NATIONAL CENTER FOR METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH

ANNUAL REPORT

FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2003

Sections

Management Structure

&

Research Programs

Table of Contents

A. Center Theme.......................................................................................... 3

B. Description of Management Structure....................................................... 7

C. Description of Research Programs......................................................... 12

D. Description of Education Accomplishments............................................ 22

E. Description of Technology Transfer Accomplishments............................ 32

F. List of Projects...................................................................................... 39

G. Funding Sources and Uses..................................................................... 42

H. Appendix.............................................................................................. 44

I. Financial Status................................................................ Financial Section

J. Performance Indicators.................................................... Financial Section

A. CENTER THEME

The theme of the National Center for Metropolitan Transportation Research (METRANS) is transportation within large metropolitan areas. METRANS works on developing and examining solutions to the transportation problems of major metropolitan areas using an integrated approach that blends engineering, policy, planning, business administration, and public administration expertise. Within the context of large metropolitan areas, METRANS addresses national transportation issues such as advanced transportation technologies, urban transportation research, transportation infrastructure technologies, intermodal efficiency, and transportation and the environment. METRANS also has become a national resource for information on solutions to metropolitan transportation problems.

The Center addresses problems related to all five of DOT’s Strategic Science and Technology Goals, with focus on the types of problems that occur within the Southern California region:

Provide a Safer Transportation System

· Enhanced safety for the transportation infrastructure, public transit patrons, drivers and passengers, and pedestrians

Achieve a High Level of Transportation System Security

· Safety, security, productivity and survivability of the transportation infrastructure under natural disasters, such as earthquakes and floods

Improve Environmental Quality and Energy Efficiency

· Reduced air pollution impacts of transportation

· Upgrading United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and United States Customs Service (Customs) border operations to enhance and expedite passenger and cargo processing, thereby reducing air pollution

· More energy efficient transportation systems

Foster Economic Growth and Productivity

· Reduced congestion on highways, rail, shipping, and air transport systems

· Development of the infrastructure and processes to better support international trade and transportation industries

Ensure Improved Access and Increased Mobility

· Mobility and accessibility for immigrant, disadvantaged, aged, and minority populations

· Improved logistics through ports and the transportation corridors serving them

METRANS also directs its work at several of DOT’s Strategic Partnership Initiatives, with research focused in the following areas:

· Enhanced Goods and Freight Movement at Domestic and International Gateways

· Accessibility for Aging and Transportation-Disadvantaged Populations

· Monitoring, Maintenance, and Rapid Renewal of the Physical Infrastructure

· Environmental Sustainability of Transportation Systems

· Smart Vehicles and Operators

· Physical Infrastructure

Our research directed at these initiatives also crosses into several other DOT initiatives, such as National Intelligent Transportation Infrastructure, and Next Generation Motor Vehicles. Research is conducted in these areas as a means to solve problems in metropolitan areas.

METRANS also serves DOT’s needs in International and Multidisciplinary Education, and in Mid-Career Training. USC and CSULB are uniquely positioned in these areas because of their highly diverse and international student bodies, diverse faculty, excellent facilities, location in the center of the nation’s dominant region for international trade with Asia, and unique course offerings and degree programs. For example, USC has created an interdisciplinary certificate program in transportation, and CSULB has an established reputation for professional education in international trade and port operations. In March 2001, CSULB began instruction in the new MA in Global Logistics program to train professionals to deal with the complexities of supplier relations, supplier selection, purchasing negotiations, operations, transportation, inventory, warehousing, third-party vendors, electronic commerce, and customer relations.

METRANS complements the two other University Transportation Centers in California by placing special emphasis on transportation issues in Southern California, an area encompassing more than 5 percent of the nation’s population and nearly 2/3 of California’s population. This includes study of Southern California’s major investments in transportation (e.g., goods movement and transit) as well as the prominent problems of congestion, air pollution, and limited mobility for disadvantaged populations. In addition, METRANS’ emphasis on blending technology and policy research, and on technology transfer, is unique.

METRANS is committed to focusing on high-priority topics and issues in metropolitan regions. In its first two calls for proposals, METRANS requested research on methods for improving mass transit and methods for improving goods movement and logistics. In its third call for proposals, METRANS added the area of infrastructure renewal to mass transit and goods movement, and a new area, safety and security, was added this year.Using Southern California as our laboratory, our goal is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of major transportation projects, while simultaneously building the human resource capacity to improve transportation in the United States.

Summary of Accomplishments

This Annual Report covers the fifth year of METRANS’ existence, the first year of funding at the $1 million level. Increased funding has made possible an expanded research program and the launching of some new activities. Our 1999 Strategic Plan objectives have been largely achieved, and we are now planning for the next six years. Highlights of the 2002-2003 year include:

• METRANS issued a fourth RFP. We received 29 proposals requesting a total of $2.696 million. Proposals came from 40 faculty representing 11 different departments. After and extensive peer review process, nine excellent proposals were selected for funding this year.

