MISSION:The Michigan Tech Transportation Institute (MTTI) provides the operating structure, resources, recognition, and leadership, in a collaborative environment, that supports research, education, and outreach leading to sustainable solutions for transportation.
Established in 2003, the Michigan Tech Transportation Institute (MTTI) is THE central entity on Michigan Tech’s campus for transportation related research, outreach, workforce development, and educational initiatives that address national and global needs.
Abdolmajid Erfani (CEGE) Receives ASCE Award
Abdolmajid Erfani, Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering (CEGE), has been awarded the 2024 Thomas Fitch Rowland Prize by the ASCE Construction Institute for his paper titled “Ex Post Project Risk Assessment: Method and Empirical Study,” which appeared in the Journal of Construction Engineering and Management in December 2022. The Fitch award is given to those whose authors provide a detailed account of completed construction projects or make significant contributions to the fields of construction engineering and management.
Co-authors of the paper include Zihui Ma, Qingbin Cui, and Gregory B. Baecher from the University of Maryland.
Erfani will be presented with his award at the Construction Institute (CI) and Construction Research Congress (CRC) conference in Des Moines, Iowa in March 2024.
Congratulations Mazi!
CEGE Student Yingtong Tan Honored with Award
Yingtong Tan, a Ph.D. student in the Civil, Environmental & Geospatial Engineering (CEGE) Department, was recently awarded the Governor’s Traffic Safety Advisory Commission (GTSAC) Student Award for her contributions and commitment to traffic safety. Yingtong’s work in Escanaba, MI, testing connected vehicle technology at grade crossings to improve safety and mobility for an FRA funded project “Developing Safe and Efficient Driving and Routing Strategies at Railroad Grade Crossing Based on Highway-Railway Connectivity”, was recognized by the GTSAC.
The GTSAC was created by a Governor’s Executive Order in 2002, to address traffic safety in Michigan. The GTSAC includes representatives from various state departments and offices, local and state law enforcement, and county road commissions. Each year individuals and groups are honored by the GTSAC for their special involvement and dedication to traffic safety.
Yingtong will be presented with the award at the Traffic Safety Awards luncheon scheduled during the Office of Highway Safety Planning’s Annual Michigan Traffic Safety Summit held at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center in East Lansing, Michigan.
Congratulations to Yingtong!
The nomination to GTSAC was submitted by Yingtong’s advisor, Dr. Kuilin Zhang (CEGE).
Yingtong Tan (CEGE) working at a grade crossing near Channing, MI, during a demonstration of a safety application titled Rail Crossing Violation Warning (RCVW).
MTTI Members Attend Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting
Multiple Michigan Tech researchers attended the annual Transportation Research Board (TRB) meeting in Washington, DC this January 2024, presenting their research findings, or as part of committee meetings, demonstrations, and workshops. MTTI members who attended (in alphabetical order) include:
Colin Brooks (MTRI)
Co-presided for TRB workshop 1047 entitled "Integrating Sensing and Advanced Computing Technologies into Digital Twin Models" and presenting at the workshop on "Three-Dimensional Bridge Inspection".
Participated in the AV095 New Users of Shared Airspace committee as an appointed member.
Had the poster on "Uncrewed aerial vehicle and hi-rail, truck-based image analysis using deep learning for track substructure defect detection", authored by Brooks, Pasi Lautala (CEGE) and Thomas Oommen and Abdul-Rashid Zakaria, presented at the Railroad Infrastructure Research session (poster TRBAM-24-02529) - See First Photo Below
Visited the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center to discuss research ideas related to bridge scour assessment and monitoring. - See Second Photo Below
Tim Colling (CTT)
Tim Colling is the current president of the National Local Technical Assistance Program Association (NLTAPA) and chaired the association’s winter meeting which is held in conjunction with the TRB meeting.
Participated in the TRB ACS20 Highway Safety Performance Committee which I am a member of.
