Environment

Transportation Modeling for the Environment: Final Report

Barth, Matthew
Norbeck, Joseph
1996

This report describes preliminary research dealing with vehicle emissions associated directly with Automated Highway Systems (AHS) and ramp metering. In performing this analysis, a power-demand model emissions model was integrated with several transportation simulation models in order to quantitatively determine the effects of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technology on vehicle emissions. For AHS, a steady-state speed/emissions comparison was conducted between vehicles that are platooned and non-platooned. For ramp metering, a general evaluation was conducted concentrating on...

Feasibility Study for the Use of Biodiesel in the Caltrans Fleet

Miller, J. Wayne
Durbin, Thomas D.
2009

Over the past several years, biodiesel use has dramatically increased due to its potential emissions benefits, classification as a low-carbon/renewable fuel and ability to be integrated into diesel fleet applications without significant infrastructure or other substitution issues. Caltrans has largest fleet in California, so biodiesel would provide many benefits in terms of meeting environmental and energy security objectives. However, all aspects of biodiesel use needed to be thoroughly investigated, including potential benefits and liabilities, prior to widespread introduction into the...

Vehicle Following Control Design for Automated Highway Systems

Raza, H.
Ioannou, P.
1997

Automatic vehicle following is an important feature of a fully or partially automated highway system (AHS). The on-board vehicle control system should be able to accept and process inputs from the driver, the infrastructure and other vehicles, perform diagnostics and provide the appropriate commands to actuators so that the resulting motion of the vehicle is safe and compatible with the AHS objectives. The purpose of this paper is to design and test a vehicle control system in order to achieve full vehicle automation in the longitudinal direction for several modes of operation, where the...

Cal Poly Pomona EDAPTS Test Deployment

Jia, Xudong, PhD
Gerfen, Jeff, MS
Hockaday, Neil
Chapman, Bruce
2010

The Efficient Deployment of Advanced Public Transportation Systems (EDAPTS) demonstration at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona assessed the viability of using the EDAPTS procurement, installation, verification, and validation processes in a small transit environment to reduce the cost of ownership for technology solutions. Modified Systems Engineering processes were used to deploy an Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) solution on the Cal Poly Pomona Bronco Express campus bus system. This report provides a summary of methodologies used, outcomes, findings, recommendations...

TravInfo Evaluation (Technology Element) Traveler Information Center (TIC) Study: Operator Interface Component-Phase IV: Institutional Analysis

Miller, Mark
Loukakos, Dimitri
1998

TravInfo is a Field Operational Test of advanced traveler information systems for the San Francisco Bay Area, sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The project involves a public/private partnership which seeks to compile, integrate and broadly disseminate timely and accurate multi-modal traveler information through commercial products and services. The public sector component centers on the Traveler Information Center (TIC), which collects and integrates both static and dynamic traveler information. The TIC began operations in September 1996 and operates as an FOT through...

Transportation Modeling for the Environment

Barth, Matthew J.
Norbeck, Joseph M.
1994

In this report, the authors describe preliminary research dealing with vehicle emissions associated directly with 1) Automated Highway Systems ( AHS) and 2) ramp metering. In performing this analysis, a power-demand modal emissions model has been integrated with several transportation simulation models in order to quantitatively determine the effects of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technology on vehicle emissions. For AHS, a steady-state speed/emissions comparison has been conducted between vehicles that are platooned and non-platooned. A comparison has been made between a...

Transit-Based Smart Parking in the San Francisco Bay Area: An Assessment of User Demand and Behavioral Effects

Rodier, Caroline J.
Shaheen, Susan A.
Eaken, Amanda M.
2004

This paper presents early findings from an application of advanced parking technologies to increase effective parking capacity at a transit station during the first half of 2004 in the San Francisco Bay Area (CA). It begins with an extensive review of the literature related to transit-based smart parking management systems to illustrate the range of system configurations and their potential travel, economic, and environmental effects. Two important conclusions from this review are: (1) lack of parking spaces at transit stations may be a significant constraint to transit use and (2) pre-...

Commercial Motor Vehicles' Safety - A California Perspective

Giuliano, Gen
Zhou, Jiangping
McFerrin, Peter
Miller, Mark A.
2010

This report presents the findings of an examination of commercial motor vehicle crashes in California. Initially, a review of the basic descriptive statistics associated with truck-involved crashes in California was conducted; it covered the time period between January 1995 and December 2004 based on the Statewide Incident Tracking and Reporting System (SWITRS) data base, which contains information about every single motor vehicle accident in the state reported to a law enforcement agency. In addition to examinations of the entire population of truck-involved crashes in the state over the...

The Role of Advanced Traveler Information Systems in Incident Management

Al-deek, Haitham Mohammed
1992

This dissertation deals with the application of Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) in incident management. Using an idealized traffic corridor and deterministic queuing methods, conditions under which route guidance information is useful are identified. Benefits to traffic guided with ATIS are estimated and system performance is evaluated in diverse environments of non-recurring congestion.

The ISTEA/ITS Connection in California: The State of the Relationship and Opportunities for Productive and Beneficial Linkages

Miller, Mark
Jia, Wenyu
1998

This report describes research which had three objectives: 1) investigate the current state of California's implementation of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) with respect to Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), 2) assess the extent to which ITS has been integrated within the State's transportation planning process, and 3) recommend opportunities for linkages between ISTEA and ITS that have not yet been recognized. A literature search was first conduced which studied the key features of ISTEA, specific ITS-related issues, the institutional environment, and...