Traffic Operations and Management

Implementation of a Tool for Measuring ITS Impacts on Freeway Safety Performance

Golob, Thomas F.
Marca, James
Recker, Will
2007

The research was undertaken to develop a tool for assessing the impacts of changes in freeway traffic flow on the level of traffic safety. Safety is measured in terms of the probability of a reportable accident, and the tool is so far restricted to urban freeway mainlines with substantial traffic levels. The tool will: (1) monitor the safety level of freeway operations (2) aid in freeway planning. The tool was calibrated by applying advanced statistical models to actual data combined from two sources: Vehicle Detector Station (VDS) data for freeways in Orange County (District 12), and data...

Integration of GPS/INS and Magnetic Markers for Advanced Vehicle Control Final Report for MOU 391

Farrell, Jay
Barth, Matthew
2002

This report describes the results of a project supported by California Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways (PATH). The main objective of the project is to develop and demonstrate a triple redundancy navigation system incorporating magnetometer, inertial, and carrier phase differential Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements. The motivating application for this project is lateral vehicle control. Therefore, the system was design to operate reliably whether or not GPS and magnetometer measurements were available. The navigation system provides vehicle position, velocity,...

Simulation of ITS on the Irvine FOT Area Using "Paramics 1.5" Scalable Microscopic Traffic Simulator: Phase I: Model Calibration and Validation

Abdulhai, Baher
Sheu, Jiuh-Biing
Recker, Will
1999

In this research, a promising ITS-ready microscopic traffic simulator, Paramics1.5, is thoroughlyevaluated both subjectively and objectively in preparation for its use for modeling ITS in SouthernCalifornia. A general and comprehensive list of requirements (evaluation template) for amicroscopic traffic flow simulator to successfully model ITS was first compiled and presented. Theevaluation template covered various aspects of modern transportation network modeling, including:[1] supply/control aspects, [2] demand/behavior aspects, [3] environmental-related aspects, and [4]simulator-...

Expediting Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (EVII): where the rubber meets (and talks to) the road

Varaiya, Pravin P
2006

This research demonstrated two potential VII (vehicle-infrastructure integration) services, one in traffic data probes and the other with safety. A real private vehicle, operating on California roadways, “talked” to the roadside, with the roadside backhaul interfacing into an existing California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) database and archival application. Demonstration of a probe application showed great promise for supplementing Caltrans’ database with VII- or DSRC-based probe data. Similar promise was shown with a road condition monitoring system, which demonstrated the...

Advanced Image Sensing Methods for Traffic Surveillance and Detection

MacCarley, Art
1999

This report describes the results of a PATH-funded study conducted by the Cal Poly Transportation Electronics Laboratory intended to assess advanced imaging technologies for potential application toroadway surveillance and detection. A major motivation for this study was the possibility of improvedvisibility under conditions of fog or dust using wavelengths longer than that of the visible spectral band. Technologies considered included ten types of infrared video cameras and one millimeter-wave still-frame imaging system. Evaluation criteria were structured to reflect the surveillance...

A Statewide Optimal Resource Allocation Tool Using Geographic Information Systems, Spatial Analysis, and Regression Methods

Goulias, Konstadinos G.
Golob, Thomas F.
Yoon, Seo Youn
2008

The overall objective of this project is to develop an optimal resource allocation tool for the entire state of California using Geographic Information Systems and widely available data sources. As this tool evolves it will be used to make investment decisions in transportation infrastructure while accounting for their spatial and social distribution of impacts. Tools of this type do not exist due to lack of suitable planning support tools, lack of efforts in assembling data and information from a variety of sources, and lack of coordination in assembling the data. Suitable planning...

Improved Analysis Methodologies and Strategies for Complete Street

Fournier, Nicholas
Huang, Amy
Skabardonis, Alexander
2021

Complete streets movement is a national effort to return to traditional streets in our cities to enhance livability, safely, accommodate all modes of travel, provide travel choices, ease traffic congestion, and promote healthier communities. The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and several local agencies in the State have developed implementation plans for complete streets. In this project, we developed and tested improved strategies and analysis methodologies for complete streets, taking into consideration the emerging advances in technology on control devices and data...

PEDAMACS: Power Efficient and Delay Aware Medium Access Protocol for Sensor Networks

Coleri, Sinem
Varaiya, Pravin
2004

We consider a class of sensor networks with two special characteristics. First, the nodes periodically generate data for transfer to a distinguished node called the access point. Second, the nodes are (transmit) power and energy limited, but the access point, which communicates with the ‘outside world’, is not so limited. Such networks might be used for instance when a geographically distributed physical process, such as traffic on a freeway or at an urban street intersection, is periodically sensed for purposes of process control. We propose a medium access control scheme, called PEDAMACS...

Evaluation of Bus and Truck Automation Operations Concepts

Tsao, H. S. Jacob
Zhang, Lan
Lin, Lin
Batni, Deepa
2004

Traffic congestion will continue to worsen and likely worsen at a faster rate than ever. People throughput and freight throughput have become critical issues for California and the rest of the nation. PATH has funded with approximately $125K a research project entitled "Evaluation of Bus and Truck Automation Scenarios" jointly proposed by Jan Botha (Principal Investigator) of Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Jacob Tsao (Co-PI) of Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at San Jose State University. This report summarizes the major findings of the research...

Mobile Traffic Management System Test Deployment

Gerfen, Jeffrey Brian
2005

The Mobile TMC and various field elements were developed for Caltrans Division of Research and Innovation (DRI) between 1994 and 2002. These systems were all designed to operate independent of one another to provide on-site traffic data collection, video surveillance, and traffic management functions to support Caltrans TMC operations. Cal Poly researchers integrated these systems and an off-the-shelf changeable message sign into a Mobile Transportation Management System (MTMS). This new and integrated system is capable of operation untethered from a fixed-site Transportation Management...