What about my research?!?!?

I do research into all kinds of transportation topics, but my main research area is traffic operations. I've got some stuff you can look at here from three different topics of research that I have been involved in...

1) Adaptive traffic signal control

            This is an interesting type of traffic signal control that can best be summarized as a traffic-responsive control system. It can be reactive or predictive, and the methodology used to carry it out has been the subject of some gradually intensifying research. I have developed a methodology that I (rather cumbersomely) have called Phase-by-Phase, Arrival-Based, Delay-Optimized Adaptive Control. I'll probably come up with a catchy name for it eventually. It's based on some concepts used in other methodologies that are out there, but it has some unique aspects to it.

            Click here for a link to a technical report (essentially my dissertation) that comprehensively describes the methodology. It's a fun read if you're a traffic signal control buff (maybe).     

            Click here to see a presentation that I have made here and there, most prominently at the 2006 TRB Annual Meeting, that summarizes my work on the methodology up to an intermediate point in the development; it gets the gist of the thing out pretty well.

            By the way, I've got some funded research coming up to polish up this methodology, so if you're a TCNJ student who might be interested in getting paid to find out about/help out with traffic signal control that has the potential to really have some benefit out there, just e-mail me.

2) Traffic data for pavement management

            Pavement management in this case encompasses, essentially, meeting the pavement needs of a region in a number of ways: through new construction, reconstruction, maintenance, etc. The kinds of traffic data needed for this can range from a simple manual count at a single point on a roadway to a number of strategically-located axle weight frequency distributions throughout the region using Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) stations.

            I've done some research into the traffic data needs for pavement management, including a study for the Texas Department of Transportation for their Pavement Management Information System. It hasn't been made available online yet, though; I might post it here eventually. I've also done some research into optimally gathering WIM data for use in the latest AASHTO pavement design procedures; I'll also probably post that here at some point.

3) Benefit/cost analysis for transportation projects

            OK, this area is not so traffic-specific, but it was pretty interesting trying to put dollar signs on the end of such project impacts as travel time, emissions and socio-economic factors. I actually managed to help crank out a report, while I was an undergrad, for the National Center for Transportation and Industrial Productivity based on some spreadsheet programs put out by FHWA in the mid-90's. Even though the software is probably very outdated by now, considering the concepts behind it was still pretty instructive. Admittedly, my research and report-writing technique is a little raw in this report, but click here if you'd like to read it.

go back (to the future!).....