Texas A&M Transportation Institute» Volume 48, Number 4

From Texas to the Nation

Tobey — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 05:30:53 +0000

Volume 48, Number 4 (2012)

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Inside This Issue:

What We’ve Done TOGETHER

Tobey — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 05:05:38 +0000

TTI Celebrates 50 Years with NCHRP

by Dennis Christiansen Agency Director

In 2012, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP). As I’m sure you know, NCHRP sponsors research in a wide range of topics critical to state departments of transportation. Doing so saves time, effort and resources in solving common problems throughout the country.

A need to address critical transportation issues gave birth to NCHRP in 1962. You might even say the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), founded in 1950, grew up together with NCHRP. Historically, Texas — with its fickle weather, variable terrain and urban/rural environments — has offered a one-of-a-kind test bed for conducting transportation research. So partnering TTI’s established expertise and unique research environment with NCHRP’s vision for applying local solutions to national problems seemed inevitable.

In honor of NCHRP’s golden anniversary, Crawford Jencks, deputy director of the Transportation Research Board’s (TRB’s) Cooperative Research Program (CRP) and manager of NCHRP, provides his perspective on the TTI-NCHRP relationship in this issue of the Texas Transportation Researcher. In that same section we highlight a few of the TTI-NCHRP milestones in the areas of recycled pavements, roadside safety, high-occupancy vehicle lanes and sustainability.

Most of this issue profiles current TTI projects with TRB’s CRP and Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) divisions. Current NCHRP projects include improving techniques and testing procedures for warm mix asphalt, refining design guidelines for roadside barriers to better promote safety and counting motorcycles more accurately and reliably.

The Institute has also worked with NCHRP’s sister program, the National Cooperative Freight Research Program (NCFRP), to investigate how to better utilize our nation’s waterways in moving cargo. Another of TTI’s projects for this program looks at a national transportation data architecture, useful in planning transportation projects and shaping effective policy.

TTI has extended its tradition of research excellence to SHRP 2, and you’ll find a quick-reference list of our current SHRP 2 projects in these pages. We devote full articles to two of our current SHRP 2 projects: one looks at extending pavement life by better regulating temperature during the installation process; the second looks at ways to troubleshoot utility conflicts that can occur before construction begins, saving time and effort during those early project stages.

Our work at the national level has helped make the Institute the recognized transportation research agency in the Lone Star State, as evidenced by the amount of information and testimony requested by the Texas Legislature in recent years. Policy makers at all levels of government have come to rely on TTI for an honest, reliable, objective outlook on the Texas transportation system. This issue’s center spread highlights a handful of the areas where TTI has provided empirical evidence to support informed decision making.

Based on our tradition of cooperative research excellence, TTI and our national sponsors are moving forward together to face challenges both familiar and new: the costs of increasing congestion, the symbiotic nature of economies and transportation, and the perennial problem of stretching finite funding to meet ever-expanding transportation needs. Let’s pencil in an appointment for 50 years from now — my successor will be glad to update you on how we met those challenges together.

Commentary: A Shared History of Meeting National Challenges

Tobey — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 04:15:12 +0000

by Crawford Jencks,
Manager
National Cooperative Highway Research Program
Transportation Research Board of the National Academies

In a three-way agreement in 1962, the predecessor organizations of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Transportation Research Board (TRB) established the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) as a state department of transportation (DOT)-driven, collaborative research program.

Via state-DOT financial support, AASHTO sponsors the program, TRB manages the program, and FHWA coordinates state-level research activity with its own. This approach promotes teamwork among members of the various AASHTO committees and state DOTs, experts from FHWA Headquarters and its Resource Center, and TRB expert panels and staff, strengthening the relevance of research results and their applications nationwide. Over its lifetime, NCHRP has leveraged state-DOT research to solve transportation problems important to all levels of government and private practice — its No. 1 goal.

In 1979, soon after my arrival at NCHRP as a project manager, I became acquainted with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) through two fine gentlemen who set my high level of appreciation for the agency. I met Professor Robert Lytton, henceforth known as Bob, and soon visited TTI, Bob and Texas for the first time, where this Rhode Island native was soon humbled by what I believe were habanero peppers. That same year, I attended a TRB retreat in Virginia and had the opportunity to meet then-TTI Director Charley Wootan. I’ve since had many opportunities to visit and work with TTI’s first-rate researchers as a project manager and, since 1992, as the manager of NCHRP.

