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CTS Research Seminars — Fall 2005

Every year, CTS offers a CTS Research Seminar Series. The seminars are open to anyone interested in learning more about transportation research at the University of Minnesota. Undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and practitioners are encouraged to attend. There is no cost to attend, and registration is not required. Each seminar qualifies for one Professional Development Hour (PDH).

Also, the Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute, housed within CTS, presents the Advanced Transportation Technologies Seminar Series during fall semester of each year.

For more information, contact Chad Rathmann at CTS, rathmann@cts.umn.edu.

Fall 2005 Seminars

"Application of Precast Decks and Other Elements to Bridge Strutures"

September 15, 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Room 4125 (A/B), Mechanical Engineering Building
In conjunction with the meeting of the CTS Transportation Infrastructure Council

Speaker:

Carol Shield, Associate Professor, Civil Engineering

Description:

A number of countries, including the U.S. and France, have incorporated precast components in bridge superstructures and substructures. One benefit of using precast elements is the high level of quality control that can be achieved in the plant compared to field-cast operations. Another benefit is the speed of construction: unlike cast-in-place construction, which requires time-consuming forming and casting on site, precast elements just need assembly. Connection details include post-tensioning systems, weld plates, studs in grout pockets, shear keys, and interlocking reinforcement.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) is constructing two bridges with precast elements to enable rapid construction. One of the bridges is being instrumented to monitor the behavior of the bridge and to investigate potential reflective cracking between precast sections and continuity over the pier. These connection elements are key in the application of precast concrete to bridge structures. Simultaneously, four precast test sections will be instrumented and tested at the University of Minnesota Structures Lab to investigate potential changes to the precast section design. This talk will highlight the innovative features of the bridge and instrumentation design, with special attention to the newly conceived precast inverted T-sections.

"Driver Assistive Systems for Rural Applications"

September 20, 2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Room 1130, Mechanical Engineering Building
In conjunction with the meeting of the CTS Safety and Traffic Flow Council

Speaker:

This seminar will present results from the two components of a project that guided driver-assistive systems for rural areas. The first component put the system in the hands of snowplow operators to obtain real-world feedback on the value of the system. Included in the discussion of this component will be the technology installed in each vehicle as well as the feedback received by drivers.

The second component of the project was to develop a digital mapping system that could be used to inexpensively create the high-accuracy digital maps needed by the driver-assistive system. An overview of the system developed, as well as the costs associated with making these maps, will be provided.

"Access to Destinations"

September 21, 8:30–10:30 a.m.
Room 1130, Mechanical Engineering Building
In conjunction with the meeting of the CTS Planning and Environment Council

Speakers:

  • Charleen Zimmer, ZAN Associates
  • Kevin Krizek, Associate Professor, Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs

The City of Minneapolis has begun a process to develop a ten-year action plan for transportation facilities and services in downtown and throughout the city. When completed, the plan will address all modes of transportation, assess transportation needs projected in 2030, evaluate different scenarios for downtown transit operations, and recommend specific actions that should be taken over the next ten years.

At the same time, the Center for Transportation Studies has initiated the Access to Destinations Research Study with funding from Mn/DOT and Hennepin County. The purpose of the study is to develop measures of accessibility that will help us better understand how our transportation and land use system is performing, how it has changed, and how future investments and policies will impact that system. It builds on the previous research and results that came out of the Transportation and Regional Growth Study.

During this seminar, Kevin Krizek, associate professor in the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, will present an overview of the Access to Destinations Study and his related research project. Charleen Zimmer, principal for ZAN Associates, will describe the results to date of the transportation planning process that is to be completed by fall 2006. Klara Fabry, Minneapolis public works director, will also be available to address questions about the plan. Krizek will provide initial reaction and comments on how the Access study relates to their efforts followed by general discussion with the audience about its potential impacts for community planning in general.

"GIS Protocols: Measuring the Pedestrian Environment"

November 7, 8:30–10:00 a.m.
Room 1130, Mechanical Engineering Building
In conjunction with the meeting of the CTS Planning and Environment Council

Speaker:

  • Ann Forsyth, Director, Metropolitan Design Center

Environmental features such as lakes are thought to influence physical activity, but standards for key measurement variables have been lacking. Professor Ann Forsyth will describe a manual developed by her team that provides protocols for measuring environmental variables associated with walking.

