Connected Cities for Smart Mobility toward Accessible and Resilient Transportation
Over the past three years, researchers at UTEP and NYU have collaborated on the development of a smartphone application, Urban Connector, which is designed to cater to the urban mobility needs and preferences of seniors in El Paso. A prototype of the application was developed and a follow-up survey was conducted to gather feedback. The app was improved to its beta version, and was tested by seniors in El Paso in their day-to-day travels.
In this project, the research team will propose a simulation-based approach for the evaluation of traffic control algorithms that will utilize CV technologies. Given the ongoing CV pilot deployment in NYC, the proposed project will tie in to the objectives set out to be achieved as a part of the NYC CV pilot. The City College of New York (CCNY) team will work with NYU and UW researchers to test the models and algorithms in microsimulation and hardware-in-the loop simulations on a NYC-specific network.
Digital Twin (DT) technology represents the next evolution in a gradual shift from physical to digital models in civil engineering. Computer-Aided Drafting (CAD) revolutionized the industry by reducing the time and costs associated with documenting the design. Building Information Modeling (BIM) has since all but eliminated the need for physical design descriptors (i.e., drawings or physical models). A digital twin is a relevant abstraction of the physical asset. Itis most frequently used to model/improve/control manufacturing systems. Civil engineering applications of DT have been starting to emerge, but transportation infrastructure represents a challenging extension of DT technology because of its spatial scale and voluminous and time-varying data. However, DT is a powerful decision support tool for the design, maintenance, and management of transportation infrastructure, particularly for studying the interdependency with other infrastructure systems.
The research team will first establish a test bed for the development of the advanced WIM (A-WIM) system by collaborating with local transportation agencies for the selection of the test bed site near a static weighing station. Then, it will develop a set of calibration procedures to guarantee that the level of accuracy is reached and preserved over time. These procedures will include, but are not limited to, the effect of temperature, humidity, and pavement type.
The purpose of this study is to develop and implement an analytical framework to calculate deterioration rates for bridges and large culverts based AASHTO-Element inspection data as well as NBI data and demonstrate the application of the approach through currently available inspection data. This analytical approach will be applied to generate deterioration rates for NYS bridges based on, but not limited to climate and/or geographical location, DOT Region, bridge ownership, material types, design types, and bridge types. The outcome of the research will be further implemented in the AASHTO BrM and the Agile Assets Structures Manager and Bridge Analyst.
Led by NYU Rudin Center Assistant Director Sarah Kaufman, the Emerging Leaders in Transportation program develops early-career transportation professionals to develop and promote innovations within their organizations. The three-day program includes professional development with executive leaders, communication work through networking activities, and site visits to major transportation management locations.
The NYU Rudin Center for Transportation specializes in policy related to the future of urban mobility. In the Future of Mobility workshops, the NYU Rudin Center will convene subject matter experts and government leaders. During the workshop, speakers and participants will identify policy initiatives and needs for seamless, technology-enabled urban travel.
The main deliverable for this project was a smartphone navigation app that addresses the specific mobility needs and priorities of seniors, improving their ability to travel around their cities. After the prototype was developed, the researchers recruited seniors to test the app for a few weeks, and then gathered their feedback.
This multi-disciplinary project will combine the results of engineering modeling in the area of transportation infrastructure deterioration related to overweight trucks in New Jersey with economic approaches to estimate the contribution of these vehicles to maintenance costs.
This project will investigate technologies to screen overweight trucks including a high-speed weigh-in-motion (HS-WIM) system integrated with a license plate reader and/or security camera, and to evaluate the feasibility of such technologies compared to current screening practices at weighing stations.=.