• The new METRANS NEWS was launched, with the first issue published in February 2003. The METRANS NEWS is distributed to university colleagues, public agencies, and private industry and is available on our website. The newsletter will inform the transportation community of METRANS activities and accomplishments and serve as another means for outreach.

• At the request of AASHTO, METRANS organized the National Symposium on Transportation, International Trade and Economic Competitiveness in October 2002. The symposium brought together the many stakeholders in the goods movement and international trade community to discuss goods movement problems and solutions. Speakers included academic experts and industry leaders from throughout the US.

• The Fifth Annual Center for International Trade and Transportation (CITT) State of the Trade and Transportation Industry Town Hall Meeting was held in March 2003. Entitled, “What’s in it for me? Collaborative strategies for new transportation infrastructure in California,” the Town Hall addressed the increasingly serious problem of infrastructure capacity.

• METRANS Director Genevieve Giuliano was elected Chair of the Transportation Research Board’s Executive Committee for the 2003 calendar year. She was also appointed a National Associate of the National Academy of Sciences

• Graduate students continue to win awards and recognition. Patrick Golier, first year USC Master of Planning student, was awarded an Eno Foundation Fellowship and the first year Master of Planning award. Stephanie Roberts, 2000 alum, won the Women’s Transportation Seminar Endowment Eno Foundation Fellowship award. Other students received outstanding graduate student and outstanding teaching assistant awards.

• Development of an online version of the Global Logistics Certificate (GLS) is underway. The GLS is a unique and highly successful professional training program in logistics and supply chain management. The online version is being developed to serve ever increasing demand and to make it available outside the Southern California region.

• METRANS has significantly increased its matching funds in 2002-3. In addition to the full dollar-for-dollar match provided by Catrans, USC researchers have received $323,000 in research funding from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LAMTA). For the first time, CSULB has provided in-kind matching funds in support of the GLS online program. in the amount of about $90,000. Additional funding of $25,000 has contributed to the CITT Town Hall by the Ports of Los Angeles/ Long Beach and the Pacific Maritime Association.

• METRANS faculty have received a $1.05 million grant from the National Science Foundation for development of a web-services based freight flow planning model. The NSF research builds on earlier work funded by METRANS, and demonstrates the value of the UTC program in fostering quality transportation research.

• CSULB enrolled its second class in the Master of Arts Degree in Global Logistics in Spring 2003, and will graduate its first class in Fall 2003. The MA-GL combines the analytical skills of a traditional MBA with a strong emphasis on logistics in a global setting.

B. DESCRIPTION OF MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE

University of Southern California holds the prime grants that fund METRANS from the US DOT and CALTRANS. Center administration is the responsibility of the USC Principal Investigator, but all policy matters are jointly decided by USC and CSULB through the METRANS Executive Committee. This year’s increased funding level made it possible to hire a full-time staff member to serve as METRANS Administrator. Staffing for CSULB activities is allocated on a task specific basis. Few changes were made in the management of METRANS this fiscal year. Management staff remains the same as last year. The Executive Committee membership lost one member to retirement and gained one new member.

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee is responsible for all METRANS project selections (research, education, and technology transfer) and for setting METRANS policies. In April 2003, Dan Barber announced his intent to reduce his participation in preparation for retirement. In view of his key role in launching METRANS at CSULB, he remains an emeritus (non-voting) member of the Executive Committee. His replacement is Anastasios Chassiakos, Professor and Department Chair of Engineering Technology. Prof. Chassiakos has been an active METRANS researcher and an enthusiastic participant in CITT activities. Current membership is:

· Anastasios Chassiakos, Professor and Department Chair of Engineering Technology, CSULB

· Genevieve Giuliano, Professor of Policy, Planning, and Development, USC

· Randolph Hall, Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering and Associate Dean of Research, School of Engineering, USC

· Petros Ioannou, Professor of Electrical Engineering-Systems, USC

· Joseph Magaddino, Professor of Economics and Chair, Department of Economics, CSULB

· Mike Mahoney, Professor of Computer Science and Dean, School of Engineering, CSULB

· James E. Moore II, Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and Public Policy and Management, USC

· Marianne Venieris, Executive Director, Center for International Trade and Transportation, CSULB

· Emeritus: Dan Barber, Professor of Public Administration, CSULB

Executive committee membership is a voluntary (unpaid) service activity.

