Browsing by Author "Mikhail, Magdy"

Now showing 1 - 10 of 10
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    Challenges of a Construction Defect Claim Involving a Highway Concessions Project: A Private Sector Forensic Perspective
    Gregorie, Jason D.; Mariaca, Luis A. (2015-06-04)
    Privatization of transportation infrastructure is often accomplished through concessions contracts whereby the public agency transfers the costs of construction and/or operation and maintenance of the asset to the private entity for a period of time and in return, authorizes the private entity to then charge a user fee. Although this type of arrangement is not typical in the U.S, it is more common in Latin America and some European countries for large transportation infrastructure development and management. In the private sector, forensic engineers are commonly retained by stakeholders (owners, constructors, insurers) to investigate facilities that fail or do not perform as intended. Forensic engineers are often asked to determine the cause of a failure, identify the factors leading to a loss, assess risk, and assist in mitigation. Facilities constructed and operated under concessions create unique and challenging circumstances for forensic engineering investigations, as the contractual and risk allocation is different from traditional construction arrangements. This paper presents the unique challenges encountered by the authors for a forensic investigation of a construction defect claim made by a private consortium administering a tolled highway in Santiago, Chile that involved investors and insurance stakeholders from the U.S. and Europe. The construction and operation arrangements discussed in this paper will be of benefit to parties involved in management of public-private transportation facilities.
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    Data Driven Decision Making in Arkansas
    Stovall, Luke A. (2015-06-04)
    This paper covers the development of the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department's selection process for District Maintenance activities. Communication between the District offices and the Asset Management Section has caused project selection to evolve from an opinion based process into a data driven procedure. Data collection and processing technology has played a major role in the success of Asset Management's Pavement Management System and has resulted in pavement condition information becoming available throughout the Department.
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    Impacts of Energy Development on Texas Roads
    Li, Zheng; Mikhail, Magdy (2015-06-04)
    The production and exploration of oil and gas in Texas has been ongoing for many years. Recently, Texas has seen a tremendous increase in the exploration and production of energy resources. The number of completed oil and gas wells has almost tripled since 2011. The increase in energy-related activity has greatly benefited the state economy, however, the production of oil and gas generates large numbers of heavy trucks traveling on roads which were not originally designed to handle high-intensity truck traffic. Over time, the large volumes of heavy truck traffic have damaged the roads and significantly reduced their service life. The problem is particularly acute in the counties that have experienced the oil and gas drilling boom. These counties have experienced a more than ten percentage point drop in their percentage of lane miles in "Good" or better condition in just one year. Due to the lack of adequate funding, it is a challenge to maintain existing infrastructure and ensure the transportation system can serve the energy sector in the future. This paper illustrates the impacts of the energy development activities on the state maintained roads, and compares the differences between proactive and reactive maintenance approaches using a case study on a typical Farm-to-Market road. In addition, some of the mitigation strategies implemented in Texas were documented in this paper. The analysis methodology, findings, and strategies documented in this paper can be used by other transportation agencies to mitigate damages caused by the energy sector.
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    Initial Steps for Pavement Management of the Unsealed Road Network
    Davis, Kimberley; Urbaez, Ernesto (2015-06)
    The unsealed road network is vital in maintaining community access to rural and isolated locations however is typified by the high operating cost associated. This document covers the key initiatives undertaken with respect to obtaining value for money benefits through implementing better maintenance management practices on the gravel road network within Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) in Queensland, Australia. It could be envisaged that revised strategies will surely offer optimum financial and service level benefits. The primary aim of this strategic level exercise was to identify pavement profile including layer thicknesses and respective material types, whilst also covering geometric profile, existing pavement condition and drainage/shoulder status. Pavement Management Services (PMS, formally known as FUGRO-PMS) carried out these assessment using Ground Penetrating Radar survey and Visual imagery. Collected and processed data will be analyzed by TRC's strategic asset engineers to develop and introduce robust maintenance & renewal strategies, and also to develop short, medium and long term forward work programmes.
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    Managing Missing Pavement Performance Data in Pavement Management System
    Farhan, Javed; Fwa, Tien F. (2015-05-01)
    Missing data in pavement condition and performance records of pavement management systems (PMS) are ubiquitous in practice. Imputation of missing data is often required in the analysis of pavement performance and decision making for pavement management. The traditional methods of handling missing data by pavement engineering professionals include deletion of affected records, and imputation of missing data either by means of interpolation substitution, mean substitution, or regression substitution. Today, the advancement of computer technology has permitted the use of computationally complex stochastic Multiple Imputation algorithms to improve the accuracy of missing data estimates. This paper examines the effects of different available missing-data imputation techniques in handling missing pavement performance data in pavement management systems. The methods of Multiple Imputation are also examined to take into account the stochastic nature of the data imputation problem. Demonstrative examples using actual records from LTPP database are presented to illustrate the relative merits of different missing data imputation techniques.
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    Methodology to Evaluate Teen Driver Training Programs : [brief]
    Trimble, Tammy E. (Wisconsin. Department of Transportation, 2014-03)
    In the United States, teenage drivers are more at risk of being involved in crashes than any other age group. Statistics reveal a clear need for improving teenagers' driving skills, judgment and behavior. Driver education programs are a crucial part of training drivers. These programs are managed on a state-by-state basis, and therefore significant variability can exist between states, and to some degree even within each state.
