Long-Term Highway Revenue Forecasting for Indiana

Author(s):  
Amiy Varma ◽  
Kumares C. Sinha

Increased emphasis is being placed on improved financial control and planning within state transportation agencies because of shifts in revenue sources; escalation of construction, maintenance, and operating costs; instability of revenue bases; and mandates of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991. A summary of the highway revenue analysis and highway revenue forecasting done for the state of Indiana as part of an investigation conducted by the Joint Highway Research Project, Engineering Experiment Station, Purdue University, in cooperation with the Indiana Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, is provided. A long-term highway revenue forecasting methodology was developed with emphasis on ease of data input, simplicity of internal model relationships, and responsiveness to changes in socioeconomic, technological, energy, environmental, financial, and legislative factors.

Author(s):  
Bekir Bartin ◽  
Kaan Ozbay ◽  
Matthew D. Maggio ◽  
Hao Wang

Faced with a growing number of work zones, transportation agencies are being challenged to effectively manage the impacts of these zones, alleviate congestion, and maintain the safety of motorists and workers without disrupting project schedules. Coordinating work zones has already been practiced by various state departments of transportation and transportation agencies, yet there are no universal department of transportation policies that address how agencies should coordinate or consolidate projects. In addition, only a few states utilize computer tools specific to regional or corridor-based work zone coordination. State departments of transportation mostly coordinate significant and long-term projects. However, the majority of roadway projects include minor repair, roadway maintenance, bridge maintenance, surveying, and landscape and utility work that require relatively short-term work zones. The Work Zone Coordination Software tool was developed to provide the New Jersey Department of Transportation with an easy-to-use tool to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of coordinating short- and long-term work zones and to measure the benefits. This online tool is implemented with a web-based user interface. It integrates all scheduled and active construction projects, identifies conflicts between work zone projects, and estimates the benefits of conflict mitigation. The Work Zone Coordination Software tool works with the New Jersey work zone database by automatically importing data to provide up-to-date information to its users. However, the tool is built on a flexible framework that allows the integration of any work zone database provided that it includes all the required information.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 236-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen W. Tull

ABSTRACTThe Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration are undertaking a long-term, multiphase project to improve and rebuild Interstate 95 (I-95) in Pennsylvania, within the historic city of Philadelphia. Given the complex urban setting, the archaeological subsurface testing for the I-95 Girard Avenue Interchange Improvement Project is being guided by a programmatic agreement under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act. Through data-recovery excavations, the contractor for the project, AECOM, has documented 30 historical-period and Native American archaeological sites. The project includes its own professional journal, live interactive reporting, and a public archaeology center.


Author(s):  
Karla Diaz Corro ◽  
Taslima Akter ◽  
Sarah Hernandez

Increased demand for truck parking resulting from hours-of-service regulations and growing truck volumes, coupled with limited supply of parking facilities, is concerning for transportation agencies and industry stakeholders. To monitor truck parking congestion, the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) conducts an annual observational survey of truck parking facilities. As a result of survey methodology, it cannot capture patterns of diurnal and seasonal use, arrival times, and duration. Truck Global Positioning System (GPS) data provide an apt alternative for monitoring parking facility utilization. The issue is that most truck GPS datasets represent a sample of the truck population and the representativeness of that sample may differ by application. Currently no method exists to accurately expand a GPS sample to reflect population-level truck parking facility utilization. This paper leverages the ARDOT study to estimate GPS “expansion factors” by parking facility type and defines two expansion factors: (1) the ratio of trucks parked derived from the GPS sample to those observed during the Overnight Study, and (2) the ratio of truck volume derived from the GPS sample to total truck volume measured on the nearest roadway. Varied expansion factors are found for public, private commercial (e.g., restaurant, retail store, etc.), and private truck stop facilities. Comparatively, the expansion factor based on roadway truck volumes was at least twice as high as that derived from the Overnight Study. Considering this, the method to determine expansion factors has significant implications on the estimated magnitudes of parking facility congestion, and thus will have consequences for investment prioritization.


2012 ◽  
Vol 65 (10) ◽  
pp. 1895-1902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rita Hilliges ◽  
Eberhard Steinle ◽  
Bernhard Böhm

The two-staged WWTP ‘Gut Grosslappen’ has a capacity of 2 mio. PE. It comprises a pre-denitrification in the first stage using recirculation from the nitrifying second stage. A residual post-denitrification in a downstream sand filter is required in order to achieve the effluent standards. Presently the process water from sludge digestion is treated separately by nitrification/denitrification. Due to necessary reconstruction of the biological stages, the process water treatment was included in the future overall process concept of the WWTP. A case study was conducted comparing the processes nitritation/denitrititation and deammonification with nitrification/denitrification including their effect on the operational costs of the planned main flow treatment. Besides the different operating costs the investment costs required for the process water treatment played a significant role. Six cases for the process water treatment were compared. As a result, in Munich deammonification can only be recommended for long-term future developments, due to the high investment costs, compared with the nitritation/denitritation alternative realizable in existing tanks. The savings concerning aeration, sludge disposal and chemicals were not sufficient to compensate for the additional investment costs. Due to the specific circumstances in Munich, for the time being the use of existing tanks for nitritation/denitritation proved to be most economical.


