NJ Transportation Research Ideas Browse Random ideas

Curing is a critical step in concrete pavement construction. Due to the large surface area to be covered, external curing methods normally do not provide concrete with necessary moisture conditions for long-term hydration. Insufficient curing often causes internal cracks or shrinkage cracks on the surface of the pavement. These early-age cracks not only hurt the strength, but also increase the permeability so that chlorides... more »

When considering serious problems such as the safety of pedestrians and/or motorists, or mitigating excessive traffic in areas where there is no room for expansion and multiple transportation types are used, the amount of data that needs to be processed in order to properly predict what types of projects would be the most effective is voluminous. Currently there are any number of ways that the data can be analyzed.... more »

DVRPC analyzes the priority of road segments for bike facilities and the Level of Traffic Stress for bicycles, then conducts feasibility screenings in-house and with PennDOT. DVRPC and county planning staff coordinate extensively with municipal officials to facilitate an official letter of request to PennDOT, who then designs and incorporates the bike facility improvements as part of regularly scheduled resurfacing projects.... more »

Collision avoidance warning systems are available for cars and trucks to detect and warn drivers of potential forward collisions and automatically initiate deceleration and braking. These systems offer the potential to significantly reduce fatalities, injuries and casualty and liability expenses. However, more development is needed to apply them to buses.

In the five year period from 2015 to 2019, NJ TRANSIT reported... more »

It was suggested several years ago, in response to a Commissioner's question, that the only way to eliminate the massive amount of overhead and the massive time and money to be spent on projects is to move the DOT into a design-build company. At the time, it was said that it could not be done without legislation; and legislation would not be coming. Now, however, that legislation is moving forward.

I propose that the... more »

With most of the State's infrastructure in need of maintenance and repair, a main cause particularly on steel structures is corrosion. Corrosion which acts in several different forms results in section loss, which reduces capacity of the affected member. To better service the transportation industry, samples should be taken from bridges near or at the end of its useful service life and compare its as-inspected measurements... more »

Recently, towns such as Robbinsville have taken to using humor in dynamic message signs in an effort to warn drivers to slow down, obey traffic laws, drive safely, and otherwise make the road a safer place. Humor might be an effective technique to aid driver memory and reduce crashes and damage to New Jersey roads, as well as increase the effectiveness of passive law enforcement.

(For reference: news article, https://www.nj.com/news/2019/12/only-in-jersey-traffic-safety-served-up-with-a-side-of-attitude-humor.html)... more »

PROBLEM:

Plowing snow from NJDOT roadway travel lanes during storms is the agency's highest priority to maintain mobility and access for emergency services. However, emergency plowing creates snow banks piled into corners of intersections, onto sidewalks and into bus stops and bus priority / shoulder lanes. Without post-snow-event clearance actions, these locations become impassable barriers that increase the risk of... more »

Due to work zone safety being compromised by speeding drivers, I would like to see a temporary Speed Bump that is able to be laid in the roadway to further alert drivers that they are approaching a work zone. It would be ideal to have reflective text to be seen at night and during daytime with hash lines for visibility. A spring loaded flag on either end would be good.

Construct Scales or WIM(each with license plate photo capabilities) at bridges with toll booths/EZ-Pass. Generate tickets for those trucks using the bridge that are overweight.

Using computer vision, video cameras, and AI to detect, count, measure speed, and intent on pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicles at intersections, crosswalks, multimodal lanes and other higher-risk sites. We are using edge computing, computer vision, and deep learning neural networks to automatically detect presence, count, and measure speed of pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles to inform traffic signaling systems and digital... more »

We know how important it is to have a guide rail on turnings. When big trucks or cars lose their control and hit the guide rail its important to have a strong guide rail even on the bridge if the guide rails and not strong enough it may cause a big accident and vehicle can roll over from the road. so instead of focusing on guide rail, I found if we can put rollers on guide rail colors it will divert the impact force into... more »

The pedestrian signal lights should correspond to the universal traffic signal colors. Red to stop and Green to cross. In New Jersey and some other states, the colors are orange to stop and white to go. Those colors may not be easily recognized in another language. Crossing a street should not make you hesitate to think if it is safe or not. The universal color of Red and Green will elicit a quicker response when faced... more »

There must be an alternative to school busing. Investigate options to school busing.

 

https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812476

The State of New Jersey has independently joined the Paris Climate Accords and uphold the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. Per this agreement, an overall carbon reduction of 14% needs to be achieved within the United States. Concrete is responsible for around 8% of the world's CO2 production, mainly due to the production of portland cement. Therefore, finding methods to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete can... more »