A Sustainable Asset Management Framework for Transportation System Management and Operation Systems
Project Title
A Sustainable Asset Management Framework for Transportation System Management and Operation Systems
University
Syracuse University
Principal Investigator
Ossama (Sam) Salem, Ph.D.
Yabroudi Chair Professor of Sustainable Civil Infrastructures at Syracuse University, Syracuse University
PI Contact Information
Funding Sources and Amounts Provided
US Department of Transportation/TranLIVE — $40,000
Syracuse University — $40,000
Total Project Cost
$80,000
Agency ID or Contract Number
DTRT12GUTC17; KLK900-SB-004
Start Date
6/1/2014
End Date
1/31/2016
Description of Research Project
In recent years, congestion has become a severe problem due to aging transportation systems, inadequate funds for new infrastructure, and continuously growing traffic demands. The 2013 Report Card for American Infrastructure has classified 42% of the main arterial roads in the United States as congested. According to the Texas A & M Transportation Institute Urban Mobility Report (2012) user costs due to traffic delays and additional fuel consumption have increased dramatically from $24 billion to $121 billion (in constant 2011 dollars), over the last 30 years, as a result of congestion in 498 urban areas across the country. In 2011, 56 billion pounds of additional greenhouse gases were released just because of congestion, posing serious threats to the environment. Lack of efficient strategies, programs and policies to meet the increasing traffic demand is aggravating the congestion issue with time. The user costs due to congestion are predicted to increase up to $199 billion by 2020 which includes an approximate fuel waste of $4.5 billion gallons.
Due to a tough economic situation, the emphasis has shifted from new construction to maintaining and optimizing existing infrastructural facilities. Use of proper Transportation System Management and Operation (TSM&O) alternatives can achieve this optimization by improving the performance of the overloaded transportation systems. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) defines TSM&O as “an integrated program to optimize the performance of existing multimodal infrastructure through implementation of systems, services, and projects to preserve capacity and improve the security, safety, and reliability of our transportation system.” TSM&O can help decision makers to perform a comprehensive benefit cost analysis of the potential transportation strategies and can assist in maximizing the value of selected TSM&O.
Although a large amount of research has focused on asset management of infrastructure like pavements, bridges, pipelines, and culverts, there are hardly any asset management framework for TSM&O systems. Traditional asset management practices mainly focus on the economic aspect of tangible assets, and ignore the benefits of the intangible assets such as TSM&O strategies and also barely address the environmental and social impacts. The purpose of this research is to bridge this gap and establish a sustainable asset management framework taking into consideration the triple bottom line (TBL) of sustainability.
The objective of this study is to establish a comprehensive and sustainable asset management framework to assess the performance measures of TSM&O systems, using the triple bottom line (i.e. environmental, social and economic aspects) as a benchmark. TBL-based asset management framework of TSM&O system can solve the urgent need of a decision support system that would assist transportation agencies in identifying efficient and effective sustainable TSM&O systems.
Implementation of Research Outcomes
The research team is working on development of risk based prioritization tools for ATCS and ramp metering deployments.
Impacts and Benefits of the Project
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Web Links
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Keywords
- sustainable transportation
- TSM&O
- greenhouse gases
- asset management