age for all classes of buses and paratransit vehicles is greater than the opti- mum guideline. As a result, there is a backlog of overage vehicles of each type in need of replacement.
Since 1990, the total fleet size has not changed noticeably, but the average age of the vehicles has increased.
Rail conditions
Detailed information is available on the condition of the nation’s rail system from the Rail Modernization Study published in 1987. Specific definitions were developed for each of five condition levels—excellent, good, fair, poor, and bad. The key condition level is good, which is
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER e« 1993
defined as “good working order and requiring Only nominal or infrequent minor repairs.”
Maintenance yards and facilities are in the most need of improve- ment because only 17 percent of the yards and 28 percent of the facilities were rated as being in good or better condition. Also in need of substantial improvement are elevated rapid rail structures (with only 19 percent in good or better condition), stations (29 per- cent), and bridges (32 percent). Substations are in the best overall shape; 66 percent is in good or bet- ter condition. Commuter rail vehi- cles are also generally well off; 49 percent of locomotives and 55 per- cent of unpowered cars are in good or better condition.
Highway, Bridge, and Transit Investment Requirements, 1992-2011 The following provides esti- mates for total capital investments required by all units of govern- ment to achieve specified levels of overall system condition and per- formance for all highways, bridges, and transit systems for the period 1992-2011. Future travel forecasts used to estimate investment requirements were developed by the states. All investment estimates included in this article are for the period January 1, 1992, through December 31, 2011, and are expressed in 1991 dollars. Investment requirements are pre- sented in Table 2 as two scenarios:
¢ Cost to improve overall conditions and performance.
¢ Cost to maintain current overall conditions and performance.
Cost-to-improve conditions | Goal:
and performance
Cost-to-maintain conditions | Goal:
and perfomance
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER « 1993
Table 2.—Investment scenarios Description
* Eliminate backlog and accru- ing performance and condi- tions deficiencies.
« Ensure that by the year 2011
no highway or bridge will be
in poor condition.
¢ Maintain overall condition and performance through 2011, except in the largest cities, where performance can be expected to decline due to inadequate capacity.
es. ey é — £
The remaining 58 percent of highway backlog is the cost of adding capacity, including building more lanes, to restore system performance to minimum capacity performance standards.
Highway and bridge requirements
Estimates of highway and bridge investment requirements were pre- pared based on sophisticated engi- neering-based models—i.e., the Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS) Analytical Process and the Bridge Needs and Investment Process (BNIP). The highway and bridge estimating pro- cedures received input from HPMS and National Bridge Inventory (NBD data bases.
HPMS contains information about physical conditions and use for more than 100,000 non-local highway sec- tions. The HPMS analytical proce-
Goal:
* Eliminate backlog of transit equipment and facility deficiencies.
* Increase rate of ridership growth and increase
_ market share.
Goal:
« Maintain current levels of service.
+ Maintain current growth trends in transit patron-
age.
dure uses this data to simulate high- way investment decisions and pre- dict system performance.
NBI contains detailed information about all highway bridges in the country. Using this data, BNIP com- pares bridge conditions to a pre- scribed set of minimum bridge con- dition standards. Deficiencies are noted, and the appropriate improve- ment is simulated.
HPMS data suggests that highway travel will increase at an average annual rate of about 2.5 percent through 2011. That is slightly below the average 3-percent increases for the past decade.
The “backlog” of highway and bridge deficiencies is the cost of bringing the current system up to minimum standards from its exist- ing conditions and performance status. As of December 31, 1991, the cost of eliminating the backlog of highway deficiencies was esti- mated at $212 billion for all existing arterials and collectors. This amount is $7 billion more than the comparable figure from 1989; the increase is attributed to deteriora- tion in overall average system per- formance.
Approximately 42 percent of the highway backlog is pavement cost; the remaining 58 percent is the cost of adding capacity to restore system performance to minimum capacity performance standards. The urban backlog is twice as high as rural backlog, reflecting the capacity defi-
Page 13
ciencies in the larger urban areas. Backlog deficiencies are fairly evenly distributed among the functional highway systems.
As of December 31, 1991, backlog requirements on the nation’s high- way bridges were $78 billion. The cost to eliminate the backlog of bridge deficiencies could increase to as much as $112 billion, depending on the number of years required to meet that objective, because of the deferred capital cost of bridge repair. The bridge backlog estimates have decreased significantly from the $91 billion estimate in 1989 because of bridge improvements and revisions in the rating criteria.
The average annual cost through 2011 to repair all backlog deficien- cies and keep all highways above the specific minimum condition and performance level standards through 2011 is $59.1 billion. This figure includes an estimated $4.8 billion in annual capital savings from the coordinated traffic man- agement program. The average annual investment required to repair, replace, or widen all back- log and accruing bridge deficien- cies on all highway bridges through 2011 is $8.2 billion.
The “cost-to-improve” scenario would result in modest improve- ments in overall pavement condi- tions on the higher functional sys- tems. It would increase the aver- age pavement condition to approx- imately a 3.5 pavement serviceabil- ity rating. Consequently, pave- ments would have, on average, between 8 and 12 years of remain- ing design life.
System performance on rural and many urban highways would improve under this scenario, sup- porting at least a minimum level of service during the daily peak period of demand. The scenario would eliminate most highly congested conditions and improve performance on high-volume highways soon to be congested.
Under this scenario, conditions and performance would be superior to today’s but substantially below the design and performance stan- dards expected of new, or nearly new, roads. No section of road would be in poor condition.
The magnitude of new capacity required to improve conditions to or above the minimum condition standard for performance is unlikely to occur, given the extensive right- of-way acquisition, social disloca- tion, air quality, and noise effects that would result from such an effort.
Page 14
a ——SSs—s
Table 3.— Investment requirements for highways and bridges vs. related capital outlay, 1991-2011 (projecting 2.5% growth rate in vehicle miles traveled (all estimates expressed in billions of 1991 dollars and do not reflect inflation)
Annualized Cost To Improve | Annualized Cost To Maintain
1991
Capacity | To System | Capacity | To Related Preser- Capital
vation Outlay
tal tal 4.2 2.0 3 Bad:
Functional System System Preser-
vation
Rural
Interstate 2.4
Other Principal Arterial 2.5 4.3 1.9 3.0 Minor Arterial 2.9 4.2 ae 3.2 Major Collector 5.3 6.0 4.2 4.9
Minor Collector 3.4 3.5 2.0 : 2.1 Local 0.7 0.7. 0.5 0:5: : Sublotal Rural 174
Urban Interstate
Other Freeway and Expressway Other Principal Arterial
4.9 1.9 4.8
4.1 1.5 3.7
Minor Arterial 35 eS, 28 Collector 26 24] 50 24 18 Local 0.2
; : 0 i939 | i So one [weeeesimae()——SC~=*‘d;SC A |B coo] era] tet]
1 See Table 4.
2 Data is not available to disaggregate “local” capital outlay by urban and rural categories; therefore, the total 1991 related capital outlay included spending while rural and urban subto- tals do not include this spending. Local spending in 1991 was $5.7 billion.
3.8 4.0 5 8 2
| Table 4 Annual cost to maintain scenario for 1991 highway and bridge condition and performance.
60
.
4992 2002
& Pavement ®@ Bridge mi Capacity
Capacity improvements include additional lanes on existing facilities plus additional infrastructure to support anticipated suburban growth.
2011
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER « 1993
Table 5—Summary of annualized transit investment requirements, 1992-2011 (All estimates are expressed in billions of 1991 dollars and do not reflect inflation)
Explanation ...Annual Cost
* Eliminate backlog.
* Increase transit market share by 25% over
Improve conditions and performance
20 years.
* Include ADA* requirements.
* $3.1 billion/year to maintain transit conditions.
« $0.8 billion/year to maintain trends in patronage.
Maintain conditions and performance
*Americans with Disabilities Act
The average annua! cost to main- tain existing highways through 2011 is estimated at $46.4 billion. This figure includes savings from the coordinated traffic management pro- gram.
The average annual cost to main- tain overall bridge conditions as they were reported on June 30, 1992, is estimated at $5.2 billion annually through 2011. This investment level would maintain the current total number and distribution of struc- turally deficient and functionally obsolete bridges.
Under this scenario, the backlog would remain essentially unchanged over the 20-year analysis period. Conditions described earlier would be maintained except in the larger urbanized areas, where further dete- rioration can be expected because of the capacity constraints imposed in the analysis.
Table 3 summarizes annual investment requirements to meet each scenario target for all urban and rural areas. The table shows total 20-year investment require- ments categorized as pavement and capacity improvements, with annu- alized totals. The annualized total is the 20-year total divided equally.
_ Under the cost-to-improve sce-
nario, two-thirds of total invest- ment would occur in urban areas; capacity improvements would account for about half of total investment.
Table 3 compares highway and bridge capital requirements for 1992-2011 with actual 1991 capital expenditures by state and local governments. The cost-to-improve scenario would require a total annual investment in highway infrastructure of $67.3 billion— more than twice what was spent in 1991 for corresponding capital
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER ® 1993
* Service expansion to meet 10% of 34,000 lane-miles of highways not built.
* Improve stations to current standards.
* Include ADA* requirements.
improvements. Increasing invest- ment in infrastructure from its 1991 level of $32.1 billion to $67.3 bil- lion would require spending an additional 1.6 cents per mile of travel. The “cost-to-maintain” sce- nario would require an additional 0.9 cents per mile of travel.
Total spending capital for highways and bridges would need to increase by $35.2 billion annually in 1991 dollars to improve 1991 overall conditions and performance. If funded by motor fuel taxes, this increase in spending would require a fuel tax increase of approximately 27 cents per gallon. To provide the $19.5 billion required to main- tain 1991 conditions, a fuel tax increase of 15 cents per gallon would be required.
Table 4 graphically illustrates the investment stream on a year-to-year basis for the cost-to-maintain sce- nario. Pavement and bridge require- ments are essentially the same annu- ally over the 20-year period, reflect- ing the continuing nature of system condition maintenance. The “ramp- ing” of total investment requirements to meet existing and anticipated growth in travel is illustrated by the increasing Capacity requirements shown. All values are in 1991 dol- lars and do not reflect any inflation in highway construction costs over the period.
Transit requirements
The transit backlog includes the estimated costs of replacing all bus and rail transit equipment that has exceeded its usable design life. Eliminating the backlog would bring the average fleet age down to the minimum useful life standards and bring rail equipment and facilities to good condition. The total transit backlog is estimated at $17.6 billion
or $0.9 billion per year if eliminated over the 20-year period.
The cost-to-improve scenario is estimated at $131.8 billion for the period 1992-2011. This cost would require an annual investment of $6.6 billion, assuming that the backlog would be eliminated over 20 years.
At this investment level, transit services will increase over a 20-year period to about 283 million revenue vehicle hours per year, thereby pro- viding capacity to accommodate about 64 billion passenger miles per year, compared with 38 billion pas- senger miles today. In addition, the backlog of deferred rail and bus modernization and rehabilitation needs would be eliminated, restor- ing those systems to good condition and bringing them up to modern transit standards.
The cost-to-maintain scenario is estimated at $77.8 billion through 2011 or $3.9 billion per year. This figure is the investment needed to maintain current levels of service. At this level of investment, facilities and equipment would be main- tained in their current state of repair. The estimate also includes the additional investment level needed to extend coverage and improve service levels to maintain current trends in growth in transit patronage. It includes low capital demand management as well as new starts at historical levels.
At this level of investment, the amount of transit service provided would increase at a rate of 0.8 per- cent per year, consistent with the increase in transit patronage over the last 10 years. In 20 years, this would result in an increase in capacity of 17 percent, raising the total amount of transit service from the present 169 million revenue vehicle hours to about 198 million revenue vehicle hours. This increase in capacity could accommodate an increase in passenger miles from the present 38 billion to about 44 billion.
Under this scenario, transit vehi- cles would be replaced at about the current rate, which is slightly slower than optimal. Existing rail systems would be maintained in the current conditions with no major improvements. Investments on existing rail systems would occur at the rate needed to ensure that equipment and facilities are replaced as they wear out. New rail systems would be constructed at a rate sufficient to accommodate the present rate of transit patron- age growth. Table 5 summarizes 1992-2011 transit investment requirements.
