The Congressional Research Service has published Surface Transportation Reauthorization in the 112th Congress: Summary and Sources, which outlines the provisions in the two current versions of surface transportation legislation: H.R. 7 (American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act) and S. 1813 (Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century; MAP-21).

Researchers have recently completed a number of projects and issued final reports.

• Understanding Freight Land-Use Interrelationships (CFIRE 02-07)
• Low Carbon Logistics through Supply Chain Design and Coordination (CFIRE 03-06)
• Freight Model Improvement Project for ECWRPC (CFIRE 03-08)
• A Novel Abutment Construction Technique for Rapid Bridge Construction (CFIRE 03-12)
• Nanoporous Thin-film Additives to Improve Precast Concrete Construction of Transportation Facilities (CFIRE 03-13)
• North/West Passage Corridor-Wide Commercial Vehicle Permitting – Phase 2 (CFIRE 05-02)

You can also view a list of all the completed projects funded by CFIRE.

The 19th Annual Future City Competition was held at the Milwaukee School of Engineering’s Kern Center on Saturday, January 21.  Forty-two teams competed for the regional title and an all-expenses paid trip to the National Future City Competition Finals, February 17-22, 2012.

This year, students were tasked with choosing an energy source and designing a way to generate electric power for their city that does not deplete natural resources and has limited impact on the environment. Student designs included energy from sources such as nuclear fusion, tidal power, geothermal, and piezoelectricity.

Greg Waidley, CFIRE’s Research and Education Manager, mentored a team from Hamilton Middle School in Madison, which was one of only two schools competing not from the Milwaukee area. The lead up to the competition includes about four months of work, which includes the design of a city on SimCity software, writing an essay and city narrative, and building a scale model of a portion of the city for presentation at the competition in Milwaukee. The team from Hamilton MS did not win any awards but did a great job in the school’s first entrance into the competition in seven years and is ready to go after it again next year.

“This was the first time I’ve mentored a team since 2005 and, as always, it’s very rewarding,” said Waidley. “The students are extremely eager, enthusiastic, and determined. When obstacles kept presenting themselves to the team, the students answered the call head on each and every time. I was proud to be a part of the team and look forward to mentoring again next year.”

Best Transportation Network

CFIRE Research Intern Joshua Levine also participated in the Future City competition as a judge for the Best Transportation Network prize, which is sponsored each year by CFIRE. This year’s winning team, from St. Martin of Tours Parish School, created “Terra Primus.”

Students and advisors

St. Martin of Tours Future City Team

“It was truly a treat to see all of the models at the 2012 Future Cities Competition, and although difficult to chose, it was my pleasure to award “Terra Primus” the Best Freight Transportation Network Winner,” said Levine. “Terra Primus was chosen due to the thought and imagination the team from St. Martin of Tours Parish School in Milwaukee displayed in their model and in their verbal description. They creatively fused the transportation of goods into the fabric of their society.”

The St. Martin of Tours team added multimodal centers to ease the transition of goods from long distance methods such as trains, ships and airplanes to the local rail transit system that would allow delivery to all areas of the city.  From this point it would then be loaded onto an electric truck and taken that last mile.  Their model was exquisitely detailed; they were professionally composed and well informed on all aspects of their design.

“It was a pleasure to see all of the hard work and imagination that all the teams put in to their models,” said Levine. “Congratulations again to Terra Primus; excellent work!”

The Fall/Winter 2011 edition of the CFIRE News is now available. This issue contains the following articles:

• Shifting Freight to Rail to Improve Air Quality
• From the Director’s Chair
• Farewell to Jason Bittner
• CFIRE Student of the Year
• GLMRI to Study Environmental Issues
• Policy Issues for the Great Lakes Cruising Market
• Optimizing the Transportation of Forest Products
• Using CT Scans to Test Aggregates
• ECWRPC Freight Model
• CFIRE Successes: Bill Holloway
• Fall 2011 TMP Reception
• Freight Transportation Leadership Academy
• CFIRE Scholarships for Rail Short Courses
• Upcoming Events

You can download this edition of the CFIRE news as a print-friendly PDF.

