southwest region university transportation center enter · dr. lei yu’s project report was...

Transportation Solutions to Enhance Prosperity and the Quality of Life

enterSouthwest RegionUniversity Transportation CenterSouthwest RegionUniversity Transportation Center

CreditsEditor: Barbara LorenzDesign & Layout: Ivan LorenzGraphics: John Hobbs

Editor: Barbara LorenzDesign & Layout: Ivan LorenzGraphics: John Hobbs

Southwest Region University Transportation CenterAnnual Report 2001Southwest Region University Transportation CenterAnnual Report 2001

Transportation Solutions to Enhance Prosperityand the Quality of Life


Consortium Members:Texas A&M University

University of Texas at AustinTexas Southern University

Consortium Members:Texas A&M University

University of Texas at AustinTexas Southern University

Message from the Director

SWUTC Theme and Vision

Management Structure

Key Center Personnel

Education Program

Research Program

Technology Transfer Activities

List of New Projects

List of Ongoing Projects

List of Completed Projects

SWUTC Funding Sources and Expenditures

SWUTC Funding Distribution

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Successful pursuit ofour theme

requires energizedpeople (both facultyand students)creating dynamicand insightful ideasto generate andcapitalize on newopportunities fortransportationsolutions for ourfellow citizens. The

SWUTC program builds on its educational,research, and technology transfer successes bycontinually integrating new researchers, newstudents, and new faculty members into thediversified mix of our family. Classroomperformance, research results, and outreachefforts in the current year created new andexciting outcomes for our participants. I ampleased to highlight some of the milestones.

As elements of our broadening educationalprograms supported by the SWUTC, we expandedour educational outreach to high school childrenparticipating in the Summer TransportationInstitute programs at Houston (TSU), Dallas (PaulQuinn College), and San Antonio (UTSA). Onehundred percent of the summer 2000Undergraduate Fellows at UT-Austin subsequentlyapplied for admission to UT’s graduatetransportation engineering program. The uniqueMentors Program at Texas A&M provided selectedstate DOT employees an opportunity foradvanced professional development in ITS andtraffic operations/management.

Of all our students, Mr. Yi-Chang Chiu, a doctoralstudent at UT-Austin, was selected to receive theprestigious as theOutstanding Student in the SWUTC. His cuttingedge doctoral work incorporates elements ofeconomics, control theory, and real-timeinformation to improve our understanding of theflow of vehicular traffic in congested urbannetworks. TAMU student, Mr. William Eisele,received the SWUTC’s award as the

for his academic proficiencyspecializing in ITS data management andtransportation systems performance monitoring.This year, SWUTC established the

andpresented it to the first recipient -- Mr. CurtisWilson, who is pursuing a Masters of Sciencedegree in Transportation Planning andManagement at TSU.

This year forty eight research and teaching facultymembers from the consortium engaged in theSWUTC’s research program. Developing, testing,and improving new ideas for our theme

, SWUTC researchers wereactive on 28 projects, including these highlightprojects: inland port development, older driverperformance, smart growth, transportationmanagement and national defense preparedness,uncertainty in land use models, travel demandforecasting models, and commuter behavior andreal-time information. Among other results, thisyear’s research program produced several awardwinning papers, theses, and dissertations as wellas additional “spinoff” research funded bycomplementary sponsors.

TransportationSolutions to EnhanceProsperity and theQuality of Life

Robert Herman Award

OutstandingDoctoral Student

Naomi LedéOutstanding Masters Student Award


Technology transfer and outreach opportunitieschallenge the SWUTC to use a variety of methodsto make information readily available for

Ideas, People, Opportunity

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From The DirectorFrom The Director

.potential users throughout the transportationindustry. Symposia, internet website downloads,teleconferences, and workshops comprise theyear’s highlighted technology transfer successes.

The Advanced Institute and theUndergraduate Summer Internship inTransportation at UT-Austin conducted a14 part transportation researchsymposium that was attended by 150individuals. Faculty members andstudents presented several currentSWUTC research ideas.

SWUTC “hooked-up” with severaltransportation centers to produce ateleconference on

. This effortshowcased presentations from facultymembers of the MidcontinentTransportation Knowledge Network, aconsortium including the University ofManitoba Transportation Institute, theMountain Plains Consortium at NorthDakota State University, and the NationalCenter for Intermodal Transportation (NCIT)in Denver.

Dr. Lei Yu’s project reportwas downloaded over

3500 times from the SWUTC website sinceOctober 2000. This is our highest-demanddocument ever.

Teaming with the Mack-Blackwell NationalRural Transportation Study Center, theSWUTC held the

at the BushPresidential Library and Conference Center

at Texas A&M. Dr. Melissa Tooley, MBTCDirector and Professor of Civil Engineeringat the University of Arkansas, was thekeynote speaker.

We continue to strengthen the relationships withinthe existing SWUTC consortium, its ancillaryprograms, and our newly established partnerships.The long-term vibrancy and health of the SWUTCare directly tied to the high performance of boththe professional staff and student body in executingour research, education, and technology transferprograms. Stable and growing funding in bothfederal and state supporting budgets continues tobe a high management priority to establish theadministrative platforms for programmatic successin the SWUTC. Unrestored budgetary reductionsstill present real-time difficulties to the intendedand expected fulfillment of the UTC vision, and weintend to find sustainable solutions to overcomethis threatening condition.

Dock Burke,Director

North American FreightTransportation Issues and Trends: AMidcontinent Perspective

Travel DemandForecasting Models

Texas RuralTransportation Conference

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clearly challenges SWUTC participants to expand their capacities tothe fullest to produce education, research, and service solutions totransportation issues facing the people of Region 6 and the U.S. Ourtheme encompasses four strategic thrusts - support of economic growthand trade; enhancement of mobility, accessibility and efficiency;promotion of safety and safe environments; and development of thetransportation workforce.

To achieve maximum value from the SWUTC in implementing ourgrant, the SWUTC pursues the following vision to become

This ambitious vision calls upon us, over the expected lifetime of thisUTC grant, to deliver premier research programs in transportationsystems, transportation education and professional workforcedevelopment, and transportation technology transfer and service. Wewill pursue this vision by building on the significant resource basealready in place within the transportation programs of the consortiumuniversities, adding new partnerships and alliances with otheruniversities and transportation entities in the region, and keeping thethree program elements (research, education, and technology transfer)focused upon our theme.


an internationally recognized center for excellenceproviding knowledge, diverse leaders, and

innovative solutions for the transportation challengesof the 21 Centuryst

.

The SWUTC theme

SWUTC Theme And VisionSWUTC Theme And Vision

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Management StructureManagement Structure

The SWUTC Executive Committee oversees the SWUTC activities by establishing budget priorities;determining program content by selecting research projects and choosing those educationalprograms to be undertaken; and by reviewing the administrative affairs of the Center.

The SWUTC Director plans, executes, and reports the approved activities of the Center. TheDirector is assisted by an Administrative Assistant and five Associate Directors - two at TAMU/TTI,two at UT-Austin/CTR, and one at TSU/CTTR. These Associate Directors are each responsible foradministering that portion of SWUTC’s activities in their charge.

