Akram Abu-Odeh, Roger Bligh and Dean Alberson (l to r) with their patent awards from the Office of Technology Commercialization. Patent winners not pictured are Lance Bullard and Gene Buth.

Members of TTI’s Roadside Safety and Physical Security Division were honored ­­­last month by The Texas A&M University System Office of Technology Commercialization for a highway safety product patent issued in 2011. Patent number US 7,883,075 B2 is for a new guardrail end terminal they designed and tested. The product will soon be manufactured by Trinity Highway Products.

Akram Abu-Odeh, Gene Buth, Lance Bullard, Dean Alberson and Roger Bligh were honored for their invention, which will be marketed under the name Soft Stop.

“I believe this new guardrail system is the next generation of end terminals,” Dean Alberson, assistant agency director, explains. When the end terminal is struck by a vehicle, the tension on the guardrail is not released like the other guardrail terminals. “Upon impact, the Soft Stop terminal squeezes the guardrail vertically into a series of folded plates that are diverted under the vehicle once they exit the head of the device,” Alberson explains.

In addition to the TTI employees, researchers from the university, the Texas A&M Health Science Center, Texas AgriLife Research and the Texas Engineering Experiment Station were honored for their 2011 patent awards.

“This event gives us the chance to formally recognize the researchers within the A&M System whose work has significant real-world applications,” said Chancellor John Sharp at the ceremony. “Through commercialization of their inventions, research that began in a lab now has the chance to extend its reach and make a difference in people’s lives.”

“We are honored that NHTSA Administrator David Strickland and State Sen. Steve Ogden will be our main speakers this year,” Center for Transportation Safety (CTS) Director John Mounce said of the upcoming conference. The annual event attracts public policy makers, traffic safety practitioners, law enforcement, traffic engineers, public health officials and many other safety professionals from all over the state.

“The conference seems to become more relevant each year as we learn from each other and share what is new and what is working in other places,” Mounce said. “We all have important individual roles in traffic safety, but when we team up for a common cause, we can’t help but become more successful.”

According to the NHTSA website, Strickland, who took office Jan. 4, 2010, “has overseen the development of the first national fuel-efficiency program, helped establish ejection mitigation requirements for automakers, and brought national public focus to child passenger safety issues including the threat of heat stroke from hot cars and back-over deaths and injuries.” NHTSA is the nation’s principal agency dedicated solely to highway safety.

Ogden, who was first elected to the Texas Senate in 1997, authored the legislation that created CTS at the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) more than 10 years ago. He is a strong and vocal proponent of traffic safety. Ogden recently announced his decision not to seek reelection after his term ends in January 2013.

This year’s conference theme, “Saving Lives: Nothing’s More Important,” was borrowed from a line in a speech Ogden gave at TTI several years ago.

The 2012 Statewide Traffic Safety Conference will begin with a welcome reception and exhibitor showcase June 4. The opening session will take place the next morning prior to a full day of numerous breakout sessions. Conference topics will include discussions and examinations of distracted driving, impaired driving, new speed limits in Texas, motorcycle safety, wrong-way driving and teen driving safety.

The closing session of the conference will be a round-table discussion by invited Texas legislators on what they believe will be the main traffic safety issues for the 2013 Legislative Session.

For more information, visit the conference website.

The project, Using Smartphones to Collect Bicycle Travel Data in Texas, was first honored with the WTS Heart of Texas (HOT) Chapter’s Innovative Transportation Solutions Award at its Awards and Scholarship Gala March 30 in Austin. International winners are selected from the many local chapter awards winners.

“This was an unexpected honor locally, but to win on the international level as well was especially exciting,” says TTI Associate Research Engineer Joan Hudson, who led the project. “We teamed up with the Center for Transportation Research at The University of Texas for this project, and that was very rewarding.”

Using volunteers from May through November of last year, the project tested a smartphone application’s effectiveness in tracking bicyclists’ travel routes. A total of 3,000 bicycle trips were logged by participants. A final report will determine if the data collection method will be useful for communities wanting to improve bicycle facilities.

Goodin Named Chapter’s Woman of the Year

Also at the WTS HOT Chapter Gala, the group honored TTI Senior Research Engineer Ginger Goodin as the local 2011 Woman of the Year. Goodin is TTI’s Planning and Environment Division Head, as well as leader of the Institute’s Austin Office. The award “honors a woman who is an outstanding role model and has contributed to the advancement of women and minorities in transportation.”