Page 15
by Craig Sanders
© those on the mainland United
States, visions of Hawaii usually bring thoughts of relaxing on a white, sandy beach during the long, warm, tropical days, sipping on a fruity drink while an exhilarating equatorial breeze gently whisks away the stress and worries common to everyday life.
While these peaceful images of Hawaii may hold true for ihe two- week tourist, we who live in and around the city of Honolulu on the island of Oahu, which houses 80 per- cent of Hawaii's residents, must deal with the big city problems of popula- tion and traffic congestion. In the last 20 years, the population has increased 44 percent while the number of motor vehicles on the highway has risen 111 percent. Interstate route H-3 is part of the Hawaii Department of Transportation's (HDOT) integrated long range transportation plan to accommodate the island's growing population.
How can any highway on an island be designated as an interstate? In 1959, after Hawaii became a state, Congress felt both Alaska and Hawaii needed to be included in the inter- state highway system, granting the new state of Hawaii 50 miles of this
Page 16
H-5: THE ISLAND INTERSTATE
high-speed, limited access freeway for the highly populated island of Oahu. So, by nature of its designa- tion and funding, we have an inter- state system in Hawaii separated from the next nearest state by a 2000-mile stretch of the Pacific Ocean.
The 52-mile-long interstate sys- tem was planned to solve Oahu's projected traffic demands and con- nect the island's major military cen- ters. This network consists of three freeways: H-1, H-2 and H-3.
H-1, 27 miles long and now com- plete, connects the Hawaii National Guard at Fort Ruger to the Barbers Point Naval Air Station and runs through the middle of Honolulu. H-2, also complete and only eight miles long, joins Pearl Harbor Naval Base and Hickam Air Force Base to Wheeler Air Force Base. H-2 also serves as a partial connection from H-1 to the North Shore of the island. The 15-mile-long H-3 will connect the Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station to the Pearl Harbor defense bases, passing through the Koolau Mountains to join the wind- ward towns of Kailua and Kaneohe to the leeward cities of Pearl City and Honolulu.
H-3 will provide much needed relief to the other two trans- Koolau routes—the Likelike and Pali high- ways—which have long been operating at capacity during the morning and evening rush hours. When H-3 is opened, it is predict- ed that one-third of the present traffic crossing the mountains will use H-3, one-third will use the Likelike Highway, and one-third the Pali Highway.
H-3 is the biggest construction and the largest public works project ever undertak- en by the state of Hawaii. This immense goal, consisting of 20 separate contracts, includes both leeward and windward viaducts joined by a 5,000-foot trans-Koolau tunnel, bridges, interchanges, access roads, and more. The planning and construc- tion of H-3 has been costly, lengthy, and anything but easy. At times it seemed that there was no end to the environmental, archaeological, legal, and engineering challenges.
Construction on the Kaneohe interchange which is one of 20 contracts for the H-3 pro- ject. The shear windward side of the Koolau Mountains is in the background.
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER « 1993
Top. A view of the windward city of Kailua. The Windward Viaducts are visible on the right. The antennae from the Coast Guard Omega Station can be seen in the upper right.
Right. The Coast Guard Omega Station located on the windward side of the Koolaus near the mouth of the Trans-Koolau Tunnels. This station causes large, insulated objects nearby to become charged, posing the threat of shocks to workers and users of H-3. Several countermeasures have been taken to eliminate this problem.
However, it has been an invaluable learning experi- ence for HDOT.
Although the planning for H-3 began much earlier, the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1970 required the state to file its first Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The law demands the study, documentation, and possi- ble mitigation measures of significant impacts on the environment caused by any projects using federal funds. At the time, the concept of putting environmental concerns ahead of engineering issues was rarely consid- ered on most projects.
HDOT conducted specialized studies for different areas of concern, including archaeology, plants and animals, and air and noise quality. To validate these studies, experts in each of the involved fields—botany; zoology; archaeology; Hawaiian cul-
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER « 1993
ture; and water, air, and noise quali- ty—were hired.
When all the environmental ques- tions had been answered and the studies completed, the results were compiled into a huge, several-vol- ume EIS document. These findings were discussed with the public, evaluated by the state and federal governments, and finally incorporat- ed into the planning and design of the H-3 project. Although much time and money was spent on the preparation of the EIS, HDOT had its first experience with the new law and had planned and designed a
project with the environment as a prime consideration.
An often over- looked benefit of the H-3 project is the wealth of archaeo- logical knowledge uncovered. The pro- posed H-3 corridors routed the freeway through undevel- oped lands on the island. Recognizing the possibility of unearthing artifacts of the ancient Hawaiians, HDOT hired archaeological experts from the Bishop Museum in Hawaii to find, sur- vey, and study archaeological sites. After the important areas were identified, H-3's alignment was designed to avoid any adverse impacts. A section of the Moanalua Valley, once considered a possible corridor for H-3, was even placed on the National Register of Historic Places. A Bishop Museum archaeologist declared that the H-3 process saved these priceless sites from pri- vate development. The examination of the sites is ongoing, and much more is expected to be learned about the early Hawaiians.
The Coast Guard Omega Station (OMSTA) presented a unique chal- lenge. The station, locat- ed on the windward side near the mouth of the Trans-Koolau Tunnels, is part of an eight-station, worldwide network which allows any aircraft or ship to determine its location to within a mile. OMSTA causes large insulated objects near the station to become energized, providing a small shock to anyone coming in contact with these items. HDOT was concerned that "surprise shocks" to workers on H-3 might result in a fall or other accident. In some cases, workers in sensitive areas were required to wear gloves or rubber boots. To prevent any effect on H-3 travelers, a device known as a Faraday Shield was installed over a short section of the
Page 17
highway near the mouth of the tun- nels to reduce the electric field. The shield consists of six three-eighth- inch-diameter wires on each side of the road spaced one vertical meter apart and eight three-eighth-inch- diameter wires overhead. A wire mesh is incorporated into the pave- ment below to complete the shield.
Hoomaluhia Park on the wind- ward (east) side of the Koolau Mountains was developed in con- junction with the H-3 alignment. The Department of Parks and HDOT worked together to produce a park which would be partially bordered by H-3. However, a legal challenge stemming from this shared border delayed the construction of the free- way for more than two years.
A small group of opponents to the highway saw the shared border as an opportunity to use the park and the Section 4f of the U.S. Department of Transportation Act to stop the con- struction of H-3. Section 4f protects some public lands and historic sites. On August 21, 1984, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals determined that there had been "constructive" tak- ing of park land, effectively stop- ping all construction activity on H- 3. Although no park land was actually taken, the more abstract "constructive" possesion of the park land was defined as the over- all reduction in environmental quality to the park as a result of the 1.7-mile border with H-3. State attorneys appealed this ruling but were unsuccessful in overturning the injunction.
Finally, it was decided to pursue an exemption to Section 4f by pre- senting the case to the U.S. Congress. After a constant bombardment of
Page 18
rr ste
The new animal quarantine station.
phone calls, letters, petitions, and meetings with subcommittee mem- bers in support of H-3, Congress approved and President Reagan signed an exemption into law in October 1986. Then, after more than two years of delay, the U.S. District Court dismissed all injunctions against the construction of H-3.
With the lifting of the injunction, construction began on the five- mile, $8.5-million North Halawa Valley access road. Many obsta- cles had to be overcome to build this road. For example, every- day, surveyors had to be airlifted deep into the beautiful but rugged North Halawa Valley to set the road alignment, gather topographical information, and build a landing pad for their return ride in the evening.
At the completion of the access road in 1989, work began to relo-
cate Hawaii's unique animal quaran- tine station and to construct a short "cut and cover" tunnel, viaducts, and the trans-Koolau tunnels. Unfortunately, the best alignment of H-3 routed it through the middle of the state's animal quarantine station. This was the only facility capable of holding animals in accordance with the state law requiring a 120-day quarantine of all potential carriers of rabies imported into Hawaii.
The station was relocated using fed- eral funds allowed for "functional replacement," meaning that the relocated facilities could be designed and built to current codes but could only perform the same functions as the existing facilities. The new AQS was completed in 1991 for $20 million.
Hospital Rock Tunnel is a 690- foot "cut and cover" with separate inbound and outbound tunnels. A cut and cover tunnel is cut com- pletely away to daylight, the tunnel constructed, and the cover back- filled around the concrete tunnel section. These tunnels cost nearly $18 million.
The real showcases of H-3 are the North Halawa and Windward Viaducts and the connecting mile- long Trans-Koolau Tunnel.
H-3 passes through the majestic Koolau Mountains via the mile-long Trans-Koolau twin tunnels. The construction of the tunnels involves six different contracts, including ones for an exploratory tunnel, ven- tilation, control and support systems, finishing, and tunneling. All con- tracts are expected to be completed by December 1994.
When the North Halawa Valley was opened up by the newly built access road in January 1989, the bor- ing of an 14-foot-wide exploratory
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER « 1993
tunnel began through the Koolau Mountains. An exploratory tun- nel is used by engineers to pro- vide geological information and assist in the design of the main tunnel. Although this explorato- ry tunnel, finished in March 1990, cost $12 million, it has been proven that an exploratory tunnel saves money in the long run by reducing the expense of the main tunnel.
The actual tunneling work for the main tunnels was split between two contracts—one beginning on the leeward or North Halawa side and one starting from the windward or Haiku side. A joint venture of contractors, called H-3 Tunnelers, began tunneling from the Halawa side in January 1991 for a contract price of $89 million. Another joint venture, named Trans-Koolau, began tunneling from the Haiku side in October 1990 for a price tag of $108 million. The tunnelers used the "drill and blast" method of tun- nel excavation, following with shot- creting and rock bolting for tempo- rary support. A soft ground type called sapprolite was encountered for the first 300 feet into the Halawa side of the tunnels. The rest of the tunneling was done in good rock. Although the H-3 tunnels are above the groundwater table, rain water filters through the porous rock and poses the problem of nuisance drips. To alleviate this problem, a waterproof membrane seals the shotcrete to a 14-inch-thick concrete lining, which is being constructed using a 50-foot-long moving form. The tunnel section is horseshoe shaped with an invert width of 48 feet for two lanes of traffic and an excavated height of 38 feet. The profile has a maximum grade of six percent; the Haiku and a Halawa portal elevations are 840 and 1,305 feet above sea level, respectively. The rock cover above the tunnel ranges from 600 to 1,385 feet. The top of the Koolau Range reaches an elevation of 3,760 feet. Included in the design of the tunnel are 10 horseshoe-shaped cross-passages, which are excavated 10 feet wide by 24 feet high and are from 115 to 226 feet in length.
There are two portal structures on each side of the mountain—one for the inbound and one for the outbound lanes. These are four- level concrete buildings designed to house the ventilation and control systems, including electrical switchgear for power, transformers,
~ — rs cei
Top. The twin Windward Viaducts looking away from the tunnels. Center. The portal buildings on the windward side. Bottom. The outbound, windward side portal structure.
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER « 1993 Page 19
The control building and outbound portal on the North Halawa or leeward side of the Trans-Koolau Tunnels.
communications equipment, light- ing, air supply and exhaust fans, water supply for fire protection, service and emergency vehicles, and more.
The control building, separate from the portal structures, is locat- ed at the Halawa mouth of the tun- nels. It is the "brain" of the H-3 tunnel operations, housing the computer equipment, variable mes- sage sign controls, emergency gen- erator, closed circuit television equipment, fire and intrusion alarms, carbon monoxide monitor- ing system, and AM/FM rebroadcast system.
The ventilation for the tunnels is accomplished by a false, flat con- crete ceiling which runs for the entire length of the tunnels. The area between the arch of the tunnel and the false ceiling is separated into two sections by a concrete divider, with one compartment used for inhaling exhaust air and one compartment used for distrib- uting fresh air. Large fans either draw or blow air the into the sepa- rated compartments.
