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Development and Application of a Framework to Classify and Mitigate Truck Bottlenecks to Improve Freight Mobility

 
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Publication: Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board
Volume: TRN Annual Meeting
Publication Date: 2018
Summary:

This paper presents a framework to classify and mitigate roadway bottlenecks and that is designed to improve freight mobility. This is in recognition that roadway operations for trucks are under studied, truck-only bottlenecks are often not identified and freight-specific problem areas are therefore often overlooked. The framework uses four-steps:

Step 1: identifies and locates the roadway sections where vehicle travel time is in excess of what would normally occur.

Step 2: made possible by increasingly available truck probe data, identifies bottlenecks for all vehicles or for trucks only. This is necessary to identify bottlenecks that notably impact freight mobility and might not be identified by car-based approaches.

Step 3: classifies bottlenecks as travel speed-based or process-based. This selects the mitigation treatments as mainly due to operational or roadway limitations.

Step 4: which is the core of the paper, supports the mitigation process by determining the cause of the bottleneck. The bottlenecks are identified as due to congestion, limitations where roadway design slows all vehicles, or where a truck’s size or weight can slow vehicles (such as tight curves or bridge restrictions).

The paper present a review of specific roadway attributes that limit a truck’s mobility and is used to suggest mitigation. The framework is demonstrated using a case study. The framework is designed to be applied by planning and infrastructure agencies who want to locate and address freight bottlenecks in a systematic manner using available resources as well as by researchers interested in linking roadway attributes to truck mobility.

Authors: Dr. Ed McCormackDr. Anne Goodchild, William Eisele, Mark Hallenbeck
Recommended Citation:
McCormack, Edward, Anne Goodchild, W. Eisele, and Mark Hallenbeck. "Development and Application of a Framework to Classify and Mitigate Truck Bottlenecks to Improve Freight Mobility." TRN Annual Meeting, Washington D.C. 2018.
Paper

A Description of Fatal Bicycle Truck Accidents in the United States: 2000 to 2010

Publication: Transportation Research Board 95th Annual Meeting
Volume: 16-5911
Publication Date: 2016
Summary:

Bicycling is being encouraged across the US and the world as a low-impact, environmentally friendly mode of transportation. In the US, many states and cities, especially cities facing congestion issues, are encouraging cycling as an alternative to automobiles. However, as cities grow and consumption increases, freight traffic in cities will increase as well, leading to higher amounts of interactions between cyclists and trucks. This paper will describe where and how accidents between cyclists and trucks occur. From 2000 to 2010, 807 bicyclists were killed the United States in accidents involving trucks. In 2009, trucks accounted for 9.5% of fatal bicycle accidents, despite trucks only accounting for 4.5% of registered vehicles. The typical fatal bike-truck accident happens in an urban area on an arterial street with a speed limit of 35 or 45 mph. It is about equally likely to occur mid-block or at an intersection. Most accidents involved trucks going straight (56%), and right-turning trucks were involved in a much larger number of accidents (24%) than left turning trucks (7%). Methods such as providing bicycle lanes, or even physically separated bicycle tracks, will not be sufficient to address bicycle-truck collisions, as a significant number of accidents (49%) occur in intersections or are intersection related. Cities with a higher mode-share of bicycling had a lower rate of bicycle-truck fatality accidents.

Authors: Dr. Anne Goodchild, Jerome Drescher
Recommended Citation:
Drescher, Jerome and Anne Goodchild. (2016), "A Description of Fatal Bicycle Truck Accidents in the United States: 2000 to 2010," Accepted for presentation at the 95th Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, Washington DC, January 10-14. [Paper # 16-5911]