“I’m very humbled to have been selected for this award,” Goodin says. “The women recognized in the past are community leaders, women I look up to. To be included in the company of such an elite group is a huge honor for me.”

A graduate of the 2010 Leadership Texas program, Goodin is nationally known for her research on mileage-based user fees and as an expert on managed lanes. She often testifies before the Texas State Legislature on important technical transportation issues. Goodin is the TTI-Austin lead for the Mobility Investment Priorities Study, which is helping the region prioritize projects to pursue using the area’s share of $300 million in funding allocated by the Texas Legislature in 2011.

Other TTI-related nominees for WTS HOT chapter awards recognized at the Gala were: TTI as Employer of the Year; Cinde Weatherby as Member of the Year; and the Texas 2030 Committee’s efforts were recognized with the Innovative Transportation Solutions Award.

TTI’s Weatherby Elected to WTS International Board

Cinde Weatherby, director of TTI’s Center for Strategic Transportation Solutions, will begin a two-year term on the WTS International Board of Directors in May. She has been an active member in both the Greater Dallas-Fort Worth and Heart of Texas chapters of the organization.

WTS International boasts nearly 5,000 members — both men and women — in 49 local chapters across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. There are four WTS chapters in Texas: Greater Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and the Austin-area Heart of Texas chapter. The HOT chapter has also sponsored one of the few student chapters in the country at The University of Texas.

The international association was established in 1977 to help women “find opportunity and recognition in the transportation industry.”

The air fair promotes a practical application of math and science through aircraft- and aviation-related meteorological projects. The Doctor James Noel Foundation sponsored the day’s events along with support from the Bryan school district, Coulter Field, academic departments from Texas A&M University and the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI).

“The goal of the air fair is to not only expose kids to aviation, but to apply STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] concepts in an aviation environment,” says Brian Heckman, vice chairman of the Dr. James Noel Foundation Board of Directors and event organizer. “A few days before the air fair, we visited Johnson Elementary and with the help of Texas A&M students, conducted several teaching exercises to prepare them for their airport visit. We want this to be a meaningful learning experience for them.”

One of the classroom exercises was to construct a Whitewing glider, which the kids took out to Coulter Field to test. Other learning stations at the air fair included a weather balloon launch, cockpit tours of various aircraft including a medical evacuation helicopter and a fly-by and water droplet distribution experiment using the United States Department of Agriculture’s Aerial Application Research Unit’s high technology Air Tractor.

A few days after the air fair, the volunteers returned to Johnson Elementary to analyze the data students collected from the Air Tractor, glider flights, and the weather balloons, answer questions and discuss what they learned.

“This event provides students an opportunity to interact with pilots, engineers and college students outside of the classroom,” says TTI Research Scientist Jeff Borowiec. “It was a great day for aviation education.”

About the Noel Foundation:

Dr. Jim Noel was an educator, teacher and friend to hundreds of students and pilots in Central Texas and around the country. As a professor at Texas A&M University, he influenced the lives of his students not only by his ability to explain subject matter, but by his concern for them as individuals.

He instituted the idea of Air Fairs to introduce young people to that same idea: to release them from the bonds of gravity and help them soar to unimaginable heights of achievement. It was all part of his life’s philosophy: to expand the horizon of his students’ imaginations and inspire them to take themselves further than they thought possible.

“The Noel Foundation believes that enabling students to interact and experience technical concepts in action sparks the fire of imagination and, perhaps, generates interest in future career paths,” says Chairman John Happ. “In our previous programs, teachers have reported extremely positive results that can be related directly from their students experiencing our course.”

For more information about the Noel Foundation, please Email Brian Heckman.

“I’ve been involved with this organization for several years, so it was a big honor to receive this award,” says Epps Martin, who is also a professor of Materials Engineering at Texas A&M University.

AAPT is a leader in the advancement of asphalt paving technology with over 800 members from every continent in the world. Members depend on the association as an authoritative source for the latest developments in the field and as a hub for communicating with fellow professionals. The organization meets annually and their activities include asphalt-related technical sessions, symposia, poster sessions and workshops presented by experts in all aspects of asphalt paving technology from around the world.