TSUTSUTTI/TAMUTTI/TAMU

Khosro GodaziKhosro GodaziConrad DudekConrad Dudek

Cynthia GillilandCynthia Gilliland

ASSOCIATE DIRECTORASSOCIATE DIRECTORASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

ADVANCED INSTITUTE

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

ADVANCED INSTITUTE

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

RESEARCH

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

RESEARCH

Research

Program

Research

Program

Principal

Investigators

Principal

Investigators

SWUTC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEESWUTC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

SWUTC DIRECTORSWUTC DIRECTOR

Herbert H. Richardson, ChairmanHerbert H. Richardson, Chairman

Dock BurkeDock Burke

CTR/UTCTR/UT

Hani MahmassaniHani Mahmassani

Randy MachemehlRandy Machemehl

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

ADVANCED INSTITUTE

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

ADVANCED INSTITUTE

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

RESEARCH

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

RESEARCH

Education

Program

Education

Program

Principal

Investigators

Principal

Investigators

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

Barbara LorenzBarbara Lorenz

Dr. Richardson iscurrently Director of theTexas TransportationInstitute and AssociateVice Chancellor forEngineering in the TexasA&M University System,and also holdsappointments asRegents Professor and

Distinguished Professor of Engineering at TexasA&M University. He is a member of the NationalAcademy of Engineering, Honorary Member ofthe American Society of Mechanical Engineers,and Fellow of the American Association for theAdvancement of Science. He served as the firstChief Scientist of the U.S. Department ofTransportation, as Chairman of the TransportationResearch Board, and has led or participated innumerous TRB panels, study committees, andreview boards. He served for 6 years on theGoverning Board of the National ResearchCouncil and the Council of the National Academyof Engineering. Most recently he received theLamme Medal of the American Association forEngineering Education for leadership inengineering education.

Dr. Walton is Professor of Civil Engineering andErnest H. Cockrell Centennial Chair inEngineering, University of Texas at Austin. Dr.Walton is a member of the National Academy ofEngineering and former Chairman of TRB. Dr.Walton has won numbers awards including TheAmerican Society of Civil Engineers 1992 JamesLaurie Prize for contributions to the advancementof transportation engineering; the 1987 HarlandBartholomew Award for contributions to the

enhancement of the civil engineer’s role in urbanplanning and development; and the 1987 FrankM. Masters Transportation Engineering Award, forinnovations in transport facility planning. TheTransportation Research Board presented Dr.Walton with the 1998 W.N. Carey, Jr.Distinguished Service Award in recognition ofoutstanding leadership in support oftransportation research. In 1995, he was namedTRB’s Distinguished Lecturer in recognition of theresearch contributions over his entire career. TheAmerican Road and Transportation BuildersAssociation presented Dr. Walton with the 1994S.S. Steinberg Award recognizing his outstandingcontributions to transportation education. Hereceived the 1995 Distinguished EngineeringAlumnus Award from the College of Engineeringat North Carolina State University. The College ofEngineering at the University of Texas at Austinawarded Dr. Walton the 1996 Joe J. King Award,their highest professional award, in recognition ofhis outstanding leadership to the engineeringprofession. The Institute of TransportationEngineers has awarded him the 1996 Wilbur S.Smith Distinguished Transportation EducatorAward in recognition of outstanding contributionsto the transportation profession by relatingacademic studies to the actual practice oftransportation.

Dr. Lewis is Director of the Center forTransportation Training and Research at TexasSouthern University and an Associate Professor ofTransportation Studies. Dr. Lewis served as apanelist at the ITS America conference in April1999, focusing on findings from a workshopstructured to increase consumer participation inITS projects. The workshop was partiallyunderwritten by the Southwest Region University

Dr. C. Michael Walton, memberDr. Carol Lewis, member

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Key Center PersonnelKey Center Personnel

SWUTC Executive CommitteeDr. Herbert Richardson, H. Chairman

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Transportation Center (SWUTC). Since joiningthe Texas Southern University faculty in 1992, shehas conducted research for the Texas Departmentof Transportation including Strategic Planning forCustomer Surveys, Socio-economic and LandValue Effects of Elevated and DepressedFreeways, and Land Use Effects at FreewayInterchanges. She has also completed additionalstudies for the SWUTC such as

. A section of this study was included inproceedings of the 2nd National Conference onWomen’s Travel Issues (USDOT, FHWA). Lewis isalso assisting with the citizen involvementportions of Major Investment Studies for theMetropolitan Transit Authority (Houston) andTxDOT.

Dr. Lewis belongs to a number of professionalorganizations including the TransportationTechnical Advisory Committee of the localMetropolitan Planning Organization. She is also amember of the Harris County Ad Hoc Committeefor Non-emergency Transportation Services.Since becoming CTTR’s Director, Dr. Lewis hadthe pleasure of accepting two outstandingresearch awards. The first was from the AustinMetropolitan Business Council and the secondfrom the Conference of Minority TransportationOfficials.

Mr. Bridges is Special Assistant to the AgencyDirector of the Texas Transportation Institute. Mr.Bridges has over thirty years of experience intransportation research. His research hasincluded urban transportation, bus operations,high occupancy vehicles, and fixed guide-waytransportation. Most recently, Mr. Bridges was thefounder of the Intelligent Vehicle Initiative at TTI

and leader of TTI’s ALERT™ program in IntelligentVehicles. Mr. Bridges managed the 1970 and the1972 National Transportation Studies for Texas,directing the efforts of several state agencies andtwenty-three urbanized areas in Texas, and was itsprincipal author. Another landmark study was theNational Grade Crossing Inventory Project forwhich Mr. Bridges directed the pilot projects inFlorida, Virginia and Connecticut, designed thecross numbering system, and did the cost analysisthat was used to reimburse the railroads. He wasa member of the Mobility 2000 Group on theapplication of advanced technologies to vehiclesand highways. The technologies includeadvanced traffic management techniques, on-board navigation systems, and advanced vehiclecontrol systems. He co-edited the Mobility 2000reports of the meetings in San Antonio in 1989and Dallas in 1990. He served on theMembership Committee, the CoordinatingCouncil, the Planning Committee, and ischairman of the Institutional Issues Committee ofIVHS AMERICA, a designated advisorycommission to the U.S. DOT on IVHS issues.

Mr. Harrison is a Senior Research Scientist andExecutive Director of the Center forTransportation Research at the University of Texasat Austin. He has worked in the area oftransportation economics and planning for over30 years and has published extensively in the areaof economic impact studies, trucking issues, costbenefit analysis and transport system planning.Recently, his work has included a study on theuse of consultants (which required an assetmanagement approach), various studiesevaluating integrated infrastructure management,financing studies, NAFTA corridor evaluations,and studies on expediting construction

Perspectives onThree Issues Facing the Transit Manager in theNineties

Mr. G. Sadler Bridges, member

Mr. Robert Harrison, member

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scheduling. He has written over 40 researchreports and published over 30 peer reviewedtechnical papers related to this body of work.

Mr. Harrison is a past president of the U.S.(TRF), and a

member of the Transportation Research BoardCommittees on Motor Vehicle Size and Weightand International Trade and Transportation. He isregarded as a leading specialist on therelationship between trucking costs and highwaydesign characteristics and is currently reviewingthe new World Bank Highway Development andManagement model, an integrated managementtool developed at a cost of over $3 million

Lei Yu is Associate Professor and Chairman of theTransportation Studies Department at TexasSouthern University. As a professor at TexasSouthern University, he has been teaching thecourses in Highway Traffic Operations, TravelDemand Forecasting & Analysis, TransportationDesign & Engineering, Computer Applications inTransportation, and Quantitative Analysis inTransportation. His research interests andexpertise involve transportation data collectionand modeling, the ITS related technologies andapplications, dynamic traffic assignment andsimulation, vehicle exhaust emission modeling,highway traffic control and operation strategies,travel demand forecasting models, and air qualityissues in transportation. In the past years, Yu hasbeen managing numerous research andconsulting projects that were sponsored byvarious agencies such as Texas Department ofTransportation (TxDOT), Federal HighwayAdministration (FHWA), Federal TransitAdministration (FTA), Southwest RegionUniversity Transportation Center (SWUTC)program, National Institute of Standards andTechnology (NIST), City of Missouri City, Harris

County Improvement District #1, etc. Dr. Yu haspublished numerous research papers in scientificjournals and conference proceedings, and projectreports. In addition, he has served many times asthe distinguished lecturer for the high-levelChinese Transportation Executives andAdministrators. In September 2000, he wasawarded the Cheung Kong Scholar by theMinistry of Education in China and Li Ka ShineFoundation in Hong Kong. Professionally, Dr. Yuis an active member of the Institute ofTransportation Engineers (ITE), the AmericanSociety of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and theTransportation Research Board (TRB). He alsoholds membership on numerous committees,councils, and task forces in the regional, state,national and international organizations.