The Windward Viaducts are spectacular, one-mile-long twin structures connecting the Haiku side of the Trans-Koolau Tunnels to the cut and cover Hospital Rock Tunnel. Through a contractor-sub- mitted Value Engineering Contract Proposal (VECP), the design of these structures was changed from segmentally constructed, cast-in- place to segmentally constructed, precast, prestressed boxgirder viaducts. This request also includ- ed a change from precast driven to drilled shaft piles. After those criti- cal design issues were resolved, the
Page 20
VECP was accepted by the state. This resulted in a savings of $2.2 million split equally by the state and the contractor for this $136 mil- lion contract.
The viaducts have 23 sets of piers, each supported by six three- foot-diameter drilled shaft piles 40 to 140 feet long. The piers vary from 12 to 160 feet in height and have a double box cross section with walls 18 inches thick. These massive piers measure 22 feet long by 14 feet wide and are topped by pier tables. The superstructures are made up of the precast, single box girder sections with 24 to 30 seg- ments per span. The segment depths vary from eight feet at mid- span to 16 feet at the piers giving the superstructures an arched span appearance.
The construction of the superstruc- ture for each viaduct involved the use of a specially designed, twin, self- launching, steel erection truss system. This system physically picks up the precast girder segment and helps set it into place in the viaduct, allowing the then in-place section to be pre- stressed with steel tendons. This 384- foot-long truss enabled the construc- tion of the inbound and outbound structures simultaneously.
A precasting yard was constructed near the job site to produce the pre- cast segments. The yard produced an average of four segments per day, manufacturing a total of 1,338 for the viaducts.
Although the construction of the twin structures is now substantially complete, delamination problems
with the three-inch deck overlay are expected to delay its finishing until the end of 1993.
The twin, mile-long North Halawa Valley inbound and out- bound viaducts on the Halawa side of the tunnels will also be impressive structures. Although there was the option to build pre- cast superstructures like the Windward Viaducts, the contrac- tor for these viaducts chose to build cast-in-place, prestressed, segmental superstructures as orig- inally designed for a bid price of $141 million.
The superstructures are sup- ported by 17 outbound and 19 inbound double celled box piers, whose heights range from 27 to 105 feet. The piers' crosssection measures 23 feet long by 10 feet wide with 18-inch-thick walls and is supported underneath by five to nine five-foot-diameter drilled shaft piles, 35 to 65 feet in length. The cast-in-place superstructure seg- ments range in height from 18 feet at the pier to eight feet at the midspan with a wall thickness of eight to 27 inches and a bottom width of 23 feet. The concrete overlayed decks vary from 41 to 53 feet in width.
Three specially designed, steel cantilevered trusses are being used to construct the superstructures. One truss began construction at one end of the viaducts, and the other two started from the opposite end. The contractor has been aver- aging a segment turnaround time of 14 hours.
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER « 1993
Unusually large boulders encountered during the boring for the drilled shaft piles have added another $6 million to the cost of the project. Although the contract specified two- to three-foot boul- ders were likely to be encountered during the drilling, the contractor had to deal with boulders the size of automobiles.
The North Halawa Valley Viaducts are expected to be completed by December 1994.
H-3 required a great deal of time, money, and political support, but the highland highway is almost a reality. The freeway, envisioned more then 30 years ago, will soon be in service to ease the trans- Koolau traffic crunch. Total cost of
Top. A view of the steel cantilevered truss used to construct the North Halawa Valley Viaducts.
Center. Pier 17 outbound, the first segment of the North Halawa Valley Viaducts, and the steel cantilevered truss use for the construction of the cast-in-place, segmental superstructure.
Bottom. An up-close look at pier 17 outbound and the truss.
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER « 1993
this extraordinary project, which should be completed by 1996, is expected to come close to $1 billion dollars. Hawaii may never again have the opportunity to "experi- ence" a project of this magnitude and complexity.
References
(1 ) Parsons Brinkerhoff—Hirota Associates. "Interstate Route H-3 Trans-Koolau Tunnels Facilities Study Report," October 1984.
(2) "H-3/Haiku Omega Collection Studies," Hawaii Department of Transportation, April 1984.
(3 ) "Final—Section 4(f) Statement for the H-3 Windward Highway and Ho'omaluhia Park," Federal Highway Administration and Hawaii Department of Transportation.
(4 )Parsons Brinkerhoff—Hirota Associates. "H-3 Tunnel Facts," January 1993.
(5) "The H-3 Interstate Highway Video," Hawaii Department of Transportation.
(6) "Executive Summary—H-3 Briefing Halawa Interchange to Halekou Interchange," Hawaii Department of Transportation.
(7) Richard M. Sato & Associates, Inc. "Basis for Design—Animal Quarantine Station Functional Replacement," August 1984.
(S) Plans and Specifications for I-H3 contracts: I-H3-1(71), I-H3-1(61,64), I- H3-167,58), I-H3-163).
(9) "Why We Need H-3," Carrier, newsletter of the Hawaii Department of Transportation, Vol. 20, Issue 5, November 1984.
(10 ) "Staff Analysis—Interstate H-3 and existing Trans-Koolau Highway Alternatives," Federal Highway Administration, Region 9, San Francisco, California, October 1979. (11) J.D. Stokes. "Hawaii's Interstate H-3 Windward Viaduct," April 19, 1992.
Craig Sanders is in the FHWA’s Highway Engineer Training Program (HETP), currently assigned to the small and busy Hawaii divi- sion office. The Hawaii division office is responsible for the islands of O'ahu, Kaua'i, Maui, Molokai and Hawaii in the state of Hawaii as well as the territories of Guam, the Northern Marianas, and American Samoa. Sanders is in the final year-long phase of his train- ing, working six months in the divi- sion office and six months on the massive H-3 construction project. He hopes to receive permanent placement in a direct Federal Lands office upon graduation from HETP in December 1993.
Page 21
As a result of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 CSTEA) and the enlightened vision of planners in the Department of Transportation (DOT), transporta- tion research has a bright future. With the completion of the Eisen- hower National Interstate Highway
ATR
Alliance for Transportation Research
This is the ATR logo.
System comes the challenge of main- taining this remarkable infrastructure and using it in the safest and most economically beneficial manner. ATR brings to the transportation community new capabilities for
iE OCR ae REE Gian pclae:
“eg
An aerial view of Los Alamos looking west.
Page 22
All Alliance in New Mexico Brings High-Tech to Transportation
by Daniel S. Metzger
research and development (R&D) and mechanisms for rapidly integrat- ing the results of research into the transportation market place.
ATR is a partnership formed in October 1991 among New Mexico's major educational institutions: the University of New Mexico and New Mexico State University; two Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories: Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories; and the New Mexico State Highway and Transportation Department (NMSHTD). These part- ners realize that external interactions are important to energize the enter- prise. The president, David Albright, and his administrative staff are spon- sored by the NMSHTD. Each of the participating national laboratories
sponsors a vice president. Function- ally, the staff reports to an executive committee that comprises high-level representation from each of the part- ners.
ATR is fortunate to have the active participation of advisors from both the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and DOE. In addition, an Industrial Advisory Board represents the active and growing interests of the private sector, and the National and International Research Council helps ATR keep in touch with global research activities in trans- portation.
ATR is unique in its approach of bringing together public and private knowledge and capabilities to address problems of national inter- est. Fundamental to the effective- ness of ATR has been its priority to find ways to contribute significantly rather than to first institutionalize an organization.
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER e 1993
ATR Vision and Mission
Simply stated, the vision of ATR is to apply the enviable intellectual and physical resources available in New Mexico to important transportation issues. The governor and the department secretary have empow- ered the NMSHTD, in conjunction with industry and the other partners, to use the entire state highway sys- tem, which spans several climatic zones, as a test bed for research objectives. This collection of resources is proving attractive, both to the industrial participants and to the potential sponsors. Industrial participation is essential to the suc- cess of this cooperative research.
The primary work of ATR is to identify worthy, fundable research projects; to match the skills of the partners with the necessary tasks; and to disseminate the results.
National laboratories pursue technology transfer activities with the clear intent of providing the benefits from federal research to boost U.S. industrial competitive- ness. Technology transfer became a mission of the national laborato- ries with the enactment of the National Competitiveness Technology Transfer Act of 1989, which is consistent with the Stevenson-Wydler Act of 1980. These acts establish the primary technology transfer mechanism, the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), and these agreements protect intellectual property for the industrial participants so they can profitably take the research results to market.
Summary of ATR Achievements
In its first year, ATR has stimulat- ed the interest of the national labora- tories in important transportation issues. The centerpiece of participa- tion by the national laboratories has been their capabilities in enterprise and engineering modeling. Enter- prise modeling is systems oriented and involves energy, environmental, and economic simulations based on a collection of validated models. Engineering models use the vast computing power of the laboratories to compute the properties of compli- cated physical systems under realis- tic conditions. These modeling and simulation capabilities allow plan- ners to realistically investigate the consequences of decisions without expensive physical implementation. In addition, the laboratories have demonstrated interest in applying their resources in sensors, data pro-
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER « 1993
cessing, and data fusion to the cru- cial issues concerning the reliable acquisition of information from the roadway.
ATR has also attracted the atten- tion of industry. Currently, about a dozen agreements exist, or are pend- ing, between ATR and the industrial firms, both large and small, who see a commercial advantage in such a partnership. Among the companies represented in such agreements are JHK Associates, Barton-Aschmann, Hughes, Rockwell, Santa Fe Indus- tries, General Atomic, IRD, and IBM. Some of these companies have set up offices in New Mexico to associ- ate themselves more closely with the available resources.
ATR has illuminated the need for a proactive position regarding trans- portation and air quality. In Barcel- ona—during the Olympic Games— and in Mexico City, ATR partners demonstrated that the means exist to physically characterize air pollution in urban areas and to examine feasi- ble remedial measures. This demon- stration has led to an ATR proposal for a National Center for Transport- ation and Air Quality.
To link more effectively with the transportation research community, ATR has also reached out to other organizations. A program for research associates allows specific complementary capabilities to join with ATR in seeking solutions to transportation problems. ATR recently established associate rela- tionships with Princeton University, Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Florida, the University of Minnesota, and the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. In addition, ATR has established an agreement with the FHWA's Turner- Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC) to exchange staff for specif- ic, mutually beneficial purposes. At this writing, three one-week exchan- ges have taken place.
Los Alamos National Laboratory andthe | University of California
We focus on Los Alamos as a spe- cific member of ATR to illustrate, in somewhat more depth, the contribu- tion such an institution can make to transportation research.
The Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated for DOE by the University of California (UC), which actually employs the staff of the laboratory. This relationship has existed since the Manhattan Project, which began in 1943 to construct the first atomic bomb. Since then, the laboratory has adopted a broad char-
ter to address problems important to national security, which includes eco- nomic competitiveness and the effec- tive use of energy. As a Federally Funded Research & Development Center (FFRDC), Los Alamos is pro- hibited from competing with industry and, therefore, from bidding on pro- curements, unless specifically invited to do so by the sponsor. Oversight of the laboratory is in the hands of DOE, and scientific and technical excellence are assured through the relationship with UC.
Specific Projects
In the following paragraphs, we briefly review some ongoing projects of interest to FHWA. These reviews are presented as progress statements because, in most cases, the funding has only recently been secured.
Policy and planning
Public policy is based on planning to achieve benefits demanded by the public. Decision-oriented planning provides planners with the informa- tion they need to make effective deci- sions. (7) An important and imperfect part of the decision-making process is the assessment of consequences of decisions. Transportation is a compli- cated system that involves both the details of individual behavior and the macroscopic properties of the econo- my, the environment, and public safe- ty. Using its modeling and simulation capabilities, Los Alamos has embarked on an ambitious project to simulate the transportation system and subsys- tems and to use these simulations to examine the consequences of deci- sions faced by local, regional, and national planners. Such decisions may involve factors such as land use, vehicle or roadway component tech- nologies, restrictions on traffic, or alternative fuels. The goal of the pro- ject is to produce a TRansportation ANalysis SIMulation System (TRAN- SIMS) that will advance the state of the art in simulation technology to the benefit of the transportation policy, planning, and engineering communities.
