This research addresses the growing number of trucks in Texas by developing tools for evaluating needs for special truck facilities, developing a truck route system, and developing recommendations for demonstration of a pilot system. Tasks required to accomplish these objectives began with a comprehensive literature review, to include the major corridor studies and an evaluation of special truck facilities implemented outside of Texas. The research then established criteria for each of the three levels of truck treatments, developed a plan to classify truck facilities, and developed an evaluation framework for these facilities. Based on these tasks, the research then investigated techniques for evaluating levels of service on truck facilities. The techniques were then applied to selected candidate corridors to demonstrate their utility. Finally, the research developed an action plan for implementation of the exclusive truck facilities.
NCHRP Report 649/NCFRP Report 3: Separation of Vehicles - CMV-Only Lanes presents an extensive compendium of information about CMV-only lanes and examines major issues and concepts that should be understood in developing new applications of CMV-only lane concepts as a potential method for both easing congestion and reducing the number of traffic accidents on highways. Appendices to this report, including an annotated literature review, performance evaluation criteria, benefits monetization factors and unit costs, and net present value calculations for benefit-cost analysis, are available on the TRB website. This report and the supplemental information can be used by public agencies that may be considering CMV-only lane concepts in corridor studies or other planning applications. The report provides data such agencies can use to support their own evaluations of CMV-only lane projects.
The purpose of the Truck Facility Guidebook is to assist Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) engineers in understanding and replicating the process used by researchers to determine the need for truck treatments. This Guidebook provides criteria to assist TxDOT in choosing among the three types of truck facilities: 1) lane restrictions, 2) dedicated truck lanes, and 3) exclusive truck roadways. The Guidebook primarily focuses on the third type, exclusive truck roadways, and guides users through a nine-step process to determine the need for these facilities. The nine steps are as follows: (1) Acquire truck and non-truck volume; (2) Predict future truck and non-truck volume; (3) Determine desired level of service; (4) Determine number of truck roadway lanes; (5) Acquire crash data and estimate crash costs; (6) Determine initial construction cost; (7) Determine costs of delay and fuel consumption; (8) Determine user perspectives and other measures of acceptability; and (9) Total all benefits and costs.
Get a complete look into modern traffic engineering solutions Traffic Engineering Handbook, Seventh Edition is a newly revised text that builds upon the reputation as the go-to source of essential traffic engineering solutions that this book has maintained for the past 70 years. The updated content reflects changes in key industry standards, and shines a spotlight on the needs of all users, the design of context-sensitive roadways, and the development of more sustainable transportation solutions. Additionally, this resource features a new organizational structure that promotes a more functionally-driven, multimodal approach to planning, designing, and implementing transportation solutions. A branch of civil engineering, traffic engineering concerns the safe and efficient movement of people and goods along roadways. Traffic flow, road geometry, sidewalks, crosswalks, cycle facilities, shared lane markings, traffic signs, traffic lights, and more—all of these elements must be considered when designing public and private sector transportation solutions. Explore the fundamental concepts of traffic engineering as they relate to operation, design, and management Access updated content that reflects changes in key industry-leading resources, such as the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM), Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), AASSHTO Policy on Geometric Design, Highway Safety Manual (HSM), and Americans with Disabilities Act Understand the current state of the traffic engineering field Leverage revised information that homes in on the key topics most relevant to traffic engineering in today's world, such as context-sensitive roadways and sustainable transportation solutions Traffic Engineering Handbook, Seventh Edition is an essential text for public and private sector transportation practitioners, transportation decision makers, public officials, and even upper-level undergraduate and graduate students who are studying transportation engineering.
The construction of sustainable road infrastructures has become an issue of concern to the international community. Road infrastructures require a large amount of non-renewable resources during the construction phase while containing abundant renewable energy resources (e.g. vehicle mechanical energy, internal thermal energy, and surface solar energy) during the operational phase. Therefore, reducing the dependence of road infrastructures on non-renewable resources, upgrading the construction and maintenance levels, improving the recycling level of infrastructure materials, and efficiently harvesting and utilizing clean energy from sustainable road infrastructures are of great significance in alleviating energy problems and promoting sustainable social development.