Dr. Christiansen is presently Deputy Director ofthe Texas Transportation Institute. Dr.Christiansen has been a member of the staff of theTexas Transportation Institute for over 20 years.Projects directed by Dr. Christiansen haveaddressed areas such as: the role of rail transit inTexas cities; roadway operations and design;transportation and energy relationships; thedesign and operation of bus transfer centers andpark-and-ride lots; the role of intercity railpassenger service in Texas; the potential role for asystem of strategic arterial streets; and urbangoods movement. In addition to this research, Dr.Christiansen has become recognized as aninternational expert in the planning, design,operation and evaluation of preferential facilitiesfor high-occupancy vehicles.

In 1979 he received the Transportation ResearchBoard’s Fred Burgraff Award. The InternationalInstitute of Transportation Engineers awarded himtheir Technical Paper Award in 1984 and theTechnical council Award in 1988. The Texas

Transportation Research Forum

Dr. Lei Yu, member

Dr. Dennis Christiansen, member

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Section of thenamed him its Transportation Engineer of the Yearin 1989. Dr. Christiansen is presently one of the15-member Board of Directors for the

and is a past president of ITE.

An Associate Professor, Community and RegionalPlanning, University of Texas at Austin. Dr.Handy is a product of the UTC graduate programin City and Regional Planning from the Universityof California at Berkeley where she received herPh.D in 1992. Dr. Handy's research focuses onaccessibility issues in transportation, especiallyalternative strategies for providing neededaccessibility, including land use policies andtelecommunications services.Her research for the Southwest Region UniversityTransportation Center has included: a project todevelop practical methodologies for measuringaccessibility at the neighborhood level usingGeographic Information Systems and to evaluateaccessibility needs in low-incomeneighborhoods; a three-year project on therelationship between urban form and travelbehavior; and a project on the question ofwhether telecommunications technologies willlead to the substitution of in-home activities forout-of-home activities. She has served for anumber of years on the Land DevelopmentSubcommittee and the Telecommunications andTravel Behavior Subcommittee of theTransportation Research Board.

Ms. Beaumont is Associate Agency Director of theTexas Transportation Institute. As AssociateDirector for Governmental Relations and Policy,Ms. Beaumont is responsible for the agency’sstate and Federal legislative relations and strategy

development, as well as internal and externalcommunications, strategic planning andsupervision of the Continuous Improvementprocess. Prior to joining TTI, Beaumont served asVice Chancellor for Communications andDevelopment of the Texas A&M System, the firstwoman to hold vice chancellor rank in theSystem. Coordinating legislative communicationsfor the 15-member A&M system was a primaryresponsibility in that job, as was on-goinginteraction with the legislative leadership inAustin, and with the Texas Congressionaldelegation.

Ms. Beaumont has been involved in technologypolicy development and legislative affairs since1986. From 1987 until 1991, she served as theTAMUS Engineering Program’s liaison to both thestate legislature and Congress, securing fundingfor a number of engineering/transportationinitiatives. She was founding member of theTechnology Industry Legislative Task Force in1986 and participated in a majorindustry/university legislative initiative, whichsecured passage of 11 major bills that changedthe structure of university-based research andtechnology transfer.

Dr. Rilett is the E.B. Snead II Associate Professorin the Department of Civil Engineering at TexasA&M University, and an Associate ResearchEngineer at the Texas Transportation Institute. Hereceived his B.A.Sc. degree (1987) and hisM.A.Sc. degree (1988) from the University ofWaterloo and his Ph.D. degree (1992) from

Institute of Transportation Engineers

International Institute of Transportation Engineers

Dr. Susan Handy, member

Ms. Penny Beaumont, memberDr. Laurence Rilett, member

In FY01 two new members joinedthe SWUTC Executive Committee

Queen’s University. He has held academicpositions as an Assistant Professor (1992-1995)and an Associate Professor (1995) at theUniversity of Alberta. In the past 11 years he has

taught sevendifferentundergraduatecourses and fourdifferent graduatecourses that cover avariety of topic areasincluding statistics,risk analysis, andtransportationplanning. He hasserved as chair on 6Ph.D. dissertationcommittees and 17Masters committees

and is currently supervising 8 Ph.D. students and6 Masters students. In addition, he has authoredor co-authored 32 refereed journal papers and 40conference papers that were based on hisresearch.

Dr. Rilett has been a principal investigator or co-principal investigator on over 20 researchprojects. Dr. Rilett’s field of research is in thetransportation system analysis area and hisspecific research may be divided into two mainareas: ITS applications and transportation systemmodeling

Dr. Zhang is an Assistant Professor inTransportation Engineering at the University ofTexas at Austin. He obtained his Ph.D. at theUniversity of Texas at Austin and has significantteaching and research experience elsewhere. Dr.Zhang has been actively conducting research in

the engineering and management oftransportation infrastructure and the applicationsof advanced database and information systems topavement management for more than 16 yearshere in the United States and abroad.

Dr. Zhang’s research experience is characterizedby a unique combination of his theoreticalknowledge in pavement engineering and hands-on computer skills. He has conducted extensiveresearch in the analysis, modeling, operation, and

management ofpavement andinfrastructuresystems, usingadvanced computertechnologies such asGeographicInformation Systems(GIS), knowledge-based systems (KBS),and relationaldatabasemanagementsystems (RDBMS).

Dr. Zhang is actively involved with severalprofessional committees under the TransportationResearch Board (TRB) and American ConcreteInstitute (ACI). He also serves as a member of theTechnical Advisory Panel (TAP) for the ResearchManagement Committee (RMC) 1 of the TexasDepartment of Transportation (TxDOT).

Dr. Zhanmin Zhang, member

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Dock Burke, Director

Barbara Lorenz,Administrative Assistant

Dr. Conrad Dudek, Associate Director- Advanced Institute, Texas A&MUniversity

Mr. Khosro Godazi, Associate Director- for Transportation Research andEducation, Texas Southern University

SWUTC Associate Directors

Dock Burke is the Director of theSouthwest University RegionTransportation Center at the TexasTransportation Institute. A SeniorResearch Economist, he alsocoordinates the activities of TTI'sregional divisions. In his researchcareer at the Institute, he hasserved as the Study Supervisor orco-supervisor of over 50 researchprojects, authored or co-authored90 research reports and papers,and has made over 60presentations on a wide variety oftransportation related issues sincejoining the TTI in 1969. He is the1997 recipient of TTI's prestigiousTTI/Trinity Career Achievement inResearch award.

Barbara Lorenz serves as Administrative Assistantin the SWUTC a position she has held since 1992.Ms. Lorenz oversees the daily operationalactivities of the Center.

Dr. Dudek has taught transportation engineeringcourses in Civil Engineering for 27 years. He hasthirty-four years experience in transportationresearch. He has administered civil engineeringundergraduate and graduate programs in

transportation engineering with 10faculty and approximately 55graduate students. He has servedas Program Manager, ProjectDirector, Principal Investigator,Principal Researcher, or StudySupervisor on over 30 researchprojects sponsored by state andfederal agencies.

Ms. Gilliland has more than 26years of experience in thegovernmental and quasi-governmental arenas,concentrating in the field oftransportation. She has significant

experience in regional transportation planningand the development of regional transitauthorities. She also has worked in localgovernment, at the county and municipal levels,in positions supporting policy makers andcarrying responsibilities for intergovernmentaland legislative relations. Ms. Gilliland joined theTexas Transportation Institute in June 1995 and iscurrently Program Manager of TTI’s InstitutionalPolicies and Issues Program.