Director

Genevieve Giuliano, Professor in the School of Policy, Planning, and Development is Director of METRANS. The Director is responsible for the overall management of METRANS, including reporting, matching fund solicitation, outreach, publications, education, supervision of the METRANS Administrator, project management and development of the center research agenda, and requests for proposals/qualifications. The center director is responsible for chairing meetings of the Executive Committee (joint CSULB/USC) and the Advisory Committee.

Deputy Director

Marianne Venieris serves as METRANS Deputy Director. Ms. Venieris has been responsible for the CSULB technology transfer activities since METRANS’ inception. She is an experienced manager and the leading force behind METRANS’ goods movement outreach activities. Ms. Venieris is Executive Director of CITT and Director of Transportation Programs, CSULB Foundation.

The Deputy Director is responsible for collecting performance statistics related to CSULB activities, distributing information to CSULB faculty and students and overseeing the METRANS technology transfer program. The Deputy Director works under the direction of the METRANS Director.

Associate Director

To expand activities for CSULB and USC students, Professor James E. Moore II serves as Associate Director for Education. Dr. Moore is responsible for organizing curriculum proposals, internships, teaching exchanges, field trips, and student outreach events. The Associate Director works under the direction of the METRANS Director. Dr. Moore is also Professor in Industrial and Systems Engineering, and Public Policy and Management at USC. He is Director of the Civil Engineering Department’s graduate program in Transportation Engineering.

Center Administrator

Jacquette Givens of USC serves as Center Administrator. She is responsible for the day-to-day administration of center activities, reporting to the Center Director. This includes coordination of outreach efforts; gathering information needed for annual reporting; coordination of the proposal review and report review processes; coordination of special conferences, seminars, and other events; and managing the METRANS accounts.

CSULB Administrator

Alix Traver serves as CSULB administrator. The position is responsible for the collection of performance data at CSULB, and for communicating METRANS information to CSULB faculty, staff, and students. The position is also responsible for assisting with the METRANS Annual Conference, and for developing center promotions. The CSULB Administrator works under the guidance of the Deputy Director and the Center Administrator.

Promotion Manager

Marianne Venieris, METRANS Deputy Director and Executive Director of the CITT at CSULB, has served as the Promotion Manager. This position is responsible for developing outreach materials and managing the development of the website. Ms. Venieris managed the development of new promotional materials and the METRANS News.

Webmaster

Greg Raitz of CSULB Foundation serves as webmaster. He is responsible for developing and maintaining the METRANS web page. He works under the direction of the Center Administrator and Center Director.

Advisory Committee

The Director has formed an Advisory Committee (Table 1), composed of representatives from agencies and companies that participate in center activities. The Advisory Committee is used to solicit suggestions for research, to assist in student job placements, and to assist in outreach and technology transfer activities. The Advisory Committee met twice during the 2002/2003 fiscal year.

Faculty Members

METRANS has funded 32 faculty at USC and CSULB, who are now members of the METRANS Center. Keeping to METRANS’ interdisciplinary theme, the faculty represent four branches of engineering (civil, electrical, industrial, and mechanical), as well as business, economics, geography, public policy, planning, and public administration. These faculty act as principal investigators on METRANS-funded projects, and have responsibility for overseeing individual research projects. They also come together periodically to share insights through coordination meetings and conferences.

