The NCDOT is launching a bold and forward-looking effort to establish a multi-university transportation centers of excellence (CoE) to provide borad-based, multidisciplinary research into the applications and impacts of cutting-edge technologies and emergent, disruptive trends. The projects within this center were custom-built to address the research areas for Mobility and Congestion.
This proposal presents the organization and goals of an ITRE at North Carolina State University led transportation CoE consortium. This CoE is aimed at the Mobility and Congestion research focus area outlined in NCDOT’s University Transportation Centers of Excellence Request for Proposals (RFP). The project team spans five universities and include nine researchers.
The consortium team is actively involved in three ongoing USDOT University Transportation Centers with consortium members serving as institution lead for a National Center and a Tier 1 center, and as major institution partners for the Regional center to which North Carolina belongs.
In addition to cutting-edge research, the CoE will engage and expose students through direct participation in research, course enhancements, and internship experiences. The consortium members are committed to making this pilot CoE a success.
Consortium Research Goals and Objectives
Our Center of Excellence on Mobility and Congestion will achieve its aims through the execution of three projects. In developing these projects, the center team began with the mobility and congestion research areas enumerated in the CoE RFP:
- ITS and data usage
- Active/adaptive congestion management
- Alternative intersection and interchange designs
- The role of transit in improving mobility and reducing congestion
- Transit and MaaS role in improving economic and healthcare access for underserved populations
- Other technological solutions to congestion management
These areas were organized into three themes:
- Theme #1: Big Data and Data-Driven Transportation Management and Decision Support
- Theme #2: Active Transportation Management/Integrated Corridor Management
- Theme #3: Transit and Mobility as a Service
An idea generation team including nearly 40 researchers across the center team’s five universities were invited to develop collaborative research ideas under these three themes.
Projects
Lead Institution: Institute for Transportation
Research and Education (ITRE - NCSU)
Peer
Institutions: Fayetteville
State University, North Carolina State eUniversity, North Carolina A&T
University, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Project
#1: Deep Learning Software
for Traffic State Prediction
FSU*: S. Bhattacharya, M. Adivar; NCSU
– A. Hajbabaie, n. Greis, G. List; ITRE – T. Chase, NC A&T -H. Park
Project #2: Smart Connected and Automated
Vehicle Fleet Manage Developing Regional Dispatch Decision Support for
Congestion Mitigation
Duke* - M. Cummings; NCSU – E.
Bardaka, N. Rouphail; UNC-CH HSRC – R. Srinivasan
Project #3: Transit and MaaS Role in Improving
Economic Healthcare Access for Underserved Populations
ITRE* - K. Monast; NCSU – E. Bardaka;
UNC-CH – N. McDonald; NC A&T – H. Park; FSU – B. Adivar; T. Tran
*First
institution listed on each project is the lead for that specific effort