Mr. Godazi, newly appointed Associate Directorfor the SWUTC, has 15 years of teaching andadministrative experience at Texas SouthernUniversity. He holds a BS in Civil EngineeringTechnology and a MS in City Planning. He is

Ms. Cynthia Gilliland,Associate Director - forTransportation Research atTexas A&M University

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Office of the Director

SWUTC Administrative Staff: Dock Burke,Tracey Young, Lani Smith, Barb LorenzSWUTC Administrative Staff: Dock Burke,Tracey Young, Lani Smith, Barb Lorenz

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coordinator of the 2-week Texas Summer Transportation Institute that has been held inHouston, at Texas Southern University for the last three years. In addition he spearheadsthe Transportation Studies Mentorship Program. Mr. Godazi has coordinated numerousconferences for the Center for Transportation Training and Research. Mr. Godazi has

extensive experience in transportation research and has servedas Principal Investigator on numerous SWUTC projects. Mr.Godazi also teaches transportation students in variousTransportation Software and Quantitative Statistics

Dr. Machemehl is the Director of the Center for TransportationResearch and Nasser I. Al-Rashid Centennial Professor inTransportation Engineering at the University of Texas. Inaddition to these duties, Dr. Machemehl has distinguishedhimself as a researcher focusing particularly on trafficengineering, transportation planning, and the application ofmicrocomputers in transportation engineering. He is also aprofessional engineer and has memberships in the Institute ofTransportation Engineers and in the American Society of CivilEngineers.

Dr. Mahmassani is the Adnan Abou-Ayyash CentennialProfessor in Transportation Engineering, and Professor ofManagement Science and Information Systems in theDepartment of Civil Engineering at the University of Texas atAustin. He has 24 years of teaching and research experience in

the field of transportation. He currently teaches courses in the analysis and design oftransportation systems, traffic system performance and control, decision models andoperations research. His numerous professional activities include serving as president ofthe Transportation Science Section of INFORMS, President of the International Associationof Travel Behavior Research and Associate Editor of

.Transportation Research C: Emerging

Technologies

Dr. Randy Machemehl, Associate Director - forTransportation Research at UT-Austin

Dr. Hani Mahmassani, Associate Director -Advanced Institute, UT-Austin

SWUTC members confer with Dr.

Ledé after the official dedication of

the Naomi Ledé Outstanding

Student Award, March 7, 2001

Left to Right: Dock Burke, Naomi

Ledé, Carol Lewis, Herb

Richardson, Cinde Gilliland and

Khosro Godazi

SWUTC members confer with Dr.

Ledé after the official dedication of

the Naomi Ledé Outstanding

Student Award, March 7, 2001

Left to Right: Dock Burke, Naomi

Ledé, Carol Lewis, Herb

Richardson, Cinde Gilliland and

Khosro Godazi

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The SWUTC supports Advanced Institutes that are integrated into established degree-granting university departments at Texas A&M University and the University of Texasat Austin. Additionally, the SWUTC supports the academic enrichment of a well-

developed graduate transportation studies program at Texas Southern University. TheSWUTC seeks to enhance these programs by strengthening the multidisciplinary qualitiesof a body of transportation science that will prepare today’s students for leadership in theemerging information-rich economy.

For the third year, the SWUTC has provided support for thehighly successful Texas Summer Transportation Institute (TSTI)hosted by the Texas Transportation Institute, Texas SouthernUniversity and Paul Quinn College held in the Houston andDallas areas. This year, the program was expanded to includean institute held in San Antonio, Texas in a partnershipinvolving UT-San Antonio, TTI and the SWUTC.

The 2001 TSTI program was open to all students from localhigh schools with a grade point average of at least 2.0 on a 4.0scale. Students who participated in this year’s TSTI programreceived an overview of careers in the transportation industrywhich was supplemented by special activities and fascinatingeducational trips to transportation facilities in the Houston,Dallas and San Antonio metropolitan areas. The curriculumalso covers such critical frontiers on transportation asintermodalism, safety, highway design, future air navigationsystems, environmentalism, and airline globalization.

“This program offers local high school students an opportunity to see the type of workperformed by individuals in the transportation industry,” said Ben Jurewicz, director of theInstitute for Studies in Business, UT-San Antonio. “We hope that this experience will leadlocal students to opportunities in this career field.” Since 1999, the TSTI program hasproven itself to be a very successful initiative graduating 124 students - primarilyminorities. Ninety percent went on to college with a majority indicating that they arecurrently pursuing careers in mathematics, science, business, technology andtransportation engineering.

SWUTC Project #167130/ P.I. Naomi Ledé

Selected Education Highlights

2001 Texas Summer Transportation Institute Program Expanded

Education ProgramEducation Program

San Antonio TSTI students at Randolph AFB

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2000 TSTI Program Receives National Awards

Uniqueness of TAMU Mentors Program Attracts Graduate Students and StateDOT Employees to TAMU

In April of this year, the TSTI program which is co-funded by the SWUTC was presentedwith two awards at the 2001 FHWA National Summer Transportation Institute Kick-Off andAnnual Training Workshop in Nashville.

Presented to Dr. Naomi Ledé, Director of the TTI Summer Institute, was the MeritoriousAchievement Award for innovative marketing of the TSTI program. This award recognizesthe success of the multi-media promotion of the TSTI program resulting in a diverse groupof participants who learned about and experience aspects of challenging transportationcareers.

FHWA also presented Dr. Ledé the prestigious Partnering Award. The award citedcontinued successful partnerships with Paul Quinn College and Texas Southern Universityto enhance transportation career opportunities for students by working with an IntermodalAdvisory Committee, which included a broad range of transportation professionals fromaviation, railroads, highways, transit, motor carrier safety, the U.S. Coast Guard,academia, private sector, and Federal and State elected officials.

During the summer of 2001, the TAMU AdvancedInstitute attracted state DOT employees into the SummerMentor’s Program for the second year. This highlysuccessful program provides state DOT employees aunique opportunity for professional development in theareas of intelligent transportation systems and trafficoperations and management. Employees from six stateDOT’s participated this year. The states representedwere Illinois, Maryland, New York, South Carolina,Virginia and Washington. As part of the program, eachparticipant working closely with recognized experts inthe fields of intelligent transportation systems and trafficoperations and management conducted research on acurrent issue. The results of the individual researchefforts are compiled and documented in a report and areavailable for immediate implementation within therespective states.

2001 Mentor's Program Participants

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In addition to the state DOT employees, five graduate studentsfrom the Advanced Institute also participated in the program.Steven Schrock, a Ph.D. Civil Engineering student at TexasA&M University emphasized the importance of the programby stating “the Mentor’s Program was one of the things thatstood out to me as really unique about the Ph.D. program andit swung the balance in favor of A&M. It’s a draw you don’thear about at other schools. With the mentors, the stateemployees, the grad students and Dr. Dudek, there was a fullspectrum of experience that we could draw on. In addition toour research, we learned a lot as students through the livelyexchange of information and interactions with mentors andstate employees in formal and informal settings.”

The efforts of the Advanced Institute for TransportationInfrastructure Engineering and Management at the Universityof Texas at Austin to recruit from a diverse pool of prospectsachieved the notable success of having a 100% femalecomposition of entering AI fellows in the fall of 2000. Of the10 new women recruited last year, 100% had outstanding credentials, from diverse ethnicorigins and diverse disciplinary backgrounds, including one student with a degree in mathfrom Carleton College, Minnesota.

Additionally, 100% of the Advanced Institute graduating fellows were placed in thetransportation sector. The outstanding quality of education and leadership trainingassociated with the Advanced Institute program is well recognized nationally, resulting invery strong demand for graduates in the industry and government. This continues tovalidate the basic premise and motivation for the existence of this program as part of thenational effort to meet growing needs for advanced professionals in the transportationsector.