Doh-Won Lee (far right) of the Air Quality Studies Program describes equipment for Dr. Banks (center) during her tour of the Environmental and Emissions Research Facility. Looking on are Dr. Dennis O’Neal, TEES director (second from right) and TTI staff.

Dr. M. Katherine Banks, vice chancellor for engineering at The Texas A&M University System, director of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), and dean of the Dwight Look College of Engineering, made her first official visit to TTI on March 22. She was accompanied by Dr. Dennis O’Neal, associate dean for research and deputy director of TEES. They were treated to a day filled with tours, briefings and a roundtable discussion with some of TTI’s key academic partners.

In her opening comments, Banks noted that she was already familiar with TTI through Purdue University’s transportation research program. She previously served as the Bowen Engineering Head for the School of Civil Engineering at Purdue University.

“I’ve heard so many good things about TTI even before I came to A&M,” she said. “TTI is the leader in the field in terms of innovation. No agency or organization can compare.”

After hearing an overview of the Institute from Agency Director Dennis Christiansen, Banks and O’Neal visited the Environmental and Emissions Research Facility. Joe Zietsman, division head of the Environment and Air Quality Division, provided them with a snapshot of some of the testing projects under way in the facility. Jeremy Johnson, associate research specialist, and Doh-Won Lee, associate research scientist, showed them the environmental chamber and the other equipment available at the facility.

The weather wasn’t conducive to a crash test, so instead of seeing the real thing, Dean Alberson, assistant agency director, gave a briefing on TTI’s Roadside Safety and Physical Security crash-testing activities. Once back at TTI headquarters, Banks and O’Neal made brief stops at the TransLink Laboratory and Texas Transportation Hall of Honor before participating in a working lunch.

Ginger Goodin, head of the Planning Division, provided an update on TTI’s policy research; Cathy Reiley, senior research scientist, discussed the legislative studies TTI is involved in; Jon Epps, executive associate agency director, provided examples of transportation sustainability research in the area of materials and pavements; and Jason Crawford, regional manager for the North Texas Region, featured some of the recent research projects conducted by TTI’s urban office staff.

After lunch, Katie Turnbull, executive associate director, and Melissa Tooley, director of the University Transportation Center for Mobility, facilitated an academic roundtable discussion attended by Forster Ndubisi, head of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning in the College of Architecture; John Nichols, head of the Department of Agricultural Economics; and Arnold Vedlitz, director of the Institute for Science, Technology and Public Policy at the George Bush School of Government and Public Service, all at Texas A&M.

“We were honored that Dr. Banks took the time to spend almost an entire day at TTI learning more about our research initiatives, meeting our leadership and interacting with our academic partners,” Christiansen said. “She has been a great supporter of TTI during her short time at A&M, and we look forward to inviting her back to TTI many more times in the future.”

“You do fantastic work,” Banks said in her concluding remarks at the end of the day. “I knew you were good before I came. I’m even more convinced now.”

The report, titled Mobility Investment Priorities — Early Recommendations Report, includes recommendations that will advance major projects that would improve mobility for the areas of the state with the most congestion — Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio.

“We are working with TxDOT on an interagency agreement to coordinate studies, identifying projects that will have the greatest impact on congestion,” Tim Lomax, senior research engineer and TTI’s project leader, says. “And just as important, TTI’s work will examine how the state can pay for the improvements.”

The Mobility Investment Priorities Project was developed in coordination with agencies in each of the four metropolitan areas to identify studies, identify design efforts, or purchase rights-of-way that meet the goals of the Rider 42 legislation, which allocated $300 million in Proposition 12 bond proceeds. TTI will help implement the studies that examine congestion relief and the resulting economic benefits.

“This is a two-year project and is really a team effort,” Lomax points out. TTI is working closely with metropolitan planning organizations, regional mobility authorities, city and county governments, transit agencies, and others on the TxDOT interagency contract. “The goal of all this is to make sure the improvement plans reflect the needs of local entities and local commuters.”

After TTI’s first recommendation report is examined, Research Scientist Dave Ellis will begin the economic analysis process. “We have the TRENDS model and other tools to examine a menu of potential funding options for policy makers and to assess the potential economic impact of the projects,” he says.

TTI’s final report to the commission is expected in August 2013.