Tridib Banerjee Policy, Planning, and Development USC

Daniel Barber Public Administration CSULB

Satish Bukkapatnam Industrial & Systems Engineering USC

Anastasios Chassiakos Engineering Technology CSULB

Maged Dessouky Industrial & Systems Engineering USC

Michael Driver Business Administration USC

Genevieve Giuliano Policy, Planning, and Development USC

Peter Gordon Policy, Planning, and Development USC

Lisa Grobar Economics CSULB

Randolph Hall Industrial & Systems Engineering USC

Le Dam Hanh Civil Engineering USC

Petros Ioannou Electrical Engineering Systems USC

Clara Irazabel Policy, Planning and Development USC

Ken James Electrical Engineering CSULB

Erik Johnson Civil Engineering USC

Tim Jordanides Electrical Engineering CSULB

Behrokh Khoshnevis Industrial & Systems Engineering USC

Ilias Kosmatopoulos Electrical Engineering Systems USC*

John Kuprenas Civil Engineering USC

Joe Maggadino Economics CSULB

Naj Meshkati Civil Engineering USC

James E. Moore II ISE and SPPD USC

Dowell Myers Policy, Planning and Development USC

Fernando Ordonez Industrial & Systems Engineering USC

Emily Parentela Civil Engineering CSULB

Hamid Rahai Mechanical Engineering CSULB

Mansour Rahimi Industrial & Systems Engineering USC

Harry Richardson Policy, Planning and Development USC

Paul Ronney Mechanical Engineering USC

Reza Toossi Mechanical Engineering CSULB

Chris Williamson Geography USC

Hung Leung Wong Civil Engineering USC

Table 1. METRANS Advisory Committee

Name	Title	Organization
Pat Conroy	Program Manager	California Department of Transportation
Rebecca Brewster	Deputy Director	ATA Foundation
Lynn Terry	Deputy Executive Officer	California Air Resources Board
Joel Anderson	Executive Vice President	California Trucking Association
Cindy Quon	District Director	Caltrans
Paul Teng	Director, Office of Infrastructure	Federal Highway Administration
Sandra Balmir	Transportation Planner	Federal Highway Administration
Richard Hollingsworth	President/CEO	Gateway Cities Partnership, Inc.
Susan Collette	Supervising Transportation Planner	Los Angeles World Airport
James de la Loza	Executive Officer County Wide Planning and Development	Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Charles Wallace	Vice President Southern California	Pacific Maritime Association
Geraldine Knatz	Director of Planning	Port of Long Beach
Norm King	Executive Director	San Bernardino Association of Governments
Eric Pahlke	Director of Transportation	San Diego Association of Governments
Barry Wallerstein	Executive Officer	South Coast Air Quality Management District
Jim Gosnell	Director, Planning and Policy	Southern California Association of Governments
Bert Arillaga	Chief, Service Innovation Division	U.S. Department of Transportation
M.J. Fiocco	Transportation Specialist	U.S. Department of Transportation
Ronald Knipling	Chief, Research Division	U.S. Department of Transportation
Michael Onder	Team Leader, Freight Operations	U.S. Department of Transportation
Richard Walker	Director	U.S. Department of Transportation
Jack Levis	Portfolio Project Manager	United Parcel Service
Domenick Miretti	ILWU Senior Liaison	Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles
Stephen Lantz	District, Communication and Development	Metrolink (Southern California Regional Rail Authority)
Doug Failing	District Director	U.S. Department of Transportation

C. DESCRIPTION OF RESEARCH PROGRAMS

The 2002-3 Request for Proposals was issued in August 2002 as a result of the delays in announcing the results of the DOT Group B/C competition. In METRANS’ case, success in the competition would mean an approximate doubling of the research budget, while lack of success would mean almost complete elimination of the research budget. Under such uncertainty, the prudent strategy was simply to wait until the competition results were known. The announcement did not occur until after both USC and CSULB had completed the academic year, too late to issue an RFP in time for an August 2002 start date.

Table 2 gives the chronology of all completed research rounds. The bottom row gives the chronology for the 2002-3 round. The RFP was issued in August. In response to Caltrans’ interest in goods movement research topics, an addendum was issued in September. Proposals were due October 15, 2002, and selections were made by the Executive Committee in January. We had intended to start projects in February. However, receipt of our matching grant did not occur until June, and consequently projects could not begin until July 2003.

Table 2: Timing of METRANS Requests for Proposals and Project Selection

Fiscal Year RFP Issued Due Date Selections Start Date

98/99 3/19/1999 4/28/1999 6/1/1999 7/1999 to 9/1999

99/00 7/7/1999 8/11/1999 9/27/1999 1/1/2000

00/01 2/11/2000 3/17/2000 5/8/2000 8/2000

01/02 12/12/2000 2/23/2001 4/24/2001 8/15/2001

02/03 8/16/2002 10/15/2002 1/12/2002 07/01/2003

METRANS’ goal has been to make selections within three months after the RFP is issued. This allows about 5 weeks for proposal preparation, 4 weeks for peer review, and 3 weeks for compilation of results and communication with the METRANS Executive Committee. In this round all peer reviewers were from outside USC and CSULB; the identification of appropriate reviewers for a large number of proposals from many disciplinary fields was quite a challenge. Difficulties in obtaining reviews resulted in a longer than anticipated review period. Subsequent delay from selection to award is largely due to requirements of proposal revision, assemblage of a complete proposal package for Caltrans, and processing the awards at Caltrans.

The first two RFPs restricted proposals to the two focus areas of goods movement and public transit. For the third and fourth RFP, infrastructure renewal was added as a third focus area. For the fifth RFP, four focus areas were identified: 1) commercial goods movement and international trade, 2) mobility of urban populations, 3) highway infrastructure and infrastructure renewal, 4) safety, security and vulnerability. A summary of the submitted proposals is provided in Table 3.

