Improving Unpaved Roads in Virginia: Case Study

2003 ◽  
Vol 1819 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-154
Author(s):  
Michael W. Dunn ◽  
S. Noelle On
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effective ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Elected Officials ◽  
Unpaved Roads ◽  
The Road ◽  
Improvement Process ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Low Volume ◽  
Virginia Department

Minimizing costs and streamlining the construction of low-volume roads offers an opportunity for transportation agencies to effectively meet the needs of rural citizens. The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) maintains approximately 56,941 mi of the state’s roads, including Interstate, primary, and secondary facilities. Between 1987 and 1994, VDOT paved nearly 1,900 mi of unpaved roads. In rural parts of the state, many miles of state-maintained roads still have gravel and dirt surfaces. Each year the local transportation residency offices, in conjunction with local elected officials, contractors, and area citizens, strive to improve and pave as many miles of gravel and dirt roads as possible. The Hillsville Residency of VDOT, located in rural Carroll and Floyd Counties, has developed an efficient and cost-effective method for improving low-volume gravel and dirt roads. This process relies heavily on cooperative efforts by VDOT, contractors, elected officials, and especially citizens. Land donations from citizens represent the cornerstone of this process, signifying that citizen cooperation is the key factor in a project’s success. Because most of the decisions in the improvement process are at the local residency level, trusting relationships and frequent communication can be established, small-scale and local contractors are given more business opportunities, and local VDOT personnel can better understand citizen concerns and perform road improvements accordingly. In addition, the time line for the road improvement process is based on seasons—the most appropriate weather conditions are considered for the work being performed. This program enables more roads to be paved each year, improving the level of service and quality of life for local citizens.

Evaluation of the Long-Term Performance of Woven Geotextile Used between Base Course and Subgrade of a Paved Road

2019 ◽  
Vol 2673 (8) ◽  
pp. 310-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saad Ullah ◽  
Burak F. Tanyu ◽  
Erol F. Guler ◽  
Edward J. Hoppe ◽  
Emre Akmaz
Keyword(s):  
Transportation Network ◽  
Experimental Program ◽  
The Road ◽  
Low Volume Roads ◽  
Road Profile ◽  
Low Volume ◽  
Base Course ◽  
Virginia Department ◽  
Paved Road ◽  
Term Performance

The purpose of this research was to investigate the properties of the exhumed geotextile from a low-volume road on the Virginia Department of Transportation network. The exhumed geotextiles have been in service for 23 years, which provided an opportunity to evaluate the longevity of the materials as well as to make assessments of how it relates to the changes in material properties. During this investigation, subgrade and base course materials were also obtained from the same site and an experimental program was developed to evaluate the effectiveness of the exhumed geotextiles for separation, stabilization, and filtration for the base course thicknesses of 4, 6, and 8 in. The results from this study combined with the results from the previous studies conducted at the same site showed that when the geotextile is placed between the subgrade and base course, the thinner the pavement section, the more evident the effectiveness of the geotextile improvements. One important finding of this research was that the placement of a geotextile reduced the particle breakage caused by abrasion under the applied transient loads. This was observed as a stabilization effect of the geotextile inclusion. As a general conclusion, for low-volume roads with relatively thin pavement sections, properly selected geotextiles provide benefits for separating the subgrade and base course (minimizing pumping), filtering infiltrated or ground water, and stabilizing the road profile. These benefits become more apparent when the thickness of the base course is less than 8 in.

Use of Foamed Tar for Construction of Flexible Pavement with Existing Unpaved Road Structure

2003 ◽  
Vol 1819 (1) ◽  
pp. 314-322
Author(s):  
Bruce S. Morton ◽  
Alex T. Visser ◽  
Emile Horak
Keyword(s):  
Road Network ◽  
Flexible Pavements ◽  
Performance Testing ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Engineering Properties ◽  
Unpaved Roads ◽  
Reconstruction Methods ◽  
Effective Manner ◽  
Low Volume