TTI preceded the beginning of NCHRP by 10 years or so — a good thing for NCHRP. By 1962, the Institute had established itself as a very capable organization and has remained competitive ever since (as evidenced by its 130 NCHRP contracts totaling more than $38 million over the years). TTI has responded to transportation’s evolving issues, keeping up with changes in (and helping to advance) technology, materials and various analytical procedures. During the early years of the Interstate Highway System, NCHRP focused research on the “hard subjects” of transportation and highway engineering. TTI continues to excel in these areas, innovating how we deliver, operate and maintain our transportation system. Exemplary examples of TTI’s contributions that have really made a difference come to mind in the traffic, safety and pavement areas. And recently, TTI has taken on topics such as sustainability, better cost estimations and future scenario planning, which will help DOTs become more proactive, rather than reactive, to change.

And change is coming. Attention to the research basics will be a constant for NCHRP and TTI, but state DOT interests continue to broaden. As a result of the positives of advancing technology and the negatives of shrinking funding, state DOTs need to improve the way they do business. DOTs will need to think more outside the box to achieve bigger, better payoffs down the road. Some of that is happening now through NCHRP’s 20-83 series of projects, entitled Long-Range Strategic Issues Facing the Transportation Industry. Once again, TTI was ready and has a research contract in the series.

Evidence exists on practically every road in America that the NCHRP initiative has achieved its goal. TTI has played a major role in that success. Tomorrow will present new challenges, but if past predicts future, both NCHRP and TTI stand ready to meet them. Meeting those challenges is what drives us to achieve research excellence.

TTI Landmark NCHRP Reports That Set National Standards

Tobey — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 03:45:42 +0000

NCHRP Report 708: A Guidebook for Sustainability Performance Measurement for Transportation Agencies (2011)

NCHRP Report 708 provides users with an easy approach to meeting their self-defined goals to help progress toward a sustainable transportation system, contributing to economic and community vitality while also improving safety, air quality and reliability.

Sustainability has become a key component in transportation planning at all levels of government, but until now, few tools were available to help planners develop meaningful ways to measure the effectiveness of these efforts. Performance measurement has evolved over the decades into an effective way to quantify and communicate progress toward meeting goals and objectives. Developing these measures is often complicated. This guidebook offers transportation agencies a series of practical, easy-to-use tools to continuously integrate sustainability into current agency performance measurement programs. The guidebook is available at the Transportation Research Board website: http://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/166313.aspx.

NCHRP Report 414: HOV Systems Manual (1998)

Implementing innovative ideas, like the HOV facilities in Minnesota pictured here, improved mobility dramatically in the United States.

This is a comprehensive, user-friendly guide that covers almost every topic pertaining to high-occupancy vehicle facilities — policy considerations, planning, designing, marketing, implementing, operating and enforcing. The largest report ever published at the time, this 4-inch-tall three-ring binder (now available online at http://trid.trb.org/view.aspx?id=540319) still serves as the resource recommended for planners, engineers, marketing specialists, transit operators and police responsible for all aspects of HOV facilities.

NCHRP Report 350: Recommended Procedures for the Safety Performance Evaluation of Highway Features (1993)

NCHRP Report 350 was the standard for crash testing for 16 years, providing a wider range of test procedures and including a 3/4 -ton pickup in place of the 4,500-pound passenger car.

This report, which updated its 1980 predecessor NCHRP Report 230, served as the full-scale crash-testing and evaluation standard from 1993 to 2009. The report responded to changes in the vehicle fleet, the emergence of new barrier designs, safety belt policies and laws, and advances in computer simulation and other evaluation methods. The publication accomplished its goal of effectively meeting the needs for national uniform safety performance evaluation procedures in the 21st century and was twice the size of its predecessor, providing a wider range of test procedures for a wider range of devices, and using a ¾-ton pickup in place of the 4,500-pound passenger car.

NCHRP Report 224: Guidelines for Recycling Pavement Materials (1980)

Directed at practicing highway engineers, this landmark publication is still considered the “bible of asphalt recycling,” encompassing all portions of the pavement maintenance cycle, beginning with early detection of pavement problems, establishing the cause(s) of the problems and presenting the most effective methods of rehabilitating pavement. These comprehensive guidelines also cover the full range of pavement recycling, including various recycling approaches and procedures, equipment needs, environmental effects, energy requirements, and the economic effects.

