Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware test 3-10 on 31-inch W-beam guardrail with standard offset blocks (open access)

Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware test 3-10 on 31-inch W-beam guardrail with standard offset blocks

"The test reported herein corresponds to American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) test 3-10. This is primarily a severity test that assesses risk of injury to the vehicle occupants."
Date: November 2010
Creator: Abu-Odeh, Akram Y.; Menges, Wanda L. & Bligh, Roger P.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Peer grouping and performance measurement to improve rural and urban transit in Texas (open access)

Peer grouping and performance measurement to improve rural and urban transit in Texas

"Rural and small urban transit systems in Texas will become even more important with predicted changes in population trends. Rural demographic trends indicate growth in the number of persons age 65 and over coupled with a decrease in population density. Small urban area trends indicate substantial population growth and broadened geographic boundaries, yet resources to provide rural and small urban transit are limited. Therefore, transit managers find it is increasingly important to maximize service efficiency and effectiveness. The purpose of this research was to identify peer groups, performance benchmarks, and strategies used by successful transit providers to achieve high performance. The research project identifies peer groups based on the transit environment within which each agency operates, so that agencies can be compared to other operators who face similar environments. Peer group effectiveness and efficiency performance are examined within and between rural and urban peer groups, and high performers are identified for case studies. Through the case studies, key attributes are identified for achieving high operating efficiency and/or effectiveness. Performance strategies are categorized to provide transit providers with transferrable information to improve performance and increase the return on transit investment."
Date: September 2010
Creator: Arndt, Jeffrey C.; Edrington, Suzie; Sandidge, Matthew; Quadrifoglio, Luca & Perkins, Judy
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Exploratory study : vehicle mileage fees in Texas (open access)

Exploratory study : vehicle mileage fees in Texas

This project evaluates Vehicle Mileage (VM) fees as a possible funding mechanism for meeting the State of Texas' long-term transportation needs. Researchers conducted listening sessions with the general public and stakeholders to gather input on the concept. Researchers also prepared a decision matrix that can aid policy makers in evaluating the various trade-offs in policy that will be encountered in vehicle mileage fee system development. This study identified both challenges and opportunities for implementation of VM fees.
Date: January 2011
Creator: Baker, Richard & Goodin, Ginger
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Non-vital advance rail preemption of signalized intersections near highway-rail grade crossings (open access)

Non-vital advance rail preemption of signalized intersections near highway-rail grade crossings

Technical report examining two strategies were investigated to ensure pedestrian clearance time in intersections near highway-rail grade crossings. The first utilizes a lower-level preemption sequence to guarantee full pedestrian clearance to a terminating phase before the traffic signal starts the preemption sequence. The second strategy uses the pedestrian-omit feature to prevent the controller from activating the pedestrian interval if there is not sufficient time in advance of the start of the preemption sequence to provide full pedestrian clearance.
Date: June 2007
Creator: Balke, Kevin N.; Engelbrecht, Roelof Johannes & Ruback, Leonard G.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware test 3-11 on the Texas T101 bridge rail (open access)

Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware test 3-11 on the Texas T101 bridge rail

Report on a study examining the impact performance of T101 bridge rails with pickup trucks. The study determined the T101 bridge rail did not meet Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware evaluation criteria for test 3-11 and the vehicle overturned after losing contact with the barrier.
Date: March 2011
Creator: Bligh, Roger P. & Menges, Wanda L.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Development of a MASH TL-2 guardrail-to-bridge rail transition compatible with 31-inch guardrail (open access)

Development of a MASH TL-2 guardrail-to-bridge rail transition compatible with 31-inch guardrail

Report discussing the development of a transition roadway rail that is suitable on lower-speed roadways and that is suitable for implementation.
Date: December 2011
Creator: Bligh, Roger P.; Arrington, Dusty R. & Menges, Wanda L.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Development of a MASH TL-3 median barrier gate (open access)

Development of a MASH TL-3 median barrier gate

Report regarding a median barrier gate designed to both offer protection to motorists and easier cross-median access for emergency and maintenance vehicles.
Date: February 2011
Creator: Bligh, Roger P.; Arrington, Dusty R.; Sheikh, Nauman Mansoor; Silvestri, Chiara & Menges, Wanda L.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
MASH test 3-37 of the TxDOT 31-inch w-beam downstream anchor terminal (open access)

