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The contents of this report reflect the views of the authors, who are responsible for the facts and the accuracy of the information presented herein. This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the Department of Transportation

University Transportation Centers Program, in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the contents or use thereof.

Evaluation of Variable Speed Limits on I-270/I-255 in St. Louis

Report # MATC-MS&T: 342 Final Report

Ghlam H. Bham, PhDCivil, Architectural, and Environmental EngineeringMissouri University of Science and Technology

Suzanna Long, PhD

Hojong Baik, PhD

Tom Ryan PE

Lance Gentry, PhD

Khushboo Lall

2010

A Cooperative Research Project sponsored by U.S. Department of Transportation- Office of the AssistantSecretary for Research and Technology

WBS: 25-1121-0001-342

Mahdi Arezoumandi

Daxiao Liu

Tao Li

Brian Schaeffer

 

TRANSPORTATION SCHOLARS PROGRAM Dates Held: Tom Maze Transportation Seminar (January 25, 2013 to May 3, 2013) and Transportation Scholars Outreach Activities (Annual) Location of the Activity: The overall Transportation Scholars Program is based at Iowa State University (ISU). The Tom Maze Transportation Seminar was online and originated at ISU. Various universities in the region regularly connect to the web-based seminar. These universities include the University of Missouri- Columbia, University of Missouri – St. Louis, Kansas State University, and the University of Kansas. The Transportation Scholars outreach activities and the students that participated in the overall Transportation Scholar Program are located at ISU. Audience Composition (e.g., professionals, students, etc.): The Tom Maze Transportation Seminar and the Transportation Scholars Conference outreach activities are of interest to public and private transportation industry professionals, researchers, faculty, and students. The participants in the overall Transportation Scholar Program are ISU students. Estimated Audience Size: Fifteen to 30 web connections are made to the Tom Maze Transportation Seminar each week and the attendance at ISU ranges from 15 to 30 people each week. These online seminars were held weekly from January to May 2013. There were also approximately 165 attendees, combined, at the outreach opportunities at which some of the Transportation Scholars presented their work (these opportunities are described below). Overall, a total of seven ISU graduate students completed the work to become Transportation Scholars. The students that registered for the Tom Maze Transportation Seminar (a course at ISU) also wrote two articles about queuing theory that were posted on the Go! Magazine website. Names of Co-Pi/Co-Authors/Researchers Involved: Nadia Gkritza, Shashi Nambisan, and Keith Knapp

1) Description of project and explanation of objective (conception and goals)

The Transportation Scholar’s Program at ISU attracts high-quality students into transportation-related disciplines. During 2013, ISU Transportation Scholars were required to be a research assistant on a MATC project and complete one or more of the following three activities: participate in the weekly Spring 2013 Tom Maze Transportation Seminar (TRANS 691 in the ISU course catalog); participate in the 3rd Annual Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering Graduate Student Research Showcase and Poster Competition on December 4, 2013; and/or, present their research at the Iowa State University Transportation Student Association (TSA) meeting on December 2, 2013. The web-based seminar enhances the educational experience of undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, staff, and faculty at the various universities and also provides professional networking opportunities with transportation sector leaders. As part of the seminar course the students also worked on two queuing theory articles that were posted on the Go! Magazine website.

 

The outreach activities involved both a poster competition and/or the presentation of the research work of the students. Both activities enhanced the educational experience of the students and offered the opportunity to improve presentation skills and networking opportunities.

2) Description of the Actual Event/Activity/Program (approach and implementation)

There were 14 presentations held during the Spring 2013 web-based Tom Maze Transportation Seminar. The speakers presented on a wide range of transportation topics covering local, regional, and national issues. The speakers and subjects are listed below.

Josh Doerhoff, Emery Sapp and Sons, National Award Winning Accelerated Bridge Construction Project on I-44

John Selmer, Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT), Iowa DOT's Perspective on Asset/Performance Measurement

Neal Hawkins, Institute for Transportation, SHRP2 Development of a Roadway Information Database

Rick Miller, Kansas DOT, Automating Kansas Pavement Condition Data Collection Carlos Schwantes, University of Missouri-St. Louis, Impact of Railroads in the US Deb Miller, Cambridge Systematics, Organizational Trends and Changes 3Glen Harrison, University of Kansas, Modeling Freight Flows 3Steven A. Buckley, P.E., Kansas DOT, The State of Safety in the State of Kansas Pete Stephanos, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), FHWA Operations

Performance Measurement Greg Cecil, Columbia Regional Airport Advisory Board, Columbia Regional Airport:

Challenges of Smaller Regional Airports Thomas Hoback, The Indiana Rail Road Company, Rail Transportation John Craig, HDR Consultants, Oregon's Bridge Project a "DOT within a DOT" Wendell Cox, Wendell Cox Consultancy. Transportation and Economics Tom Welch, Iowa DOT (retired), Traffic Safety

Fifteen to 30 web connections were made for the Tom Maze Transportation Seminar each week and the attendance at ISU ranged from 15 to 30 people each week.

The students that registered for the Tom Maze Transportation Seminar also wrote two articles that were posted on the Go! Magazine website at the ISU Institute for Transportation. These articles focused on queuing theory.

A subset of the students that attended the Tom Maze Transportation Seminar were also research assistants for MATC projects and many participated in the two Transportation Scholar outreach activities noted above. The 3rd Annual Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering Graduate Student Research Showcase and Poster Competition is held each year and graduate students from the Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering Department at ISU participate. In 2013 this event was held on December 4, 2013 and attended by approximately

 

150 people. Another outreach opportunity was provided to the Transportation Scholars by the ISU Transportation Student Association (TSA). The TSA is the student organization at ISU affiliated with the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) professional organization. The TSA organization meets on a regular basis and offered the Transportation Scholars and other students the opportunity to present their research at its meeting on December 2, 2013. The meeting was attended by approximately 15 people.

3) Conclusion (results and benefits)

Fourteen Tom Maze Transportation Seminars were held in 2013. The educational experience of the students that attended was enhanced and they were provided a network opportunity not normally available. Fifteen to 30 web connections were made for these seminars each week and typically 15 to 30 people were in attendance at ISU. The seminars provided information to the attendees about various transportation subjects. A brief survey was emailed to the 10 organizations (including Iowa DOT, Iowa Division – FHWA, and eight universities) that regularly participated in the seminar. Six of the organizations responded. The results are summarized below. A scale of one to five was used, with five representing the most desirable answer.

The average overall quality/value of the seminar series was calculated to be 4.86.

The average quality of the presentation topics was calculated to be 4.57.

The average quality of the speakers/presenters was calculated to be 4.71.

The average rating for the technology and seminar format was calculated to 3.71. It is believed that this lower ranking was because the web-based software was used for the fir time during the Spring 2013 seminar session.

A final question in the survey asked if there were any suggestions for improvements. The majority of the comments were positive, but it was suggested that the technology be checked before the start time of the seminar and that the presentations be distributed to the remote sites in case there was an issue with the technology. Other comments indicated that the new technology worked well and was a positive change.

The 3rd Annual Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering Graduate Student Research Showcase and Poster Competition was attended by approximately 150 people on December 4, 2013 and four Transportation Scholars participated. The ISU Transportation Student Association (TSA) meeting on December 2, 2013 was attended by approximately 15 people and two Transportation Scholars participated. The students registered for the Tom Maze Transportation Seminar course at ISU also wrote two articles that were posted on the GO! Magazine website.

Overall, seven graduate students met the requirements of a Transportation Scholar and were sent a letter of recognition indicating that achievement.