The manual has four purposes:

  • To record the methods for environmental measurement used in the Twin Cities Walking Study so that the research team can replicate its own findings at a later date and different measurement staff can share common definitions and processes. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are so multifaceted that seemingly simple decisions made at one time have ramifications for future work. Without a formal communications mechanism that makes such decisions explicit and organizes them, errors can be left unrecognized, thereby compounding measurement problems.
  • To document methods for replication. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), which funded the Twin Cities Walking Study, expressed interest in documenting methods well enough to have at least some measurements replicated across other RWJF study teams in order to allow later meta-analysis.
  • To provide a preliminary prototype for other such manuals that may be produced by different teams. It is also possible for other teams to merely modify this manual, however, with attribution.
  • To make GIS research methods and data sources less opaque, particularly to public health researchers who have not used such data.

See the GIS Protocols Manual Web page for more information and a PDF version of the manual.

"In-vehicle Technology to Correct Teen Driving Behavior: Addressing Patterns of Risk"

November 8, 3:30–5:00 p.m.
Room 1130, Mechanical Engineering Building
In conjunction with the meeting of the CTS Safety and Traffic Flow Council

Speaker:

  • Shawn Brovold, Research Assistant, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Over the last decade, approximately 6,000 teenagers have died on our nation's roads every year. One possible approach to reduce the number of teenage driver crashes and fatalities is through the use of in-vehicle technology. Such a system should address the primary contributing factors associated with the majority of teen fatal crashes: speed, aggressive driving, low seat belt use, and alcohol impairment. This could be accomplished through a combination of forcing, feedback, and reporting functions. Forcing functions could take the form of ignition interlocks to enforce seat belt compliance and sober driving. A feedback function could provide real time tutoring and warnings about illegal or unsafe speeds. A reporting function could record vehicle information for parents to review and enforce teen driver performance. If implemented, a Teen Driver Support System (TDSS) such as described here could significantly decrease the number of teenagers killed in traffic crashes.

"Urbanization of Minnesota's Countryside, 2000 - 2025"

November 10, 8:30–10:00 a.m.
Room 1130, Mechanical Engineering Building
In conjunction with the CTS Economy Council meeting

Speaker:

John Adams, Chair, Department of Geography

Description:

The urbanization of the Minnesota countryside is underway as part of a wider regional transformation. Can economic development and population expansion proceed across many parts of Greater Minnesota without destroying the very features of the countryside that make it so attractive as a place to live, work, and play?

In their current research, John Adams and Barbara VanDrasek assess three trends underway across Greater Minnesota (counties outside the 25-county Minneapolis- St. Paul daily commuting field):

  1. population and housing change
  2. the restructuring of the state's economy
  3. changes in daily travel behavior, specifically the journey to work and other daily and weekly personal travel on the state's highways

Based on this analysis, they speculate about implications of trends for transportation planning at geographical scales ranging from the international, regional and statewide, to sub-regional and local.

In their seminar, the researchers will examine selected features of Greater Minnesota's emerging settlement system and associated transportation demands in the urbanization of the Minnesota countryside. Traditional uses of roads in Greater Minnesota are being augmented by their increasing use as "residential streets" serving dispersed neighborhoods throughout a residential countryside. They will discuss these and other uses, with special attention to trends in daily commuting.

"Minnesota Taconite as a Microwave-Absorbing Road Aggregate Material for Deicing and Pothole Patching Applications"

November 15, 8:30–10:30 a.m.
Room 1130, Mechanical Engineering Building
In conjunction with the CTS nfrastructure Council Meeting

Speakers:

David M. Hopstock, Ph.D, Independent Consultant, Roseville, MN

Lawrence M. Zanko, Research Fellow, Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI), University of Minnesota Duluth

Description:

Aggregate produced from Minnesota taconite products - including low-grade ore, waste rock, and tailings - has outstanding microwave absorption properties. The researchers have proposed several applications in which a mobile microwave generator could be deployed to take advantage of these properties:

  • Permanent repair of potholes under winter conditions. Heat generated by microwave absorption could produce the equivalent of a hot-mix repair in situ. It may also improve the speed and durability of cold-bonded repairs.
  • Chemical-free deicing of roads, bridge decks, airport runways, etc. By concentrating the generated heat at the ice-roadway interface, microwaves have the potential to be the most energy-efficient of all proposed non-chemical deicing techniques.
  • Annealing, recompaction, and sealing of joints in asphalt roadways.

Tests conducted to date on typical magnetite-rich taconite materials have shown microwave absorption to be directly proportional to magnetite content. In the next phase, the researchers plan to extend the testing to waste rock horizons that contain other microwave-absorbing minerals such as hematite and graphite. As funding becomes available, the team intends to mount a microwave generator on mobile equipment and take it into the field for realistic demonstration and testing.