Table 3: Summary of Proposals Submitted to METRANS

			Number of Proposals by Area
FY	Proposals	Requested	Goods	Mobility	Infra-structure	Safety	Multiple
98/99	15	$808,497	6	8	0	0	1
99/00	12	451,335	6	5	0	0	1
00/01	17	906,370	10	6	1	0	0
01/02	16	882,261	7	2	5	0	2
02/03	29	2,696,136	10	8	6	5	0
Total	89	5,744,599	39	29	12	5	4

METRANS’ increased level of funding made possible a much larger research program. We therefore allowed larger budgets than in previous years. The response was enthusiastic; we received about double the number of proposals than in any previous year. Although we expanded eligibility to joint projects with faculty from outside METRANS, no such joint proposals were received. In keeping with the trend of the previous three years, the largest number of proposals was in the goods movement area, followed by mobility of urban populations (formerly public transit). We received seven proposals from CSULB faculty and five joint USC/CSULB proposals. The remaining proposals were from USC faculty.

The selection process was highly competitive. The Executive Committee selected nine projects for funding in the 2002/3 fiscal year, a selection rate of about 33%. Three additional projects are being held for funding in FY 2003-4.

As summarized in Table 4, the awards retain the center’s strength in goods movement and freight, while also sustaining activities in mobility. Two projects were awarded in infrastructure; none were funded in the new area of safety. Of the nine awards, two were to CSULB, one was joint USC/CSULB, and the remainder was awarded to USC. The total amount of awards reflects the increase in METRANS funding level this year.

Table 4: Summary of Proposals Awarded by METRANS

			Number of Awards by Area
FY	Awards	Amount	Goods	Mobility	Infra-structure	Safety	Multiple
98/99	6	$294,299	3	2	0	0	1
99/00	7	324,898	4	3	0	0	0
00/01	11	580,882	5	6	0	0	0
01/02	7	446,602	3	1	1	0	2
02/03	9	818,593	4	3	2	0	0
Total	40	2,465,274	19	15	3	0	3

In reference to DOT subject areas (Table 4b), six of the new projects are in the Transportation System Performance area, two in Transportation and Logistics System Operation ($279,948); two in Behavioral Sciences and Human Performance ($180,000), and two in Transportation Planning, Economics, and Institutional Issues ($125,000). The remaining projects are in Physical Infrastructure (maintenance and operations), Information Infrastructure (traffic management), and Vehicles (fuels).

With respect to goals, our greatest emphasis continues to be on mobility (4 projects and $300,423) and economic growth and trade (3 projects and $369,948). These are consistent with METRANS’ emphasis on transportation problems of large metropolitan regions, such as Southern California. In terms of enabling research, our greatest emphasis continues to be on tools for modeling and design (five projects and $490,371). For modal emphasis, highways are the most prominent 8 of the new projects ($738,593), reflecting our research on highway infrastructure and trucking. Four of the eight cover more than one mode, hence maritime, rail and transit are also represented in greater proportion than appears in the categorization.

As intended, all projects selected by METRANS are directed toward DOT’s strategic initiatives. The following list is cumulative, covering all funding rounds to date:

Enhanced Goods and Freight Movement at Domestic and International Gateways

· Hall: Freight Routing and Containerization (02/03)

· Ioannou and Chassiakos: Cooperative Optimum Time Window Generation for Cargo Delivery/Pick-up with Application to Container Terminals (02/03)

· Richardson, Gordon and Moore: Measuring California’s Role in Supporting Interstate Goods Movement: Comprehensive Assessment of Interstate Freight Flows (02/03)

· Hanh: Re-engineering the Logistics of Empty Cargo Containers in the SCAG Region (01/02)

· Gordon and Williamson: Development and Test Methodology for the Evaluation of Highway Widening Plans to Facilitate Freight Flows Throughout a Major Metropolitan Area (01/02)

· Ioannou and Chassiakos: Dynamic Optimization of Cargo Movement by Trucks in Metropolitan Areas (01/02)

· Grobar and Barber: An Integrated Approach to Managing Local Container Traffic Growth in the Long Beach/Los Angeles Port Complex Phase II (00/01)

· Hall: Alternative Access and Locations for Air Cargo (00/01)

· Ioannou and Chassiakos: Dynamic Optimization of Cargo Movements by Trucks in Metropolitan Areas with Adjacent Ports (00/01)

· Kosmatopoulos: Design and Optimization of a Conceptual Automated Yard Using Overhead Rail Systems (00/01)

· Parentela: Developing Risk Model for Commercial Goods Transport (00/01)

· Bukkapatnam: Dynamic Coordination Framework for Resource Allocation in Trucking Operations (99/00)

· Gordon: Assembling and Processing Freight Shipment Data: Developing a GIS-Based Origin-Destination Matrix for Southern California Freight Flows (99/00)

· James: Non-Invasive Means of Investigating Container Contents for Customs Agents at Ports (99/00)

· Jordanides: Use of Robotics and Expert Systems in Improving the Handling of Containers at the Port Terminals (99/00)

· Grobar and Barber: Implementing a Statewide Goods Movement Strategy and Performance Measurement of Goods Movement in California (98/99)