The approach to the problem is to integrate the process of transportation system design and analysis by devel- oping an integrated suite of models and simulations. We intend to devel- op techniques that produce multi- and intermodal trip routing plans for individual loads with travel require- ments. These “load-oriented” tech- niques will be developed to interface with emerging activity-based travel demand analytic methods. The trip routing plans will be coupled with a detailed microsimulation of the vehi- cles attempting to execute their plans
Page 23
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investigated.
in a particular geographic area. The data output from the vehicle micro- simulations include the vehicle-byve- hicle movement dynamics, the vehi- cle mechanical state, and the control logic state, both in space and in time. These low-level data can be used, for example, to produce accurate pollu- tion load terms for predicting air quality, to indicate the severity of an accident in terms of momentum dif- ferences, and to obtain other forms of "higher-level" information. Large urban regions represent the geo- graphical scale for which the TRAN- SIMS simulation capability eventually will be applicable.
TRANSIMS is an ambitious project that will take years to complete and will require the cooperative efforts
of modelers both inside and outside the transportation community. For the first year's effort, we have begun to design and demonstrate proof of principle of the essential TRANSIMS elements. We are developing proto- type route planning and microsimu- lation software, and we are assessing scaling issues in the TRANSIMS approach.
Neural network computational techniques applied to traffic monitoring and automatic vehicle classification
Los Alamos is executing a proof- of-principle demonstration of the value of neural network computa- tional techniques to the application
A scientist doing transportation analysis with a developing version of the TRANSIMS frame- work.
Page 24
of traffic volume and classification
monitoring. Artificial neural net-
works are a relatively new computa- tional approach—motivated by bio- logic neurological systems—that uses networks of identical processing ele- ments for learning inductively from data base examples. Such networks are effective in performing tasks such as signal processing; pattern recognition; feature extraction and classification; and the modeling, pre- diction, and control of complex, nonlinear systems. (2) These net- works function in a manner similar to that of a conventional clustering algorithm, but with detailed architec- tural implementation and training algorithm differences that are moti- vated by current neural-network
computational techniques. (3)
The goal in monitoring traffic is to determine the volume and the types of vehicles that are using existing streets and roadways. (4) Such data are valuable for managing and con- trolling traffic and for planning the maintenance and design of the high- way infrastructure. Accomplishing this goal will require that many low- cost monitoring stations be instru- mented for continuous, reliable data collection and reporting.
Included among the widely used traffic monitoring sensors are piezo- electric strip detectors and magnetic inductive-loop detectors. A typical traffic monitoring station includes an array of such detectors, configured in sets (such as piezo-loop-piezo or loop-piezo-loop) that are deployed in one or several highway lanes. The process of converting the elec- trical signals from detector arrays into vehicle classification data is dif- ficult and is subject to the following potential errors: ¢ Nonreproducible sensor signals
that depend on such uncontrolled
factors as vehicle and sensor con- struction, and vehicle, sensor, installation, and environmental conditions.
e Intermittent or continuous sensor or electronic failures.
e Traffic flow anomalies, such as lane-positioning, vehicle transi- tions, or highly variable speeds. This project was conceived to
address the several operational diffi-
culties that lead to unreliable data and to provide:
¢ Increased volume and classifica- tion accuracy.
e Automatic screening and rejection of anomalies.
¢ Self-calibration and drift compen- sation within a designated range.
¢ Self-detection and diagnosis of sensor and recording-system faults.
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER e 1993
e Automatic attention notification.
If these objectives can be met, a substantial improvement in traffic monitoring will be possible.
Los Alamos is designing and field- ing experimental sensor test sites, examining typical conventional sen- sor signals, and instrumenting traffic monitoring test sites. Our initial test site, located near Los Alamos on state Route 4, was designed and constructed with redundant arrays of conventional sensors. The NMSHTD installed the sensors for this site and will install other developmental sen- sors in the future.
An approach to weigh-in- motion
Because of the severe damage caused to public roads by overweight trucks, federal, state, and local gov- ernment agencies are concerned with overweight vehicle violations. The preferred method for measuring the weight of a vehicle is to measure it at highway speeds. (This method is most desirable because it places a very low compliance burden on legal truck traffic.) Weigh-in-motion instruments typically require exten- sive roadway modifications and, thus, tend to be very expensive. During the late 1980s, Los Alamos scientists, working on the instrumen- tation to verify compliance with arms reduction treaties, used fiber optics interferometry to develop weigh-in-motion sensors that do not require any roadway modifications because they are installed at the side of the road. These sensors are potentially much less expensive than current commercial sensors.
As a moving vehicle drives over the surface of a road, the pavement and the ground beneath it deform slightly, depending, primarily, on the weight of the vehicle. Then, as the vehicle moves on, the deformed pavement and the ground return to their original shapes. Because these deformations have both vertical and lateral components, sensors buried
ATR sensor test site #1 where sensors and power were installed by the New Mexico State Highway and Transportation Department.
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER « 1993
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Data from fiber-optic sensor tests on various military vehicles at White Sands Missile Range. The apparent noise on the heavier treaded vehicles is actually the signatures of the individual treads. The fringe counts on the ordinate of the plot are the signal amplitudes given by the opti- cal interferometer and indicate the large dynamic range of the system.
at the side of the road can make weigh-in-motion measurements based on the lateral deformations. Although imperceptible to the human eye and to most instrumenta- tion, these deformations are large relative to the wavelength of light. Thus, fiber-optic sensors and optical interferometry, which measure dis- placements with resolutions in wave- lengths of light, enable such road- side measurements.
During the 1980s, the laboratory was faced with the problem of iden- tifying various types of armored vehicles (tanks, etc.) moving in a stream of other vehicles. The idea was to install the fiber-optic sensors and optical interferometric instru- mentation in the former Warsaw Pact countries to count the armored vehi- cles as they moved in and out of the depots and maintenance facilities. These counts were to be used to verify compliance with the treaties that had been negotiated with the former Soviet Union. The instru- mentation was required to identify armored vehicles by weight as they moved in streams of regular traffic, to avoid any interference with the traffic flow, and to operate unattend- ed. The roadside installation satis- fied all of these requirements.
In 1991, Los Alamos tested the instrumentation on various military vehicles at White Sands Missile Range. Under Los Alamos supervi- sion, the NMSHTD installed similar sensors near a busy intersection in Albuquerque as part of a traffic and air quality study.
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A fiber-optic sensor being emplaced at a busy intersection in Albuquerque.
Nondestructive evaluation of bridges
Because of traffic safety consider- ations, the Rio Grande bridges on Interstate 40 in Albuquerque are being replaced with wider, pre- stressed concrete girder bridges. The 30-year-old existing bridges are fracture-critical, two-girder steel designs, typical of many two-girder designs built in the 1960s and 1970s. The fracture-critical classification indicates a lack of redundancy in the structural design and means that the failure of either of the primary plate girders would result in a catastrophic failure of the bridge. The existing spans are scheduled to be razed in
Page 25
Finite element mesh for computing dynamic characteristics of the I-40 bridges being razed in Albuquerque.
the summer of 1993. But before these structures are demolished, New Mexico State University and Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers will apply various state- of-the-art nondestructive test meth- ods to one of the structures as vari- ous levels of damage are introduced into the plate girders. This planned destruction will advance the state of the art in nondestructive evaluation
(NDE) techniques.
In support of this research effort, Los Alamos will develop detailed numerical models of the bridge and correlate the numerically predicted responses of the bridge with the observed physical responses. The advanced computing facility at Los Alamos will be instrumental in devel- oping these models and analyses.
The numerical models will be used to determine the static and dynamic structural properties of the bridge. Los Alamos will use the results from the preliminary experi- ments conducted on the bridge to verify the numerical models. The predicted responses will be correlat- ed with the measured results from the actual structure. We anticipate that the numerical models will have to be refined after we measure the experimental responses of the bridge. When benchmarked, these computer models will be used to benchmark other, simpler microcom- puter-based numerical models, and the benefits of this research will be readily available to others in the NDE community.
Throughout the research effort,
the computer models will be used to determine location of the instrumen- tation, required sensitivity, and the safety implications of introducing damage into the structure.
Recent measurements and demonstrations by Los Alamos National Laboratory, in collaboration with a variety of other organizations, have shown LIDAR to be a powerful tool for measuring air quality associ- ated with vehicle emissions. Exper- imental campaigns conducted in Mexico City, Mexico; Barcelona, Spain; and Albuquerque have locat- ed sources of pollution, tracked the movement of aerosols, and located mixing layer boundaries as a func- tion of time and traffic conditions.
LIDAR is an acronym for Light Detection And Ranging (or laser radar). When a short pulse of laser light is emitted through the atmos- phere, the light interacts with aerosol molecules and is then scattered back to the receiving telescope and detec- tors, which are usually located with the transmitting laser. The distance
LIDAR laser beam reaching out over a region of Mexico City to document air pollution sources.
Page 26
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER e 1993
from the LIDAR unit can be deter- mined by timing the pulse return. The elevation and azimuth directions of the unit determine the location of the scattering aerosol particles.
Different types of LIDAR systems are used for different purposes. The simple scattering systems (usually in the infrared) that observe light scat- tered back to the detector at the same wavelength (or color) as the laser will locate the aerosols, but they will not identify the species of the molecules doing the scattering. These systems have a longer range than the others because their infra- red wavelengths of light are trans- mitted through the atmosphere with a minimum of absorption.
Two other types of LIDAR sys- tems use Raman scattering and fluo- rescence to identify the species of molecules being located. These sys- tems, which often use ultraviolet lasers, have shorter ranges because of atmospheric absorption and, often, can detect very low concen- trations of fluorescent chemicals. In some cases, less than two parts per million have been observed.
The most versatile type of LIDAR system is the DIAL, or Differential Absorption Lidar system. This sys- tem uses two different wavelengths
of laser light, one of which is tun- able. The fixed wavelength is cho- sen so that there is very little atmos- pheric absorption; the tunable wave- length varies across the absorption bands of the molecules being mea- sured. Thus, the DIAL system can identify most molecules. The wave- length requirements, however, make this system more complicated and more expensive than the others.
Several of the simple scattering LIDAR systems Los Alamos has are mobile or portable. One is the size of a large footlocker and weighs about 150 pounds, and some others are mounted in mobile vans. These systems have been used in various cities to locate sources of pollution aerosols and to track the movement of the aerosol clouds. Original data are color coded to show the variable intensities of aerosol concentration. Other data have been taken to mea- sure the location of the mixing layer boundaries. These boundaries show where the more polluted near-sur- face air is trapped. The correlation of these data with data on traffic movement and traffic congestion lev- els could provide substantive infor- mation on pollution levels and sources and on possible corrective measures.
Locker-sized LIDAR equipment used in the Barcelona air quality measurements .
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Los Alamos is developing smaller versions of these systems, as well as other environmental monitoring techniques.
Conclusion
ATR is rapidly organizing state, national, and private resources to address important transportation research issues. The national labora- tories' contributions in this effort eliminate much of the risk associated with applying this new technology. Our goal is to assist DOT with improvements in environment, effi- ciency, and safety through the devel- opment and application of new tech- nologies.
The following Los Alamos scientists contributed to this article: Chris Barrett, TRANSIMS; William Mead, automatic vehicle classification; Thomas Kuckerts, weigh-in-motion; Charles Farrar, NDE; and Dennis Gill, LIDAR.
References
(1) Michael D. Meyer and Eric J. Miller. Urban Transportation Planning, A Decision-Oriented Approach, McGraw Hill, New York, 1984.
(2) P.D. Wasserman. Neural Computing, Theory and Practice, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1989.
(3) B.D. Jones, Y.C. Lee, $. Qian, C.W. Barnes, et al. “Nonlinear Adaptive Networks: A Little Theory, A Few Applications,” in Proceedings of the First Los Alamos Conference on Cognitive Modeling in System Control, Santa Fe, New Mexico, June 10-14, 1990.
