In the period between 1993-1998 a vision was presented of an Automated Highway System developed under a contract naming Virginia Tech one of the three ITS Research Centers of Excellence in the United States by the Federal Highway Administration. The AHS envisioned would consist of a guideway constructed in the rights-of-way of the Interstate Highway System which would utilized magnetic levitation ("maglev") to propel closely-space, individual vehicles at high speeds with full longitudinal and lateral control. In this dissertation the system architecture is described in detail. The system architecture is organized according to system structural, system operational, and vehicle subsystem technological elements. The structural aspects are concerned with the decision making capability allocated between a vehicle and the guideway, the characteristics of the control and sensing equipment contained within the guideway, the traveling unit configuration, and certain of the vehicle's structural and equipment considerations. The operational aspects are concerned with vehicle entrainment policy, system fleet mixture, network type and control functions, and guideway lane separation requirements. The vehicle subsystem and the vehicle longitudinal and lateral control subsystem. The operational architecture concentrates on developing and evaluating strategies for forming platoons of vehicles on the guideway since the average platoon sizes determine the practical capacity of the guideway as well as the safety of operation. It is instructive to review how platoons form naturally on conventional highways as a prelude to developing a strategy for forming platoon on the AHS Maglev Guideway. A novel, non-linear car-following model called "car maneuvering" is explored by defining the stimuli on the right-hand side of the model in terms of several vehicles ahead of the response vehicle. In order to add still more realism in developing a strategy for platoon formation in a guideway under automatic control, an additional spacing dependent term is introduced to achieve a "magnetic coupling headway" between platooned vehicles. Once vehicles are magnetically coupled, the desired intraplatoon headway is maintained through attraction and repulsion. In this dissertation the term "architecture" is interpreted in the broadest possible sense based on the assumption that any transportation system intended to serve society throughout the 21st Century and beyond must address a hierarchy of goals and issues ranging from the strategic (sustainable development) to the tactical (the concept of operations) and including the in-between (interfacing with the existing transportation system). In the past, transportation planning, policy, investment and operating decisions have been made in isolation from each other with incomplete information inputs from a broad base of disciplines and sectors, without a synthesizing instrumentality. A new approach is described to promote the best informed decisions governing planning and management. The approach features a realistic framework for allocating public sector-private sector effort, an instrumentality for generating the knowledge needed to conceive and implement the new transportation paradigm, and a strategic vision for rallying support. The new approach to the problem begins with a strategic vision for society's AHS infrastructure. We believe that the strategic vision must be based on the concept of "sustainable development." To affect this new strategic vision, higher budgets will be a necessary, but not a sufficient condition. A fundamental Decision Support System (DSS) with knowledge bases with contributions from the braid spectrum of science and engineering disciplines, and a methodology based on system dynamics capable of synthesizing these contributions is proposed. The AHS Maglev Alternative is compared to a "Do-Nothing" Alternative and a "Traditional Expansion" Alternative using user and nonuser benefit analyses. The advantages of AHS Maglev are seen to be overwhelming. Moreover, the ability of AHS Maglev to alleviate airport congestion by reducing short and medium range of flights, and to serve as a structuring device for rational population distribution is shown. / Ph. D.

This thesis focuses on a decision-making model for finding the locations for placement of utilities in roadway corridors. In recent years, there has been a rapid growth in the volume of traffic on roadways and in the number of utilities placed in Right of Ways. The increase in the demand for utilities is making it more difficult to place all the utilities within the Right of Way and also provide safe roads and highways with good carrying capacity. The public agencies approving the location for utilities are now using a first come first served method, which provide neither an efficient nor good economic solution. This model considers all the utilities within the corridor as a single system, including factors like installation costs, maintenance costs and also some future factors such as accident costs. A weighted coefficient optimization approach is used to find the solution in this model. These costs are modeled as fuzzy numbers or probabilistic random numbers depending on their characteristics. This algorithm will locate each utility at all its possible locations and find the total cost of all the utilities at all these locations, i.e. cost of the system. The least cost locations among all the possible locations are the good locations for utilities in the utility system. When utilities are placed in these locations the overall cost of the system will be lower compared to other locations. This model provides a flexible and interactive method for finding cost saving locations for the utilities in the highway corridor. Users will be able to change the parameters of the utility system according to their requirements and get reduced cost solutions.

This thesis explores the origins of the International Meridian Highway, now U.S. Highway 81, from its naissance in 1911 until the late 1920s. In these two decades, regional boosters in the middle of the United States joined a national movement, the Good Roads Movement, to promote new, democratic understandings of space and geography. The boosters of the International Meridian Highway promoted their road as a “Main Street of North America,” centering the focus of both movement and activity through the middle of the United States. While these boosters were successful in developing and promoting their highway, ultimately they became victims of their own success. As the fervor for highways spread, the United States government took control of road development and the International Meridian Highway Association faded into obscurity. However, their actions as boosters still mark a significant movement in self-promotion of middle America.

