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Browsing by Subject "Snow"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
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    Development of a Travel-Time Reliability Measurement System
    (Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2018-09) Kwon, Eil; Park, Chongmyung
    This study has developed a computerized Travel-Time Reliability Measurement System (TTRMS), which can automate the time-consuming process of gathering and managing data from multiple sources and calculating various types of reliability measures under user-specified conditions for given corridors. The TTRMS adopts a server and client structure, where the main database and computational engines reside in the server, while the user- clients are designed for entering the data and generating the output files. In particular, most of the external data, such as traffic and weather datasets, can be remotely downloaded following predefined time schedules. Further, the travel-time calculation process developed in this study can explicitly reflect various lane-configurations at work zones for correctly calculating travel times of the routes with work zones. The map-based user interfaces provide users with a flexible environment, where the route selection and specification of operating conditions for reliability estimation can be efficiently performed. The integrated TTRMS was tested in the Twin Cities’ metro freeway network by estimating the reliability measures of selected corridors with real data for a two-year period, 2012-13. The test results indicate that the TTRMS can substantially reduce the time and effort in estimating various types of reliability measures under different operating conditions for predefined corridors.
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    Snow Rendering for Interactive Snowplow Simulation - Supporting Safety in Snowplow Design
    (Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute, Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2013-01) Willemsen, Peter
    During a snowfall, following a snowplow can be extremely dangerous. This danger comes from the human visual system's inability to accurately perceive the speed and motion of the snowplow, often resulting in rear-end collisions. For this project, the researchers' goal is to use their understanding of how the human visual system processes optical motion under the conditions created by blowing snow to create a simulation framework that could be used to test emergency lighting configurations that reduce rear-end collisions with snowplows. Reaction times for detecting the motion of the snowplow will be measured empirically for a variety of color set-ups on a simulated snowplow that slows down while driving on a virtual road with curves and hills. Current efforts have implemented a blowing snow model that will eventually be integrated into a real-time driving simulation environment. Concurrently, a simulated driving environment has been developed that will serve as the basis for testing the effects of color and lighting alternatives on snowplows. In initial pilot experiments, the simulated driving environment has been effective at testing subject reaction times for following a snowplow through high luminance contrast (normal daylight driving) and low luminance contrast (daylight fog) conditions. The results of this work will move the researchers closer to determining optimal color and lighting configurations on actual snowplows.
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    Web-Based Preventative Blowing and Drifting Snow Control Calculator Decision Tool
    (Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2015-05) Wyatt, Gary; Zamora, Diomy; Smith, David; Gullickson, Dan; Current, Dean
    Blowing and drifting snow on Minnesota's roadways are transportation efficiency and safety concerns. Establishing standing corn rows, living and structural snow fences or proper grading during road construction improves driver visibility and road surface conditions and has the potential to lower costs of road maintenance as well as crashes attributed to blowing and drifting snow. These snow control solutions can also provide environmental benefits including carbon sequestration and avoidance of carbon emissions of snow removal operations. In recent years, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) has paid farmers to establish snow control practices to protect identified snow problem roadways. Using public funds to pay landowners to establish land practices, which benefit the public and reduce MnDOT winter costs, needs to be justified. In 2012, our research team created a Microsoft Excel cost-benefit-payment calculator to estimate payments to farmers that included consideration of safety and snow removal cost savings to the public and the transportation agency. We worked closely with MnDOT engineers and plow operators to estimate the safety and snow removal costs. This project translated the Microsoft Excel tool to a web-based tool that can be used on laptops, smartphones and tablets. Beta testing has been done with transportation officials to improve the web tool. Outreach plans are being conducted to inform transportation agencies of this tool and the cost benefit analysis it offers.