NJ Transportation Research Ideas Search Ideas

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. .

Pervious concrete and pervious asphalt have been increasing in popularity as a potential solution to reduce impermeable surface areas associated with pavements and sidewalks, reduce puddling, and potentially slow storm water surface high flow rates. As important as these benefits are to surface runoff mitigation, there are concerns with the ability of pervious concrete and pervious asphalt mixes to provide sufficient... more »

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 »

The engineering characteristics of subgrade materials are important to the integrity and serviceability of pavement. The most critical characteristics include load bearing capacity and volumetric change. The subgrade must be able to support loads applied on pavement without excessive deformation, and able to maintain its volumetric structure under severe temperature and groundwater level variations. To enhance the shear... 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 »

Outreach interviews should be conducted with procurement and contracts representatives from large transit agencies and Departments of Transportation (DOTs) throughout the country to inform the development of recommendations regarding best practice construction contracting processes for large and small construction projects, including identification of contracting vehicles. A review of the standard terms and conditions... 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 »

Given the significant savings in fuel consumption (due to improved air dynamics) and the relatively simple control schemes required (compared to other autonomous vehicle scenarios) truck platooning is expected to be one of the first applications of autonomous vehicles. Although much work is ongoing in the realm of control schemes, communication protocols, signage, driver training, and policy, little (if any) attention... more »

From India and Scotland, to Texas USA, plastic additives are utilized in patching potholes, repairing cracks, and could be mixed with bitumen to create full paved roads. This action could help with a reduction of plastic waste, a decrease of material cost, a stronger durability with roads, and done without causing leeching or harm to the environment.