(4) Traffic Monitoring Guide, Federal Highway Administration, Washington, DG; June 1985:
(5) W.C. Mead, P.S. Bowling, S.K. Brown, R.D. Jones, et al. “Optimization and Control of a Small-Angle Negative Ion Source Using an On-line Adaptive Controller Based on the Connectionist Normalized Local Spline Network,” Nuclear Instruments and Methods, B72 C1992 27 1:
Daniel S. Metzger is program director for transportation pro- grams at Los Alamos National Laboratory and leader of the Mechanical and Electronic Engineering Division. A veteran of many field operations ranging from the Nevada desert to Alaska and the Samoan islands, Dr. Metzger has a background in sensor sys- tems and signal processing. He has served in several management positions at Los Alamos for the past 15 years. He earned his doc- torate from The Ohio State University. After teaching for a year, he joined the staff at Los Alamos and became acquainted with field operations and instru- mentation.
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This paper incorporates opening remarks presented at the Society for Automotive Engineers International Congress and Exposition held in Detroit Michigan, on March 1-5, 1993. The author was a cochairperson on a session on side-impact collisions.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) seeks to improve highway safety by improving the crashworthiness of motor vehicles. In recent years NHTSA and the auto- mobile industry have been involved in studying side-impact issues. These studies have focused on vehicle-to- vehicle side impacts and the injuries associated with such collisions.
The Federal Highway Administra- tion (FHWA) seeks to improve high- way safety through the design, con-
» hs ab ORORS 2 VS ae
At the Federal Outdoor Impact Laboratory, a car is crashed into a guardrail terminal as part of a series of tests on side impacts.
Page 28 PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER e 1993
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struction, and maintenance of safer highways. For the past decade, FHWA has been studying the side impact issues from a roadside safety hardware perspective. We are cur- rently focused on side impacts into narrow objects such as trees, utility poles, sign and light supports, and guardrail terminals.
While there has been some exchange of ideas within the agen- cies at the working level, both agen- cies and the automobile industry have largely pursued their respec- tive interests independently. Efforts to work together have been ham- pered because of the limited infor- mation available on side-impacts into narrow objects, the lack of a common scientific basis for sharing information, and a lack of under- standing of highway design prac- tices. To overcome these problems, FHWA, through the Federal Outdoor Impact Laboratory (FOIL), conducted a series of side impact tests into narrow objects. The results of these tests are available in four reports. (7,2,3,4) The data provide valuable information on side impacts into narrow objects, including the performance of small cars when impacting existing road- side safety hardware. The number of fatalities and the severity of injuries mandate that the agencies and industry work closely together to design automobile and roadside safety hardware as a system.
A quick glance at some statistical data will show that each agency's per- spective is important. Data on fatali- ties are from the Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS) and all other data are from the National Accident Sampling System (NASS) Continuous Sampling System (CSS). There are also some differences in the way FARS and NASS data are coded. For exam- ple, the NASS CSS does not contain most harmful event data. However, the general trends are accurate.
Table 1 shows the seriousness of fixed-object and overturn-most- harmful events. (5) Both fixed object and overturn (as well as pedestrian/cyclists) account for a greater percentage of total fatalities than they do of total injuries. Fixed objects account for 21 percent of all fatalities and 15 percent of all injuries. Overturns account for 15 percent of all fatalities and 6 percent of all injuries. By comparison vehi- cle-to-vehicle collisions account for a smaller percent of total fatalities (40 percent) than they do of total injuries (51 percent).
Table 2 lists all of the fatalities of Table 1 in which the first harmful
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER « 1993
Side impact into a utility pole was part of the FOIL testing.
Page 29
event is outside the highway shoulder. (5) This is the roadside safety prob- lem. Note that 72 percent of all over- turns (4,820 out of 6,698) occur on the roadside. Fixed-object collisions con- stitute 56 percent of the roadside fatal- ities. This paper does not discuss overturns (rollovers), but they too are a serious problem both for NHTSA (crashworthiness) and FHWA (design).
Roadside hazard, fixed-object col- lisions can be further broken down by the region of impact where the vehicle struck the fixed object.
Table 3 shows that in both the FARS and the NASS data, the roadside-haz- ard, fixed-object, side-impact catego- ry represents 25 percent of the total
fixed-object roadside safety problem.
The roadside hazard, fixed-object, side-impact problem is broken down by vehicle type in Table 4. Table 5 shows that most passenger car crash- es involve narrow objects such as trees, utility poles, sign and light supports, and guardrail terminals.
In summary, approximately 160,000 people are involved in acci- dents where the side of the passen- ger car impacts a fixed roadside object such as a tree, utility pole, light support, etc. More than 1,600 occupants—about one in 100—are killed. The annual cost to society is $3 billion each year.
Given the magnitude of the prob- lem, serious thought must be given to reducing this tragedy. NHTSA, FHWA, and the automobile industry must recognize that the vehicle and the roadway cannot be treated sepa- rately. The crashworthiness of cars and the design of roadside safety hardware represents a system.
Table 5.—Type of fixed object stru
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Treatment of the vehicle and the roadway as a system means that many of the concepts that have been used in the past must be re-examined. It may be that the current notions favor- ing redirection when cars impact guardrails and roadside safety hard- ware that breaks away on impact need to be re-examined. It may also mean that the current dynamic side- impact test standard, Federal Motor Safety Standard (FMVSS) 214, should include a car-to-fixed object test as well as the current car-to-car test.
Additional work on side impacts into fixed objects is planned by FHWA. It is anticipated that much of the work will be coordinated with NHTSA with three ideas in mind. First, FHWA, NHTSA, and the auto- mobile industry need to agree on a standard set of analytic tools so that data can be shared and understood. Secondly, there needs to be a stan- dard vehicle adopted by FHWA, NHTSA, and the automobile industry that can be used for the design of roadside appurtenances under side- impact conditions. Such a vehicle should represent the best thinking on how future vehicles will be construct- ed. Third, the design of roadside safe- ty appurtenances may require changes in both existing hardware and automobile side structure.
It is anticipated that this additional work will build on two joint FHWA/NHTSA initiatives that are now underway. FHWA/NHTSA have signed an interagency agree- ment with the Department of Energy to have the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) adapt the non-linear finite element code
DYNASD to simulate crash impacts. LLNL are developers of the DYNA3D code. In addition, FHWA and NHTSA are jointly funding the National Crash Analysis Center (NCAC) located on the George Washington University Virginia Campus. The NCAC maintains all FHWA and NHTSA crash films and uses these films for crash analyses, including side impacts. Finally, the side-impact crash tests supporting this program will be conducted at FOIL. FOIL is located at the Turner- Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, Virginia, and has a unique capability to conduct side- impact tests into narrow objects.
References
(1) J.A. Finch, J.A. Hansen, M.W. Hargrave, and D.R. Stout. Full-Scale Side- Impact Testing, Publication No. FHWA- RD-89-157, Federal Highway Administration, Washington, D.C., February 1989.
(2) L.A. Troxel, M.H. Ray, and J.F. Carney, III. Accident Data Analysis of Side-Impact Fixed-Object Collision, Publication No. FHWA-RD-91-122, Federal Highway Administration, Washington, D.C., May 1993.
(3) M.H. Ray and J.F. Carney, III. Side- Impact Test and Evaluation Procedures for Roadside Structures Crash Tests, Publication No. FHWA-RD-92-062, Federal Highway Administration, Washington, D.C., April 1993.
(4) M.H. Ray and J.P. Carney, III. Side - Impact Crash Testing of Roadside Structures, Publication No. FHWA-RD- 92-079, Federal Highway Administration, Washington, D.C., April 1993.
(5) J.G. Viner. “Harmful Events in Crashes,” Accident Analysis and Prevention, Volume 25, Number 2, April 1993, pp. 139-45.
Jerry A. Reagan is chief of the Design Concepts Research Division, Office of the Associate Administrator for Research and Development, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) at the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC) in McLean, VA. Prior to that assignment, he served as the chief of the Safety Traffic Implementation Division. He has had a variety of experiences with FHWA, beginning in 1967 as a materi- als engineer. Later he was assigned to Region 15 as a soils and foundation engineer. In 1973, he transferred to the Office of Environmental Policy at FHWA headquarters where he worked for 10 years. Then he moved to TFHRC as the state programs offi- cer of the National Institute of Highways where he was responsible for the NHI short-course program.
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“Along the Road” is a hodgepodge of items of general interest to the highway community. But this is more than a miscellaneous section ; “Along the Road” is the place to look for information about current and upcoming activi- ties, developments, and trends. Your suggestions and input are welcome. Let’s meet along the road.
The New Public Roads
If you are a regular reader of Public Roads, you have already noticed that something is very different about the look of this issue. The magazine is looking forward to better serving you in the future, and one way to do that is to recapture an important element from its past. We want Public Roads to once again be a forum for the discussion of current problems. We solicit your comments and your input. We recognize that there is a great deal of important and innovative highway-related work being done throughout the United States. Let us hear from you. Let us know what topics you would like covered in the magazine. “Instructions to Authors” on the inside back cover pro- vides our address and telephone number as well as information about writing for Public Roads. However, there are two caveats: We will focus on subjects rele- vant to the mission and work of the Federal Highway Administration, and research and technology will remain our foundation.
New FHWA Leaders Take Charge
On May 28, Rodney E. Slater was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to become the administrator of the Federal Highway Administration. Slater's formal swearing-in ceremony was conducted on June 16. Slater was for- merly the chairman of the Arkansas State Highway Commission and a member of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ Executive Committee of Commissions and Boards. He was awarded the 1990 Arkansas Transit Association’s “Arkansas Public Transportation Advocate Award” for his efforts as a staunch advocate for greater investment in transportation to stimulate the economy. Earlier in his career, Slater served as an assistant attorney general for Arkansas and was a key member of the governor’s staff, serving as executive assistant for economic and community programs. He graduated from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1980.
Slater also served on the Arkansas Sesquicentennial Commission and as liaison with the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday Commission. He is secretary-treasur- er of the Arkansas Bar Association. In December 1989, he was named an “Arkansas Hero” in the Arkansas Times magazine for his work to improve conditions in the Delta. He was also honored by the Arkansas Jaycees as one of the “Ten Outstanding Young Arkansans” in March 1990.
Jane F. Garvey has been selected by Secretary of Transportation Federico Pena to serve as deputy admin- istrator of FHWA. From 1991 to her selection as deputy administrator, Garvey was director of aviation at Logan International Airport in Boston, directing airport man- agement and capital planning. In 1988, after serving five years as the associate commissioner, she became commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of
ALONG THE ROAD :
Public Works, the agency responsible for construction and maintenance of the statewide network of highways, bridges, and roadside areas. As the commissioner, she was responsible for developing innovative public and private financing and new environmental programs for the agency, and she oversaw all aspects of Boston’s $5 billion Central Artery/Tunnel project.
Rodney E. Slater is the new FHWA Administrator.
Colorado Orders Drivers to “Move It”
On May 6, Colorado Governor Romer signed into law a congestion/incident management-related bill that requires drivers to move their vehicles from an accident scene if the accident occurs on “the traveled portion, median, or ramp of a divided highway.” The “move it” bill, patterned after similar laws in Florida and Texas, does not apply if a vehicle is too badly damaged to be driven or if either driver is under the influence of alco- hol or drugs.
Howard Transportation Information Center Dedicated
Dedication ceremonies were held for the James and Marlene Howard Transportation Information Center at Monmouth College in New Jersey on May 7. The cen- ter, which was funded last year with a $2,242,000 grant under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, is known on campus as Howard Hall, and it is the new home of the School of Information Sciences and Technology. The school is designed to foster research in computer science, electronic engineering, software engineering, and communications technology and to provide links for technology transfers between academic institutions and industry.
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I-80/National Commercial Vehicle Program Meeting Held in Kansas City
FHWA Region 7 hosted an I-80/National Commercial Vehicle Program meeting in Kansas City on May 5 and 6. Approximately 53 representatives from state agen- cies, motor carrier industry, and FHWA attended. The purpose of the meeting was to present the concepts of the National Commercial Vehicle Program and how the I-80 states could participate. The Iowa Department of Transportation agreed to take the lead in forming a coalition of I-80 states to participate in the program and in organizing a meeting in October to further develop the coalition structure and a commercial vehicle opera- tions business plan.
