Pioneering the path: ICT researchers spearhead new projects

Illinois Center for Transportation has introduced six new projects led by its faculty leads.

Riprap and Aggregate Polyurethane Stabilization for Drainage, Erosion Control and Road Construction

Erol Tutumluer, University of Illinois Abel Bliss Professor in Engineering and ICT Transportation Geotechnics lead, will explore the applications of polyurethane-bonded aggregate layers in drainage, erosion control and road construction.

ICT partners with Purdue University on the Indiana Department of Transportation-sponsored project.

The project’s objective is to enhance design parameters, evaluate environmental impacts and develop guidelines for the deployment of polyurethane-bonded aggregate technology.

The research team will identify suitable aggregate sources, understand their physical characteristics, optimize the mixing ratios, and perform laboratory evaluations.

They will also explore on-site applications such as site selection, construction supervision and monitoring the in-field performance of these layers.

The project duration is from August 2023 to August 2025.

Field Demonstration of Dolomite Quarry By-Products Used in Local Road Construction in Illinois

Tutumluer also oversees a Federal Highway Administration-sponsored project on utilizing dolomitic quarry by-products for local road construction in Illinois.

The project is a collaboration among ICT, Illinois Department of Transportation, and the Illinois Association of Aggregate Producers, a trade association of stone, sand and gravel producers operating in Illinois, and focuses on cementation and long-term strength gain of dolomite aggregates and their by-products for sustainable uses in road construction.

Researchers will construct local road test sections using dolomitic quarry by-product materials selected from ICT-IDOT project R27-248 and evaluate beneficial performance trends of the test section.

Construction will encompass both unsurfaced pavement and pavement surfaced with thin hot-mix asphalt, including lightly cement-treated dolomitic quarry by-product and dense-graded dolomite base course layers.

The project’s duration is from August 2023 to September 2026.

Center for Connected and Automated Transportation

ICT researchers Imad Al-Qadi, Yanfeng Ouyang, Jeffery Roesler, Alireza Talebpour and Angeli Jayme are contributors to a transportation grant led by the University of Michigan’s Center for Connected and Automated Transportation.

Michigan received $15 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation on February 21 to enhance the national transportation system.

ICT will partner with CCAT to address challenges related to autonomous vehicles and connected infrastructure.

One emphasis of this five-year project is addressing cybersecurity challenges presented by emerging transport technologies.

The project’s tenure extends from June 2023 to May 2028.

Quantifying Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Transit Ridership for CTA Rail, CTA Bus, Pace and Metra

Ouyang, ICT associate director for mobility and UIUC George Krambles Endowed Professor, leads an initiative to analyze the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Chicago’s transit ridership.

The aim of the project is to provide transportation entities like IDOT, CTA, Pace and Metra with guidance and insights to aid with policy decisions.

The IDOT-sponsored project expands upon an earlier pilot examining changes in Chicago Transit Authority rail usage during the pandemic’s initial phase.

The study encompasses other transit modes in Chicago, including the CTA bus, Pace Suburban Bus and Metra, and will evaluate the influences of a range of factors such as vaccination campaigns, CDC guidelines and the emergence of the Delta and Omicron variants.

The research team has been collecting ridership data and evaluating shifts in ridership due to psychological, governmental and socioeconomic factors. They will use statistical modeling techniques to forecast counterfactual ridership patterns in the absence of the pandemic and identify factors driving current trends.

The study’s conclusion is projected for July 2025.

Pave the Way: From Organic Waste to Renewable Roads with Advanced Resource Recovery Delineation (FORWARD)

The US produces nearly 60.3 million tons of food waste annually, leading to an estimated loss of around $161.6 billion.

Ramez Hajj, ICT Asphalt Materials lead and UIUC assistant professor, will try to reuse food and agricultural waste in the US by integrating it into road pavements and other transportation uses.

Hajj joins UIUC professors Yuanhui Zhang (project lead), Paul Davidson and Cody Allen as well as Rutgers University’s Yalin Li.

The project, sponsored by the US Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, aims to transform the energy and nutrient content of food waste into biobinders for road construction.

They will utilize UIUC’s hydrothermal liquefaction pilot reactor system, designed to convert biowaste into biocrude efficiently, which can then be distilled into biobinder for road pavement and alternative transportation fuels. This system also retrieves nutrients from wastewater, offering potential for repurposing as fertilizer.

FORWARD promotes a sustainable approach to waste management, aiming to curb greenhouse gas emissions and landfill costs. The project is also consistent with the Justice40 Initiative’s objective by reducing landfill creation, which may disproportionately impact underserved communities.

The project's anticipated end date is April 2026.

INcreasing Transportation Efficiency and Resiliency through MODeling Assets and Logistics (INTERMODAL)

ICT received a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to conduct research on sustainable intermodal freight transportation.

Ouyang will lead the 30-month project with support from ICT researchers Al-Qadi, Roesler, Talebpour and Jayme as well as the University of California Irvine’s Stephen Ritchie and Argonne National Laboratory’s Natalia Zuniga.

The project’s goal is to create modeling capabilities to facilitate planning and operations of low-carbon, resilient freight transport systems.

The team aims to develop a data-driven model to streamline the movement of goods across transportation channels, with a particular focus on environmental implications, and computational models that guide resource allocation for enhanced transportation and energy infrastructures.

This endeavor by ICT is a segment of a larger $9 million DOE initiative that seeks to integrate maritime, rail and road systems with an emphasis on reducing emissions and bolstering system resilience.