Improving Transition Outcomes: CASE (Career And Self Awareness) Prototype: Community Team Award

Promotional article recognizing an award presented to the CASE (Career And Self Awareness) team.

Improving Transition Outcomes: CASE (Career And Self Exploration): Replication Template

Replication Template for Improving Transition Outcomes CASE (Career And Self Exploration) Prototype. This concise document explains how your team can implement CASE and the corresponding entrepreneurship component.

Improving Transition Outcomes: CASE (Career And Self Awareness) Prototype: Iowa Association of Community Providers Award

Promotional article recognizing an award presented to the CASE (Career And Self Awareness) team.

Integrated Risk Management for Improving Internal Traffic Control, Work-Zone Safety, and Mobility during Major Construction, TPF-5(081), 2012

Highway construction is among the most dangerous industries in the US. Internal traffic control design, along with how construction equipment and vehicles interact with the traveling public, have a significant effect on how safe a highway construction work zone can be. An integrated approach was taken to research work-zone safety issues and mobility, including input from many personnel, ranging from roadway designers to construction laborers and equipment operators. The research team analyzed crash data from Iowa work-zone incident reports and Occupational Safety and Health Administration data for the industry in conjunction with the results of personal interviews, a targeted work-zone ingress and egress survey, and a work-zone pilot project.

Effectiveness of Work Zone Intelligent Transportation Systems, TPF-5(081), 2013

In the last decade, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) have increasingly been deployed in work zones by state departments of transportation. Also known as smart work zone systems they improve traffic operations and safety by providing real-time information to travelers, monitoring traffic conditions, and managing incidents. Although there have been numerous ITS deployments in work zones, a framework for evaluating the effectiveness of these deployments does not exist. To justify the continued development and implementation of smart work zone systems, this study developed a framework to determine ITS effectiveness for specific work zone projects. The framework recommends using one or more of five performance measures: diversion rate, delay time, queue length, crash frequency, and speed. The monetary benefits and costs of ITS deployment in a work zone can then be computed using the performance measure values. Such ITS computations include additional considerations that are typically not present in standard benefit-cost computations. The proposed framework will allow for consistency in performance measures across different ITS studies thus allowing for comparisons across studies or for meta analysis. In addition, guidance on the circumstances under which ITS deployment is recommended for a work zone is provided. The framework was illustrated using two case studies: one urban work zone on I-70 and one rural work zone on I-44, in Missouri. The goals of the two ITS deployments were different – the I-70 ITS deployment was targeted at improving mobility whereas the I-44 deployment was targeted at improving safety. For the I-70 site, only permanent ITS equipment that was already in place was used for the project and no temporary ITS equipment was deployed. The permanent DMS equipment serves multiple purposes, and it is arguable whether that cost should be attributed to the work zone project. The data collection effort for the I-70 site was very significant as portable surveillance captured the actual diversion flows to alternative routes. The benefit-cost ratio for the I-70 site was 2.1 to 1 if adjusted equipment costs were included and 6.9 to 1 without equipment costs. The safety-focused I-44 ITS deployment had an estimated benefit-cost ratio of 3.2 to 1.

Self Instructional Math, HR-324, 1995

The Self Instructional Math course book is designed to provide a basic math knowledge for those involved in the planning, design, and construction of highways. It was developed in a manner to allow the student to take the course with minimal supervision and at times that the work schedule allows. The first version of the course was developed in the early 1970's and due to its popularity was revised in the early 1990's to reflect changes in the highway construction math needs. The anticipated move to metric (System International) measurements by the highway industry has necessitated the need to change the math course problem values to metric units. The course includes the latest in Iowa DOT policy information relative to the selection and use of metric values for highway design, and construction. Each unit of the book contains instructional information, section quizzes and a comprehensive examination. All problem values are expressed in metric rather than dual (english and SI) units. The appendix contains useful conversion factors to assist the reader in making the change to metric.