Warming Up to New Ideas: The Pros and Cons of Warm-Mix Asphalt

Tobey — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 02:01:53 +0000

The biggest concern is the amount of water left on the aggregate due to lower processing temperatures. Is the asphalt trapping excess water as it coats the aggregate? If so, what are the long-term effects?

“A number of surveys from our project as well as others indicate this is not a problem with warm mix,” says Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) Associate Research Engineer Amy Epps Martin, principal investigator on NCHRP 09-49: Performance of WMA Technologies. The project is assessing whether WMA technologies adversely affect the moisture susceptibility of flexible pavements, and is developing guidelines for identifying and limiting moisture susceptibility in WMA pavements.

To effectively reproduce field conditions in the lab for accurate testing, TTI closely, examined specimens that were mixed and compacted in the lab, and compared those to specimens that were mixed at the plant and compacted in the lab, and then to field cores, which are plant mixed and field compacted.

“The compaction differs between the field and the lab,” Epps Martin notes. “Conditioning and curing in the lab are key issues in proper testing of lab specimens. Properly simulating what’s happening at the asphalt plant and on the road is critical.”
Epps Martin says that this was one of the most complex asphalt research projects she has ever been involved with, requiring the help of departments of transportation in Iowa, Texas, Montana and New Mexico.

Researchers are also looking at what’s called a time horizon. “Many people think there’s a period in the early life of the pavement where warm mix hasn’t caught up to hot mix. We have seen that, too. After about a year’s time, warm mix seems to perform just as well as hot mix in terms of stiffness and moisture susceptibility,” Epps Martin explains.

Testing is under way to determine whether current moisture susceptibility tests capture any differences between warm mix and hot mix. An example question is: does the addition of anti-stripping agents — which are additives like lime or liquid chemical packages — help alleviate any moisture sensitivity problems if there are any?

“So far, we’ve determined proper curing times and temperatures for WMA. For example, at the design stage, two hours at 240 degrees helps simulate what’s going on in early life in the field,” Epps Martin says. The final report will include guidelines for testing with additives or foaming technologies.

“The work that Dr. Epps Martin is performing through this project is critical to the implementation of WMA by state and local agencies,” says Kim Willoughby, research manager for the Washington State Department of Transportation’s Construction, Materials, Bridges and Maintenance Research Office. “Being able to answer the question of whether WMA is more susceptible to moisture than hot-mix asphalt will facilitate the acceptance of these technologies throughout the nation.”

Additional Warm-Mix Projects: NCHRP 09-52, NCHRP 09-53

TTI-led research into warm-mix asphalt continues in two just-launched NCHRP projects: 09-52 (Short-Term Laboratory Conditioning of Asphalt Mixtures) and 09-53 (Properties of Foamed Asphalt for Warm Mix Asphalt Applications) under TTI Senior Research Scientist David Newcomb. NCHRP 09-52 seeks to develop lab procedures and criteria for improving lab simulations of real-world conditions for testing asphalt mixtures. NCHRP 09-53 looks specifically at key properties of foamed asphalt binders and seeks to develop lab protocols related to the foaming of asphalt binders and lab mixing processes. The Texas Transportation Researcher will feature findings from these projects in future issues.

National Crash-Testing Standards: TTI Makes a Big Impact with 18-Wheelers

Tobey — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 01:44:04 +0000

An 18-wheeler crashes into a concrete barrier at TTI’s Proving Grounds. For the first time, the test was streamed live via the Internet for clients across the country.

On Sept. 26, 2012, at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s (TTI’s) Riverside Campus crash facility, a fully loaded 18-wheeler traveling at 50 mph slammed into a concrete barrier placed on top of a retaining wall. The data from the unique crash test will prove vital for increasing safety and decreasing construction costs for this type of barrier application. The test was broadcast across the country via the Internet as a first-ever streaming event.

The mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) wall — where a truck barrier sits atop a retaining wall — is being used more often by state departments of transportation. TTI Research Engineer Roger Bligh and his team of researchers, including renowned geotechnical expert Jean-Louis Briaud, measured the impact of the collision on the barrier system and MSE wall as a key task on NCHRP 22-20(02): Design Guidelines for TL-3 through TL-5 Roadside Barrier Systems Placed on MSE Retaining Walls. Bligh, manager of TTI’s Roadside Safety Program, and Briaud are co-principal investigators on the project.