Low-volume and unpaved roads constitute the majority of the road network throughout the developing and developed world. Upgrading these unpaved roads to conform to standards of low-volume flexible asphalt pavements is a costly exercise. In most instances, this involves constructing an entirely new pavement base. Recent technological advances in the field of deep in situ recycling have provided pavement engineers with an alternative to standard rehabilitation and reconstruction methods of flexible pavements. One such technique of stabilization is foamed tar treatment of inferior natural pavement materials through the application of deep in situ recycling to produce a stabilized base for lowvolume flexible pavements. Foamed tar technology and the concept of deep in situ recycling, and its advantages over current reconstruction methods, were reviewed. Health aspects relating to implementation of the stabilization process were addressed with respect to the use of gasifier tar in a controlled recycling environment. The engineering properties of foamed tar mixes were compared with existing stabilization techniques. A test section was constructed with particular attention to the flexibility of foamed tar for placement time, workability, and durability to environmental conditions. Performance testing results were analyzed. In conclusion, the benefits of foamed tar stabilization for developing an improved road network in a cost-effective manner were evaluated.

scholarly journals Low latitude habitat use patterns of a recovering population of humpback whales

2018 ◽  
Vol 98 (5) ◽  
pp. 1087-1096 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Isabel Carvalho Gonçalves ◽  
Renata Santoro De Sousa-Lima ◽  
Niel Nascimento Teixeira ◽  
Maria Emilia Morete ◽  
Gustavo Henrique De Carvalho ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Use ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Humpback Whales ◽  
Anthropogenic Activity ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Nursery Ground ◽  
Social Strategies ◽  
Low Latitude ◽  
Use Patterns ◽  
Key Factor

The coast of Brazil is an important low latitude nursery ground for humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae). The number of humpback whales in this region has increased and its population is reoccupying areas where it has been depleted during the whaling period. The goal of this study was to conduct land-based observations during 2014 and 2015 to characterize patterns of habitat use and relative abundance of humpback whales that migrate to one of these reoccupation areas: Serra Grande, Bahia state. The observed mean group size was 2.12 ± 0.96 individuals and did not vary through the reproductive season nor between years. Dyads (32.9%) and singletons (26.7%) were more frequently observed, and groups with calves represented 21.2% of the sightings. The mean number of whales counted per hour increased from 2014 (3.44 ± 3.35) to 2015 (5.12 ± 4.18). Habitat use varied during the season; whales used shallower waters closer to shore as the season progressed. The spatial distribution of groups with calves was dependent on the presence and number of escorts. Spatial segregation of groups with calves closer to shore is a key factor in understanding the overall distribution of whales in the area, suggesting that social strategies are affected by environmental factors, as seen in other wintering grounds. Small-scale studies from land-based stations, in areas such as this where there is no previous knowledge about the species, are cost effective. They provide information about the overall behavioural and spatial patterns while anthropogenic activity is still low, allowing habitat protection and management decisions before implementation and increase of human activities.

Network-Level Application of Roads Economic Decision Model in Nicaragua

2003 ◽  
Vol 1819 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Archondo-Callao ◽  
Douglas Méndez Talavera ◽  
Lubina Cantarero Zeas
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Consumer Surplus ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Improvement Program ◽  
Unpaved Roads ◽  
Economic Decision ◽  
The Road ◽  
Low Volume Roads ◽  
Low Volume ◽  
Poverty Indicators

A network-level application of the Roads Economic Decision (RED) model in Nicaragua is presented. The RED model was developed by the World Bank to improve the decision-making process for development and maintenance of low-volume roads. The model adopts the consumer surplus approach to estimate transport benefits and is customized to the characteristics of low-volume roads, such as the high uncertainty in the assessment of the model inputs, the difficulties in characterizing the road condition of unpaved roads, and the need for a comprehensive analysis of generated traffic to clearly define all accrued benefits. The network-level application was designed to define a rational maintenance and improvement program for a network of secondary unpaved roads with particular attention to the alternative of improving the network by surfacing roads with concrete blocks and to include in the decision-making process not only economic considerations but also poverty indicators and priorities perceived by local administrators.

