Impact of Buses on Highway Infrastructure: Case Study for New Jersey State

Author(s):  
Maria Boilé ◽  
Preethi Narayanan ◽  
Kaan Ozbay

Buses are classified as heavy vehicles, and research has shown that heavy vehicles are mainly responsible for pavement damage and costs incurred to rectify the damage. Transit agencies must consider the pavement damage caused by a bus when choosing among different types of buses for procurement for certain corridors and deciding on the type of transit service for a corridor. Also, bus contribution to pavement damage should be considered in determining the appropriate amount of taxes and fees to be paid by this vehicle class. Currently, no tool exists to support such decisions. Pertinent literature was reviewed to determine the availability of methods for allocating roadway maintenance costs to buses. Two broad areas of highway impact–related literature, highway cost allocation studies and methods to estimate pavement deterioration resulting from vehicle–pavement interactions, were examined. A review of several state cost allocation studies showed that either equivalent single-axle loads (ESALs) or ESALS weighted by vehicle miles traveled were used to allocate pavement maintenance cost to various vehicle classes. Those studies, however, either accounted for buses by grouping them with other vehicles or did not account for them at all. Currently, no bus–pavement interaction models are available, although several mathematical and simulation models are available for truck-pavement interaction. Buses differ from trucks in load distribution, suspension, and travel characteristics. From results of the literature search a methodology, which uses industry standards and is minimal in data requirements, has been developed. With the use of data available in New Jersey, the application of this methodology showed that the maintenance cost attributable to buses in the state is about 2.4% of the total maintenance cost.

Author(s):  
Feng Hong ◽  
Jorge A. Prozzi ◽  
Jolanda Prozzi

The allocation of highway costs is constantly debated among legislatures, highway agencies, and highway users as it directly relates to concerns about equity in terms of cost responsibility and actual user charges. One of the major challenges in highway cost allocation stems from the need to estimate pavement damage by different vehicle classes. Normally, the calculation of damage caused by heavy vehicles to the highway infrastructure utilizes the concept of Equivalent Single Axle Load (ESAL). This concept was empirically established after the American Association of State Highway Officials America (AASHO) Road Test almost half a century ago. Although the ESAL concept is widely used in pavement design, it has a number of shortcomings when applied for the estimation of pavement damage by different vehicle classes. Some of these limitations include: failure to account for specific infrastructure and environmental conditions, disregard of the differences in traffic configurations and composition, and the inability to capture different distress types. This leads to a fairly inaccurate and generic estimation of pavement damage by vehicle class. This paper proposes an innovative and more rational highway cost allocation approach based on the recently completed guide for the "Mechanistic-Empirical Design Guide of New and Rehabilitated Pavement Structures" developed under the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Project 1-37A. The Guide accounts for all factors that contribute to pavement deterioration, thereby addressing the shortcomings of an ESAL-based analysis listed earlier. Estimates for pavement damage attributable to each vehicle class can thus be accurately simulated. For the purposes of this study, traffic data collected at a weigh-in-motion station in Texas were used to estimate the highway cost shares of different vehicle classes, given different pavement structural capacities.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nishant Kumar ◽  
Bettina Suhr ◽  
Stefan Marschnig ◽  
Peter Dietmaier ◽  
Christof Marte ◽  
...  

Abstract Ballasted tracks are the commonly used railway track systems with constant demands for reducing maintenance cost and improved performance. Elastic layers are increasingly used for improving ballasted tracks. In order to better understand the effects of elastic layers, physical understanding at the ballast particle level is crucial. Here, discrete element method (DEM) is used to investigate the effects of elastic layers – under sleeper pad ($$\text {USP}$$USP) at the sleeper/ballast interface and under ballast mat ($$\text {UBM}$$UBM) at the ballast/bottom interface – on micro-mechanical behavior of railway ballast. In the DEM model, the Conical Damage Model (CDM) is used for contact modelling. This model was calibrated in Suhr et al. (Granul Matter 20(4):70, 2018) for the simulation of two different types of ballast. The CDM model accounts for particle edge breakage, which is an important phenomenon especially at the early stage of a tamping cycle, and thus essential, when investigating the impact of elastic layers in the ballast bed. DEM results confirm that during cyclic loading, $$\text {USP}$$USP reduces the edge breakage at the sleeper/ballast interface. On the other hand, $$\text {UBM}$$UBM shows higher particle movement throughout the ballast bed. Both the edge breakage and particle movement in the ballast bed are found to influence the sleeper settlement. Micro-mechanical investigations show that the force chain in deeper regions of the ballast bed is less affected by $$\text {USP}$$USP for the two types of ballast. Conversely, dense lateral forces near to the box bottom were seen with $$\text {UBM}$$UBM. The findings are in good (qualitative) agreement with the experimental observations. Thus, DEM simulations can aid to better understand the micro-macro phenomena for railway ballast. This can help to improve the track components and track design based on simulation models taking into account the physical behavior of ballast. Graphical Abstract