Highway mortality of deer (Odocoileus sp.) is a nationwide concern. In 1991, 538,000 deer-vehicle collisions occurred nationwide. Property damage to vehicles, human injuries and fatalities, and potential impacts to local deer populations occur from deer-vehicle collisions. Techniques have been evaluated to reduce highway mortality of deer; however, an effective, cost-efficient solution does not exist for widespread use. If mitigative technologies are to be successful, we need to understand deer behavior and movement patterns associated with highway relationships. Most research about highway deer kills has focused on white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in mixed hardwood habitat types. The following study pertains to mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in a mountain brush and sagebrush-grass zone. The study area was located at the site of the newly constructed Jordanelle Reservoir near Park City, Utah. Area roads were relocated due to inundation of existing highways. Preconstruction road-kill was docwnented to be 0.29 kills/km. Annual road-kill levels of 278 (5.9 kills/km) and 119 (2.5 kills/km) deer occurred along the new roads from October 1991 to October 1993. Even though there was a 64.2% reduction in observed deer density, second year mortality was still 9 times the pre-project kill. A study design of road-kill data collection and repetitive spotlight censuses was used to compare levels and composition of deer road-kills to that of the living population. Deer-vehicle collision levels tracked large population fluctuations. Deer behavior predisposed deer to mortality. Numbers of road-killed deer peaked in the fall of both years, coincident with breeding and hunting periods. Road-kill peaks also occurred in July and April of each year, respectively. Traffic characteristics, road alignment, and vegetative and topographic features were described relative to mule deer kill locations (recorded to the .10 mile). Traffic volume and percent vegetative cover were higher along US40 than either state route; road-kills were correspondingly higher along US40. Roads adjacent to agricultural areas along all routes sustained the fewest highway mortalities of deer. Deer approached roads along drainages; large drainages intersected highways in 79% of designated kill areas. Right-of-way vegetation and slope influenced kill locations.

This diploma thesis deals with proposal for reconstruction of the section of the D46 motorway and the adjacent motorway junction designated as Exit 2 Vyškov. The area in question is located in the non-built-up area of the town of Vyškov. The D46 motorway crosses first-class road number II/430 at this point, which connects with the II/430 road at the intersection. The intersection we are concerned with is plagued by several problems. The first is the unsatisfactory connection of road number II/430 in the eastern part of the intersection, where the indirect branch has no slip road, meaning that vehicles are forced to stop here, resulting in clogging of the exit from Vyškov to Olomouc. Another problem is the turn-off to the petrol station in the western part of the intersection. The problem occurs at the location of the turn-off to the previously mentioned petrol station, where approximately 100 m from the turn-off there is an indirect branch of the western part of the intersection and vehicles wishing to join the D46 motorway are forced to slow down there.

New Belgrade’s Cultural Spine: Revitalization of the spaces lost to the Highway E75 is a Masterplan project that has a healing aspect to the city fabric and public life. Belgrade is a city located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers which divide the city into three parts. Still, besides this division, there is also a Highway that has a disruptive effect on the city fabric.  How do the communities surrounding the highway interact with it? How they can use the space which now is not possible? The project is about communities and heritage adjacent to the highway. How to provide access to it? Focusing on New Belgrade’s Central Zone, this project provides the model that is an alternative to the model of big developments, instead of covering up empty sites, it is trying to rethink their function and create a cultural spine that is desperately forgotten in this part of the city.

The application of Visualization and Simulation technologies to intuitively depict, analyze and execute transportation projects is gaining momentum, as advances in 3-Dimension (3D) Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technologies are rapidly progressing and there is an increased need for public acceptance of transportation projects. This thesis presents a visualization process framework that is applicable to highway corridor visualization, and the I-77/81 Relocation Study Visualization project is discussed along the lines of the visualization framework that has been developed. The changes in the roadway alignment and associated traffic volume and pattern changes will affect the town of Wytheville, both in terms of economy and community development. The goal of the project is to present these visualizations at public participation meetings. Visualizations that have been developed in 2D, 3D, 4D, and virtual reality, will be discussed along with their developmental life cycles and issues affecting their quality. / Master of Science

Linear Scheduling Method is a powerful graphical scheduling method which is best suited for scheduling projects involving repetitive activities. Highway construction projects are excellent examples of projects displaying repetitive characteristics. The research explores usefulness of linear scheduling in highway construction. The Linear Scheduling Method (LSM) was implemented in the field to schedule highway projects. Problems encountered during the field experience were studied and responses to the problems were identified. The research resulted in a number of advancements to the technique. These are reported in the thesis. The advancements exploit the simplicity and graphical nature of this technique. The research identified the true potential of a graphical technique in communicating information, and in evaluating scheduling alternatives. The importance of visualization and the role of LSM in planning, execution, and control phases of a project are discussed. The concepts of lateral float and use of LSM as a graphical simulation tool are presented. A comprehensive description of the linear schedule's format and symbols is presented in the thesis and this will lead the technique towards a standard format. The enhancements to the format and symbols, reported in the thesis, will make the technique more robust, increase its effectiveness, and help in scheduling complex projects using the technique. The need for representing the information contained in the linear schedules in tabular formats was identified during the field implementation of the technique. The concept of Crew Movement Chart (CMC), which shows deployment and movement of various crews in the project in a tabular format, is presented. The use of spreadsheets and databases to generate the CMC is discussed and a computer software package, LINC, which can be used to generate CMC by input through user-interface screens, is presented. The need for an interface between the Critical Path Method (CPM) and the Linear Scheduling Method (LSM) was identified during the field experience. This thesis presents a discussion on the development of the computer interface, the Linear Scheduling Software (LSS). A combined computer scheduling system comprising of the LSS and LINC, which can be used to generate linear schedules as well as tabular reports, is presented. / Master of Science

No description available.

No description available.