“This is the first formal evidence of a correlation between wider edge lines and improved crash safety,” said Paul Carlson, Ph.D., a TTI research engineer and one of the authors of the study. “Previous studies over the last 10 years were small, naïve in analyses, and lacked data to provide statistically significant results.”

In the past, many states adopted wider edge lines (six-inch instead of four-inch) for a range of reasons but adoption has been slow and uncoordinated without sound empirical findings to support the decision, according to the study. Glass bead products are frequently used for highway safety markings such as these, providing the light-reflective lane markings found on highways around the world. Previous studies found indirect evidence to support wider edge lines but evidence showing direct reduction in crashes was difficult to provide due to data issues, the study noted. The recent analysis of Federal Highway Administration data from three states (Kansas, Michigan, and Illinois) provides the necessary evidence to support adoption of wider edge lines, the study asserts (see: Safety effects of wider edge lines on rural, two-lane highways).

“With the ultimate goal being highway safety, transportation agencies across the U.S. now have strong data to support the undertaking of a relatively low-cost measure to improve highway safety and reduce fatalities,” said Kevin Goforth, president of the American Glass Bead Manufacturers’ Association.

The study demonstrated that wider edge lines have been shown to reduce total crashes 15% to 30%, and fatal plus injury crashes 15% to 38%. In addition, the benefit-cost ratio for wider edge lines is $33 to $55 for each $1 spent, which is similar to shoulder rumble strips. If an agency is considering installing rumble strips as a safety counter measure but concerned about potential noise or pushback from the bicycle community, wider edge line appear to offer similar results but without the concerns, according to the report.

Since the safety benefits of wider edge line are now better documented, it would be beneficial if the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, or MUTCD was amended so that minimum edge line width on rural two-lane highways was six inches, the study suggests. Agencies would then be able to implement the policy in a uniform and consistent manner, the study concludes.

Video summary reports are available on the Texas Department of Transportation’s Research and Technology Implementation Office’s YouTube channel at youtube.com/bestpracticesvsrs/.

Automated Flagger Assistance Devices (AFADs), 0-6407.

Bioretention Techniques for Storm Water Quality, 0-5949.

Development of Very Thin Overlay Systems, 0-5598.

Evaluation of Modern Traffic Control Devices to Improve Safety at Rural Intersections, 0-6462.

Evaluation of Warm Mix Asphalt New Technology, 0-5597.

FDR (Full-Depth-Reclamation) Performance Based Design, Construction, and Quality Control, 0-6271.

Improving Driver Awareness of Signals Beyond Vertical Curves, 5-4084.

Preparing for EPA Effluent Limitation Guidelines, 0-6638.

Synthesis Study on Transverse Variable Asphalt Shot Rates (TVAR) for Seal Coats, 0-5833.

Texas Energy Developments and TxDOT Right of Way, 0-6498.

Technical Reports

Analysis of Roadway Departure Crashes on Two-Lane Rural Roads in Texas, by Dominique Lord, 0-6031-1, February 7, 2012.

Applying the Systems Engineering Approach to Video Over IP Projects: Workshop, by Gary Thomas, 5-5942-01-1, January 4, 2012.

Characterization of Exhaust Emissions from Heavy-Duty Diesel Vehicles in the HGB Area — Final Report, by Jeremy Johnson, 0-6237-1, February 1, 2012.

Determination of Minimum Height and Lateral Design Load for MASH Test Level 4 Bridge Rails, by Nauman Sheikh, 9-1002-5, January 4, 2012.

Development of the Transportation Revenue Estimator and Needs Determination System (TRENDS) Forecasting Model: MPO Sub-models and Maintenance, by David Ellis, 5-6395-01-1, January 11, 2012.

Evaluating the Impact of Overweight Load Routing on Buried Utility Facilities, by Edgar Kraus, 0-6394-2, January 20, 2012.

High RAP Mixes Design Methodology with Balanced Performance, by Fujie Zhou, 0-6092-2, December 6, 2011.

Mobility and Economic Effects of System Investments in Texas: 2010 to 2020, by Tim Lomax, 0-6655-TI-2, December 8, 2011.

Modern Traffic Control Devices to Improve Safety at Rural Intersections, by Kay Fitzpatrick, 0-6462-1, December 19, 2011.

Research on Asset Management for Safety and Operations, by Beverly Kuhn, 0-6390-1, December 5, 2011.

School Traffic Workshop: Dealing with Texas-Sized Problems Around Schools, by Scott Cooner, 5-5470-01-1, January 20, 2012.

Statewide Implementation of PAVE-IR in the Texas Department of Transportation, by Stephen Sebesta, 5-4577-05-1, February 27, 2012.

Studies to Determine the Effectiveness of Automated Flagger Assistance Devices and School Crossing Devices, by Melisa Finley, 0-6407-1, January 13, 2012.

Synthesis of TxDOT Uses of Real-Time Commercial Traffic Data, Dan Middleton, 0-6659-1, January 6, 2012.

Use of Intelligent Transportation Systems in Rural Work Zones, by Dan Middleton, 0-6427-1, December 21, 2011.

Project Summary Reports and Products

Development of a Statewide Sign Maintenance Program, by Paul Carlson, 0-6408-S, January 30, 2012.

Improvements to Large and Small Roadside Sign Hardware and Design, by Roger Bligh, 0-6363-S, December 6, 2011.

Materials and Performance Data for Texas Flexible Pavements and Overlays: Data Collection Plans, by Lubinda Walubita, 0-6658-P1, December 9, 2011.

Texas Energy Developments and TxDOT Right of Way, by Cesar Quiroga, 0-6498-S, January 9, 2012.

TxDOT Uses of Real-Time Commercial Traffic Data: Opportunity Matrix, by Dan Middleton, 0-6659-P1, January 6, 2012.

User’s Guide: Pavement Marking Management System Database, by Yunlong Zhang, 0-5548-P1, January 9, 2012.

TTI Publications

A full catalog of TTI publications and other products is online at http://tti.tamu.edu/publications. You can find the publications by searching for either the title or publication number listed here. Most of these publications are available as free downloads in portable document format (PDF).

Printed, bound versions of these reports are also available through the URL above.

This Issue

Making the Grade: Tomorrow’s Transportation System

Volume 48, Number 1
March 2012
Issue Overview

On this page:

• Video Summary Reports
• Technical Reports
• Project Summary Reports and Products
• TTI Publications

]]> http://tti.tamu.edu/2012/03/01/tti-publications-5/feed/ 0 http://tti.tamu.edu/2012/03/01/am-system-chancellor-visits-tti/ http://tti.tamu.edu/2012/03/01/am-system-chancellor-visits-tti/#comments Thu, 01 Mar 2012 19:04:02 +0000 Tobey http://tti.tamu.edu/?p=8292 Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp visited TTI Jan. 12, telling Institute officials, “TTI is the shining star of the A&M System, so you don’t have to win me over; you just have to educate me.”

Sharp, who became the 14th chancellor of the A&M System on Aug. 15, spent the afternoon learning firsthand about numerous aspects of TTI including its history, accomplishments and ongoing projects. He toured the Visibility Research Laboratory and viewed presentations about TTI’s legislative studies, the I-35 Expansion Project, the Roadside Safety and Physical Security Program, and — in what evoked a lot of enthusiasm from the chancellor — the Institute’s development of the Freight Shuttle System.

After the afternoon gathering, Sharp admitted to TTI staff that he had a high opinion of the Institute even before the meeting. “This is an amazing place. It’s more impressive than I ever thought it was before.”

TTI Assistant Agency Director Steve Roop discusses the Freight Shuttle System, a TTI technical innovation that promises to revolutionize freight movement in Texas.

TxDOT Deputy Director and Chief Engineer John Barton talks with Tom Duffy from Chancellor Sharp’s transition team.

Attending the meeting with Chancellor John Sharp are (from left to right) Tom Duffy, a member of the chancellor’s transition team; TxDOT’s John Barton; Sharp; Dennis Christiansen; Trinity Highway Products President Gregg Mitchell; and Chairman of the TTI Advisory Council David Cain.

Chancellor John Sharp (center) tours TTI’s Visibility Research Laboratory as part of his inaugural visit to the Institute.

TTI Agency Director Dennis Christiansen briefs A&M System Chancellor Sharp on TTI.

This Issue

Making the Grade: Tomorrow’s Transportation System

Volume 48, Number 1
March 2012
Issue Overview