The services of the National Commercial Vehicle Program include one-stop shopping; preclearing trucks for “credentials. “size ~and “weight. and \ssatety: reporting/audit trail; fleet management; international cross-border; and hazardous materials incident response.
States Await Guidance on Converting Highway Signs to Metric Units
The Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act required federal government agencies to use the metric system in procurements, grants, and other business- related activities, except to the extent that such use is impractical or would likely cause significant inefficien- cies. Several states have requested specific direction on how to proceed with their planned metric signing pro- jects and with routine sign refurbishment projects. To assist in finding answers to some Sign format questions, FHWA has recently approved Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices—Section 1A-6—experimentation in Florida and Kentucky.
Meeting on Environmental Analysis in Transportation Set for July
The annual meeting of Transportation Research Board Committee A1F02 is being held this year in Seattle, Washington, hosted by the Washington State Department of Transportation. The meeting will be held July 20-23, 1993, at The Westin Hotel in downtown Seattle. The goal of this national meeting of transporta- tion environmental officials is to provide a forum to dis- cuss research and practices that will improve the man- agement of environmental process and policy in trans- portation design. Attendees from across the United States and Canada are expected.
This year’s program includes presentations on the implementation in the state of Washington of ISTEA, Clean Air Act amendments, and the state’s Growth Management Act; wetland banking; and public involve- ment using interactive computer imaging. There will also be a tour of one of the last completed stretches of I-90, addressing mitigation for historic structures and other environmental impacts.
Florida Enforces Seat Belt Law
In April, the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) began a stepped-up effort to enforce Florida’s safety belt law. The objective is to increase safety belt use in Florida from 58 percent to 70 percent. During the first week of a three-week intensive, statewide campaign, FHP issued 7,886 warnings and 1,577 citations for safety belt viola- tions. Additionally, 250 warnings and 107 tickets were
issued for failing to use child car seats. FHP’s new director, Col. Ronald Grimming, patterned this effort after a successful campaign in Illinois, where he was formerly the deputy director of the state police.
Second U.S./Japan Workshop Promotes Cooperation
The second U.S./Japan Workshop on Advanced Technology for Highway Engineering was held in Japan on April 20-23. Representatives of FHWA’s Intelligent Vehicle-Highway Systems Division participated. The workshop was part of an agreement between the United States and Japan on “Cooperation in Research and Development in Science and Technology.” A specific agreement was signed in May 1992 by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Japanese Ministry of Construction to promote, encourage, and advance highway transportation through research, development, and cooperation. The first workshop was conducted from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2, 1992.
New Jersey Initiates Innovative CMAQ Project
In cooperation with the Northeast States Ozone Transport Commission, the New Jersey Department of Transportation in a joint effort with the state environ- mental agency, has launched a comprehensive commu- nications effort to educate the public on the impact of motor vehicle emissions on air quality and on ways to reduce these emissions. The 16-month campaign has four themes: cars pollute, drive clean, go with cleaner cars and fuel, and tune up to clean up. These themes will be introduced one at a time at four-month intervals. Communication materials for each theme will be mar- keted to appropriate audiences. Federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program fund- ing in the amount of $250,000 has been approved for this effort, and the Division Office Planning Unit has also initiated an overture to have the Technology Transfer Center assist in this project through its newslet- ter to local governments.
Kentucky Motorists Face Triple Jeopardy
On May 26, Kentucky kicked off a new statewide high- way safety program called “Triple Jeopardy.” If a motorist is stopped for speeding, drunk driving, or not wearing a seat belt, the motorist will be checked for all three viola- tions. The program is patterned after a program devel- oped by the Knoxville (Tenn.) Police Department.
Louisiana I-310 Project Wins Award
The recently opened I-310 section constructed by T.L. James & Company Inc. was recently awarded the presti- gious 1992 Build America Award in the Highway Division category. This award recognizes excellence in the construction industry. The almost two-mile section of I-310 consisted of twin bridges built through environ- mentally sensitive, protected wetlands. There were no alternative corridors. The structures were built using “end-on” construction techniques with each section being built from the previous section from the top down. This difficult and unique project was completed well ahead of schedule enabling the complete I-310 cor- ridor to be opened on May 7.
Star (*) DUI Program Works in Colorado The Colorado Department of Transportation reports that more than 1,200 suspected drunk drivers were
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reported to law enforcement agencies by Colorado motorists in the first three months of 1993. More than one-fourth of the reports were made from cellular tele- phones using the “* DUI” number.
North Carolina Selects Route for I-73
On May 11, North Carolina officials announced the selection of the route of I-73 through the state. I-73, a new north-south interstate highway between Charleston, S.C., and Detroit, Mich., was included in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991.
I-73 will enter North Carolina on I-77 at the Virginia state line in Surry County. It will use I-77 to the U.S. 52 Connector north of Pine Ridge and then use U.S. 52 through Stokes and Forsyth counties to U.S. 311 in Winston-Salem. From there, the highway will use U.S. 311 through Guilford and Randolph counties to U.S. 220 north of Asheboro. From there, the interstate will use U.S. 220 through, Randolph, Montgomery, and Richmond counties to U.S. 1 in Rockingham and then exit the state on U.S. 1 at the South Carolina state line.
Except for the I-77 segment in Surry County, none of the highways to be used for I-73 are built to interstate standards. Although those are scheduled in the N.C. Department of Transportation’s Transportation Improvement Program to be upgraded to multilane high- ways, additional funds will be required to bring them to interstate standards. Existing state and federal funds will be used since no additional funding for I-73 in North Carolina was designated in the federal legislation.
Asphalt Binder Equipment Circulates Through RMUPG
The Federal Highway Administration is continuing to monitor and support the education and training of state department of transportation personnel in the use of the new Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP) asphalt binder equipment. The equipment and tests developed by SHRP are expected to replace the older, less accurate, and less scientific asphalt binder tests for classifying asphalt cements. Currently, one trailer con- taining the binder equipment is being circulated through the states in the Rocky Mountain User-Producer Group, which generally corresponds to FHWA Region 8. On May 28, the trailer was moved from Wyoming to North Dakota, where it will remain for six weeks. The trailer has already visited Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah; after North Dakota, the trailer will visit Montana, Idaho, and the Canadian province of Alberta before the equip- ment is returned to the Central Federal. Lands Office in Denver.
Incident Management Conferences Held Across the Country
On May 14, National Incident Management Coalition sponsored a conference in New Orleans with about 220 participants representing state and local agencies that operate roadways, causeways, bridges, ferries, and tran- sit facilities and services. This was the 11th major con- ference on incident management conducted over the past 18 months as part of a series jointly funded by the Federal Highway Administration and others to promote better handling of freeway accidents and other inci- dents. As a result of these conferences, some measures have already been taken to prevent and clear incidents and to assure traffic movement. At least five more con-
ferences are planned; they will be held in Milwaukee, St. Louis, Princeton, Las Vegas, and Phoenix.
University Transportation Centers Program Expands
Three new University Transportation Centers have been established since the passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991; this brings the total number of centers in the program to 13. In addition, the Federal Highway Administration has revised the roles of its headquarters and field offices in interacting technically with the centers. The three new centers are:
National Center for Transportation and Industrial Productivity
Center for Transportation Studies and Research New Jersey Institute of Technology
Newark, N.J. 07102
Contact: Louis J. Pignataro, (201) 596-3355
National Center for Transportation Management, Research, and Development
School of Graduate Studies
Morgan State University
Baltimore, Md. 21239
Contact: Frank E. Enty, (410) 319-3666
Mack-Blackwell National Rural Transportation Study Center
4190 Bell Engineering Center
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, Ark. 72701
Contact: E. Walter LeFevre, (501) 575-7957
Additionally, the program has established the University Transportation Centers Clearinghouse under the direction of Ann Marie Quinn. The clearinghouse’s address is The Pennsylvania State University, Research Office Building, University Park, Pa. 16802-4710. The telephone number is (814) 863-3614.
Within FHWA, field offices have been given the lead in technical interaction on highway-related activities at the centers. This interaction will be similar to that of SP&R activities at state highway agencies. The field offices will also assist the Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA) in the annual onsite evaluation of the centers. The National Highway Institute (NHI at FHWA headquarters will provide a focal point at the national level. NHI will work with RSPA and the Federal Transit Administration on national policy and administrative matters.
Highway Construction Costs Increase
The Federal Highway Administration announced in February that highway construction costs for the fourth quarter of 1992 increased 7.1 percent. The fourth quar- ter results raised the FHWA composite bid price index for highway construction costs to 107 percent of the 1987 base index for which 1987 average costs equal 100 percent.
Increases in the unit prices for portland cement con- crete, bituminous concrete, structural steel, and structur- al concrete resulted in the overall increase in the index for the fourth quarter. There were decreases in the unit prices for excavation and reinforcing steel.
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The three-quarter moving composite price index, which is obtained by combining data for the last three quarters of 1992, increased 1.6 percent from the previ- ous three-quarter average.
Trends in highway construction costs are measured by an index of average contract prices compiled from reports of state highway contract awards for federal- aid contracts greater than $500,000. During the transi- tion after the enactment of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 CISTEA), the index reflects federal-aid contracts on National Highway System projects and pre-ISTEA federal-aid contracts exclusive of secondary and off-system pro- jects.
Requirements for State and Metropolitan Transportation Plans Proposed
In March, the Department of Transportation issued proposals to foster greater cooperation among states and metropolitan areas in developing transportation plans and programs for enhancing mobility, reducing traffic congestion, and encouraging the use of mass transit.
The department’s Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) carry out provisions of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Act of 1991 that call for a continuous, comprehensive, and coordinated trans- portation planning process in each state and metro- politan area. Public comments on the NPRM were due 60 days after the publication in the Federal Register.
The proposed rules stress comprehensive transporta- tion plans which focus on developing seamless connec- tions among transportation modes and which consider more than one mode to serve transportation needs with- in a given area. Among the subjects that states and met- ropolitan areas will consider as part of the planning process are:
¢ The social, economic, energy, and environmental effects of transportation decisions.
e Ways to preserve existing transportation facilities and make them more efficient.
e Ways to reduce and prevent traffic congestion, including reducing single-occupant motor vehicle travel.
e Ways to expand and enhance mass transit services and encourage their use.
¢ Methods of enhancing efficient movement of freight.
¢ The effect of transportation decisions on land use and development.
e Use of innovative financing methods, such as con- gestion pricing.
¢ Preservation of the rights-of-way for future trans- portation projects.
¢ Incorporation of bicycle facilities and pedestrian walkways where appropriate.
e Access to international border crossings, ports, air- ports, intermodal facilities, and parks and other recreational areas.
¢ Development of financial plans that demonstrate whether the costs of proposed transportation investments are consistent with expected rev- enues.
A long-range planning horizon of at least 20 years
would be required for state and metropolitan plans.
DOT and DOD Jointly Review GPS
The Department of Transportation and the Department of Defense announced on May 27 that the two departments will conduct a joint review to deter- mine how to get maximum use of the DOD’s Global Positioning System (GPS) to satisfy both military and civilian needs.
GPS is a space-based positioning and navigational sys- tem that uses a network of Navstar satellites to provide very precise three-dimensional position and velocity infor- mation. While the system is designed primarily to meet military requirements, the federal government wants to ensure the maximum civilian use consistent with national security needs. These civil uses are expected to grow and generate benefits such as increased transportation safety and efficiency and economic growth.
Actual and projected uses of GPS include the precise monitoring of transit buses, information enabling city drivers with special receivers to avoid congested routes in peak hours, highly accurate navigation for civil avia- tion, harbor entrance and coastal navigation uses for ships, and the tracking of land vehicles.
The task force will be jointly chaired by Joseph F. Canny, deputy assistant secretary of transportation for policy and international affairs, and Richard G. Howe, DOD’s director for theater and tactical C3—-command, control, and communications. It will operate under the auspices of the DOT Navigation Council and the DOD Positioning/Navigation Executive Committee. The task force is expected to complete its work by the end of 1993 and make a report to the two secretaries.