· Ioannou and Chassiakos: Modeling and Route Guidance of Trucks in Metropolitan Areas (98/99)

· Khoshnevis: 3D Virtual and Physical Simulation of Automated Container Terminal Facilities and Analysis of Impact on In-land Transportation (98/99)

Accessibility for Aging and Transportation-Disadvantaged Populations

· Giuliano: Travel Patterns of the Elderly (00/01)

· Dessouky and Rahimi: A Task Decomposition Model for Dispatchers in Dynamic Scheduling of Demand Responsive Transit Systems (98/99)

· Giuliano: The Role of Public Transit in Mobility of Low Income Households (98/99)

Environmental Sustainability of Transportation Systems

· Toossi: Hydrogen Storage System for Transportation Applications (02/03)

· Gordon: Neighborhood Attributes and Commuting Behavior: A Comparative Study of California’s Major Metropolitan Areas (02/03)

· Banerjee, Myers, and Irazabal: Increasing Bus Transit Ridershop: Dynamics of Density, Land Use, and Population Growth (02/03)

· Rahai: Reducing Pollutants from Mobile Sources (01/02)

· Rahimi and Dessouky: A Methodology for Joint Optimization of Service and Life Cycle Environmental Assessment of Transportation Systems (01/02)

· Toossi: Assessment of Hybrid Vehicle Control Strategies in Planning Future Metropolitan/Urban Transit Systems (00/01)

· Williams: Solid State Sorption Air Conditioner System for Containerships and Vehicles (99/00) (Phase 2, 00/01)

· Ronney: Improving Fuel Economy and Emissions Performance of Commercial Goods Transportation and Mass Transit Vehicles Using Throttleless Engines (98/99)

Physical Infrastructure

· Johnson: Innovative Bridge Structural Health Monitoring Using Variable Stiffness and Damping Devices (02/03)

· Ordonez: Robust Investment Decisions for Highway Capacity Expansion

· Wong: Analysis of Vibrations as Infrastructure Caused by High-speed Rail Transit (01/02)

· Johnson: Smart Damping Devices for Monitoring the Health of Bridge Structures (01/02)

· Banerjee: Freeway Bus Station Area Development: Critical Evaluation and Design Guidelines (00/01)

· Banerjee: Highway Oriented Transit System (HOTS): A Comprehensive Land Use-Transportation Strategy to Improve Transit Service Delivery (99/00)

· Kuprenas: Identification and Analysis of Local Agency Transit Project Performance Criteria (99/00)

Smart Vehicles and Operators

· Parentela: Development of an Artificial Intelligence Based Traffic Simulation Model Using the Discrete Element Method (02/03)

· Ioannou and Chassiakos: Dynamic Optimization of Cargo Movement by Trucks in Metropolitan Areas (01/02)

· Bukkapatnam and Dessouky: Distributed Architecture for Real-time Coordination in Transit Networks (00/01)

· Meshkati, Rahimi and Driver: Investigating the Role of Driver Decision Styles in Highway-Rail Crossing Accidents (00/01)

METRANS has the goal of supporting cooperative research that involves transportation agencies and meets the transportation needs of metropolitan agencies. Nearly all projects have received financial support from Caltrans, and many others have cooperated with local and regional agencies. Cooperating agencies are shown below by project:

Banerjee, Myers, and Irazabal

Increasing Bus Transit Ridership, Dynamics in Densty, Land Use, and Population Growth

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority

Bukkapatnam and Dessouky

Distributed Architecture for Real-time Coordination in Transit Networks

Access Services

Dessouky and Rahimi

A Task Decomposition Model for Dispatchers in Dynamic Scheduling

Access Services

Gordon

Assembling and Processing Freight Shipment Data: Developing a GIS-Based OD Matrix

Southern California Association of Governments

Gordon and Williamson

Development and Test Methodology for the Evaluation of Highway Widening Plans to Facilitate Freight Flows Throughout a Major Metropolitan Area

Southern California Association of Governments

Grobar and Barber

Implementing a Statewide Goods Movement Strategy and Performance Measurement Southern California Association of Governments

Hall

Alternative Access and Locations for Air Cargo

Los Angeles World Airports

Hall

Freight Routing and Containerization

United Parcel Service

Hanh

Re-engineering the Logistics of Empty Cargo Containers in the SCAG Region

Port of Long Beach

Ioannou and Chassiakos

Dynamic Optimization of Cargo Movements by Trucks in Metropolitan Areas with Adjacent Ports

Los Angeles Department of Transportation

Ioannou and Chassiakos

Modeling and Route Guidance of Trucks in Metropolitan Areas

Los Angeles Department of Transportation

Kuprenas

Identification and Analysis of Local Agency Transit Project Performance Criteria

Caltrans Division of Mass Transportation

Meshkati, Rahimi, and Driver

Investigating the Role of Driver Decision Styles in Highway-Rail Crossing Accidents

