New ICT-IDOT reports available

The following reports from research sponsored by the Illinois Department of Transportation have recently been added to the ICT website:

Illinois Drainage Law Related to Highways and Adjacent Landowners (R27-SP23): The purpose of this document is to inform landowners, highway authorities, and other interested parties about general legal principles related to drainage and drainage improvement projects.

Incorporating NEPA into IDOT and MPO Planning Processes (R27-132): This report summarizes the tasks and findings of a project to assist IDOT in defining guidelines for integrating the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act into the current IDOT and MPO planning processes for large-scale highway projects. The project culminated in development of a guidance document.

Guidelines for Reducing Wrong-Way Crashes on Freeways (R27-090): Each year, hundreds of fatal wrong-way driving (WWD) crashes occur across the United States, and thousands of injuries are reported in traffic crashes caused by wrong-way drivers. Although WWD crashes have been a concern since the advent of access-controlled, divided roadways, the problem persists despite efforts to address it over time. The objective of this publication is to provide guidance for implementing traditional and advanced safety countermeasures to achieve a significant reduction in the number of WWD incidents and crashes on freeways.

Proceedings of the 2013 National Wrong-Way Driving Summit (R27-090): The first National Wrong-Way Driving (WWD) Summit was held July 18 and 19, 2013, at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The purpose of the summit was to provide a platform for practitioners and researchers to exchange ideas, evaluate current countermeasures, and develop best practices for reducing WWD crashes and incidents through a 4E’s approach (Engineering, Education, Enforcement, and Emergency Response).

Native Vegetation Establishment for IDOT Erosion Control Best Management Practices (R27-104): The objective of this project was to develop native roadside vegetation best management practices for IDOT. The researchers assessed the performance of existing native seed mixes and practices along Illinois roadsides. Numerous recommendations are provided.

Mechanistic-Empirical Design, Implementation, and Monitoring for Flexible Pavements: A Project Summary (R27-060): Mechanistic-empirical (M-E)–based flexible pavement design concepts and procedures were developed in a previous Illinois Cooperative Highway Research Program study and have been implemented by IDOT, which continues to support a variety of M-E flexible pavement analysis, design, implementation, and monitoring activities. University of Illinois staff provides technical support in these activities. The cost savings (and likely the reduced user delay time) from such designs benefit IDOT, local roads agencies, and the traveling public.

Implementation of AIMS in Measuring Aggregate Resistance to Polishing, Abrasion, and Breakage (R27-129): ICT researchers investigated the feasibility of using the Micro-Deval apparatus along with the second-generation Aggregate Imaging System (AIMS) to develop a procedure for measuring aggregate polishing resistance and to measure aggregate shape properties. In this project, AIMS was used to measure aggregate shape properties with a special focus on aggregate angularity and surface texture, while Micro-Deval provided the needed polishing/degradation.

Analysis of 24-Hour Versus 48-Hour Traffic Counts for HPMS Sampling (R27-SP22): The objective of this study was to perform a statistical analysis of IDOT’s automated traffic recorder (ATR) continuous-count traffic data to compare the relative differences between 24-hour count periods and 48-hour count periods that are factored to compute annual average daily traffic. Statistical analyses were performed for statewide ATR data across various roadway functional classification categories and also split by IDOT District 1 and downstate districts. In general, the analyses found that, with the application of appropriate daily traffic-count adjustment factors, the 24-hour counts were statistically comparable to 48-hour traffic counts.

Traffic Turk Evaluation (R27-SP24): For this project, ICT researchers evaluated the use of a smartphone application (“Traffic Turk”) for traffic safety and traffic monitoring applications. The application was used at the 2013 Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Illinois. The traffic data were used to analyze the arrival rates of traffic at each of the counting locations and the possibility of re-routing traffic from the eastern, northern, and western approaches to the show. The application also collected information on the data latency and energy efficiency of the application in order to provide insights on the feasibility, scalability, and scope of future deployments.