1993 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Romano Dyerson ◽  
Frank Mueller

ABSTRACTAs the debate throughout the eighties has concluded, the efforts of governments to intervene at the firm level has largely been disappointing. Using two examples drawn from the British experience, Rover and Inmos, this paper offers an analysis as to why the Government has encountered difficulties when it has sought to intervene in a strategic fashion. Essentially, public policy makers lack adequate mechanisms to intervene effectively in technology-based companies. Locked out of the knowledge base of the firm, inappropriate financial control is imposed which reinforces the ‘outsider’ status of the Government. Having addressed the limitations of strategic intervention, the paper, drawing on the comparative experience of other countries, then goes on to address how this policy boundary might be pushed back in the long term.


1980 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-29
Author(s):  
Angus Hislop

This paper is based mainly on a study carried out in 1976/7 for the UK Department of Industry into the long-term development of air traffic control systems in Europe by a team drawn from the Civil Aviation Authority, the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment and private industry, in which Coopers and Lybrand provided the economic expertise.Until the early 1970s, air traffic control was almost completely neglected by air transport economists. Economists contributed to the planning of airports and airline operations but not to the third facet of the air transport system. However, in 1970–1, in conjunction with a programme of expansion and improvement of the country's airports and airways, the US Department of Transportation launched a major study of the airport and airways system. This was designed to establish an equitable charging policy between the different categories of user but in the event its recommendations in this area have only recently begun to be followed.


Author(s):  
Prasada Rao Rangaraju

In collaboration with FHWA, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) has successfully completed its first experimental high-performance concrete pavement (HPCP) project under the Testing and Evaluation Program (TE-30). This project is one of the 22 projects funded under the TE-30 Program. With a structural design life of 60 years, this HPCP is unique in that it incorporates significant changes to the existing Mn/DOT specifications on concrete materials. Some of the new materials-related specifications developed as a part of this project are based on performance criteria that influence long-term durability of the pavement structure. The background and considerations for selecting the new performance measures are discussed, and test results are presented that evaluate the practical feasibility of establishing and achieving the performance specifications.


Author(s):  
Saeed Babanajad ◽  
Yun Bai ◽  
Helmut Wenzel ◽  
Moritz Wenzel ◽  
Hooman Parvardeh ◽  
...  

The effective management of bridges requires a good understanding of their life expectancies. Improved prediction of bridge service life is required to be developed in order to better understand bridge deterioration and to find more effective maintenance and repair strategies. These models are integral components of the Long-Term Bridge Performance Program (LTBP), a 20-year research effort initiated by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to improve the understanding of bridge performance. In this paper, the development of a life expectancy model framework, as part of the research effort in this program, is presented. The framework is established based on a semi-probabilistic approach to adherently maintain the advantages of both deterministic and probabilistic techniques. The modeling follows a step-by-step process which incorporates data collected from historical records, training the data, creating a model based on the most suitable approach, and reducing the associated uncertainties. The basic model is first trained by the network of bridge inventory and the uncertainties are reflected by determining lower and upper margins. Then the model is improved by introducing the new knowledge gained from the external attributes influencing the structure. Finally, the condition states of the bridge components are employed directly to refine the model for realistic assessment. The developed model is later automated into the Bridge Portal, the main core of the bridge-performance data warehouse. A detailed example using the Mid-Atlantic cluster bridge inventory data is presented in this paper to illustrate the application of the method described above.


Author(s):  
Ronald Collins ◽  
Wouter Gulden ◽  
Dan R. Brown

The traveling public generally recognizes the smoothness of a pavement as a major indicator of quality. A newly constructed pavement can have excellent materials, mix design, compaction, and so forth, but if the public considers the ride rough, the quality is considered poor. While continually striving to improve the quality of paving materials in mix designs, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) began an effort in 1968 to attain the ability to accurately measure the smoothness of a pavement so that this indicator of quality could be measured and specified during construction. GDOT has been using response-type smoothness-measurement systems in its construction specifications for acceptance of projects since 1972 and since 1979 for both rejection and acceptance. The evolution of the pavement smoothness-measuring program in Georgia, the program operating procedures, and the current smoothness specifications are described. The long-term benefits of smoothness specification for pavement construction are also discussed, as is GDOT's effort to replace the Mays Meter trailer systems currently used with South Dakota–type, laser-based road profilers.


Author(s):  
Christopher Ryan

Executive Order 12898 and subsequent U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) orders require all state DOTs to complete environmental justice analyses to identify disproportionately high and adverse effects of programs, polices, and activities on minority populations and low-income populations. Many analysis techniques have emerged in practice and academic literature, but no official guidance has designated a preferred analysis approach. The passage of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act introduced a number of new freight provisions for state DOTs, including a requirement to develop state freight plans to be eligible for funding through the National Highway Freight Program. This paper reviews the existing guidance for environmental justice analyses and documents the application of this guidance to an environmental justice analysis for the Minnesota Statewide Freight System Plan. The plan provides strategies and a policy framework for statewide freight stakeholders to guide planning efforts and investments in the state freight system. The paper concludes with a discussion of further considerations, strategies, and challenges facing freight planning practitioners in future freight environmental justice analyses.


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