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority

Richardson, Gordon and Moore

Measuring California’s Rose in Supporting Interstate Goods Movement: Comprehensive Assessment of Interstate Freight Flows

California Department of Transportation

Ronney

Improving Fuel Economy and Emissions Performance of Vehicles

South Coast Air Quality Management District

Selection Process

METRANS follows a peer-reviewed proposal selection process in which each proposal is submitted to a minimum of five people for review, drawn from the following groups:

· University expert (usually two people in category)

· Local transportation agency expert or private practitioner expert

· Caltrans expert

· US DOT expert

In the most recent RFP (02/03), the following DOT employees (or their designated representatives) reviewed proposals:

· Jeffrey Paniati, FHWA

· Bert Arillaga, FTA

· Richard Walker, MARAD

· Charles D. Nottingham, FHWA

· Cynthia Burbank, FHWA

· Dennis Judycki, FHWA

· Paul Teng, FHWA

These DOT representatives were selected because of their expertise and leadership in goods movement, transit, policy, advanced technology, or infrastructure.

For the first time, we used a complete outside review process; all academic reviewers were from outside USC or CSULB. We also used a mix of public and private sector local experts. The large number of proposals and the diversity of academic fields they represent made the review process particularly complicated and lengthy. Using all outside reviewers proved to be more time consuming, as many reminders were required to obtain some of the referee reports. A total of 71 reviewers participated in the process (not counting reviewers within Caltrans). Summarized results of the evaluations are presented to the METRANS Executive Committee, which makes final selections.

METRANS research activities have now been delayed one full year. The 2002/3 RFP was delayed until Fall 2002 as a result of the delay in the announcement of the DOT Group B/C competition. METRANS did not receive its 2002/3 match funding from Caltrans until late June 2003, making it impossible to begin any of the 2002/3 projects until July 2003. Like all other UTCs, METRANS also was facing great uncertainty regarding the amount of FY 2003/4 DOT allocation. At the same time, 2003/4 is the last year of funding under TEA-21; as of this writing, there is uncertainty about whether reauthorization will occur in the current year, and, if not, whether continuing resolutions will be passed to enable the UTCs to continue operating. Given all these factors, METRANS has elected to delay a Year 6 RFP until Fall 2003, with the goal of funding projects by January 2004 and anticipating continuation through 2005. The allocation to research will be reduced, in order to preserve some funding to bridge a possible gap in FY 2004/5.

Research Results

As of this writing, 21 research projects have been completed (5 this year), and 8 more are in the peer review/revision process. Eleven projects are in progress, including the new 2002/3 projects. We have found that the final report peer review process is often a bottleneck to project completion. Reviewers may take months to return comments, and some comments are never received. In order to expedite the completion of final reports, the Director reviews all final reports and manages the revision process. Despite getting commitments from reviewers in advance this year and establishing a maximum time limit for Caltrans reviews, the final report peer review process remains a bottleneck. Final report reviews are apparently a low priority for most people. We are therefore reconsidering our process, and will experiment this year with an “in-house” review process by members of the METRANS Executive Committee. Final report abstracts are provided below for all projects completed this year.

01-5 Reengineering the logistics of empty cargo containers in the SCAG region

Le Dam Hanh

This project considers the economic and institutional circumstances that direct the movement of empty containers within the SCAG region. Building on findings and recommendations presented in the recently concluded Gateway Cities Study, this work explores the regional problems posed by empty containers in the context of existing international trading structures and through discussions with international marine carriers.

A key objective of this project is to understand the current logistics of empty containers related to the movement of cargo through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. This project investigated two aspects of the existing logistics system for handling empty containers: (1) the physical movement of empty containers, and (2) institutional arrangements and practices. In order of emphasis, however, the second aspect of this investigation is the main focus of discussion.

An appreciation of the overarching structure of international trade, and of how the market for global logistics values the efficient movement of empty containers, provides an important frame of reference for this study. Without an understanding of this context, all efforts designed to rationalize empty container movements at a regional level may prove to be rather limited in their implementation.

Field surveys and interviews were conducted with local and international carriers, container leasing firms, trucking companies, intermodal transport operators, freight forwarders, and marine container logistics specialists. Findings of this research suggest that, although these operators are cognizant of the efficiencies that could be gained through a rationalization of empty container movements, the business opportunity costs associated with an inadequate supply of empty containers for customers in Asia far outweighs the likely gains of rationalized empty container movements in the SCAG region. Essentially, carriers are willing to tolerate the regional inefficient movement of empty containers within the region and bear repositioning costs as necessary conditions for optimizing the overall performance of their global container inventory and control operations.