Findings from this first-of-its-kind crash test will have major implications. “There is no information available that tells industry how to design the barrier foundation system and the retaining wall to accommodate an impact from a large commercial truck,” Bligh notes.

According to Briaud, manager of TTI’s Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Program, retaining walls have become more popular due to space limitations in and around urban areas. “Those walls, and the concrete barriers on top of them, are necessary when there is no room for earthen slopes. But until now, researchers and construction companies could only guess the force that’s applied to the wall from a fully loaded 18-wheeler.” Briaud conducted computer simulations of crashes for months on the project.

Without guidelines to help determine the appropriate size and type of wall and barrier, road designers and construction firms were often overly conservative in their choices. Bligh says the data from the test will help take the guesswork out of the equation.

Peter Anderson, vice president for technical development of the Reinforced Earth Company (RECo), a design and supply firm considered a market leader in the MSE retaining wall industry, assisted with the project. Bligh says RECo’s involvement in the test dramatically lowered project costs thanks to the donation of materials needed for the test installation.

Attending the crash test was Mark S. Bush, NCHRP senior program officer overseeing the research project. Bush says numerous steps have to be taken before new guidelines for this application will be adopted.

“Now that this critical crash test has been conducted, TTI will complete the analyses and finish a detailed final report to be reviewed by an expert NCHRP panel for publication and committees from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials for adoption,” Bush says. “This was a crucial test for refining barrier design procedures and standards to ensure the safety of the traveling public.”

Demanding a Recount on Motorcycle Crashes

Tobey — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 00:45:48 +0000

Are we counting motorcycles accurately?

Statistics from 2000 and 2008 indicate that motorcycle fatalities increased by 83 percent. During the same time period, the vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by motorcycles increased by only 38 percent. Is this a deadly trend, or are the VMT numbers valid?

“The numbers we’re counting don’t reflect the rise in crashes, injuries and fatalities,” notes Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) Research Engineer Dan Middleton. “Are we counting motorcycles well enough? The answer is no.”

NCHRP Project 08-81, Improving the Quality of Motorcycle Travel Data Collection, tasked Middleton with reviewing current traffic detection methods, investigating new technologies and reporting on which count motorcycles the best.

“Motorcycle fatalities are increasing on our roadways, but data haven’t shown much change in VMT for several years,” explains Christopher Hedges, NCHRP senior program officer. “That gives us a perception — one that is quite likely erroneous — that higher fatalities are resulting from some characteristics of the rider, the road or the motorcycle itself.”

Current detection technologies are divided into two categories: intrusive and non-intrusive. Intrusive detectors, like piezoelectric cables, require some modification of the pavement. Non-intrusive detectors, like passive infrared systems, are mounted above or beside the roadway.

Which ones work best? According to Middleton, piezoelectric cables work fine (particularly when brand new), but they require lane closures for installation and maintenance. Also, many agencies install sensors covering only half the lane width, allowing motorcycles to be missed. Preliminary results from recent tests on passive infrared systems in Florida indicate that infrared sensors distinguish motorcycles from cars and count the former correctly.

The methodology used to count motorcycles is also at issue. For example, consider the two distinct rider groups: commuters and recreational riders. Each group has a distinct riding pattern. Count locations for recreational riders are probably different from those for commuters.

“If you want to get a representative sample, you can’t just count urban areas. Commuters ride on weekdays, but recreational riders ride on weekends and holidays, and often on back roads,” Middleton says.

Middleton is using motorcycle crash reports to determine whether crash locations are good identifiers of count sites. Preliminary evidence from two states indicates that this method will work.

“Crashes happen where motorcycles travel. We used data to create a map that shows both motorcycle crash locations and motorcycle counts along all roadways. We haven’t found anything else that predicts where to count in these rural areas,” Middleton says.

The project couldn’t have come at a better time since states are now required to report motorcycle travel to the federal Highway Performance Monitoring System.

“Until we have a good understanding of true motorcycle volumes, we won’t have a good measure of exposure rates — the number of crashes and fatalities as a factor of actual motorcycle miles traveled,” Hedges says. “Without that kind of knowledge, it’s impossible to develop safety programs that address real needs and the right risk factors. This project has the potential to make a real difference in our understanding of motorcycle safety.”