In an additional success, 100% of the summer 2000 Undergraduate Fellows applied to thegraduate transportation engineering program at the University of Texas at Austin.Indications are excellent that graduates from the summer 2001 Undergraduate Fellowsprogram will have a similarly high recruitment rate into the transportation engineeringdepartment.

University of Texas Advanced Institute Achieves Goal ofOne Hundred Percent Gender Diversity PostGraduation Placement and Retention

,

2001 University of Texas

Undergraduate Fellows touring

DART (Dallas Area Transit)

operations

2001 University of Texas

Undergraduate Fellows touring

DART (Dallas Area Transit)

operations

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STUDENT AWARDS

SWUTC’s Student Award Winners

Curtis Wilson Selected to be First Recipientof Naomi Ledé Outstanding Masters StudentAward and SWUTC Outstanding Student ofthe Year Award

Each year, in addition to selecting the overallSWUTC Outstanding Student to represent theSWUTC at TRB, the SWUTC honors two morestudents for their academic, professionalism andleadership achievements. Each of the three majorawards presented yearly at the SWUTC; theNaomi Ledé Outstanding Masters Student Award,the SWUTC Ph.D. Student Award and the RobertHerman Outstanding Student Award comes with a$1,000 cash award.

For 2001, The Robert Herman OutstandingStudent Award went to Yi-Chang (Isaac) Chiu adoctoral student at the University of Texas atAustin. Mr. Chiu has emerged to be a tremendousintellectual force in the graduate program, and anall-around leader intellectually, professionally aswell as on a personal level. His doctoral work ismaking a groundbreaking contribution that bringstogether concepts from economics, control theoryand operations research to manage and controlthe flow of vehicular traffic in congested urbannetworks, under the provision of real-timeinformation. Mr. Chiu has been outstandinglyproductive on his research and SWUTC projects,which are strongly related to his dissertationwork. His doctoral work is of the highest quality.He is preparing a first-rate dissertation, that willmake significant contributions to strategies formanaging congestion and enhancing the qualityof urban life in major cities. Mr. Chiu displays thekind of creative independence, unrelentingcuriosity, persistence, determination, meticulousattention to detail, and quest for perfection thatRobert Herman strived so hard to instill in youngpeople.

The SWUTC Ph.D. Student Award Winner wasWilliam L. Eisele a doctoral student from TexasA&M University. Mr. Eisele received a Bachelorsof Science degree from Michigan State University,graduating with high honors. He then pursued aMasters of Science degree from Michigan StateUniversity and graduated in December 1994,again with high honors. He is currently workingfull-time at the Texas Transportation Institute andis a Ph.D. candidate in the Civil EngineeringDepartment. As a researcher at TTI, and as apracticing professional engineer in the State ofTexas, he has had ample opportunities to beinvolved in a variety of transportation researchprojects and areas. His speciality areas includeaccess management, intelligent transportationsystems (ITS) data management, transportationsystem performance monitoring, and high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) facilities. Mr. Eisele’sstrong academic performance, numerous researchproducts through a variety of sponsors includingthe SWUTC, and his outstanding leadershipexperiences made him an ideal choice to be thisyear’s recipient of this prestigious award.

Curtis Wilson, was the first recipient of the newlyestablished Naomi Ledé Outstanding MastersStudent Award and was the representative at the2001 SWUTC Outstanding Student of the YearAward reception held by RSPA in WashingtonD.C. Mr. Wilson is currently pursuing a Mastersof Science degree in Transportation Planning and

19

Management at Texas SouthernUniversity. He has chosen tofocus his study in the area ofPlanning Methodology. Hisfuture plans are to pursue aJuris Doctorate Degree inPhilosophy. He believes thiswill allow him to teachgrowing young professionalswith interest in the planningand transportation field.Presently, he is employed withthe fourth fastest growingcounty in the U.S., Fort BendCounty, Texas. His position isProject Coordinator, in theCommunity Development Department. Some ofhis projects include city planning, planning andmonitoring $450,000+ of real estatedevelopment, capital improvement, researchingdesign/zoning standards, and site plandevelopment.

Curtis Wilson received his Bachelor of Sciencedegree from Prairie View A&M University in CivilEngineering. Mr. Wilson’s membership andleadership also include his current position asPresident of the Institute of TransportationEngineers and the Conference of MinorityOfficials (Texas Southern Student Chapters). Mr.Wilson received the National COMTO Carmen E.Turner Scholarship in Atlanta, Georgia in 2000.And he has received the TexITE OutstandingStudent of the Year Award - Texas SouthernChapter.

Mr. Wilson was chosen to receive these twoprestigious SWUTC designations because of hisacademic performance, leadership,professionalism and outreach.

At Texas A&M University,there is a preliminarycompetition to select studentsto represent the University inthe SWUTC regionalcompetition. Each of thethree selected TAMU studentsis presented with a $500 cashaward.

The winners of the TAMUselection were: Josias Zietsman to representTAMU in the Robert Herman Award competition,William Eisele to represent TAMU for the Ph.D.Student of the Year Award, and Michelle Jozwiakto represent TAMU in the Naomi LedéOutstanding Masters Student Award. Should anyof these students be selected as the SWUTCregional award winner, as in the case of WilliamEisele, then they receive a $1,000 cash awardrather than $500.

TAMU Selects StudentAward Winners inPreliminary Competition

Curtis Wilson Accepts Naomi LedéOutstanding Masters Student AwardCurtis Wilson Accepts Naomi LedéOutstanding Masters Student Award

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S

Selected Research Highlights

University of Texas SWUTC StudentResearchers Receive Awards

TAMU Research Project “Adaptive Equipmentto Enhance Older Driver Performance”Produces Guidebook

WUTC pursues a balanced program oftransportation research (transit, highway, andmultimodal) by selecting those projects that

reflect our vision, theme and strategic thrusts.Some of the specific research program sub-themesare: improved linkages between the U.S. andMexican transportation systems, developingtransportation solutions to improve the livability ofour neighborhoods and communities and thequality-of-life for their inhabitants, development oftransportation-based solutions to variousenvironmental and safety problems, anddevelopment of a superior transportationworkforce for the 21 Century.

Each year, through the various research efforts atthe three consortium universities, numerousgraduate and undergraduate students have theopportunity to be actively involved in the work ofnationally recognized principal investigators. Anoften overlooked by-product of this SWUTCresearch mentorship is the generation of awardwinning thesis, dissertations and presentationsdirectly linked to SWUTC research. Below are fourhighlights from the University of Texas program for2001.

Ms. Sara Leitner, a graduate student at theUniversity of Texas completed a very innovativethesis as part of Mr. Rob Harrison’s research studyon Inland Ports and their Contribution toTransportation Efficiencies. Ms. Leitner’s workcharacterized and classified inland ports, and forthe first time, described potential inland portapplications. Her work was presented at the mid-year Transportation Research Board poster session

and her thesis has been nominated for a BestThesis award.

Karthik Srinivasan, who previously received theRobert Herman Outstanding Student Award of theSWUTC in 2000, and is supervised by Dr. HaniMahmassani, received Best Dissertation Awardfrom the International Association of TravelBehaviour Research Dissertation. His dissertationwas titled “Dynamic Decision and AdjustmentProcesses in Commuter Behavior under Real-TimeInformation.”

Mr. Michael Hunter, a doctoral candidate inTransportation Engineering, under the supervisionof Dr. Randy B. Machemehl received the first ASCEJoel Leisch Fellowship. Mr. Joel Leisch, son of JackLeisch (deceased), a well-known civil engineerhimself, made the fellowship presentation to Mr.Hunter. The selection criteria for the fellowshipincluded accomplishments in research work.