Laboratory and Field Evaluation of Cement Kiln Dust and Lime for Stabilizing Clayey Silt on Low-Volume Unpaved Roads

2003 ◽  
Vol 1819 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glen Légère ◽  
Hélène Tremblay
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effective ◽  
Field Evaluation ◽  
Cement Kiln Dust ◽  
Cement Kiln ◽  
Cohesive Soils ◽  
Unpaved Roads ◽  
Soil Penetration Resistance ◽  
Clayey Silt ◽  
Low Volume ◽  
Kiln Dust

The potential of cement kiln dust (CKD) and lime (quicklime) for stabilizing low-volume unpaved roads on sites dominated by cohesive soils was investigated. CKD, lime plus CKD, lime, and portland cement were tested at different mixtures and soil moisture contents in a clayey silt to determine the resulting unconfined compressive strength after three curing periods. In a field study, road sections were stabilized with CKD and with lime plus CKD, and then a gravel running surface was added. Soil penetration resistance increased after the treatment. Field results confirmed the laboratory results and helped identify the most effective treatment. Stabilization proved cost-effective for new roads in areas where gravel is difficult to obtain.

Screening the Road Network for Sites with Promise

2002 ◽  
Vol 1784 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ezra Hauer ◽  
Jake Kononov ◽  
Bryan Allery ◽  
Michael S. Griffith
Keyword(s):  
Road Network ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Project Cost ◽  
The Road ◽  
Engineering Studies ◽  
Safety Improvement ◽  
Network Screening ◽  
Improvement Process ◽  
Safety Benefit

Network screening is the first step in the site safety improvement process. The product of network screening is a list of sites that are ranked by priority for the conduct of detailed engineering studies. In turn, cost-effective projects are formulated from the studies. With the purpose of laying the foundation for improved network screening, the role of network screening is clarified, and how project cost and safety benefit can be anticipated at the time of screening is examined. The strengths and weaknesses of alternative assumptions on which the anticipation of safety benefit can be based are discussed. A way to guard against misallocation of resources due to the randomness of accident counts is suggested, and a method for finding peak sites within road sections is proposed.

scholarly journals Multispectral Fusion Approach for Traffic Target Detection in Bad Weather

Algorithms ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 271
Author(s):  
Yajing Han ◽  
Dean Hu
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Control ◽  
Intelligent Transportation Systems ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Transportation Systems ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Traffic Surveillance ◽  
Thermal Images ◽  
The Road ◽  
Bad Weather

Visual traffic surveillance using computer vision techniques can be noninvasive, automated and cost effective. Traffic surveillance systems with the ability to detect, count and classify vehicles can be employed in gathering traffic statistics and achieving better traffic control in intelligent transportation systems. This works well in daylight when the road users are clearly visible to the camera, but it often struggles when the visibility of the scene is impaired by insufficient lighting or bad weather conditions such as rain, snow, haze and fog. Therefore, in this paper, we design a dual input faster region-based convolutional neural network (RCNN) to make full use of the complementary advantages of color and thermal images to detect traffic objects in bad weather. Different from the previous detector, we used halfway fusion to fuse color and thermal images for traffic object detection. Besides, we adopt the polling from multiple layers method to adapt the characteristics of large size differences between objects of traffic targets to accurately identify targets of different sizes. The experimental results show that the present method improves the target recognition accuracy by 7.15% under normal weather conditions and 14.2% under bad weather conditions. This exhibits promising potential for implementation with real-world applications.

scholarly journals Monitoring trends in road surface impact on rolling noise emissions

2021 ◽  
Vol 263 (3) ◽  
pp. 3305-3311
Author(s):  
Dick Botteldooren ◽  
Wout Van Hauwermeiren ◽  
Karlo Filipan ◽  
Bert De Coensel
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Traffic ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Road Surface ◽  
Acoustic Properties ◽  
The Road ◽  
Driving Speed ◽  
Frequent Monitoring ◽  
On The Road ◽  
Rolling Noise

