Transportation engineering is at a crossroads. Although funding for highway infrastructure improvements continues to be limited, big advances in alternative fuels, engine design, composite materials, and IT and wireless have the potential to transform automobile transportation.
We asked top transportation engineering experts Chris T. Hendrickson, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Carnegie Mellon University and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Transportation Engineering, and Hani Mahmassani, W.A. Patterson Distinguished Chair in Transportation at Northwestern University and director of its Transportation Center, for their views on what the top engineering trends in the field of transportation will be for the coming year.
1. Dealing with financing constraints: The U.S. has not had an increase in the federal fuel tax in decades. Similarly, states have not raised fuel taxes or other fees. As a result, says Hendrickson, transportation agencies are cash-starved, trying to do more with less, and the deficiency of transportation infrastructure is growing, says Hendrickson. “The condition of roadway bridges and the inland waterway system locks and dams are in particular need of attention," he says.
2. Vehicle-to-vehicle connectivity: While the basic underlying technologies have been around for a long time (for example, sensors on vehicles that make them situation-aware and wireless networks), connectivity is enabling significant new opportunities to improve transportation systems as a whole, especially traffic flow.
“A good example is preventing or reducing the occurrence of shock waves and the much-dreaded flow breakdown during peak periods on highways,” says Mahmassani. “Strategies include ‘speed harmonization’ that reduces the variability of speeds over space, resulting in less of the volatility that tends to happen as traffic densities increase.”
3. Alternative fuels and improved fuel efficiency: After decades of reliance on petroleum without major fuel- efficiency improvements, major changes are on the way. Motivations include energy security, federal MPG requirements, environmental issues, and new sources of less-expensive natural gas.
“Electric vehicles, flex-fuel ethanol, and compressed natural gas (CNG) are all being seriously considered,” says Hendrickson. “Plug-in hybrids and battery electric vehicles are just now becoming viable commercial alternatives.”
4. Crowdsourcing and the travel experience: A plethora of smartphone apps exist to enhance the driving experience. One of the most visible examples is WAZE, which relies on information provided by tracking its user’s location and other inputs from that user to provide route guidance. “Other apps have emerged in the parking arena,” says Mahmassani. “For example, you can note availability of parking spots, which facilitates finding a place to park for the ball game or theater. You can even report potholes encountered along the way.”
IT advances continue to improve air traffic control systems and traveler information aids. “Real time-traffic information systems, such as Google Traffic and Garmin systems with traffic updates, are being more widely used,” says Hendrickson. “EZ pass is also expanding and becoming more efficient, with more locations implementing standard radio-frequency identification.”
5. Predictive dynamic pricing: Because highway capacity is a scarce resource, for decades economists have proposed that road space should be rationed using a price mechanism. Recognizing traffic flow dynamics, exploiting intelligent system technologies for sensing, and real-time delivery of prices should enable new predictive pricing algorithms. “These will allow setting prices adaptively to prevent traffic flow levels of service from breaking down, hence preserving throughput and allocating highway use over time and space in an economically efficient manner that also leverages traffic physics,” says Mahmassani.
6. Rediscovering pods and personal transit: There is a new wave of interest in the concept of individualized small vehicles operating in a shared environment, especially for specialized environments (airports, theme parks, religious complexes, new green cities). “There have been such waves in the past,” notes Mahmassani. “Whether it takes hold this time depends on several factors that affect use and economics.”
Personal transit also includes biking and walking. “Expanding bike paths and trails, new urbanism development, and green buildings to encourage biking are all examples of engineering responses to traffic needs,” says Hendrickson.
https://www.asme.org
We asked top transportation engineering experts Chris T. Hendrickson, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Carnegie Mellon University and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Transportation Engineering, and Hani Mahmassani, W.A. Patterson Distinguished Chair in Transportation at Northwestern University and director of its Transportation Center, for their views on what the top engineering trends in the field of transportation will be for the coming year.
1. Dealing with financing constraints: The U.S. has not had an increase in the federal fuel tax in decades. Similarly, states have not raised fuel taxes or other fees. As a result, says Hendrickson, transportation agencies are cash-starved, trying to do more with less, and the deficiency of transportation infrastructure is growing, says Hendrickson. “The condition of roadway bridges and the inland waterway system locks and dams are in particular need of attention," he says.
2. Vehicle-to-vehicle connectivity: While the basic underlying technologies have been around for a long time (for example, sensors on vehicles that make them situation-aware and wireless networks), connectivity is enabling significant new opportunities to improve transportation systems as a whole, especially traffic flow.
“A good example is preventing or reducing the occurrence of shock waves and the much-dreaded flow breakdown during peak periods on highways,” says Mahmassani. “Strategies include ‘speed harmonization’ that reduces the variability of speeds over space, resulting in less of the volatility that tends to happen as traffic densities increase.”
“Electric vehicles, flex-fuel ethanol, and compressed natural gas (CNG) are all being seriously considered,” says Hendrickson. “Plug-in hybrids and battery electric vehicles are just now becoming viable commercial alternatives.”
4. Crowdsourcing and the travel experience: A plethora of smartphone apps exist to enhance the driving experience. One of the most visible examples is WAZE, which relies on information provided by tracking its user’s location and other inputs from that user to provide route guidance. “Other apps have emerged in the parking arena,” says Mahmassani. “For example, you can note availability of parking spots, which facilitates finding a place to park for the ball game or theater. You can even report potholes encountered along the way.”
IT advances continue to improve air traffic control systems and traveler information aids. “Real time-traffic information systems, such as Google Traffic and Garmin systems with traffic updates, are being more widely used,” says Hendrickson. “EZ pass is also expanding and becoming more efficient, with more locations implementing standard radio-frequency identification.”
5. Predictive dynamic pricing: Because highway capacity is a scarce resource, for decades economists have proposed that road space should be rationed using a price mechanism. Recognizing traffic flow dynamics, exploiting intelligent system technologies for sensing, and real-time delivery of prices should enable new predictive pricing algorithms. “These will allow setting prices adaptively to prevent traffic flow levels of service from breaking down, hence preserving throughput and allocating highway use over time and space in an economically efficient manner that also leverages traffic physics,” says Mahmassani.
6. Rediscovering pods and personal transit: There is a new wave of interest in the concept of individualized small vehicles operating in a shared environment, especially for specialized environments (airports, theme parks, religious complexes, new green cities). “There have been such waves in the past,” notes Mahmassani. “Whether it takes hold this time depends on several factors that affect use and economics.”
Personal transit also includes biking and walking. “Expanding bike paths and trails, new urbanism development, and green buildings to encourage biking are all examples of engineering responses to traffic needs,” says Hendrickson.
https://www.asme.org
No comments:
Post a Comment