Mr. Harikesh Nair, a masters of science studentunder Dr. Chandra Bhat’s supervision, received theMilton Pikarsky North American Memorial Awardfor best transportation MS thesis, awarded by theCouncil of University Transportation Centers, Fall2000.

As drivers age, limitations in their performance asdrivers becomes more prevalent. These limitations

st

SWUTC Project #473700-00062/P.I. Rob Harrison

SWUTC Project #473700-00065/P.I. Hani Mahmassani

SWUTC Project #167224/P.I. Randy Machemehl

SWUTC Project #167220/ P.I. Chandra Bhat

SWUTC Project #167124/P.I. Rodger Koppa

Research ProgramResearch Program

include visual losses, diminished range of motion,and various musculoskeletal disorders. Decreasein older drivers’ ability to timeshare functions hasalso been noted. Through his SWUTC project,veteran researcher Rodger Koppa developed aguidebook that identifiesapplicable and practicalequipment to improve olderdriver performance that arisesfrom the automotive adaptiveequipment field. Thistechnology is for use bypeople who may not beclassified as disabled per se,but could use adaptiveapproaches to minimize theage-related limitations inperformance.

The “Guidebook” is designedto be an easy to readdocument with a wealth of information for bothindividuals and professionals. Project MonitorRoger Levy of the Texas Center for DisabilityStudies applauded Dr. Koppa’s tact in usinglanguage that will go a long way to not alienateseniors who don’t think of themselves as having adisability.

This report is available for downloading at

The Smart Growth idea is a contemporary conceptfor how communities are approaching anticipatedexpansion or renewal. Communities implementing

Smart Growth strategies seek to efficiently usepublic and private resources to accommodateincreases in population, while positivelyaddressing side-effects of growth, such as trafficcongestion, air pollution, and reduction in open

space and farmland. Anotherkey component is theefficient utilization of land byencouraging infill, in contrastto leap-frog developmentpatterns. The goals arelivability, economic vitality,and environment sensitivity.Over the last decade,renewed national emphasishas been directed toimproving communities;planning officials addedterms such as livablecommunity and sustainablecommunity to the vernacular

of traditional coordinated land use planning.

The report generated by this research examinesSmart Growth initiatives in the US and comparesexperiences in selected Region VI communities.Results of the research includes a recommendationon the appropriate role of transportationprofessionals in Smart Growth.

Findings from this research project have beenpresented at numerous meetings including at theTRF 2000 Annual Forum in November of 2000.The final report is available for downloading at

Funded in 1999, Russell Henk’s SWUTC researchstudy titled

SWUTC Project #473700-00042/P.I. Carol Lewis

SWUTC Project #473700-00007/P.I. Russell Henk

“Evaluate Strategies for Using the

http://swutc.tamu.edu/reports.html

http://swutc.tamu.edu/reports.htmlFindings from TSU Research Project “AnExamination of the Smart Growth Initiativeand its Application to Region VICommunities” Published in Report

SWUTC Research Acts as Seed Money forExpanded Funding

21

Rotating "Mobility Seat" manufactured byBraun Corp. to enhance older driver performanceRotating "Mobility Seat" manufactured byBraun Corp. to enhance older driver performance

Transportation Management Infrastructure in theRole of National Defense Preparedness”

“Uncertainty inIntegrated Land Use-Transport Models”

“Towards BehaviorallyConsistent IntegratedTransport Land UseModels, in Support ofInfrastructure Systems

Decisions”

“ThePropagation of Uncertainty in Multi-StageTransport Demand Models”

Transportation Geography

hasresulted in the potential for significant additionalresearch and associated benefits to the TexasTransportation Institute. The opportunity createdby the initial SWUTC funds specifically relates tothe role of transportation managementinfrastructure and operating strategies duringmajor emergencies (e.g., hurricane evacuations,military deployments and malevolent attacks inthe United States). As part of the SWUTCresearch activities on this topic, many briefingswith key transportation operating agencies,FHWA, Department of Defense, Congressionalmembers and their staffs were conducted. Duringthe course of this technology transfer, the criticalnature of the challenges and need for additional

research inthe nation’sinterestwere madeapparent tomanyimportantdecision-makers. Assuch, thereis a goodpossibilitythatCongresswillprovideearmarkedfunds for

additional research on this topic (possibly severalmillion dollars over the coming years) for thecreation of what is currently being called theCenter for Transportation InfrastructureManagement during Emergencies (CTIME). Theseadditional funds, research and potential large-scale benefits to the United States are a directresult of opportunities created by the SWUTCprogram.

University of Texas atAustin researcher, Dr.Kara Kockelmanintegrated her researchwork on her SWUTCproject

into acompetitive paper titled

which won her the National ScienceFoundation Faculty Early Career DevelopmentCAREER Award, 2000-2004. This award camewith an $500,000 endowment.

A product of the University of CaliforniaTransportation Center (UCTC) graduate educationprogram, Dr. Kockelman came to the Universityof Texas in the Fall of 1998. Since that time, inaddition to her teaching responsibilities in theDepartment of Civil Engineering, she has servedas principal investigator on several SWUTCresearch projects. Her first SWUTC project,

has already generateda published technical report. She will bepresenting her findings on this research work atTRB in January 2002. In addition, her findingshave been submitted for publication in

.

Dr. Kockelman is also the first recipient of theClare Boothe Luce Professor of Civil Engineering1999-2000. This appointment was, in part, forher outstanding research work.

SWUTC Project #167223/P.I. Kara Kockelman

UT-Austin Researcher Receives Award forPaper Based on SWUTC Work

22

Kara Kockelman

Hurricane Allison strikesHouston June 2001Hurricane Allison strikesHouston June 2001

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T

Selected Technology Transfer Highlights

Mid-Continent Transportation Knowledge Network Sponsors NAFTA Trade and TransportationTeleconference

imely information, timely delivered to the right people is the desired outcome for the SWUTC'stechnology transfer program. Both educational and research program activities pursue vital aspects oftechnology transfer. Educationally, the student/professor relationships are the principal loci of

technology transfer activities -- knowledge exchanged between professor and students in classroom andresearch endeavors. In the research program, technology transfer outcomes are typically associated with thedelivery of research products (papers, lectures, presentations, reports, video/media) -- for individual researchprojects --- to potential and interested users and colleagues.

The SWUTC along with the University of Manitoba Transportation Institute in Winnipeg (UMTI), the GreatPlains Transportation Institute in Fargo (GPTI), the National Center for Intermodal Transportation in Denver(NCIT), and the Mountain-Plains Consortium at North Dakota State University collaborated on the NAFTATrade and Transportation Teleconference on August 27, 2001. More than 50 transportation academicians andresearchers participated in the highly successful conference that had the theme of

. Papers presented at the event included:

The Mid-Continent Knowledge Network has as a primary goal to facilitate the sharing of transportationeducation and research among participating universities. Through this teleconference, the network has madegreat strides at achieving that goal by bringing new research perspectives and information to the SWUTCresearchers working on NAFTA related trade and transportation issues. At the SWUTC, researchers areprincipally focused upon the Mexico-Texas border. Consequently, the comparison/contrast that is shared withour northern border counterparts in North Dakota and Manitoba give additional depth to our understanding ofour own perspectives. Dock Burke summarized the benefits of the Network in the future by stating that “wehope to expand on this initial phase and increase the exchange opportunities for faculty, researchers and

North American FreightTransportation Issues and Trends: A Midcontinent Perspective

“ -Rob Harrison, Center for Transportation Research - University of Texas at Austinand SWUTC

- Brenda Lantz- North Dakota State University and GPTI

- Bill Stockton, TexasTransportation Institute - Texas A&M University and SWUTC

- BarryPrentice - University of Manitoba

- Paul Dempsey -University of Denver and National Center for Intermodal Transportation

- Denver Tolliver and DougBenson - North Dakota State University and Mountain Plains Consortium

Barbarians at the Gate? The Issue of Mexican Truck Safety and the NAFTA”

“Ensuring the Safety of North American Motor Carrier Operations”

“Criteria & Design of a Model Border Crossing”

“Economics of Congestion at a Border Gateway: The Case of Laredo”

“Free Trade But Not Free Transport? The Mexican Stand-Off”

"Canadian-U.S. Rail Freight Flows Since NAFTA”

Technology TransferTechnology Transfer

Participants at the NAFTA Trade andTransportation TeleconferenceParticipants at the NAFTA Trade andTransportation Teleconference

24

students between our institutions and the othermembers of the Network. We are also striving tofind ways to connect the Network better to theprivate sector in promoting a better understandingof the trade and transportation issues surroundingthe NAFTA and related economic interactionsamong the three North American countries. Andwe plan to connect the Network to somecounterparts in Mexico so that the Network canbecome a true NAFTA resource, producing real-time interactions and shared knowledge among theinterested research/ education communities.”