Road surfaces degrade over time due to heavy traffic and weather conditions, which negatively influences both driving comfort and acoustic properties. In addition, the lifetime of a road surface can be increased by performing cost-effective incremental maintenance and this maintenance becomes more expensive when the damages are more severe (cracks, potholes). Current methods such as CPX are performed in a standardized way (using designated equipment and tightly controlled measurement conditions), however budget constraints limit frequent monitoring of surfaces. Therefore, continuous monitoring using ordinary passenger vehicles could be helpful to observe trends in rolling noise emissions and road evenness. Hence, we deployed designated sensor boxes in a number of vehicles that are on the road for other purposes. In addition, advances in calibration of different devices using de-noising autoencoders alleviate the effect of various measurement conditions such as driving speed, braking, accelerating, and temperature. As our innovative methodology has now been on the road for several years, trend analysis becomes possible.

Pavement Evaluation and Rehabilitation Design Methodology Currently Used on Low-Volume Roads in Southern Africa

2003 ◽  
Vol 1819 (1) ◽  
pp. 343-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Grobler ◽  
A. Taute ◽  
I. Joubert
Keyword(s):  
Southern Africa ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Past Performance ◽  
The Road ◽  
Low Volume Roads ◽  
Pavement Evaluation ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Low Volume

A pavement evaluation and rehabilitation design methodology is currently employed in southern Africa on relatively light pavement structures used for low-volume roads. The pavements normally consist of natural gravel materials in most layers and thin bituminous surfacings. When nearing the end of their design lives, they exhibit distresses ranging from minor deformation through aging of the surface to structural cracking and potholes. Rehabilitation options normally involve light stone seals or other inexpensive and cost-effective treatments. The phases of investigation for pavement evaluation and rehabilitation designs start with desk study to establish the history of the road and its past performance from pavement management system outputs. Detailed visual evaluations are then conducted of road features and extent of various forms of distress. These data are presented followed by a decision-making process to select areas for more detailed testing. All the information is used to determine the causes of distress and likely rehabilitation alternatives. Further destructive and nondestructive testing is carried out to predict performance of rehabilitation designs and equivalent annual cost comparisons. Rehabilitation design is also done with use of the dynamic cone penetrometer. Decision criteria are set for use of tests undertaken in the assessments, and test results are evaluated. This procedure normally results in a wide range of rehabilitation options, from application of a diluted emulsion as a surface rejuvenator to more extensive patching and resealing to major rehabilitation and overlays. This process effectively produces cost-effective solutions that maximize limited budgets. It is essential that the road authority be prepared to share the risks of the low-cost options with the designer. In this way benefits of low-cost solutions are realized, whereas, in a limited number of instances, premature distress may have to be repaired under routine maintenance.

Urban pollution control strategy: SBR technology to treat agricultural waste from pig farm in Indonesia

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Lindawati Lindawati
Keyword(s):  
Cost Estimation ◽  
Batch Reactor ◽  
Agricultural Waste ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Land Application ◽  
Pig Manure ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Piggery Wastewater ◽  
Pig Farm ◽  
Number Of Customers

Reduction of food rations and shortages is one of the impacts of the increasing human population. Food sector industries then try to cope with the fast growing number of customers. Agribusiness sector gains its popularity in these recent years, including pig farm. The increase trend of animal farming industry is likely to bring increasing pollution problem unless effective treatment methods are used. The main problems related to the pig farm include odor nuisance and pig manure disposal. The existing land application of piggery wastewater is the traditional way to discharge the wastewater. This may yield in land and water contamination, due to the accumulation of unused nutrients by crop plant. A case study of a large commercial pig farm from Australia is proposed to apply in smaller scale in Indonesia. Operational strategies for the small-scale SBR (Sequencing Batch Reactor) treating piggery effluent were developed based on lab-scale experiments. Due to SBR characteristics, which are money-saving and space-saving, it is very suitable to be applied in urban area. An economic evaluation was made of various process options. The cost estimation showed that SBR is a cost effective process, allowing operational batches to be adjusted to reduce unnecessary aeration cost. A reduction in the aeration cost was achieved by shortening the batch time from 24-h to 8-h. A comparison of three different SBR options showed that smaller size reactors could be more flexible and cost effective when compared with the larger ones.

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