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    Pavement Management's Role in an Asset Management World
    Zimmerman, Kathryn A.; Ram, Prashant V. (2015-05-19)
    With the passage of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, commonly known as MAP-21, there has been increased focus and attention to asset management programs in transportation agencies and the development of risk-based asset management plans. These plans document the transportation assets being managed by the agency, summarize current and planned performance expectations, and outline the investment plans that the agency will make to meet performance targets. Although MAP-21 requires the plans to include only pavements and bridges on the National Highway System, state transportation agencies are encouraged to include all infrastructure assets within the right-of-way corridor in their plan. With all this focus on asset management some agencies may draw the conclusion that pavement management is less important than it has been in the past. Is there any truth to that conclusion? Is there a future for pavement management beyond data collection activities? This paper addresses these questions by demonstrating the expanding role for pavement management in supporting an agency's asset management initiatives and the importance of developing pavement management tools that are used for more than gathering and reporting pavement conditions. The authors illustrate the importance of pavement management analysis results to develop key components of an asset management plan. For instance, the paper illustrates how pavement management outputs are critical to being able to: a) conduct a life-cycle analysis showing the cost-effectiveness of different treatment strategies, b) evaluate trade-offs when making investment options across asset types, and c) identify and manage risks that might impact the agency's ability to achieve its goals. The paper concludes with recommendations for enhancements to existing pavement management systems that are needed to better support the asset management environment in which most transportation agencies operate. Specifically, the paper discusses the importance of integrating pavement management data with other asset data, incorporating the performance of preservation activities in prediction models, and capturing the impact of capital investments on future maintenance costs to truly evaluate the whole life costs of a given option.
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    Preparing for the Next Transformation in Pavement Management
    Zimmerman, Kathryn A. (2015-05)
    Since the initial development of a systems approach for managing pavements in the late 1970's and early 1980's, there have been tremendous changes in the way transportation agencies have designed, constructed, and managed their pavement networks. In just the past 10 years, transportation agencies have been introduced to new mechanistic-empirical design programs, methods of determining the sustainability of different pavement designs, equipment capable of collecting 3-D pavement surface characteristics and 1 mm crack widths at traffic speeds, and web-access to pavement databases on handheld devices virtually anywhere in the world. During the same time period, many transportation agencies have been forced to shift from a focus on system expansion to system preservation as funding tightened and large portions of the infrastructure network reached the end of their design life. In some cases, transportation agencies have outsourced maintenance, design, and construction functions as agencies downsize in response to economic realities. In addition, recent legislation places more of an emphasis on system preservation with a focus on performance-based decisions that consider costs of the whole life of an asset. Some might consider the magnitude and breadth of these changes to be transformational to the field of pavement management. However, to be truly transformational, pavement management practitioners must take advantage of the new developments and technology to shift from the traditional role of pavement management for assessing, reporting, and prioritizing pavement needs to a broader role that supports a range of uses beyond those originally intended in the early pavement management systems. The broader applications of pavement management and the changes that will be needed will be a primary focus of this presentation. To put these changes in context, earlier transformations that have shifted the practice of pavement management will be explored beginning with the AASHO Road Test that took place from 1956 to 1960. The decision of the road test staff to develop a method for evaluating the performance of pavements in a way that was independent of pavement type and could be applied universally to describe pavement condition represents the first transformation in the development of pavement management. The next transformation occurred in 1970 at a workshop organized by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Highway Research Board (now known as the Transportation Research Board) where a systems engineering approach that was based on mathematical solutions to optimize decisions was first suggested nationally as a viable approach for making decisions about pavement maintenance and rehabilitation actions. A third transformational period occurred in the 1990s when technological advancements made it possible to collect large quantities of data quickly, to analyze the data on desk-top computers, and to present information visually using maps and other display techniques. This presentation will consider how the lessons learned from past transformations can be used to provide insight into the changes that are needed today to make the next round of advancements in pavement management a reality and to lead to a more sustainable program in the future.
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    Use of Performance Metrics on The Pennsylvania Turnpike
    Wilke, Paul W.; Hatalowich, Pamela (2015-06-04)
    The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission opened the first 169 mile (270 km) portion of the Pennsylvania Turnpike between Carlisle, PA, and Irwin, PA, on October 1, 1940, making it the first Super Highway in the United States. Since that time the Commission has been dedicated to providing their users with a first class driving experience. As a part of the Turnpike's reconstruction and capacity expansion efforts, the Commission wants to ensure that their pavements continue to meet the goals for safety and user comfort. In 2007 the Commission contracted for an annual evaluation program for its 550 centerline mile (880 km) pavement network. In this program, the performance of the Turnpike system is evaluated on a 0.1-mile (160 m) interval basis in the travel lane for each travel direction. The specific performance metrics are designed to ensure a safe, comfortable experience for the Turnpike's users. These metrics are: - Ride Quality -- International Roughness Index, ASTM E-950 and E-1926 - Rutting -- Rut depths, PennDOT Publication #336 - Skid Resistance -- Friction Number, ASTM E-274 using both ribbed (E-501) and smooth (E-524) tires. The Turnpike compares the results of the annual evaluations to the established performance metrics to ensure their patrons are receiving an enhanced driving experience. Performance comparisons are also used to identify areas needing improvement, to program projects for remediation, and to address unsafe conditions. This paper discusses how the annual monitoring program and its results are used to meet the high performance goals of the Turnpike and adequately distribute the available maintenance and repair funds to the proper projects.