Visited the Department of Energy headquarters building, along with Kuilin Zhang (CEGE), to attend a project kickoff meeting with DOE’s Advance Research Projects Administration – Energy (ARPA-e) for an intermodal freight modeling project.
Rick Dobson (MTRI)
Presented on "Deploying drone-enabled sensing for automated highway rail grade crossing assessment with the Crossing-I System" at the HighwayRail Grade Crossings Committee (AR080) meeting.
Abdolmajid Erfani (CEGE)
Presented a poster "Exploring the Potential of a Crowdfunding Program to Achieve Equitable EV Charging Infrastructure". (TRBAM-24-00942) - See Photo Below
While Justice40 aims to direct 40% of federal benefits to disadvantaged communities, since EV ownership is currently concentrated in relatively wealthy areas, installing charging stations alone in HDC area might not fulfill Justice40’s goals but also impact revenue projection! The crowdfunding approach might provide an opportunity to bring direct benefits to the HDC communities that own EV infrastructure. This study was completed in collaboration with the University of Maryland and FHWA.
Pasi Lautala (CEGE)
Pasi Lautala was recognized for completing his three-year term as a Rail Group Chair for the TRB (pictured with the Rail Group Committee Chairs)
Spoke as one of the panelists in the Lectern Session for Freight Rail Transportation Research Needs
Pasi Lautala, Thomas Oommen and Zakaria Abdul-Rashid presented a poster "Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle and Hi-Rail, Truck-Based Image Analysis Using Deep Learning for Tracks Substructure Defect Detection".
Quang Tran (CEGE)
Attended technical committee meetings and workshops:
AKM50 - Standing Committee on Advanced Concrete
Materials and Characterization
AKB40(1) - Standing Committee on Testing and
Evaluation of Transportation Structures
AKM70 - Standing Committee on Durability of Concrete
Attended ISCP Annual Board and Open Membership Meeting 2024
Presented poster on "Correlation between Two Non-Destructive Health Monitoring Tools-Maturity and Electrical Resistivity'' (Poster TRBAM-24-00388)
Networking: Met with Virginia and Louisiana DOTs and professors and attending UIUC and ACPA receptions.
Z. You, Dongzhao Jin, and students (CEGE)
During the conference, Dr. You, Dr. Jin, Kai Xin, Lei Yin, and Zhongda Liu all presented their research work.
Zhanping You presented a study titled "Laboratory Performance and Field Demonstration of Asphalt Overlay with Rubber and Tire Fabric Fiber" during the Lectern session under the event "2080- Innovations in Pavement Preservation Treatments". - See First Photo Below
Dongzhao Jin and Zhanping You showcased the study "Performance of Rubber Modified Asphalt Mixture with Tire-Derived Aggregate Subgrade" in the Lectern session under the event "Environmental impact and performance of rubberized asphalt".
Kai Xin, Lei Yin, Zhanping You, and Zhongda Liu also exhibited their poster titled "Adhesioncharacteristics between epoxy binder and recycled glass" in the poster session "Binders for flexible pavement; Epoxy-modified asphalt". - See Second Photo Below
Zhanping You also co-presented topics in TRB meeting on “Research on the Durability of the Polyurethane Ultra-Thin Wear Layer for Pavement, “ “A Preliminary Study of the Fine Scale Damage Characteristics of Pavement Surface Aggregate Under the Effect of Tire Wear, “ and “Investigation of the Effect of Traffic-Related Factors on the Long-Term Evolution of Pavement Skid Resistance.”
In addition, Dr. You presented his work “Assessment of embodied green house gas emission of asphalt pavements” to the ASCE Bituminous Materials Committee.
Upcoming Events
The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) Research Summit will be held during the week of May 6, 2024. Mark your calendars. More information will be forthcoming from MDOT soon.