MASH test 3-37 of the TxDOT 31-inch w-beam downstream anchor terminal

Report discussing the findings of a study exploring issues related to roadside safety devices. It includes background information, system details, test requirements and evaluation criteria, crash test procedures, crash test results, and conclusions.
Date: October 2011
Creator: Bligh, Roger P.; Menges, Wanda L. & Arrington, Dusty R.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Delivery of workshops on corridor management and preservation in Texas (open access)

Delivery of workshops on corridor management and preservation in Texas

"This report summarizes the delivery and outcome of a series of workshops conducted at 23 Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) districts across the state on corridor management and preservation in Texas. The workshops served as follow-up implementation work for research project 0-5606, "Creating Partnerships with Local Communities to Manage and Preserve Corridors." The report provides an overview of the project and documents the dates, locations, and attendance of workshops implemented during the three-year project period."
Date: September 2010
Creator: Bochner, Brian S. & Hard, Edwin N.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Internal trip capture estimator for mixed-use developments (open access)

Internal trip capture estimator for mixed-use developments

Report describing a spreadsheet tool for estimating trip generation for mixed-use developments, single developments that include different types of land use.
Date: February 2010
Creator: Bochner, Brian S. & Sperry, Benjamin R.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Highway safety design workshops (open access)

Highway safety design workshops

Report on a series of workshops provided by the Texas Department of Transportation on the topic, "Incorporating Safety into the Highway Design Process." The report focuses on workshop content, attendance, and participation evaluation.
Date: November 2010
Creator: Bonneson, James A. & Pratt, Michael P.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
School Traffic Workshop: Dealing With Texas-Sized Problems Around Schools (open access)

School Traffic Workshop: Dealing With Texas-Sized Problems Around Schools

"This report summarized the series of "Traffic around Schools"" workshops conducted throughout the state of Texas to familiarize TxDOT employees and partner agencies with two key products from previous research projects (0-4286 and 0-5470) and other tools and guidance that are available for dealing with problems around schools."
Date: October 2011
Creator: Brewer, Marcus A.; Fitzpatrick, Kay & Cooner, Scott A.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Realtime monitoring of bridge scour using remote monitoring technology (open access)

Realtime monitoring of bridge scour using remote monitoring technology

Report on research performed on the application of instruments including accelerometers and tiltmeters to monitor bridge scour. The instrumentation on the two bridges does not show great hope of application of accelerometers to monitor bridge scour because of a lack of sufficient excitation from traffic. Tiltmeters can provide the integral behavior of the bridge, and therefore are very useful devices for scour monitoring. Guidelines and protocols for scour monitoring based on the US59 over Guadalupe River Bridge and the SH80 over San Antonio River Bridge are provided in the study.
Date: February 2011
Creator: Briaud, Jean-Louis; Hurlebaus, Stefan; Chang, Kuang-An; Yao, Congpu; Sharma, Hrishikesh; Yu, Ok-Youn et al.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Unknown Foundation Determination for Scour (open access)

Unknown Foundation Determination for Scour

This report describes a project to develop a global approach that would reduce the level of uncertainty associated with unknown foundations.
Date: April 2012
Creator: Briaud, Jean-Louis; Medina-Cetina, Zenon; Hurlebaus, Stefan; Everett, Mark; Tucker, Stacey; Yousefpour, Negin et al.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Microsurfacing in Texas (open access)

Microsurfacing in Texas

This report describes the current state of practice of microsurfacing in Texas and compares it to best practices extracted from existing literature. A survey of DOT personnel, contractors and emulsion suppliers in Texas provides insight into the most crucial factors contributing to the success or failure of a microsurfacing. From the results of the survey, literature reviews, case studies and site visits, the research team analyzed material selection and mix design methods, construction practices, equipment practices and performance measures for microsurfacings.
Date: August 2011
Creator: Broughton, Benjamin & Lee, Soon-Jae
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Collision Loads on Bridge Piers: Phase 2. Report of Guidelines for Designing Bridge Piers and Abutments for Vehicle Collisions (open access)

Collision Loads on Bridge Piers: Phase 2. Report of Guidelines for Designing Bridge Piers and Abutments for Vehicle Collisions

"An instrumented, simulated bridge pier was constructed, and two full-scale collisions with an 80,000-lb van-type tractor-trailer were performed on it. The trailer was ballasted with bags of sand on pallets. The simulated pier was 36 inches in diameter and was supported in the longitudinal direction by two load cells. Force-versus-time data were obtained from the load cells."
Date: March 2011
Creator: Buth, Eugene; Brackin, Michael S.; Williams, William F. & Fry, Gary T.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Research and recommendations for a statewide sign retroreflectivity maintenance program (open access)