Should We Move More Cargo via America’s Marine Highways?

Tobey — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 23:48:05 +0000

Moving freight via U.S. waterways is being reevaluated as a cost-effective alternative to congested roadways.

Moving freight along waterways is nothing new in the United States. In fact, historically speaking, waterways were more important to U.S. commerce than any other mode until the advent of railroads. With highways more congested than ever and safety and environmental concerns associated with moving hazardous materials via rail, some are seeing America’s waterways as an attractive, alternative mode.

To evaluate their potential as a substitute for road and rail, the U.S. Maritime Administration has launched the North American Marine Highways (NAMH) Initiative. Despite situations that would seem to favor short-sea shipping and the development of marine highways, the freight community has not embraced the idea of moving a larger share of its cargo over water. Jim Kruse, director of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s Center for Ports and Waterways, recently co-authored a white paper examining the whys and wherefores of moving freight via marine highways.

“In this report, we examined both successful and unsuccessful shipping ventures, shipper requirements, vessel considerations, legislation and obstacles impacting NAMH,” says Kruse.

The white paper, NCFRP 17: North American Marine Highways (Report 5), results from an extensive literature review and interviews with a diverse group of stakeholders, and examines the many facets that go into the planning and operation of current and future marine highway services. Kruse concludes that numerous obstacles stand in the way of marine transport start-up businesses, including:

lack of statistical data regarding trade flows,
lack of equipment that qualifies under current statutes and regulations,
shippers unfamiliar with the process or the benefits, and
flow-imbalance issues (significant volume of cargo differences moving in both directions).

Kruse’s findings make it clear that in most instances marine highway shippers and operators are not currently cost competitive with existing alternatives. “There will be no major development of a marine highway system until the overall framework changes,” Kruse states.

In his foreword to the report, Transportation Research Board Staff Officer William Rogers says it will help stakeholders better understand how use of today’s marine highway system could be improved. “The report is especially valuable for its assessment of the conditions of feasibility; its analysis of the economic, technical, regulatory, and logistical barriers inhibiting greater use of the marine highway system; and proposed solutions for barrier elimination,” writes Rogers.

In a second phase of the project, Kruse explored the possibility of transporting heavy and hazardous shipments over water — specifically chlorine and anhydrous ammonia, classified as toxic inhalation hazard (TIH) materials. NCFRP 17: Marine Highway Transport of Toxic Inhalation Materials (Report 18) examined chlorine and ammonia because of their widespread use — ammonia, in the agricultural industry, and chlorine, in 45 percent of all commercial products. The study sought to develop a business case for transporting a larger share of these materials via waterways. The findings weren’t encouraging.

“Unless there are major market or regulatory shifts, we do not anticipate a diversion of TIH materials from rail to marine highway transport,” Kruse concludes. He says the biggest obstacles to marine transport are that the TIH market is not growing and users of the materials are so geographically dispersed, making it difficult to achieve economical load quantities.

TTI Supports Texas Policy Makers

Tobey — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 22:49:48 +0000

Basing Informed Decisions on Reliable Research

Panama Canal Expansion

Officials are positioning Texas to capitalize on the Panama Canal expansion.

The expansion of the Panama Canal promises implications for global shipping patterns, including those influencing Texas ports. By any measure, those ports are critically important to the Texas economy, accounting for nearly 1.4 million jobs and more than $82 billion in personal income each year. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) formed the Panama Canal Working Group in 2012 and sponsored a research study conducted by TTI to assess opportunities associated with the canal expansion, particularly the potential impacts on ports and landside infrastructure, including roadways, railroads and intermodal facilities. TTI examined previous studies on the canal expansion and heard from shippers, ports, carriers, industry groups and other stakeholders at a series of meetings. The overarching finding from the study is that the Panama Canal expansion — coupled with continued population grown in Texas, energy-sector developments and the emergence of new trading partners throughout the world — represents opportunities to expand Texas’ position as a global gateway for the nation. By providing a low-cost, reliable, safe, secure, multimodal and environmentally sustainable supply chain, the state can increase its global trade, create new jobs, and expand the state and national economies.

Impact of the Energy Sector on Roadways

Rapid growth in the energy industry creates both pros and cons for the state.