Neglecting Infrastructure Can Kill
Neglecting the nation’s roads, bridges, power distrib- ution systems, water supplies, and waste water facilities could kill more Americans than all past 20th century wars, says civil engineer Dr. Robert L. Lytton, head of the Center for Infrastructure Engineering in the Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES)—a member of The Texas A&M University System.
A regimented program is needed to repair and pre- serve the trillions of dollars invested in our national infrastructure, according to Lytton. Neglecting our dete- riorating infrastructure will mean dangerous bridges, hazardous roads, risky water supplies, and unreliable electrical and gas distribution systems.
“The physical elements needed to support civilized living—elements that make it possible for large numbers to live together in cities—are taken for granted. We all would be nomads without our infrastructure,” Lytton said. “I don’t want to be an alarmist, but there is a great deal riding on maintaining the infrastructure.”
The center is an interdisciplinary group of researchers studying infrastructure problems including converting military technology to civilian uses. The center studies the public and private works that support habitation and the transportation and occupational needs of urban society.
The cost of restoring our infrastructure will dwarf the defense budget. “Right now, the country has a ‘panic management’ repair policy that is extremely expensive,” said Lytton; however, careful management, the latest research, and the right timing could slash the cost of infrastructure repairs by up to 60 percent.
—Texas Engineering Experiment Station
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Hanging Lake Tunnel in Colorado’s Glenwood Canyon
Glenwood Canyon Tunnel Project Wins ACEC Award
Parsons Brinkerhoff Quade & Douglas Inc. of San Jose, Calif., won a Grand Award in the American Consulting Engineers Council’s 27th annual Engineering Excellence Awards competition for the design and con- struction of the Hanging Lake Tunnel, part of Colorado’s enormous Glenwood Canyon Project.
The tunnel was conceived to meet the multiple demands of transportation, environment, and access to one of Colorado’s most popular scenic tourist areas. The tunnel causes no disruption to the hundreds of wildlife species present in Glenwood Canyon and the Colorado River. In addition, it does not intrude upon its pristine surroundings and is virtually undetectable from the opposite side of the river.
The entire 12-mile segment of I-70 through the Glenwood Canyon was described by former FHWA Administrator Thomas Larson as “a world class piece of environmentally sensitive engineering” and “a scenic byway that is one of the wonders of the interstate sys- tem.” With the completion of the Glenwood Canyon seg- ment in October 1992, the entire 2,175-mile length of I-70 from Baltimore, Md., to Cove Fort, Utah, is now open.
—American Consulting Engineers Council
Structural Engineers Form New National Council Twenty state and regional structural engineer associa- tions recently formed the National Council of Structural Engineer’s Associations to reduce the difficulty in work- ing across state lines. At a March 27 organizational meeting in Denver, officers were elected and bylaws were adopted. Committees were immediately formed to address state-to-state variations in registration and licensing requirements, project peer review and special
inspection requirements, standards of practice, and coordination of state legislative efforts. The new group intends to provide a forum to establish a national con- sensus on multistate issues. The national office for the council is located at 1015 15th Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005. The telephone and fax numbers are (202) 347-7474 and (202) 898-0068 respectively.
—wNational Council of Structural Engineer’s Associations
California Transportation and Environmental Agencies Sign Pact
A landmark agreement signed by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the Department of Fish and Game regarding the use of asphalt on state highways will protect the environment while speed- ing the delivery of needed public works improvements.
The memorandum of. understanding, signed by Caltrans Chief Engineer Richard P. Weaver and Fish and Game Chief Deputy Director John Sullivan, establishes a framework to address environmental and transportation concerns.
The agreement spells out guidelines for using asphalt chunks, pieces, and grindings in road embankments and shoulder backing along state highways. In addition, a joint committee of the two departments has been creat- ed to review future technical and policy issues involving transportation projects that could affect the state’s rivers and streams.
“With this agreement,” said Weaver, “we now have a vehicle in place to make sure all the various concerns of both departments are aired and resolved in a manner that protects the environment while allowing critical transportation improvements to be completed on sched- ule and within budget.”
—California Department of Transportation
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Pan American Highway Meeting Set for September in Chile
Access Management Conference Scheduled in August
The first national conference on access management for streets and highways will be conducted on August 2, 3, and 4 in Vail, Colorado. Access management is the strict control of the location, design, and operation of all driveways and public street connections onto the high- way. Access management calls for a significant improvement in access design and spacing standards in recognition that the lack of access control is the largest single cumulative design element reducing roadway safety and capacity. Usually in excess of 50 percent of all traffic accidents are access related, and access control can increase capacity by 25 to 35 percent.
The conference, which is jointly sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration, Transportation Research Board, and Colorado Department of Transportation, will feature more than 30 presentations on subjects such as current issues in access manage- ment, legal issues, establishing a program, corridor spe- cific plans, spacing issues, turning movement design and restrictions, local government approach, and project implementation.
For more information, contact either:
¢ Jim Scott
TRB, National Research Council 2101 Constitution Ave. N.W. Washington, D.C. 20418 Telephone: (202) 334-2968
e Philip Demosthenes
Colorado DOT
4201 East Arkansas Ave., Rm. 291 Denver, Colo. 80222
Telephone: (303) 757-9844
Fax: (303) 757-9820
SRE SER SS ASR SIRS RR RT RAE A TE A A A eS SEER SA SE RS AE RS SNE ES OE ST SS
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The Pan American Highway Institute and the Catholic University of Chile invite highway authorities and experts in highway and transportation activities to par- ticipate in the Second PIH Technology Transfer Centers Annual Meeting in Santiago, Chile, on September 21-25. The objective of the meeting is to share new technolo- gies, experiences, and information to contribute to an efficient and effective technology transfer for better highway systems. At the meeting, there will be simulta- neous translations in Spanish and English.
PIH was founded in 1986 to act as a network of road and transportation organizations for transferring both innovative and traditional highway technology. Presently, the network has 30 technology transfer cen- ters in 13 countries.
For more information, contact Dr. Carlos Videla C., Director centro IPC No. 8—Chile, Escuela de Ingenieria, Pontificia Universidad Catdlica de Chile, Vicuna Mackenna 4860, Macul, Casilla 306, Santiago, Chile. His telephone numbers are (56-2) 5522375 or 5522372 Extensions 4245 or 4573. The fax numbers are (56-2) 5524054 or 5531000.
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER « 1993
] |
NCP Category A—Highway Safety A.6: Highway Safety Design Practices and Criteria
Title: Computer Simulation Using DYNA3D Objective: The objectives of this study are: (1) to perform computer simulations of vehicle crashes into fixed roadside objects, with emphasis on side impact, using the non-linear finite element (FE) code package INGRID/DYNA3D/TAURUS; (2) to provide training and assistance on the use of the FE code package INGRID/DYNA3D/TAURUS and associated computing hardware; and (3) to assess and provide recommenda- tions to FHWA/HSR-20 regarding division computer sim- ulation goals, objectives, actions, and contractor/sub- contractor computer simulation related actions and deliverables. Performing Organization: Momentum Engineering Sponsoring Organization: FHWA Expected Completion Date: August 1993 Estimated Cost: $24,997
NCP Category D—Structures D.1: Bridge Design
Title: Innovative Bridge Designs Using Enhanced Performance Steel
Objective: This research is being conducted to develop innovative bridge designs to take advantage of the new high performance steel and concrete that will soon be available. These materials cannot be effectively used in present day designs. These new materials have the potential to make significant improvements in cost and service life of highway bridge structures. Performing Organization: Modjeski and Masters, Inc. Sponsoring Organization: FHWA Expected Completion Date: March 1995 Estimated Cost: $600,000
NCP Category E—Materials and Operations E.6: Snow and Ice Control
Title: Calcium Magnesium Acetate (CMA) At Lower Production Cost
Objective: To develop a cost-effective method that can be
commercialized by industry to produce CMA from biomass.
Performing Organization: Engineering Resources, Inc.
Sponsoring Organization: FHWA
Expected Completion Date: May 1994
Estimated Cost: $271,616
RECENT PUBLICATIONS i
Development Of An Upgrading Plan For Highway Safety Simulation Models, Volume I: Final Report, Publication No. FHWA-RD-92-077
by Design Concepts Research Division
A study was performed to develop a long-range upgrading plan for FHWA’s crash simulation activity. The four major work items consisted of the following:
(a) A review was made of available general purpose finite element programs which were considered to be possi- bly able to simulate vehicle/barrier crash events. One of the programs was recommended to be the subject of a preliminary study designed to examine the feasi- bility of using this class of programs to simulate the crash problems of interest to the FHWA.
(b) A review was conducted of various existing FHWA computer programs for the analysis of vehicle impact and vehicle handling problems.
(c) An outline was developed for the structure of a Roadside Safety Analysis System (RSAS) which would essentially be a repository of vehicle crash and handling programs and associated data. Also, a user interface was designed for this system to pro- vide a common interaction vehicle with which to allow convenient access to the simulation program and to control the generation, manipulation and review of associated input/output files and data base information.
(d) A long-range plan for the further development and maintenance of crash simulation software for the
ne
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER « 1993
Page 37
FHWA and the development and support of an RSAS was outlined.
This is volume I of a two-volume set. The other volume is FHWA-RD-92-078, Volume II: Executive Summary.
This publication may be purchased from the NTIS. (PB No. 93-167575, price code: A06.)
Proceedings of the Bridge Scour Symposium, Publication No. FHWA-RD-90-035
by Bridge Scour Symposium co-chairmen
These proceedings contain all 21 papers and seven summaries of discussions on research needs present- ed at the Bridge Scour Symposium held at the Turner- Fairbank Highway Research Center of the FHWA on October 17 to 19, 1989. The symposium consisted of six sessions On various aspects of this critical prob- lem: scour prediction, scour monitoring, scour model- ing, scour protection, special problems, knowledge gaps, and research needs.
This publication may be purchased from the NTIS. (PB No. 93-167369, price code: A17.)
Environmentally Acceptable Materials for the Corrosion Protection of Steel Bridges: Task C, Laboratory Evaluation, Publication No. FHWA-RD- 91-060
by Materials Division
The recently promulgated environmental regula- tions concerning volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and certain hazardous heavy metals have had a large impact on the bridge painting industry. As a response to these regulations, many of the major coating manu- facturers have begun to offer “environmentally acceptable” alternative coating systems to replace those traditionally used on bridge structures. In the interest of determining the relative corrosion control performance of these newly available coating systems, the FHWA contracted for a seven-year study.
As a precursor to long-term, natural exposure test- ing of various environmentally acceptable coating sys- tems, a battery of accelerated laboratory screening tests were performed. These tests included 13 high solids or waterborne, conventionally applied coatings; 14 powder coating or metallized coatings; and seven high VOC control coatings. These systems were test- ed in a cyclic salt fog/natural marine exposure, a cyclic brine immersion/natural marine exposure. Adhesion and water penetration tests were also per- formed on each system. The results of these various test were used to develop a matrix of test coatings to be used in the follow-on, long-term natural exposure testing.
In the accelerated laboratory screening tests, sever- al of the low VOC coating systems performed as well or better than the high VOC controls. In general, the low VOC zinc-based systems (both inorganic and organic zinc) and the epoxymastic-type systems per- formed the best in the accelerated tests. These types of systems were included in the long-term exposure test matrix.
This publication may be purchased from the NTIS. (PB No. 93-175099, price code: A006.)
Stability of Rock Riprap for Protection at the Toe of Abutments located at the Floodplain, Publication No. FHWA-RD-91-057
by Structures Division
This report presents the results of a research conduct- ed in a hydraulic flume to determine the stability of rock riprap protecting abutments located on flood plains. The observed vulnerable zone for rock riprap failure is presented for two abutment types: vertical wall and spill-through (H:V = 2:1).
Equations and velocity multipliers to assist an engi- neer in determining the stable rock riprap size are pre- sented in this report for the two abutment types. Conditions found to influence the stability of rock riprap are also presented.