Attending the 2012 Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting?  Check out one or more of these sessions about research funded by CFIRE:

Sunday, January 22

1:30 – 4:30 p.m., Hilton (Columbia Hall 5): Workshop 189: Using Knowledge Management to Leverage Organizational Wisdom: Tools and Strategies. “Knowledge Management Strategies for a State Department of Transportation: A Case Study.” Ernie Wittwer and Teresa Adams.

Monday, January 23

10:15 a.m. – 12 p.m., Hilton (Lincoln West): Session 276: Assessing National, Regional and Local Performance, Accessibility and Economic Impacts of Transportation Investments. “Incorporating the Effects of Economic Structure Shifts in the Evaluation of the Economic Impact of Improvements in Freight Infrastructure Through I-O Updating.” Ethan Helpern-Givens and Kazuya Kawamura.

10:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Shoreham (Blue Room Foyer): Poster Session 295: Current Research in Freight Transportation and Logistics Planning and Operations. “An Activity-Based Freight Mode Choice Microsimulation Model.” Amir Samimi, Zahra Pourabdollahi, Abolfazl Mohammadian, and Kazuya Kawamura.

Tuesday, January 24

8:30 – 10:15 a.m., Hilton (International Center): Poster Session 499: Current Environmental Issues in Transportation. “Using MOVES and AERMOD Models for PM2.5 Conformity Hot-Spot Air Quality Modeling.” Robert Stephen Newbery, Suriya Vallamsundar, and Jane Lin.

10:15 a.m. – 12 p.m., Marriott (Virginia B): Session 507: Freeze-Thaw Issues Related to Soils and Pavements. “Freeze-Thaw Effects on Stiffness of Unbound Recycled Road Base.” Tuncer B. Edil, Ozlem Bozyurt, Andrew Keene, James Tinjum, and Dante Fratta.

3:45 – 5:30 p.m., Shoreham (Blue Room): Session 614: Future Course for Cargo and Commerce, Part 4: Focus on Urban Goods Movement. “Examination of the Relationship Between Built Environment Characteristics and Retail Freight Delivery.” Kazuya Kawamura and Dan Miodonski.

7:30 – 9:30 p.m., Shoreham (Blue Room Foyer): Poster Session 665: Urban Freight Systems. “Comparison Between Urban Cooperative Delivery and Direct Delivery Strategies.” Qin Chen, Jane Lin, and Kazuya Kawamura.

Wednesday, January 25

10:15 a.m. – 12 p.m., Shoreham (Congressional): Session 727: Environmental Impacts of Ports and Maritime Transport. “Impact of Panama Canal Expansion on U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions.” Timothy Baird, Jason Bittner, and Teresa Adams.

Thursday, January 26

8 a.m. – 12 p.m., Hilton (Jefferson East): Workshop 805: Building the 21st Century Workforce: State of the Research in Assessing Effectiveness of Transportation Programs Aimed at Knowledge and Skill Building and Enhancement. “Primer for National Transportation Workforce Summit.” John Collura, Teresa Adams, Thomas Joseph O’Brien, Diana Long, Shashi S. Nambisan, Stephen H. Richards, Lydia E. Mercado.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded a $3.5 million grant to the National Center for Freight and Infrastructure Research and Education (CFIRE), a consortium led by the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The grant will fund research, outreach and education on multimodal freight systems and will allow CFIRE to continue its innovative freight research as a Tier I University Transportation Center (UTC).

Researchers in the center aim to make multimodal freight systems work for economic recovery and quality of life. “Freight moves by truck, water, air and rail,” says Teresa Adams, a UW-Madison professor of civil and environmental engineering and CFIRE director. “This grant will allow us to identify strategies for better connecting the networks.”

The CFIRE consortium is a collaborative partnership among 10 universities arranged into northern and southern “hubs.” Led by UW-Madison, the northern hub includes the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, University of Wisconsin–Superior, University of Illinois–Chicago, University of Toledo, and Michigan Technological University. The University of Memphis will lead the southern hub, which also includes Vanderbilt University, University of Alabama–Huntsville, and University of Southern Mississippi.