It’s hard to overstate the energy sector’s impact in Texas. The industry directly employs nearly 225,000 Texans in oil and gas exploration and production, accounting for almost 13 percent of all new jobs added in the state over the past year. The rapid growth of wind-power generation has further bolstered the energy sector’s contributions. But impacts can also be negative. Countless trucks carrying construction materials, heavy equipment, fracking water, petroleum products and other supplies strain roadways literally to the breaking point, necessitating extensive and expensive pavement repairs. Many truckloads are overweight, further exacerbating the problem. TTI researchers have worked with TxDOT to measure and project the impact of this wear and tear, which TxDOT estimates at roughly $2 billion per year for state and county road systems. TTI recommendations included donation agreements with energy companies, procedural changes related to early notification of development activity, and better coordination of road maintenance and repair.

Mobility Investment Priorities

Traffic congestion in Texas is choking our highways and economy. In our most congested cities, lost time and wasted fuel now cost us nearly $10 billion a year. However, this is not just a big-city issue. Stop-and-go traffic that slows down freight in our major cities will make small-town Texans pay more for groceries, clothes and countless other goods. Recognizing the growing urgency of this problem, the Texas Legislature set aside $300 million to get the state’s highest-priority roadway projects moving. TTI was assigned to help TxDOT and local agencies advance those projects with the most potential to improve mobility and strengthen local economies in the most congested regions of the state, as well as to help identify the most publicly acceptable options to pay for those projects. The Lone Star State’s population is growing, while transportation revenues are shrinking. TTI’s Mobility Investment Priorities project is assisting state leaders in closing that gap.

My 35 Expansion Project

Travelers, shippers and businesses are the focus of My 35 communication efforts.

In one of the most ambitious roadway improvement projects in the state’s history, TxDOT is expanding a 96-mile section of I-35 in Central Texas from four to six lanes. The effort is designed to alleviate traffic congestion that wastes both fuel and time for motorists, businesses and shippers. In addition, the expansion will help accommodate future increases in population, traffic volume and commercial activity as Texas continues to grow at a rapid pace. The collection of 17 separate but integrated construction projects will require $2.5 billion and five more years to complete. The massive effort also requires getting information — lots of information — to drivers and shippers planning trips and navigating lane closures and work zones characteristic of roadway expansions. To that end, TTI is providing TxDOT with a first-of-its-kind traveler information system that integrates three methods for capturing traffic data and forecasts congestion to provide that information to anyone who needs it.

Border Security and Mobility

Efficient border crossings are essential to the El Paso region’s economic prosperity.

For border-crossing users, time delays are inconvenient and costly. More accurate border wait times can help users plan additional travel times or adopt alternatives to reduce delays. Using radio frequency identification tags, researchers at TTI’s Center for International Intelligent Transportation Research in El Paso developed a website that combines delay performance measures with economic factors. Combining this information allows users to determine departure time and port-of-entry selection to help reduce delay costs. The website’s information also benefits policy makers by providing a way to track and analyze trends associated with delay costs at ports of entry.

Measuring the “Cost of Doing Nothing”

As Texas grows, demand for roadway space grows with it — even as available revenue and funding options become more limited. The cost of meeting future mobility needs is substantial, but the consequences of doing nothing to meet them are even greater. TTI calculated that expense in a number of ways, illustrating what life would be like in a state without transportation investment:

Over the next 15 years, congestion would cost the state an average of $20 billion each year.
Over the same time period, the delays experienced by commuters would double from 37 hours to 74 hours each year.
The additional 37 hours of delay would cost each household another $800 annually, increasing with each passing year.

Conversely, for every dollar spent on transportation, the state realizes at least $6 in economic benefits.

Toward a National Freight Data Architecture: TTI Researches the First Steps

Tobey — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 21:52:19 +0000

The efficient interdependency of moving freight by truck, rail and sea is more important than ever. Facilities like the Port of Tacoma in Tacoma, Wash., play a vital role in ensuring the nation’s economic prosperity.

Freight transportation is a powerful cog in our nation’s economic engine. Given the critical role that freight transportation — cargo moved by air, rail, truck, water and pipeline — plays in the nation’s prosperity, freight movement disruptions can have severe economic and national security ramifications. Although much information exists on all aspects of freight movement and their intricacies, a comprehensive catalog of freight-related data sources does not exist.