The results obtained in this research report have been published in FHWA Publication HEC No. 18, “Evaluating Scour at Bridges,” dated February 1991.
This publication may be purchased from the NTIS. (PB No. 93-174639, price code: A060.)
The Simulation of Vehicle Dynamic Effects On Road Pavements, Publication No. FHWA-RD-92-108
by Pavements Division
The effect of traffic loads on pavement performance is a fundamental concern of highway engineering. The mechanisms by which moving loads interact with pave- ments take on an added significance today, with the growing concern to preserve our nation’s infrastructure.
This research develops a methodology to investigate the accelerating process by which variations in pave- ment condition and vehicle loads reinforce each other through time and that leads to significant pavement deterioration.
Heavy truck dynamic modeling fundamentals were developed and used to simulate a broad variety of truck configurations and suspension types. In addition, pave- ment models for both flexible and rigid pavements were described and used in connection with the truck dynam- ic models to parametrically study the interaction between vehicle suspensions, highway roughness, and pavement primary and ultimate response.
These parametric studies show that consideration of dynamic loading is necessary and that there is consider- able variation of dynamic loads produced by alternative tandem axle configurations.
This publication may be purchased from the NTIS. (PB No. 93-175396, price code: A13.)
Cost-Effective Geometric Improvements for Safety Upgrading of Horizontal Curves, Publication No. FHWA-RD-92-021
by Design Concepts Research Division
The purpose of this study was to determine the hori- zontal curve features that affect safety and traffic opera- tions and to quantify the effects on accidents of various curve-related improvements. The primary data base developed and analyzed consisted of 10,900 horizontal curves in Washington state. Three existing federal data bases on curves were also analyzed. These data bases included the cross-section data base of nearly 5,000 mi (8,050 km) of roadway from seven states, a surrogate data base of vehicle operations on 78 curves in New
Page 38
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PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER e 1993
EAE SRE EE ET AE SF IS ET LID ET A BE ES COTTE BALTES EERE ee
York state, and 3,277 curve segments from four states.
Based on statistical analyses and model development, variables found to have a significant effect on accidents include degree of curve, roadway width, curve length, average daily traffic, presence of a spiral, superelevation, and roadside condition. Curve flattening is expected to reduce accidents by up to 80 percent, depending on the amount of flattening. Widening lanes or shoulders on curves can reduce curve accidents by as much as 33 percent, while adding spiral transitions on curves was associated with a 5-percent accident reduction. Improving deficient superelevation can reduce accidents by 10 percent or more, while the effects of specific roadside improvements were also quantified. An eco- nomic analysis was conducted to determine when curve flattening and/or widening are cost-effective.
An informational guide entitled “Safety Improvements on Horizontal Curves for Two-Lane Roads” (FHWA-RD-90- 074) was developed in conjunction with this report to give specific guidance for the design of new curves and for upgrading existing curves.
This publication may be purchased from the NTIS. (PB No. 93-160679, price code: A11.)
Research and Development Achievements Report— 1992, Publication No. FHWA-RD-93-019
by the Office of Research and Development Operations and Support
This report is the 16th in a series of annual achieve- ments reports of the FHWA’s Office of the Associate Administrator for Research and Development. The report covers the period from October 1991 to September 1992. It includes information about R&D
mission, organization, budget, staff, and facilities; efforts to foster innovation and collaborate with other U.S. agencies and international organizations; research high- lights; and National Highway Institute activities.
Limited copies of this publication are available from the R&T Report Center.
Nationally Coordinated Program of Highway Research, Development, and Technology: Annual Progress Report Fiscal Year 1992, Publication No. FHWA-RD-92-094
by the Office of Research and Development Operations and Support
This progress report gives an overview of research being conducted under the Nationally Coordinated Program of Highway Research, Development, and Technology (RD&T) from October 1, 1991, through September 30, 1992. The NCP is organized into cate- gories, programs, and projects; the NCP categories cov- ered in this 1992 report are: A. Highway Safety, B. Traffic Operations/Intelligent Vehicle-Highway Systems, C. Pavements, D. Structures, E. Materials and Operations, F. Policy, G. Motor Carrier Transportation, J. Planning, K. Environment, and L. Right of Way. New to the NCP this year is the Office of Advanced Research, which will plan, administer, and conduct research and innovative adaption for emerging and advanced tech- nologies that have potential for long-range applications in the highway program. The report highlights the high priority areas to show the research emphasis areas of the NCP.
Limited copies of this publication are available from the R&T Report Center.
TECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER « 1993
Soil and Base Stabilization and Associated Drainage Considerations—Volume I, Pavement Design and Construction Considerations, Publication No. FHWA-SA-93-004; and Volume II, Mixture Design Considerations, Publication No. FHWA-SA-93-005
by Office of Technology Applications
This report consists of two volumes: Volume I, Pavement Design and Construction Considerations, and Volume II, Mixture Design Considerations. These two volumes represent the revisions to the original manuals prepared in 1979. These manuals include new informa- tion and procedures incorporated into the pavement field since that time. A significant portion of the infor- mation prepared for the original manuals has been retained. The primary purpose of these manuals is to provide background information for those engineers responsible for using soil stabilization as an integral part of a pavement structure. Information is included to assist the engineer in evaluating the drainage problems of a pavement structure. Sufficient information is includ- ed to allow the pavement design engineer to determine layer thicknesses of stabilized layers for a pavement using the 1989 American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Guide procedures. Material properties are presented with the use of this design pro- cedure, which the materials engineer will find useful in
Page 39
selecting the type and amount of a stabilizer to use with specific soil types. Construction details are presented with elements of quality control and specifications. The manuals are presented to allow an engineer to recom- mend where, when, and how soil stabilization should be used and to assist the engineer in evaluating prob- lems which may occur on current stabilization projects.
This volume presents the specific details of laboratory testing for the different stabilizer additives. Typical properties are given and the test procedures to select optimum amounts are presented. These chapters pro- vide the engineer with detailed information required from the laboratory to ensure the necessary material properties are obtained in the paving project. Volume I presents the details of drainage and pavement design and construction considerations for stabilization of pave- ment materials.
Limited copies of these publications are available from the R&T Report Center.
Moving America Through Innovative Technology, Publication No. FHWA-SA-92-038
by Office of Technology Applications
This brochure briefly describes the FHWA Technology Applications Program, providing informa- tion on the elements within the program and some examples of technology applications in action. The brochure also includes a telephone directory of FHWA field offices, through which readers may follow up on technology applications activities.
Limited copies of this publication are available from the R&T Report Center.
State and Local Highway Training and Technology Resources—January 1993, Publication No. FHWA- SA-93-023
by the Office of Technology Applications
Originally published by the Local Technical Assistance Program Clearinghouse managed by the American Public Works Association, this publication lists technology assistance products useful to the state and local highway community. Included in the publication are entries about videotapes, slide packages, publica- tions, training packages, and other material. In general, this material originated in the technology transfer cen- ters nationwide. The source for the products is cited in each entry.
Limited copies of this publication are available from the R&T Report Center.
Guidelines for Design, Specification, and Contracting of Geosynthetic Mechanically Stabilized Earth Slopes on Firm Foundations, Publication No. FHWA-SA-93-025
by the Office of Technology Applications
This report provides comprehensive guidelines for design, specification, and contracting of mechanically stabilized earth slopes. These guidelines were devel- oped for use by transportation agencies. Both a materi- al specification and a systems specification approach are addressed. A material specification approach is suited for in-house design by an agency, and the systems spec- ification approach is suited to a “line and grade” process, similar to that widely used with MSE wall struc- tures.
Slopes on firm foundations are specifically addressed, and embankments over soft soils are not covered. Use of geosynthetic reinforcement is included in this docu- ment, with geogrids and geotextiles specifically addressed. These guidelines are primarily based upon existing FHWA reports on soil reinforcement. Specific reports and guidelines are cited in the text and listed as references.
This document was prepared under the sole sponsor- ship of the Geotextile Division of the Industrial Fabrics Association International ([AFI) for presentation to FHWA. FHWA published this document in partnership with IAFI.
Limited copies of this publication are available from the R&T Report Center.
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ee
PUBLIC ROADS ¢ SUMMER « 1993
INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS
Background
As you can tell from this issue—the debut of the new Public Roads—this magazine is evolving from a technical journal to a first-rate, color magazine. See the story on page 1 for an explanation of the Public Roads evolution.
Public Roads is soliciting articles and input in the form of feature articles, technical articles, information for the “Along the Road” department, reader feedback, and suggestions concerning story ideas to be devel- oped. Feature articles should deal with surface trans- portation issues and topics in the following general categories: significant technological advancements and innovations, important activities and achievements, specific program areas, and general interest subjects. An example of feature article format is the story on page 16, “H-3: The Island Interstate.” Technical arti- cles should describe techni- cal issues/developments or new research that makes a significant contribution to the body of knowledge. Examples of technical article formats are the stories about the New Mexico Alliance for Transportation and side impacts on pages 22 and 28, respectively.
Before you spend a great deal of time developing and writing an article, call or write the editor to discuss the concept and scope of the article. You can call edi- tor Bob Bryant at (703) 285-
2443 or managing editor Pawel eS Anne Barsanti at (703) 285- 2102. The address is provid- ed below.
The new Public Roads attempts to communicate through a balance of text and visual elements—pho- tographs, charts, graphs, and other illustrations. An appropriate number of high quality photographs and/or illustrations with proper captions is an indispensable part of an article. Lack of photographs or other visual elements in sufficient quantity or quality may be ratio- nale for rejecting an article.
All manuscripts submitted for publication in Public Roads are reviewed by experts in the profes- sional field to determine the suitability of the article for the magazine. Authors are notified of accep- tance or rejection.
Authors should review this and future issues of the new Public Roads for style and use of illustrations and references. Public Roads follows the Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual with a few minor exceptions.
Alliance for Transportation Research This is the ATR logo
the completion of the Eise i Highway System
Manuscript Elements A complete manuscript consists of: title page, text, references (if appropri- ate), author(s) biography, and supporting visual ele- ments. Only complete manuscripts will be consid- ered for publication.
i
A New Approach To Public-Private Cooperation In Transportation Research
by Daniel S. Metzger
Manuscript Specifications
Provide a hard copy and a copy on 3.5-inch comput- er disk using WordPerfect.
Type the manuscript using double-line spacing with at least 25-mm (1-in) margins on 216- by 279-mm (8.5- by 11-in) paper. Excluding visual elements, one maga- zine page equals about three pages of manuscript.
Measurements should be expressed in metric units followed immediately, when appropriate, by English units in parentheses. For figures and tables, the English equivalent units are placed in the legend.
If the article has been previously published or pre- sented publicly, provide the following information on the title page: the publication or forum in which the infor- mation has been presented, the audience (approximate cir- culation/size and general make-up), and the date of publication/presentation.
Follow the appropriate fea- ture or technical format as explained in background information above.
Number each page in the lower right corner.
Avoid trademarks and brand names in the text unless it is directly related to the object of the article. The magazine nei- ther endorses nor wants to appear to be endorsing specific products or manufacturers.
Provide a list of all pho- tographs, tables, figures, and other illustrations with a com- plete caption for each.
Cite all tables and figures in the text in the same sequence as the tables and figures appear. Do not substantially repeat in the text information that is clearly represented in the table or figure. Place all references and footnotes at the end of the sentence after the final punctuation.
Follow the reference format used on page 30 of this issue.
Submit a brief biography of the author(s) with the manuscript. Include the author's present position and responsibilities and previous positions relevant to the subject of the article.
PUBLIC ROADS * SUMMER * 1993
Submission ete . Submit the complete manuscript/illustration package to: Editor, Public Roads, HRD-10 Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center 6300 Georgetown Pike McLean, Va. 22101-2296 U.S.A.
Manuscripts submitted by authors employed by feder- al, state, or local governmental agencies must include a letter of transmittal from the author’s supervisor, endors- ing the publication of the article.
Manuscripts by authors within the Department of Transportation must be endorsed by the applicable office director.
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