Managing Decisions Regarding Rural Expressway Routes and Associated Highway Bypasses, 2009

For several years, the Iowa Department of Transportation has constructed bypasses along rural highways. Most bypasses were constructed on the state’s Commercial Industrial Network (CIN). Now that work on the CIN has been completed and the system is open to traffic, it is possible to study the impacts of bypasses. In the past, construction of highway bypasses has led community residents and business people to raise concerns about the loss of business activity. For policy development purposes, it is essential to understand the impacts that a bypass might have on safety, the community, and economics. By researching these impacts, policies can be produced to help to alleviate any negative impacts and create a better system that is ultimately more cost-effective. This study found that the use of trade area analysis does not provide proof that a bypass can positively or negatively impact the economy of a rural community. The analysis did show that, even though the population of a community may be stable for several years and per capita income is increasing, sales leakage still occurs. The literature, site visits, and data make it is apparent that a bypass can positively affect a community. Some conditions that would need to exist in order to maximize a positive impact include the installation of signage along the bypass directing travelers to businesses and services in the community, community or regional plans that include the bypass in future land development scenarios, and businesses adjusting their business plans to attract bypass users. In addition, how proactive a community is in adapting to the bypass will determine the kinds of effects felt in the community. Results of statistical safety analysis indicate that, at least when crashes are separated by severity, bypasses with at-grade accesses appear to perform more poorly than either the bypasses with fully separated accesses or with a mix of at-grade and fully separated accesses. However, the benefit in terms of improved safety of bypasses with fully separated accesses relative to bypasses with a mixed type of accesses is not statistically conclusive.

Evaluation of Work Zone Speed Reduction Measures, 2000

The Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) has made improving work zone (WZ) safety a high priority. Managing vehicle speeds through work zones is perceived to be an important factor in achieving this goal. A number of speed reduction techniques are currently used by transportation agencies throughout the country to control speeds and reduce speed variation at work zones. The purpose of this project is to study these and other applicable work zone speed reduction strategies. Furthermore, this research explores transportation agencies' policies regarding managing speeds in long-term, short-term, and moving work zones. This report consists of three chapters. The first chapter, a literature review, examines the current speed reduction practices at work zones and provides a review of the relevant literature. The speed control strategies reviewed in this chapter range from posting regulatory and advisory speed limit signs to using the latest radar technologies to reduce speeds at work zones. The second chapter includes a short write-up for each identified speed control technique. The write-up includes a description, the results of any field tests, the benefits and the costs of the technology or technique. To learn more about other state policies regarding work zone speed reduction and management, the Center for Transportation Research and Education conducted a survey. The survey consists of six multipart questions. The third chapter provides summaries of the response to each question.

Feasibility of Visualization and Simulation Applications to Improve Work Zone Safety and Mobility

Visualization is a relatively recent tool available to engineers for enhancing transportation project design through improved communication, decision making, and stakeholder feedback. Current visualization techniques include image composites, video composites, 2D drawings, drive-through or fly-through animations, 3D rendering models, virtual reality, and 4D CAD. These methods are used mainly to communicate within the design and construction team and between the team and external stakeholders. Use of visualization improves understanding of design intent and project concepts and facilitates effective decision making. However, visualization tools are typically used for presentation only in large-scale urban projects. Visualization is not widely accepted due to a lack of demonstrated engineering benefits for typical agency projects, such as small- and medium-sized projects, rural projects, and projects where external stakeholder communication is not a major issue. Furthermore, there is a perceived high cost of investment of both financial and human capital in adopting visualization tools. The most advanced visualization technique of virtual reality has only been used in academic research settings, and 4D CAD has been used on a very limited basis for highly complicated specialty projects. However, there are a number of less intensive visualization methods available which may provide some benefit to many agency projects. In this paper, we present the results of a feasibility study examining the use of visualization and simulation applications for improving highway planning, design, construction, and safety and mobility.