The recently published report by SWUTCresearchers Peng Yue and Dr. Lei Yu titled “TravelDemand Forecasting Models: A Comparison ofEMME/2 and QRS II Using a Real-World Network”has been one of the most popular SWUTC reportsgenerated to date. This report was downloadedfrom the SWUTC website 709 times during themonth of August 2001. For a total of 3,535 timessince it was published in October 2000.This report presents a comparative study of twowidely used computer based travel demandforecasting models: QRS II vs. EMME/2. Thecomparative study identifies main features anddifferences of the two models, while providinguseful information to practitioners. Thecomparative description of basic features of twomodels in this report includes model structure,network development, data input, networkmodification, parameter calibration, and modelingoutput. A real-world small urban network, SouthMissouri City Network, is used to support thecomparison effort.

This report is available for downloading at

During the summer of 2001, the UT-AustinAdvanced Institute and the Undergraduate SummerInternship in Transportation program hosted aresearch symposium series from June 5 throughAugust 16 . This fourteen part symposium serieswas open to all interested students and faculty atthe University of Texas and was heavily attendedby approximately 150 individuals. Faculty andstudents made presentations on current SWUTCresearch topics. Included in the presentationswere:

t h

t h

“Hot-Lanes”

“The Spatial Analysis of Travel Behavior”

“Impact of Information Technology on Transportation Systems”

“Integrated Modeling of Land Use-Transport Systems”

“A Vision for the Transportation System”

“Challenges in Transportation TelecommunicationsInteraction”

“Solving the Transportation Problem”

“Urban Traffic Congestion Problems”

- Pamela Murray, Ph.D. Candidate

- Dr. Chandra Bhat

- Dr. Zhanmin Zhang

- Dr.Kara Kockelman

- Dr. C. MichaelWalton

- Dr. Hani Mahmassani

- Dr. Susan Handy

- Dr. Randy Machemehl

TSU Research Generates Widespread Interest

UT-Austin Hosts Summer Symposium Series

SWUTC Project #167901/P.I. Lei Yu

http://swutc.tamu.edu/reports.htmlUT-A Undergraduate Summer Interns aftersymposium sessionUT-A Undergraduate Summer Interns aftersymposium session

SWUTC Implements Web Statistics Software

SWUTC Ph.D. Student Hosts Seminar

Transportation & Tourism Workshop a Success

,

The SWUTC is utilizing a general statistics softwarepackage to track the SWUTC website performanceand visitor behavior. This software providesspecific information on number of hits, length ofstay, which pages were viewed, which documentswere downloaded, any errors that wereencountered by visitors top referring browsers,and much more. This software enables us to betterserve the needs of our visitors and address anyproblems they encounter. Through this softwarewe are able to track the dramatic increase invisitors to the SWUTC website during the 2000-2001 fiscal years.

Josias Zietsman a Texas Transportation Instituteresearcher and Ph.D. student from Texas A&MUniversity hosted a transportation seminar throughthe Department of Civil Engineering at Texas A&MUniversity on May 7 , 2001. The title of hispresentation was

.

The seminar covered the purpose of sustainabletransportation which is to address economicdevelopment, environmental stewardship, andsocial equity of current and future generations.While numerous qualitative studies have beenperformed on this topic, there has been littlequantitative research and/or implementation ofsustainable transportation concepts. The mainreasons for this are related to a lack ofunderstanding of sustainable transportation andlack of quantified performance measures to beused in the decision-making process. To addressthis problem, a comprehensive definition forsustainable transportation was developed as wellas a framework on how to identify, quantify, anduse performance measures for sustainabletransportation in the transportation decision-making process.

This work is a direct product of his SWUTCresearch project funded in 2001 titled

. The seminar wasattended by 20 faculty and graduate students.

The second Texas Rural Transportation Conferencewas held at the Bush Presidential Library andConference Center on the Texas A&M Universitycampus February 21, 2001 and focused on twospecific themes - rural goods movement andtourism in rural Texas.

In a direct implementation of the SWUTCcooperative agreement with the Mack-BlackwellNational Rural Transportation Study Center, Dr.Melissa Tooley was the invited keynote speaker.Her presentation, “Rural Transportation”, waspresented to a general session of all conference

SWUTC Project #167128/P.I. Josias Zietsman

SWUTC Project #167704/P.I. Katie Turnbull

t h

“Incorporating SustainabilityPerformance Measures into the TransportationPlanning Process”

“SustainableTransportation Performance Measures forDeveloping Communities”

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12000

10000

Hits OnSWUTC Site

8000

6000

4000

2000

0

June1999

June2000

June2001

December1999

December2000

26

attendees and covered key rural transportationproblems such as highway design, ITS,commercial vehicle operational issues, socialissues and intermodal issues. She thensummarized several rural transportation initiativesbeing pursued by UTC and USDOT programs.

Other participants at theconference includedindividuals from UnionPacific Railroad, Alliance for

Rail Competition, Texas Historical Commission,Texas Department of Transportation, West TexasA&M University, Texas Parks and Wildlife, TexasA&M University, University of Texas at Austin,port business development agencies, and TTI.The conference format encouraged audience

participation and discussion.The meeting concluded withkey issued identified andresearch needs pinpointed bythe attendees.

Melissa Tooley and Dock Burke atTransportation and Tourism WorkshopMelissa Tooley and Dock Burke atTransportation and Tourism Workshop

Number: 473700-00009Title:

P.I.: Russell Henk, TAMU


P.I.: Carol Lewis/Khosro Godazi, TSU


P.I.: Hani Mahmassani, UT-Austin


P.I.: Rob Harrison, UT-Austin

Number: 167121Title:

P.I.: Jeff Borowiec, TAMU


P.I.: Laura Higgins, TAMU


P.I.: Debbie Jasek/Beverly Kuhn, TAMU


P.I.: Reza Langari/James Ochoa, TAMU


P.I.: Michael Manser, TAMU


P.I.: James Ochoa/Dan Middleton, TAMU


P.I.: Josias Zietsman, TAMU


P.I.: Chandra Bhat, UT-Austin


(Continuation of 167801funded FY00)

P.I.: Leigh Boske, Ut-Austin


P.I.: Susan Handy, UT-Austin

Assess the Potential of TransportationManagement Centers in ImprovingHurricane Evacuation Operations

State of the Industry Overview - ATransit-Oriented DevelopmentConference

Emerging Models for Provision ofReal-Time Traveler InformationServices: Transportation SystemManagement Implications

Using the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway(GIWW) to Move Containers to GulfPorts

Evaluation of the Economic Growth,Air Quality and Noise Impacts ofRegional Jet Service at CommercialAirports Serving Small Cities

Vanpools as Alternative to Fixed-Route Service

Develop a Transportation ScienceCompetition and Career Fair forJunior High and High SchoolStudents