The Fourth Edition of Firefighting Strategies and Tactics meets and exceeds the course outcomes of the National Fire Academy’s Fire and Emergency Services Higher Education (FESHE) course Strategy and Tactics (C0279). Firefighting Strategies and Tactics, Fourth Edition is a valuable resource for fire fighters studying for promotion or taking civil service examinations.The Fourth Edition reinforces safe and effective firefighting strategies and tactics for fire fighters and fire officers to employ during a wide spectrum of fire incidents. The chapters follow a natural progression, each chapter building on the previous foundation to provide a broad understanding of firefighting strategy and tactics.Firefighting Strategies and Tactics, Fourth Edition offers in-depth coverage of potential incident hazards, strategic goals, and tactical objectives at:One- and two-family dwellingsMultiple-family dwellingsCommercial buildingsPlaces of assemblyHigh-rise buildingsVehicle firesWildland firesThe Fourth Edition also includes:An Emphasis on Safety—Safety and professionalism are stressed throughout the chapters and are reinforced through discussions of incident effectiveness, hazard awareness, and strategic decision-making.Information for Today’s Fire Service—Expanded and new discussions on geographic information system (GIS mapping), drone use for creating preincident plans, cancer risks in the fire service, gross decontamination of bunker gear after fires to reduce carcinogens, lookouts-communications-escape routes and safety zones (LCES), and deployment of rapid intervention crews at wildland fires.Engaging Case Studies—Opening each chapter, case studies highlight actual events to emphasize the importance of developing sound strategies and tactics to fight fires effectively and safely. Additional case studies close out each chapter and provide students an opportunity to test their understanding in a safe environment. Knowledge in Action—The final chapter demonstrates how the strategies and tactics throughout this resource may be applied in scenarios set at various types of occupancies. This feature offers students an opportunity to see how concepts are applied in the real world.
"This text meets the course outcomes of the National Fire Academy's Fire and Emergency Services Higher Education (FESHE) associate level strategy and tactics course. It provides an overview of common firefighting concepts from fire dynamics to extinguishing agents, to incident management, to fire fighter safety, to building construction, to preincident planning to post incident analysis"--Back cover.
Increases in heavy truck traffic on Virginia's highways in recent years have raised concerns about both safety and capacity, particularly on the interstate system. Transportation agencies have developed a number of strategies for dealing with the impacts on safety and capacity of a truck population that has been increasing in volume and in the percentage of large tractor-trailers. One strategy that has been suggested is separate lanes for trucks and passenger vehicles. A reliable methodology to determine when separate lanes for trucks and passenger vehicles are economically feasible would enable transportation officials to make informed decisions concerning when this approach should be considered and used. This study evaluated a computer program, Exclusive Vehicles Facilities (EVFS), developed by the Federal Highway Administration for determining the economic feasibility of separating trucks and other vehicles on freeway segments. A 50.7-km (31.5-mi) segment of 1-81 in Virginia was selected to demonstrate the application of the program. A number of factors contribute to the feasibility of exclusive lanes. Although no single factor predominates, traffic volume, vehicle mix percentage, accident rates, and maintenance and construction costs are given more weight than other factors in the program. Among the program's strengths are its ability to analyze a number of alternatives for a variety of different conditions, its ease of use, and the fact that it can be inexpensively applied. Its weaknesses include its inability to differentiate between the lane(s) (i.e., inside, middle, outside) to which restrictions are applied and its unsuitability for analyzing exclusive lane alternatives in which a barrier is used to separate vehicle types. With respect to 1-81, several exclusive lane strategies produced a benefit-cost ratio greater than 1.0 and a net present worth in the millions of dollars. Should 1-81 or another high-volume interstate corridor with a large truck percentage be considered for improvement, VDOT should apply EVFS to assist in evaluating the feasibility of exclusive lane alternatives. Since EVFS is designed to perform economic analyses, operational and geometric implications of any exclusive lane strategy should also be considered.