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shunsaku Matsumoto ◽  
Vivek Jaiswal ◽  
Tadashi Sugimura ◽  
Shintaro Honjo ◽  
Piotr Szalewski

Abstract This paper presents a concept of a mooring digital twin frameworkand a standardized inspection datatemplate to enable digital twin. The mooring digital twin framework supports real-time and/or on-demand decision making in mooring integrity management, which minimizes the failure risk while reducing operation and maintenance cost by efficient inspection, monitoring, repair, and strengthening. An industry survey conducted through the DeepStar project 18403 identified a standard template for recording inspection data as a high priority item to enable application of the digital twins for integrity management. Further, mooring chain was selected as a critical mooring component for which a standard inspection template was needed. The characteristics of damage/performance prediction with the proposed mooring digital twin framework are (i) to utilize surrogates and/or reduced-order models trained by high-fidelity physics simulation models, (ii) to combine all available lifecycle data about the mooring system, (iii) to evaluate current and future asset conditions in a systematic way based on the concept of uncertainty quantification (UQ). The general and mooring-specific digital twin development workflows are described with the identified essential data, physics models, and several UQ methodologies such as surrogate modeling, local and global sensitivity analyses, Bayesian prediction etc. Also, the proposed digital twin system architecture is summarized to illustrate the dataflow in digital twin development andutilization. The prototype of mooring digital twin dashboard, web-based risk visualization and advisory system, is developed to demonstrate the capability to visualize the system health diagnosis and prognosis and suggest possible measures/solutions for the high-risk components as a digital twin's insight.


1994 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-38
Author(s):  
P.A. Koushki ◽  
R.L. Smith ◽  
Z.A. Barry

2020 ◽  
Vol 312 ◽  
pp. 06002
Author(s):  
Turki I Al-Suleiman ◽  
Subhi M Bazlamit ◽  
Mahmoud Azzama ◽  
Hesham S Ahmad

Allocated budgets for maintenance of road networks are normally limited. Therefore, not all roads receive the required attention they deserve in a timely manner. These roads are left to deteriorate until the next maintenance round. The cost associated with delayed maintenance is significantly excessive. A Pavement Maintenance Management System (PMMS) can be a useful tool for evaluation, prioritization of Maintenance and Rehabilitation (M&R) projects, and determination of funding requirements and allocations. The pavement condition is normally indexed using a parameter called Pavement Condition Index (PCI) which represents an overall assessment of surface defects by type, severity and extent. Periodic collections of PCI over time for different sections within the roadway network provide an approach to monitor changes in pavement serviceability over time and can produce useful data to predict and evaluate required maintenance solutions and their associated cost. The researchers intend to use available data collected over the span of a year and a half on sections within the roadway network at the campus of Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan (ZUJ) to study the relation between the maintenance cost and the pavement deterioration rate. This study may incorporate variables such as pavement age, traffic volumes, maintenance history and pavement condition assessment results. The available records of PCI will be analyzed and the findings will be clearly presented. The practical inclusion of the findings within the current PMMS used at the university will also be detailed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve J. Merrill ◽  
Alexander Paz ◽  
Victor Molano ◽  
Pramen P. Shrestha ◽  
Pankaj Maheshwari ◽  
...  

This study provides an economic evaluation for a Land Ferry, which is a rail system capable of carrying trucks and all other types of vehicles, passengers, and cargo. The Land Ferry system involves a sliding loading system to roll heavy loads onto a flatbed; as a result, loading and unloading of all vehicles and cargo could be accomplished simultaneously. The evaluation for this system included (1) the design of a new track alignment over which the Land Ferry system would run, (2) evaluation of various sources of power, (3) estimation of how many local jobs the Land Ferry would generate, and (4) a benefit-cost analysis. It was estimated that the Land Ferry would create over 45,788 temporary jobs in Nevada during the three-year construction period and 318 permanent jobs during operation. The majority of the benefits were attributed to savings in travel time ($356.4 M), vehicle operating costs ($1000.4 M), reduction of accidents ($544.6 M), and pavement maintenance ($503.2 M). These benefits would be a consequence of the shift of trucks from the highway, thus resulting in higher speeds, decrease fuel consumption, and decrease vehicle maintenance costs. The overall benefit-cost ratio of 1.7 implies a cost-effective project.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (8) ◽  
pp. 717-732
Author(s):  
Ankang Ji ◽  
Xiaolong Xue ◽  
Yuna Wang ◽  
Xiaowei Luo ◽  
Minggong Zhang