Development of Integrated RolloverWarning and Active ControlSystems (RWCS) for Tractor-Semitrailers

Identification and Evaluation of In-Vehicle Distractors on DrivingPerformance

Commercial Transportation Safetyand Operations Workshop

Sustainable TransportationPerformance Measures forDeveloping Communities

A Methodology to Analyze theEffectiveness of Roadway PricingControl Strategies Using TravelSurvey Data

Impact of Latin American Trade onthe Southwest Region’s Economyand Transportation System: CaseStudies

The Education of TransportationProfessionals

27

New ProjectsNew Projects

28


P.I.: Kara Kockelman, UT-Austin


(Continuation of 167805 fundedFY00)

P.I.: Randy Machemehl, UT-Austin


(Continuationof 167806 funded FY00)

P.I.: Randy Machemehl, UT-Austin


(Continuation of 167808 fundedFY00)



(Continuation of 167807funded Fy00)



(Continuationof 167811 funded FY00)

P.I.: C. Michael Walton, UT-Austin


P.I.: C. Michael Walton, UT-Austin


P.I.: C. Michael Walton


P.I.: Zhanmin Zhang, UT-Austin


P.I.: Ron Goodwin/Sharon Boxill, TSU


P.I.: Ron Goodwin, TSU


P.I.: Carol Lewis, TSU

Uncertainty in Integrated Land Use-Transport Models

Adaptive Traffic Signal ControlDevelopment and Evaluation

Characterizing Transit PassengerAccess Decisions

Freight Transportation and LogisticsImplications of Electronic Commerceand Virtual Supply Chains

Integrating Real-Time Informationwith Dynamic Fleet DecisionSystems for Intermodal FreightMobility

Design and Implementation of anIntelligent Parking System for aMajor Activity Center

Impact of New Large Aircraft onArrival Passenger Flows at AirportTerminals

Restricting the Use of Reverse Thrustas an Emissions Reduction Strategyfor Airports

Develop a Dynamic System toSimulate the Life-Cycle Performanceof Pavements

Analysis of Texas’ Speed Limit Lawsand Fatality Accident Rates

An Evaluation of Alternative FuelsUsage by Public Transit Agencies

An Assessment of ExaminationCriteria Used for Transit FriendlyDecision-Making

29


P.I.: Bill Eisele/Larry Rilett, TAMU


P.I.: Russell Henk, TAMU


P.I.: Sharon Adams, TSU


P.I.: Rob Harrison, UT-Austin


P.I.: C. M. Walton, UT-A


P.I.: Hani Mahmassani, UT-A


P.I.: David Schrank, TAMU


P.I.: Felipe Zambrano, TAMU


P.I.: Paul Nelson, TAMU


P.I.: Cindy Estakhri/John Overman, TAMU


P.I.: Eric Lindquist, TAMU


P.I.: Susan Handy, UT-A


P.I.: Zhanmin Zhang/Ron Hudson, UT-A


P.I.: Randy Machemehl, UT-A


P.I.: Randy Machemehl, UT-A

Examining Information Needs forEfficient Motor Carrier TransportationLogistics

Evaluate Strategies for Using theTransportation ManagementInfrastructure in the Role ofNational Defense Preparedness

The Integration of GIS andTransportation Modeling: A State-of-the-Practice Review

Inland Ports and their Contributionto Transportation Efficiencies

Evaluating Operating Strategies andTransportation Control Measureswhich Reduce Air Pollution atAirports

Real-Time Traveler InformationSystems for Non-Commuting Trips

Developing a Sketch-PlanningTechnique Relating EconomicActivity and Urban Mobility in Smalland Medium-Sized Urban Areas

An Assessment of U.S.-Mexico TradeCorridors and Border InfrastructureDevelopment

Automated Identification of FlowPatterns in Congested Traffic

Carbon Dioxide Emission ReductionsThrough the Use of Fly Ash inConcrete Production

Agenda Setting in the TransportationPolicy Domain

Understanding the Growth inNonwork VMT

Develop a Dynamic System toSimulate the Life-Cycle Performanceof Pavements

Adaptive Traffic Signal ControlDevelopment and Evaluation

Characterizing Bus Transit PassengerBoarding and Deboarding Processes

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Ongoing ProjectsOngoing Projects

30








P.I.: C. M. Walton, UT-A

Number: 167811Title:P.I.: C. M. Walton, UT-A

Number: 167900Title: A

P.I.: Khosro Godazi, TSU


P.I.: Ron Goodwin, TSU


P.I.: Dock Burke, TAMU

Integrating Real-Time Informationwith Dynamic Fleet DecisionSystems for Intermodal FreightMobility

Freight Transportation and LogisticsImplications of Electronic Commerceand Virtual Supply Chains

From Information to Knowledge:Strategies and Techniques for MiningReal-Time Traffic Data Bases

The Implications of Data Usage andPrivacy on ITS Organizations

Intelligent Parking Systems

Comparative Assessment ofEmerging Transportation Techniques:A Seminar for Professional andStudent Exchange

Evaluation of the Potential to LinkRural Communities with their UrbanNeighbors

Public Transportation for theColonias

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Completed ProjectsCompleted Projects


P.I.: John Basilotto, TAMU


P.I.: Beverly Kuhn, TAMU


P.I.: Katie Turnbull, TAMU

Number: 167706Title: Th

P.I.: Jason Crawford, TAMU


P.I.: James Bonneson, TAMU


P.I.: Chandra Bhat, UT-A


P.I.: Leigh Boske, UT-A


P.I.: Kara Kockelman, UT-A


P.I.: Lei Yu, TSU


P.I.: Ron Goodwin/Carol Lewis, TSU


P.I.: Carol Lewis, TSU


P.I.: Rodger Koppa, TAMU

An Internet Clearinghouse of Marineand Intermodal Information forSustainable Transportation andEconomic Development

An Analysis of the Market Potentialfor Distance Learning Opportunitiesin Transportation ProfessionalDevelopment

Transportation and TourismWorkshop

e Contribution of Hand-HeldCellular Phones to VehicularAccidents

Comprehensive EngineeringApproach to Achieving SafeNeighborhoods

A Joint Model System of ModeChoice, Destination Choice, andDeparture Time Choice for NonworkTrips

Impact of Latin American Trade onthe Southwest Region’s EconomicGrowth Prospects and TransportationSystem

The Propagation of Uncertainty inMulti-Stage Transport DemandModels

Travel Demand Forecasting Models:A Comparison of EMME2/QRS

An Assessment of the Procedures forIntegrating Taxicabs into an UrbanEnvironment

An Examination of the Smart GrowthInitiative and Its Application toRegion VI Communities

Adaptive Equipment to EnhanceOlder Driver Performance

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Funding Sources & ExpendituresFunding Sources & Expenditures

Distribution of FundsDistribution of Funds

32

$892,300

State of TexasGeneral Revenue Funds

$892,300

State of TexasGeneral Revenue Funds

$862,300

USDOT

$862,300

USDOT

$884,500

Texas A&MUniversity System

$884,500

Texas A&MUniversity System

$220,000Education

$220,000Education

$427,500Research

$427,500Research

$237,000Administration

$237,000Administration

$291,200

Texas SouthernUniversity

$291,200

Texas SouthernUniversity

$76,400Education

$76,400Education

$214,800Research

$214,800Research

$578,900

University of Texasat Austin

$578,900

University of Texasat Austin

$197,000Education

$197,000Education

$381,900Research

$381,900Research

$1,754,600$1,754,600

SWUTCSWUTC

Education27%

Administration &

19%Technology Transfer

Research54%

Southwest Region University Transportation CenterTexas A&M University System

3135 TAMUCollege Station, Texas 77843-3135

(979) 845-5815Fax (979) 845-9761

Visit our web site:

http://swutc.tamu.edu/

southwest region university transportation center enter · dr. lei yu’s project report was...

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