“We are excited to be part of the CFIRE consortium and to serve as the head of the southern hub,” says Martin Lipinski, Ensafe Professor of Civil Engineering and director of the University of Memphis Intermodal Freight Transportation. “Our innovative structure—with a northern and southern hub—will allow us to address freight issues of national significance, as we have coverage of the heartland of the United States from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada.”

Among those issues are increasing fuel costs and congestion, which have caused transportation costs to take a bigger share of the budget to produce and deliver manufactured and agricultural products, says Adams. “The goal of our center is to achieve an interconnected freight system that is safe, clean and efficient,” she says. “By achieving that goal we will contribute to the economic competitiveness of our state, region and nation.”

The CFIRE consortium encompasses a geographical area that serves the majority of freight traffic in the United States. Consortium members offer a wide range of expertise in truck, rail, waterway, air and multimodal freight planning, management, and operations. Additionally, they have a deep history of conducting successful, research, education, outreach and technology transfer in support of the freight community. Partner institutions have collaborative relationships with state departments of transportation, metropolitan planning organizations and local municipalities, as well as with shippers and carriers across all modes. In particular, CFIRE has forged collaborative relationships with Canadian National Railroad, Ingram Barge Company, and Huntington Ingalls Industries.

“UW-Madison has a long history and admirable track record as a transportation research center,” says Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI). “I know that CFIRE, with the various members of its consortium, will continue its first class research in the area of freight transportation and infrastructure, which will be of benefit to Wisconsin and the Midwest region. Being selected by the U.S. DOT as a Tier I University Transportation Center validates the good work done by CFIRE in the past and points to a bright future.”

The U.S. DOT Research and Innovative Technology Administration administers the University Transportation Center program. In a highly competitive selection process, it awarded 22 University Transportation Center grants nationwide. CFIRE was among 46 applicants for 10 Tier 1 University Transportation Center grants. These centers will advance U.S. transportation technology and expertise in research, education and technology transfer. Each center receives a $3.5 million grant it must match with funds from non-federal sources.

CFIRE also is a partner institution within the Regional University Transportation Center grant awarded to Purdue University.

More information

• US DOT University Transportation Centers program
• UTC grant competition

The Research and Innovative Technology Administration of the US Department of Transportation has announced $77 million dollars in grants to 22 University Transportation Centers.

University Transportation Centers

The University of Wisconsin-Madison will serve as the lead institution for the next generation of the CFIRE consortium (one of the ten Tier 1 UTCs) and as a partner in the Region 5 UTC led by Purdue University.

“Transportation matters in everyone’s daily life. These research centers will help us solve the transportation challenges we face today and those that we know lay ahead of us,” said Secretary LaHood.

For more information, read the US DOT press release and consult the list of UTCs.

Want to learn more about the basic principles of highway-rail crossing safety, railroad construction project management, or railroad operations?

The National Center for Freight and Infrastructure Research and Education (CFIRE) has teamed up with the University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Engineering Professional Development to offer scholarships for three rail-related short courses.

Courses

• Railroad Track Construction Project Management (March 12-14, 2012)
• Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Safety Course (March 15-16, 2012)
• Introduction to Railroad Engineering and Operations (May 7-9, 2012)

These courses are held in Madison, Wisconsin on the UW-Madison campus.

For more information and to apply for a CFIRE scholarship for a rail short course, visit cfire.wistrans.org/education/epd-rail/.

An infographic from FlowingData using NHTSA data.

The Wisconsin Transportation Center will host the 2012 Mid-Continent Transportation Research Forum on September 6-7, 2012 in Madison, Wisconsin.

We are now accepting proposals for presentations. Visit the conference page for the Call for Proposals and submission instructions.

Abstracts are due March 16, 2012.

For ongoing updates, visit the 2012 Mid-Continent Transportation Research Forum page.