Research and recommendations for a statewide sign retroreflectivity maintenance program

"This report evaluated Texas Department of Transportation's (TxDOT) current sign retroreflectivity maintenance practices, assessed their effectiveness, and recommended statewide sign retroreflectivity maintenance practices that could be easily and effectively implemented to ensure that TxDOT would be in compliance with the new Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) language related to minimum sign retroreflectivity."
Date: April 2012
Creator: Carlson, Paul J.; Higgins, Laura L. & Re, Jonathan M.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Development of a model performance-based sign sheeting specification based on the evaluation of nighttime traffic signs using legibility and eye-tracker data (open access)

Development of a model performance-based sign sheeting specification based on the evaluation of nighttime traffic signs using legibility and eye-tracker data

"This report focused on the evaluation of traffic sign sheeting performance in terms of meeting the nighttime driver needs. Using the luminance requirements derived from the study and market-weighted headlamp flux matrices, the researchers developed an approach to sigh sheeting specification that is based on nighttime driver needs."
Date: September 2010
Creator: Carlson, Paul J.; Miles, Jeffrey D.; Park, Eun Sug; Young, Sarah; Chrysler, Susan & Clark, Jerremy
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Development of a model performance-based sign sheeting specification based on the evaluation of nighttime traffic signs using legibility and eye-tracker data : data and analysis (open access)

Development of a model performance-based sign sheeting specification based on the evaluation of nighttime traffic signs using legibility and eye-tracker data : data and analysis

"This report presents data and technical analyses for Texas Department of Transportation Project 0-5235. This project focused on the evaluation of traffic sign sheeting performance in terms of meeting the nighttime driver needs. The goal was to develop a nighttime driver needs specification for traffic signs. Full information on the project is presented in Report 0-5235-1 Volume 1."
Date: September 2009
Creator: Carlson, Paul J.; Park, Eun Sug & Miles, Jeffrey D.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Evaluation of traffic control devices : year 3 (open access)

Evaluation of traffic control devices : year 3

Report summarizing the research activities that were conducted between September 2010 and August 2011. The five primary activities were evaluating nighttime visibility along rural highways with bright signs, continuing the evaluation of lead-free thermoplastic pavement markings, evaluating contrast pavement marking layouts, continuing the evaluation of accelerated pavement marking test decks, and providing district support for hurricane evacuation routing.
Date: March 2012
Creator: Carlson, Paul J.; Pike, Adam M.; Miles, Jeff D.; Ullman, Brooke R. & Borchardt, Darrel W.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Benefits of Public Roadside Safety Rest Areas in Texas :  technical report (open access)

Benefits of Public Roadside Safety Rest Areas in Texas : technical report

Report regarding efforts to develop a benefit-cost analysis methodology for safety rest areas in Texas and to demonstrate its application in select corridors throughout the state. This project also considers approaches to developing rest areas that could reduce costs to the public.
Date: May 2011
Creator: Carson, Jodi L.; Pezoldt, Val J.; Koncz, Nicholas A., 1964- & Obeng-Boampong, Kwaku Oduro, 1977-
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Implementation report on PASSER V-07 training workshops (open access)

Implementation report on PASSER V-07 training workshops

"The objective of this project was to conduct one pilot workshop and five regular workshops to teach the effective use of the enhanced PASSER V-07 arterial signal timing optimization software."
Date: August 2009
Creator: Chu, Chi-Leung & Chaudhary, Nadeem A.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Development of guidelines for triple left and dual right-turn lanes :  technical report (open access)

Development of guidelines for triple left and dual right-turn lanes : technical report

Report regarding the development of geometric and signal design guidelines for triple left-turn lanes and dual right-turn lanes and then evaluatues the safety of such sites in Texas.
Date: July 2011
Creator: Cooner, Scott A.; Ranft, Stephen E.; Rathod, Yatin K.; Qi, Yi; Yu, Lei; Wang, Yubian et al.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Safety and economic impacts of converting two-way frontage roads to one-way : methodology and findings (open access)

Safety and economic impacts of converting two-way frontage roads to one-way : methodology and findings

Report on research develop information to communicate the safety and economic impacts of converting frontage roads from two-way to one-way. Researchers studied five locations in Texas where frontage roads were converted from two-way operation to one-way operation and developed accident modification factors related to frontage road conversion segments that roadway designers can use to guide frontage road conversion project planning.
Date: January 2011
Creator: Eisele, William L.; Yager, Christine E.; Brewer, Marcus A.; Frawley, William E.; Park, Eun Sug; Lord, Dominique et al.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History