NJ Transportation Research Ideas Search Ideas

In order to fit the ever increasing population into the same size areas, we have been growing our cities vertically for decades. However, we are still doing so based on the same old two dimensional zoning structure. We should modify the zoning laws to allow for vertical cities. Construct city high-rise buildings with multiple zones inside. So people can move from residential to commercial, to park, to school zones... more »

The Piezoelectric Electric Generator utilizes the phenomena that electricity is generated when crystal is under pressure. The application of this technology is widely used in our daily life, from the rubber tube that DOT uses to count vehicles on the roads, to the cigarette lighters that utilize piezo ignition to give us fire. By embedding a series of Piezoelectric Electric Generators under the pavement, piezoelectric... more »

Investigate methodologies to reduce shrinkage cracking of asphalt mats at cold joints and elsewhere in the mat. Shrinkage cracks are the principal cause of joint failure of paving mats. Is it a mix design issue or do installation techniques need to change?

According to the Federal Highway Administration statistics as of December 31, 2016, New Jersey is one of the 10 worst states in the nation in the percentage of deficient bridges. About 10% of the total bridges is classified as structurally deficient. To reduce the number of deficient bridges in New Jersey and to remove bridges from the “Structurally Deficient” list, bridge deck rehabilitation/ replacement projects have... more »

Transportation infrastructure is vital to economic development and critical to response and recovery after extreme events. Highway bridges are the most critical link in the transportation system. However, they are also quite vulnerable to natural and man-made hazards such as flooding and storm surges, hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, and terrorist threats. Therefore, there is the need to move toward multi-hazard design... more »

With the average age of New Jersey bridges exceeding 50 years, cost effective and efficient bridge replacement strategies are becoming paramount. Although accelerated bridge construction (ABC) practices are now gaining interest in many locations around the country, the truth is that due to high population and infrastructure density, states like New Jersey have been implementing ABC practices (without the acronym) for... more »

Repairs or replacement of transportation infrastructure is a necessity, for the safety of the public Replacing a deficient or very old highway and railway bridge is one example.
In difficult terrain, it gets much more expensive to replace the entire bridge. .

Deterioration of bridge decks and other components results in costly maintenance preservation, increased traffic, and reduced service life. Federal, state, and local transportation agencies have increasingly been deploying advanced infrastructure materials, such as MMFX reinforcing steel, ultra high-performance concrete (UHPC), and stainless steel reinforcement, among others, to improve the long-term durability of bridge... more »

Demand for rapid construction procedures has resulted in the development of concrete mixtures with faster strength gains so that roads and bridges can be opened up quickly. This move has, however, resulted in the formation more drying and plastic shrinkage micro-cracks in concrete bridge decks and pavements. These micro-cracks are fast paths for the ingress of water and aggressive chemicals that can cause corrosion of... more »

New Jersey Department of Transportation Bureau of Research recently carried out a limited study on the Elimination of Weight Restriction on Amtrak, NJ Transit and Conrail Lines.
This report FHWA-NJ-2012-003 looked at the impact of increasing the weight of freight rail car on various passenger lines in New Jersey. Most of the railway bridges in New Jersey were built prior to World War II and are not designed for this... more »

The Portal Bridge, an important commuter rail bridge connecting New Jersey to the hub of New York City, is a vital component of our transportation system. When it gets stuck, commuters get delayed, complaints go up, and satisfaction with NJ TRANSIT services go down. Underfunding has delayed a bridge repair or replacement, and it may be worthwhile to look into ways of funding and creating a repair/replacement for the Portal... more »

Environmental conditions have significant effects on performance of both flexible and rigid pavements. In the current AASHTO Pavement ME, an Enhanced Integrated Climatic Model (EICM) uses climatic data to simulate internal pavement temperature, moisture, and freeze-thaw conditions as a function of time. EICM requires historical records of five weather-related parameters reported on an hourly basis: air temperature, precipitation,... more »

In accordance with the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) and the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, there are a set of established performance measures for state DOTs and MPOs. In addition to the performance measures used to evaluate the Interstate and non-Interstate National Highway System (NHS), the acts also require that state DOTs and MPOS set performance targets for these... more »

In service fatigue fracture of highway signs and signal support structures due to wind induced oscillations is the primary concern for cost-effective life cycle performance of these structures. Recognizing the impact of potential life and property damage from structural failures and economic burden of inspecting, maintaining and replacing the sheer volume of these structures in the inventory, the American Association... more »

New Jersey has the third-most movable bridges of the 50 states, with an average age of approximately 40 years and more than 50% of these bridges are structurally deficient mainly due to their bridge decks. Moreover, many of these bridges, whether state or locally owned, are subjected to significant amounts of average daily truck traffic (ADTT). Because of their condition and their location on significant commerce routes... more »