“Freight transportation is a huge enterprise, and we don’t really have a clear, comprehensive picture of freight movements in this country,” says Cesar Quiroga, manager of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s (TTI’s) San Antonio Office. “Integrating all of that comprehensive data is vital for transportation planners and decision makers. Looking into what’s needed in order to develop a national freight data architecture was the basis of our two-year project.”

NCFRP Project 12: Guidance for Developing a Freight Transportation Data Architecture identified numerous benefits that could result from such an architecture. For example, coordinated data sharing would aid overlapping government jurisdictions by offering information about how freight activities might affect them as they initiate new transportation improvement projects. An integrated freight data architecture would also provide a better understanding of supply chains and business processes while potentially eliminating freight data redundancies and inefficiencies.

“It’s important to note that we weren’t attempting to develop the freight data architecture,” Quiroga says. “Our goal in this project was to develop the framework, requirements and specifications for the architecture.”

Quiroga and his team conducted surveys of planners, analysts, shippers and motor carriers to better understand their needs and how they use current data. Borrowing elements from other data architecture initiatives, the team defined a national freight data architecture as “the manner in which data elements are organized and integrated for freight- transportation-related applications or business processes. The data architecture includes the necessary set of tools that describe the related functions or roles, components where those roles reside or apply, and data flows and components at different domain and aggregation levels.”

Part of the research effort was to identify challenges that could hinder the implementation of a freight data architecture at the national level. For example, some freight stakeholders, particularly in the private sector, may be reluctant to share data with their government counterparts. Likewise, some data might be available from data aggregators, but accessing this information could be very expensive. Along with identifying challenges, the team developed a catalog of strategies and recommendations for dealing with those challenges.

“Building a comprehensive data architecture from the outset would be extremely difficult,” Quiroga explains. “That’s why we recommended starting with just one element of freight transportation, like commodity flows, and then building up the architecture using strategic stepping stones.”

According to Transportation Research Board Senior Program Officer Bill Rogers, funding has been approved for a new project tentatively entitled Implementing the Freight Transportation Data Architecture: Data Element Dictionary, which will create and define a catalog of current freight data elements currently being collected. The dictionary will provide managers of data programs with an invaluable reference for identifying differences among variables and building bridges among data sets.

“The work that TTI did on this project was vital in articulating the value of establishing an architecture for linking data across transport modes, subjects and levels of geography to obtain essential information for transportation decision making,” Rogers says.

Texas A&M Transportation Institute» Volume 48, Number 4

From Texas to the Nation

Volume 48, Number 4 (2012)

Inside This Issue:

What We’ve Done TOGETHER

TTI Celebrates 50 Years with NCHRP

This Issue

From Texas to the Nation

Commentary: A Shared History of Meeting National Challenges

This Issue

From Texas to the Nation

TTI Landmark NCHRP Reports That Set National Standards

NCHRP Report 708: A Guidebook for Sustainability Performance Measurement for Transportation Agencies (2011)

NCHRP Report 414: HOV Systems Manual (1998)

NCHRP Report 350: Recommended Procedures for the Safety Performance Evaluation of Highway Features (1993)

NCHRP Report 224: Guidelines for Recycling Pavement Materials (1980)

This Issue

From Texas to the Nation

On this page:

For more information:

Warming Up to New Ideas: The Pros and Cons of Warm-Mix Asphalt

Additional Warm-Mix Projects: NCHRP 09-52, NCHRP 09-53

This Issue

From Texas to the Nation

On this page:

For more information:

National Crash-Testing Standards: TTI Makes a Big Impact with 18-Wheelers

This Issue

From Texas to the Nation

On this page:

For more information:

Demanding a Recount on Motorcycle Crashes

Are we counting motorcycles accurately?

This Issue

From Texas to the Nation

On this page:

For more information:

Should We Move More Cargo via America’s Marine Highways?

This Issue

From Texas to the Nation

On this page:

For more information:

TTI Supports Texas Policy Makers

Basing Informed Decisions on Reliable Research

Panama Canal Expansion

Impact of the Energy Sector on Roadways

Mobility Investment Priorities

My 35 Expansion Project

Border Security and Mobility

Measuring the “Cost of Doing Nothing”

This Issue

From Texas to the Nation

On this page:

For more information:

Toward a National Freight Data Architecture: TTI Researches the First Steps

This Issue

From Texas to the Nation

On this page:

For more information: