1,721,008 research outputs found
Joint Transportation Research Program : civil engineering
No full textSPR-3115In 2005 the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) went through a complete reorganization of its operations going from centralized to decentralized (District) management. This reorganization gave Districts autonomy to manage construction projects with one exception all added capacity projects are managed in the central office by the office of project management. Following in 2006 INDOT initiated a program named "Major Moves." This is a ten year major road building program that was funded partially through a 4 billion dollar lease of the Indiana Toll Road. Through Major Moves annual new construction will go from 213 dollar million in FY 2006 to 1.2 dollar billion in FY2009. These two factors caused INDOT to change their approach toward managing design and construction. This "new" approach toward projects requires an individual to manage projects with skills and functions that are not common at INDOT. Therefore the purpose of the project was to: -Determine what skills were needed for INDOT project managers -Develop a training program to develop these needs -Deliver a training program This report describes the training program established at INDOT and contains the resources available for project managers and training materials
Joint Transportation Research Program : civil engineering
No full textSPR-3115In 2005, the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) went through a complete reorganization of its operations going from centralized to decentralized (District) management. This reorganization gave Districts autonomy to manage construction projects with one exception: all added capacity projects are managed in the central office by the office of project management. Following in 2006, INDOT initiated a program called \u201cMajor Moves.\u201d This is a ten-year major road building program that was funded partially through a 213 million in fiscal year 2006 to $1.2 billion in fiscal year 2009. These two factors caused INDOT to change their approach toward managing design and constructio
Joint Transportation Research Program Technical Report Series : Civil Engineering
No full textSPR-3411There are approximately 4,000 instances per year where state property located along Indiana Department of Transportation(INDOT) maintained right-of-way needs to be replaced or repaired due to motor vehicle crashes. INDOT incurs significant financiallosses to repair state property damage that is not recovered from the responsible driver because responsible parties cannot beidentified and invoices do not reflect the fully-loaded cost of the repair. This study\u2019s objective is to identify enhanced managementprocedures to decrease the financial burden of the state by identifying best practices supporting the following four goals: 1)increasing the percent of invoices collected, 2) more effectively associating vehicle crash reports with crash damaged infrastructure,3) decreasing the process time, and 4) ensuring that invoices reflect the fully-loaded repair cost. As part of the study INDOT\u2019srecovery process was compared to peer states, a prototype process to document crash damaged infrastructure was field tested,enhanced crash repair documents were developed, and crash report queries were evaluate.Based on the research, this report recommends that the recovery process should begin with the placement of a tag by theinvestigating law enforcement officer at the scene of the crash. This tag would allow maintenance crews to directly linkinfrastructure damage with a specific vehicle crash report. This report recommends that a notification letter be sent to the driverand/or insurance company notifying them of the pending invoice. Past invoicing challenges show that these components areexpected to increase the likelihood of successful repair cost recovery. This report also recommends that an administration fee beincluded in the repair costs to facilitate the new procedures. Performance measures have been proposed to evaluate theeffectiveness of these procedures
Durability of saw-cut joints in plain cement concrete pavements : [technical summary].
No full textSPR-3200The main objective of this study was to evaluate factors influencing the durability of the joints in portland cement concrete pavement in the state of Indiana.The scope of the research included the evaluation of the absorption of water in concrete, the absorption of deicing solutions in concrete, the relationship between the degree of saturation and concrete deterioration, and the role of Soy Mehyl Esters (SME) as a potential concrete sealant.The aforementioned items were studied in conjunction with the observation of premature joint deterioration in concrete pavements. Previous work by the PI identified that deteriorating joints were observed to frequently have standing water and damaged joint sealant. This work was conducted to better understand the potential mechanisms responsible for joint deterioration, a series of mortars were tested that are consistent with the mortar fraction of concrete paving mixtures.The first portion of the work examined the role of deicing salt solutions on the wetting and drying behavior of concrete elements. The second portion of the work examined the concept of the degree of fluid saturation and its relationship with freeze-thaw damage. The final portion of the work examined the potential use of penetrating concrete sealers (like soy methyl esters) to reduce water absorption and the corresponding freeze-thaw damage
Recovering full repair costs of INDOT infrastructure damaged by motor vehicle crashes : [technical summary].
No full textThere are approximately 4,000 instances per year that require infrastructure located along right-of-way maintained by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) to be replaced or repaired due to motor vehicle crashes. This infrastructure includes guardrail, cable barriers, crash attenuators, lighting structures, signs, bridges, culverts, fences, traffic signals, pavement, and site earthwork re-grading to restore proper roadway drainage. A common example of infrastructure damage is shown in Figure 1. The guard rail pictured was damaged in early 2010 and subsequently repaired in the spring of 2010.In the spring of 2009, Seymour District Traffic Systems Engineer Ed Cox and Professor Darcy Bullock conducted a preliminary screening of INDOT\u2019s cost recovery process and drafted a research need statement. In the fall of 2009, research project SPR-3411 was initiated with Purdue University to assess the fiscal effectiveness of INDOT recovering the full repair costs associated with repairing infrastructure damaged by motor vehicles. As part of the SPR-3411 project, Purdue surveyed all 50 states on their reimbursement practice and received responses from 41 states. Follow-up email and phone calls with 13 states and a webinar on September 15, 2010 provided opportunities to clarify details on best practices used by other states and to begin to synthesize those recommendations.In addition to reviewing practices of other states, the research team consulted a variety of INDOT stakeholders, including Unit Foreman, District Staff, District Highway Maintenance Directors, Central Office Accounting Staff, and Deputy Commissioners to conduct a top-to-bottom assessment of INDOT practices and develop consensus on what practices would be most appropriate for Indiana. These consensus ideas were then further vetted by the research team through a series of field visits to crash sites, review of internal paperwork associated with those crashes, and analysis of invoicing timelines and collection rates
Evaluation of the impacts of ITS technologies on the Borman Expressway Network
Get PDFSPR-2123The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) is currently implementing (or has implemented) several components of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). This includes a mini Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS) implemented on a three-mile stretch of the Borman Expressway to evaluate advanced non-intrusive sensor systems and the associated communication infrastructure for the installation of a full-scale ATMS on the 16-mile stretch of the Borman Expressway. Potential specific ITS technologies that are either being implemented or are being considered include pre-trip information, en-route information, variable message signs, and Hoosier Helpers. It is expected that the implementation of various ITS technologies on the Borman Expressway will result in improved traffic flow, lower travel times, higher average speeds, and improved safety and environment This study evaluated the impacts of these ITS technologies on mobility, air quality, and safety on the Borman Expressway and its vicinity. 1) Mobility The performance of various ITS components under normal and incident conditions for the Borman Expressway Evaluation Network were simulated and the results were compared with the corresponding scenarios in the absence of these technologies. The results suggest that the network can accommodate the vehicles that divert from the Borman Expressway, indicated by the decrease in the overall network average travel time with increase in market penetration of information. Hence, providing enroute route diversion information to some users can result in signiticaut benefits in terms of travel time savings and congestion alleviation. 2) Air Quality - The performance of various ITS components under normal and incident conditions for the Borman Expressway Evaluation Network were simulated and the resulting HC, CO, and NO, emissions were compared with the emissions under a do-nothing scenario. The same network was used for air quality impact evaluation that was used for evaluating the mobility impacts of ITS. The results obtained from the simulation experiments indicated that significant improvement in air quality can be achieved by effective implementation of various ITS technologies under normal and incident conditions. One important trend observed from the results of these experiments was that the magnitude of reduction in mobile emissions was highest under incident conditions with link closure, and lowest under normal peak-hour conditions. 3) Safety - By testing the hypothesis that secondary crashes may take place as a diit result of primary incidents or traffic congestion, safety impacts were evaluated. Logistic regression modeling was used to predict the likelihood (risk) of a primary incident being followed by a secondary crash, using the "best" combination of primary incident characteristics. The resulting models suggested that the likelihood of a secondary crash occurring increases with an increase in the primary incident clearance time and with the involvement of a car, semi, or truck
Development of load and resistance factor design for ultimate and serviceability limit states of transportation structure foundations.
Get PDFSPR-3108"Most foundation solutions for transportation structures rely on deep foundations, often on pile foundationsconfigured in a way most suitable to the problem at hand. Design of pile foundation solutions can best be pursued by clearlydefining limit states and then configuring the piles in such a way as to prevent the attainment of these limit states. Thepresent report develops methods for load and resistance factor design (LRFD) of piles, both nondisplacement anddisplacement piles, in sand and clay. With the exception of the method for design of displacement piles in sand, all themethods are based on rigorous theoretical mechanics solutions of the pile loading problem. In all cases, the uncertainty ofthe variables appearing in the problem and of the relationships linking these variables to the resistance calculated using theserelationships are carefully assessed. Monte Carlo simulations using these relationships and the associated variabilities allowsimulation of resistance minus load distributions and therefore probability of failure. The mean (or nominal) values of thevariables can be adjusted so that the probability of failure can be made to match a target probability of failure. Since aninfinite number of combinations of these means can be made to lead to the same target probability of failure, we havedeveloped a way to determine the most likely ultimate limit state for a given probability of failure. Once the most likelyultimate limit state is determined, the values of loads and resistances for this limit state can be used, together with the valuesof the mean (or nominal) loads and resistances to calculate load and resistance factors. The last step in the process involvesadjusting the resistance factors so that they are consistent with the load factors specified by AASHTO. Recommendedresistance factors are then given together with the design methods for which they were developed.
Durability of saw-cut joints in plain cement concrete pavements.
Get PDFSPR-3200The objective of this project was to evaluate factors influencing the durability of the joints in portland cement concretepavement in the state of Indiana. Specifically this work evaluated the absorption of water, the absorption of deicing solutions,the relationship between the degree of saturation and concrete deterioration, and the role of Soy Mehyl Esters as a potentialconcrete sealant. The aforementioned items were studied in conjunction with the observation of premature joint deteriorationin concrete pavements. Previous work by the PI identified that deteriorating joints were observed to frequently have standingwater and damaged joint sealant. To better understand the potential mechanisms responsible for joint deterioration, a seriesof mortars were tested that are consistent with the mortar fraction of concrete paving mixtures. The first portion of the workexamined the role of deicing salt solutions on the wetting and drying behavior of concrete elements (this was a joint series ofexperiments with SPR 3093). It was observed that salts altered the equilibrium relative humidity of the solution, as suchconcrete containing deicing solutions dried less frequently than concrete containing only pore solution. Further, it wasobserved that the rate of water absorption was related to the square root of ratio of surface tension and viscosity. Saltsolutions have a slower rate of absorption than plain water. It was also observed that concrete previously exposed to deicingsalts also exhibited an altered rate of water absorption. The second portion of the work examined the concept of the degree ofsaturation and its relationship with freeze-thaw damage. Specifically mortars with different air contents were examined.Fagerlund developed a model that proposed a critical degree of saturation could be correlated with the onset of freeze-thawdamage. The work suggests that absorption testing should be used to determine the degree of saturation which can be used toestimate the time to reach a critical degree of saturation. Once this critical degree of saturation was reached freeze-thawdamage was inevitable. While entrained air was observed to slow the time to reach a critical degree of saturation, this criticaldegree of saturation could not be avoided. The final portion of the work examined the potential use of penetrating concretesealers (like soy methyl esters) to reduce water absorption and the corresponding freeze-thaw damage. While absorptiontesting was able to show the benefits of sealers, differences were observed regarding the influence of sealer composition onfreeze-thaw damage
Development of a platoon-based adaptive traffic signal control system
No full textRoad traffic problems are usually created at intersections where vehicles are often interrupted due to traffic signs and signals. In Indiana, there exist many isolated intersections of major roads with minor roads. It was observed that on those major roads, such as multi-lane highways, the vehicles platoons were predominant traffic characteristics
Joint Transportation Research Program Technical Report FHWA/IN/JTRP-2018/02
No full text01683057https://doi.org/10.5703/12882843166452018PDFTech ReportFHWA/IN/JTRP-2018/02SPR-3709Quality assuranceQuality controlConstructionRisk assessmentSoilsSoil compactionField testsEmbankmentsintelligent compactionQC/QAquality controlquality assuranceembankmentConstructionHighwaysdynamic cone penetrometercompaction meter valuemachine drive powerUnited StatesIndianaPurdue University. Joint Transportation Research ProgramDunston, Phillip S.Cai, HuboKuczek, ThomasLi, ShuaiPurdue University. Joint Transportation Research ProgramJoint Transportation Research Program (Ind.)Indiana. Dept. of TransportationUnited States. Federal Highway AdministrationUS Transportation CollectionThis report describes a study of intelligent compaction (IC) technologies, within the context of actual construction projects, for its potential as a component of INDOT\u2019s QC/QA for soils. The output from an IC-equipped roller compaction equipment is a real-time area mapping of the compacted lift stiffness as captured by the IC measure. Data was collected to evaluate the correlation between each of two IC measures\u2014compaction meter value (CMV) and machine drive power (MDP)\u2014and in situ embankment quality test measures, the chief in situ test being the dynamic cone penetrometer (DCP) test which INDOT uses for soil embankment acceptance testing. Researchers sought to understand how well the IC measures might assess embankment quality as currently evaluated by the in situ measures. Window-averaged IC measures were compared with the in situ DCP test points. For CMV, a variable correlation was found between the average CMV and DCP values from 74 in situ locations. Also, a limited head-to-head comparison of CMV and MDP with the in situ measures provided some indication that MDP should be studied further. Lessons were learned regarding the elimination of bias in future correlation studies, critical provisions to facilitate best data quality, and important aspects of data management. IC technology holds promise for monitoring the consistency of the soil compaction effort and flagging weak areas in real time during compaction operations. However, further insight is needed regarding the correlation of the DCP measure with both types of IC measures for various soil characterizations and field moisture conditions
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