Addressing the multi-dimensional challenges to promote pavement sustainability requires the development of an optimization approach by simultaneously taking into account future pavement conditions for pavement maintenance with the capability to search and determine optimal pavement maintenance strategies. Thus, this research presents an integrated approach based on the Markov chain and Particle swarm optimization algorithm which aims to consider the predicted pavement condition and optimize the pavement maintenance strategies during operation when applied in the maintenance management of a road pavement section. A case study is conducted for testing the capability of the proposed integrated approach based on two maintenance perspectives. For case 1, maintenance activities mainly occur in TM20, TM31, and TM41, with the maximum maintenance mileage reaching 88.49 miles, 50.89 miles, and 20.91 miles, respectively. For case 2, the largest annual maintenance cost in the first year is $15.16 million with four types of maintenance activities. Thereafter, the maintenance activities are performed at TM10, TM31, and TM41, respectively. The results obtained, compared with the linear program, show the integrated approach is effective and reliable for determining the maintenance strategy that can be employed to promote pavement sustainability.


Author(s):  
Edward S. K. Fekpe

Policy, management, and technical decisions affecting highway infrastructure, truck operations, and regulatory enforcement, among other factors affecting the trucking industry require information on the types and operating characteristics of heavy vehicles. This information is contained in the set of regulations governing the sizes and weights of these vehicles and is traditionally provided in print medium. The results of a novel attempt to computerize these regulations and store them in a data base are presented. The platform used for the data base is user friendly, flexible, easily accessible, and interactive; sketches of vehicles can be included and information can be protected through definition of user passwords. It is demonstrated that even though industry regulations are complex, specific to jurisdiction, and varied in a number of respects, it is possible to capture the most important variables in a data base. It is also possible to enhance the utility and scope of the data base by interfacing with a geographic information system and to include other variables, such as the dynamic and operational performance attributes of heavy vehicles. The data base has limitations, among them that it cannot capture all descriptive details of the set of regulations and that it serves as an information base only and cannot be used as a legal document.


2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
José A. Romero ◽  
Alejandro Lozano

Abstract Dynamic interactions between the mixed traffic situations and the pavement are investigated through analysis of accumulated stored energy within the pavement. The proposed methodology integrates the dynamic response of heavy vehicles population within the mixed traffic with the primary pavement response and an objective pavement damage measure. The results attained from the proposed methodology revealed reasonably good correlation with the AASHO data on the rut depth. The proposed methodology is applied to establish the influence of traffic distribution, time of the day, weather temperature condition, average traffic speed and the type of traffic distribution on the accumulated stored energy of the pavement. The results show that a uniform traffic distribution can yield considerable reduction in the stored energy and thus the damage potentials of the mixed traffic.


Author(s):  
Franklin E. Gbologah ◽  
Angshuman Guin ◽  
Roger Purcell ◽  
Michael O. Rodgers

Lighting provides one of the most effective night-time intersection safety countermeasures. However, lighting is also one of the main contributors to intersection maintenance and operation costs. For a public transportation agency with jurisdiction over many intersections, the system-wide lighting costs can significantly deplete already limited funds for other important maintenance projects. A sound framework for conducting benefit-to-cost trade-off analysis would be beneficial to transportation agencies. Unfortunately, published works on the benefit-to-cost analysis are few and mostly dated. This paper outlines a detailed framework for conducting benefit-to-cost analysis for rural intersection lighting. The framework uses intersection lighting simulation models to generate annualized operating and maintenance cost data for different lighting levels. The intersection lighting models were developed with DIALux® professional lighting software. This study used the framework to conduct a case study of rural conventional three-leg and four-leg intersections with at least an annual average daily traffic (AADT) of 500 from Georgia. Based on the available Georgia case study data, this paper finds that for rural intersection locations that require no electrification, basically any illumination level, including those less than the recommended minimum of 8 lux, is likely to be cost-effective for any entering AADT. However, locations that require electrification need to be evaluated based on the overall costs, entering AADT, existing crash rate, and a target benefit-to-cost ratio that signifies the level of cost-effectiveness required by the state Department of Transport (DOT). Consequently, a companion spreadsheet benefit-to-cost model has been developed to facilitate the cost-effectiveness analysis at any rural uncontrolled or stop-controlled intersection.


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