Upcoming Funding Opportunities
Michigan $15 Million Equitable Mobility Challenge
The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and the Office of Future Mobility and Electrification (OFME) are launching the Michigan $15 Million Equitable Mobility Challenge, beginning with soliciting grant proposals to address mobility gaps and improve access to education, jobs, health care, nutritious food, and socialization opportunities. The goal of the mobility challenge is to improve quality of life, while increasing equity and accessibility.
The call for proposal deadline is 11:59 pm EDT, April 24, 2024. More information on the program and application details can be found here.
NCHRP Highway Idea Program 2024
TRB is accepting proposals for the Highway Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) Program, which support the development and testing of innovative concepts and methods for advancing highway state of practice. The deadline for submitting proposals is March 1, 2024.
Title:Evaluation of conditions that cause negative environmental impacts when using recycled concrete aggregate
Sponsor: Minnesota Department of Transportation - Local Road Research Board (LRRB)
PI: Qingli Dai (CEGE)
CoPIs: Zhanping You (CEGE)
Zhen Liu (formerly CEGE)
Subcontractor: Arcadis U.S., Inc.
Recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) has been widely applied to highway construction, whose benefits have been identified by government and highway agencies. However, some environmental issues such as high pH value have been observed and investigated. This project will investigate the effects of aggregate blends, soil type, and layer thickness on the pH of effluent and concentration of leachates over the short and long term. The lab work will be conducted with the modified column leaching test by considering the different leaching conditions and times. The RCA, sand, and soil materials will be taken from MnDOT for evaluation. The optimized aggregate blend ratio (or the percentage of the RCAs) will be provided for minimizing environmental impacts (low pH values). The buffering effects of soil/sands on pH values will be also tested by considering soil types and layer thickness. Following these, the simulated field investigation will be also conducted to evaluate the optimized RCA blended ratio and buffering layer thickness that can reduce the elevated pH of leachate and the formation of tufa for field practices. In addition, the minimum distance from the RCA base to the groundwater will be evaluated with a simulated field test for the recommendation.
This project will help MnDOT and local municipal agencies identify the potential benefits and challenges of using recycled RCA with minimized negative environmental effects in Minnesota. This investigation can help find the optimized RCA percentage with reduced environmental impacts in different pavement applications. The project will further contribute to develop guidelines for the implementation of RCA aggregate blend in road base while achieving reduced negative environmental impacts and maximizing RCA usage in Minnesota.
Sponsor: Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT)
PI: Zhanping You (CEGE)
CoPI: Jake Hiller (formerly CEGE)
Dongzhao Jin (CEGE)
The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is actively involved in launching demonstration projects aimed at testing innovative concrete and asphalt pavement solutions. These projects are designed to assess emerging technologies that have the potential to offer more cost-effective alternatives to existing practices. To facilitate knowledge dissemination and support the future adoption of these technologies, the compilation of summary reports for these projects is crucial.
The Michigan Tech research team will develop a comprehensive research plan to address the specific objectives of the study, outlined in the following subsections:
Assess the data requirements for evaluating seven demonstration projects featuring thin concrete overlays, bonded concrete overlays, and perpetual asphalt pavement technologies. This includes collecting historical data, including condition surveys, pavement distress, performance data, project purpose, and costs.
Evaluate the pavement performance and cost-effectiveness of these demonstration projects and compare them with the pavement materials selected through MDOT's standard pavement selection procedure for major rehabilitations (e.g., asphalt overlays, full-depth concrete repairs, etc.).
Determine critical thresholds to evaluate the success of these demonstration projects and provide conclusions and recommendations for each technology employed in these demonstrations.
The project will deliver performance data, cost-effectiveness analyses, recommendations for these demonstration projects, and a comparative assessment of results against major rehabilitation alternatives and/or repair types following MDOT's standard pavement selection process. This information will be provided to MDOT and will assist in evaluating the success and potential future implementation of these demonstration technologies. The findings from this research project will enable MDOT to identify the specific types of rehabilitation alternatives, construction methods, and designs needed to accommodate potential rehabilitation design changes in the state's transportation infrastructure.
