Congratulations to the eight UC Berkeley Principal Investigators who received a total $730,00 from the UC Institute of Transportation Studies (UC ITS) allocation of Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 (SB 1) funds to support research, education, and outreach activities that address and inform transportation policy, planning, and engineering issues in California.
This year, UC Berkeley welcomes three new PI’s to this program: Civil and Environmental Engineering Assistant Professor Manxi Wu, City and Regional Planning Assistant Professor Maryam Hosseini, and Gordon Rausser Distinguished Chair and Agricultural and Resource Economics Professor Aaron Smith. Safe Transportation Research and Education Center Director Julia Griswold, CEE Professor Michael Cassidy, CITRIS Director Alexandre Bayen, DCRP Professor Daniel A. Rodriguez, and Partners for Advanced Transportation Technology Researcher Peggy Wang round out the awards.
Julia Griswold — $97,471
Evaluate the effects of California’s first speed camera installation using telematics data in San Francisco
The California Legislature passed Assembly Bill (AB) 645 in 2023, which authorizes a speed safety camera pilot program in six cities to reduce speeding and improve traffic safety, particularly in high-crash areas. This proposed research will evaluate the safety impacts of speed camera installation in San Francisco—the first city to implement a pilot—using telematics data, traffic volume and speed pattern data, and citation information. The contributions of this work are threefold. (1) we will review existing literature on the effects of speed camera installations and other forms of automated speed enforcement to contextualize our findings. (2) we will assess changes in speeding behavior before and after camera deployment using a bi-level analytical framework. At the macroscopic level, we will measure aggregate changes in speeding patterns using empirical methods. At the microscopic level, we will analyze individual driving behavior—such as speed adjustments and potential route detours near camera zones—based on telematics data to identify enforcement avoidance behavior. (3) We will identify the equity implications of speed enforcement by analyzing the geographic distribution of citations in relation to neighborhood demographics.
Michael Cassidy — $100,000
Re-Examining Induced Travel in California and its Attendant Policies
The research reconsiders the mechanism that induces travel in the wake of road improvements. Conventional wisdom attributes the problem to heightened demand among long-time residents. They presumably respond to road investments by traveling more. But mounting evidence hints at a different mechanism: one in which the endogenous effects of economic activity and population are what induce the lion’s share of extra travel. We intend to settle the matter via statistical analysis of decades-long, spatially disaggregated data from across California. We expect to show as a result how some road investments spur jobs and population growth, which in turn induce travel. These are the investments that induce economic gains along with that travel. We further expect to show how certain other road improvements produce lasting mobility gains, by not affecting local economies and therefore inducing less travel.
If our conjecture is correct, the findings will rid professional practice of a fundamental misconception concerning induced travel. They will also set the stage for crafting smarter-growth policies in the future. Said policies would resolve present-day conflicts between statewide initiatives to curb travel and local policies to promote economic prosperity or lasting mobility gains.
Manxi Wu — $99,637
Fair Miles: A Data-Informed Framework for Road Usage Pricing in California
As California prepares to transition from fuel taxes to a mileage-based Road Usage Charge (RUC), a central challenge lies in designing pricing systems that are fiscally sustainable, equitable, and publicly acceptable. This project develops a modeling and computation framework to support the design of RUC systems that explicitly account for traveler heterogeneity in income, travel necessity, and privacy concerns.
We first design a mileage-based pricing mechanism that incorporates differentiated per-mile charges and lump-sum mileage credits, tailored to household characteristics such as income and baseline travel needs. This mechanism is intended to ensure equity and revenue sufficiency without requiring detailed location data. We then compare this baseline design with an extension that includes time- and location-based pricing enabled by GPS, which supports congestion-responsive pricing but raises privacy concerns. By computing outcomes under each mechanism, we evaluate how much additional benefit GPS-based pricing provides—and at what privacy cost.
Using California-specific data from Replica, the American Community Survey, and Caltrans PeMS traffic sensors, we calibrate and compute five RUC policy scenarios. The project’s outputs—including a policy brief, computation results, and an interactive dashboard—will inform Caltrans and California Transportation Commission as they develop equitable and effective RUC strategies.
Alexandre Bayen — $110,000
Operationalizing Connected Vehicle Technologies for Traffic Flow Smoothing: A Large-Scale Pilot in Contra Costa County
Stop-and-go waves on I-680/SR-24 waste fuel, heighten crash risk, and disproportionately burden disadvantaged travelers. Building on small-scale field testing that cut stoppage time by ~70% and hard-braking by 85%, Contra Costa Transportation Authority now seeks to deliver smartphone speed advisories to over 1,000 commuters. This UC Berkeley project supplies the data integrity, governance, and community engagement required for the success of that Phase IV launch. Seven integrated tasks will: (1) mine 90 days of PeMS records to flag faulty loop detectors, (2) verify and repair cabinets in the field, (3) calibrate remaining detectors with roof-mounted LiDAR ground truth, (4) time-align and lane-disaggregate INRIX probe speeds, (5) publish an IRB-approved Concept of Operations with live detector-health monitoring, (6) recruit over 30% of volunteers from CalEnviroScreen top-quartile tracts through Community-Based Organizations and equip buses, and (7) release an open-source toolkit and Policy & Scaling Brief. Outcomes include California’s first dual-sensor freeway benchmark, a reusable equity-centered consent framework, and cost metrics that position LiDAR-assisted calibration as statewide best practice, thus compressing start-up timelines and de-risking large-scale connected-vehicle flow-smoothing deployments.
Daniel A. Rodriguez — $90,658
Assessing the Equity Legacy of Mega-Event Transit Investments: Accessibility Impacts of Los Angeles’ ‘28 by 28’ Projects for the 2028 Olympics
This project evaluates the accessibility and equity impacts of transportation infrastructure investments accelerated under Los Angeles Metro’s “28 by 28” initiative, in preparation for the 2028 Olympic Games. The research develops a detailed future transit scenario using GTFS data to estimate changes in public transit accessibility across Los Angeles County, comparing current and post-project conditions. Accessibility impacts will be assessed both collectively, by analyzing the combined effect of all selected projects, and individually, by estimating the marginal impact of each project. The study examines how accessibility gains are distributed across geographic areas and socio-demographic groups, particularly by income and race/ethnicity, using inequality metrics such as the Gini coefficient, Theil index, and Palma ratio. A qualitative comparative analysis with the transport legacy of the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics will be conducted to extract lessons and identify potential risks. The findings will inform local agencies and stakeholders on how large-scale transportation investments linked to mega-events can contribute to long-term mobility improvements and more equitable access to opportunities.
Peggy Wang — $85,000
Trajectory Planning for Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs) Operating in Work Zones
The increasing deployment of CAVs presents both opportunities and challenges in navigating dynamic and complex environments such as highway work zones. Work zones introduce abrupt changes to road geometry, including lane closures, shifting traffic patterns, and the presence of workers and equipment, which pose significant challenges to CAV perception and planning systems. This research proposes a novel trajectory planning and optimization framework for CAVs operating in Smart Work Zones (SWZs), leveraging I2V communication for enhanced situational awareness. By integrating real-time data from smart vests, smart cones, and roadside units (RSUs), the system dynamically adjusts vehicle trajectories to ensure safety, efficiency, and compliance with work zone regulations.
The project will utilize real-world data collected in collaboration with Caltrans and validate the planning algorithms through both high-fidelity simulation and controlled field testing. A key component is the adaptation of the Enhanced Multi-Lane Planner from Baidu Apollo, optimized for the constrained and dynamic conditions of work zones. The planner incorporates infrastructure data, dynamic obstacle prediction, and vehicle kinematic constraints to generate smooth and safe trajectories. Ultimately, this research aims to bridge the gap between CAV autonomy and the complex nature of work zones, contributing to safer and smarter transportation infrastructure.
Maryam Hosseini — $93,545
CrossWise: A Scalable System for Context-aware Intersection Classification and Retrieval
As the nodes of transportation networks, where modal and directional traffic flows convene, intersections are inherently complex and critically important. Occupying only a small share of urban streets, intersections account for a disproportionate number of traffic fatalities and represent one of the most inconsistently designed elements in U.S. streetscapes. Local governments face growing pressure to improve safety and accessibility, yet lack scalable tools to systematically assess intersection performance, compare designs across jurisdictions, or identify what works. We introduce CrossWise, a context-aware platform for intersection retrieval and comparison. By leveraging computer vision, spatial analysis, and graph-based learning, CrossWise embeds intersections into a shared feature space that captures both physical form and surrounding context. This enables cross-jurisdictional analysis of form-function relationships at scale. CrossWise empowers planners to identify designs associated with safer, more equitable outcomes, detect infrastructure disparities, and support initiatives such as Vision Zero, Safe Routes to School, and network-wide investment prioritization.
UC Berkeley PI Aaron Smith — $63,291
UC Davis PI Colin Murphy — $99,992
Modeling Gasoline Supply Constraints and Demand Uncertainty Related to California’s Transition to Low Carbon Transportation
Recent closure announcements by two oil refineries in California have put the state at risk of a gasoline supply crisis. While gasoline consumption has been gradually declining, these refineries represent about 20% of state gasoline supply and our unique energy system makes importing fuel difficult. The CA Energy Commission is urgently developing near- and long-term solutions to this crisis, but we lack planning and modeling tools designed to work in markets subject to gasoline supply constraints because no mature economy has faced them since the 1970’s oil crisis. This project will develop new modeling tools to represent gasoline supply constraints and proposed solutions and account for uncertainty and variability in fuel demand projections. It will integrate these new tools into existing energy transition models. Elected officials have indicated their highest priority is to prevent gasoline price spikes; environmental policies could be rolled back to achieve this goal. The tools we develop will allow a more rigorous evaluation of proposed solutions, to help guide policy and stabilize gasoline markets without slowing progress toward environmental and climate goals. This work will inform ongoing work taken on by a CEC-led workgroup, on which the PI of this project sits.