This analysis leads to the conclusion that optimal solutions to the rationalization of empty container movements must consider all scales of the global logistics system, and that such solutions would work to better performance at different levels of the system as well as for the overall system. Opportunities do exist for reducing the total number of empty container trips. However, in certain (market) situations, strategies intended to optimize performance at the regional scale would work to degrade the system at the international level. Solutions for rationalizing empty container movements must contribute positively to the performance of global logistics in total. Strategies failing this test will not generate sufficient benefits to justify the cost of their implementation.

00-13 Distributed architecture for real-time coordination in transit networks

Satish Bukkapatnam, Magid Dessouky

Transit is one of the vital service sectors of the present and the future US economy, and it holds tremendous social significance as an estimated 25% US citizens rely on some form of a transit system. Owing to their inherent flexibility and low capital costs, bus transit systems are most attractive to meeting the growing transportation requirements. Despite their vital importance, conventional bus operations are perceived in general to be unreliable. Inadequate service reliability is manifested as large waiting times for passengers. In order to overcome these problems, modern transit systems are beginning to be equipped with Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Mobile Data Terminals, in order to provide real-time information to passengers as well as dispatchers. Real-time coordination of how various buses are dispatched and how long the buses are held at various stations on a transit network, harnessing the information from these ITS, is known to be essential for substantially increasing operational efficiency, in addition to reducing the passenger waiting time and operational delays

In this project, we have developed a negotiation-based framework to address the real-time coordination of bus holding, wherein stops and buses act as agents that communicate in real-time to achieve dynamic coordination of bus dispatching at various stops. They negotiate based on their marginal costs. Our work proves that under some reasonable assumptions, the framework can find a local optimal dispatching time. The algorithm is further modified to overcome the “myopia” of the local optimality.

To verify the efficiency of our framework, we have compared our framework with other simple bus control strategies such as On-Schedule and Even-Headway strategies, through simulations. In order to show the robustness of our framework, we have tested it under several representative transit environments. The simulation results show that our framework distinguishes itself for its ability to harness real-time information and to make decisions directly based on the marginal wait cost. Furthermore, the framework has been found to be efficient in terms of minimizing passenger wait costs, and adequately robust in order to be applicable to a wide range of transit environments involving both stationary passenger arrivals as well as a variety of non-stationary passenger arrivals, including those with random bursts.

00-8 Travel Patterns of the Elderly

Genevieve Giuliano

This report examines relationships between residential location and travel patterns of the elderly. Using the 1995 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey, we describe travel patterns of the elderly and estimate models of trip making, daily travel and transit use. Travel tends to shift to the middle part of the day with age, and trip making declines after age 75. We find that land use and travel relationships are largely the same for the elderly as for the non-elderly, though there is some evidence that the oldest elderly are more sensitive to local accessibility. Based on our findings, we consider the potential effectiveness of various land use strategies. Promoting more transit-friendly, mixed-use communities will increase local accessibility, but current preferences for automobile travel, low-density living environments, and the benefits of aging in place suggest that such strategies will play a limited role in addressing mobility problems of the elderly. Safer cars and transportation facilities, behavioral adjustments, and development of paratransit options more competitive with the private vehicle may be effective strategies for addressing mobility of the elderly.

99-23 Non-invasive Means of Investigating Container Contents for Customs Agents at Port

Ken James

The use of relatively inexpensive computer equipment combined with both an innovative algorithm and sub-systems that are result of original applications of common technology will make non-invasive means of investigating container contents a reality. However we need to know if it is reasonable to attempt to build some of the electronic subsystems that will be necessary to implement a system based on radar. Many of these sub-systems heretofore would have been considered impractical in a project that is not of industrial scale.

In general it is our objective to investigate the possibility of bringing into physical reality these necessary sub-systems. Because the radar will require some sub-system designs that now exist only in theory it is important to investigate the practicability of these sub-systems. This project reviews the literature and assesses various sensing algorithms for applicability to radar-based non-invasive container inspection.

99-5 Improving Fuel Economy and Emissions Performance of Commercial Goods Transportation and Mass Transit Vehicles Using Throttleless Engines

Paul Ronney

Conventional premixed-charge engines employ a throttle to reduce power and torque when demand is low by reducing the pressure of the combustible mixture drawn into the cylinder. This results in the well-known “throttling loss.” Under typical highway cruising conditions, this loss is typically 15% or more of the otherwise available power output of the engine. In mass transportation vehicles (e.g. urban buses) and goods transportation vehicles (e.g. delivery trucks) which operate primarily in urban areas with frequent stopping, starting and low-speed travel, this loss is even greater. This loss leads to reduced fuel economy and increased pollutant emissions.

What is needed is a means to provide the necessary range of engine output power and torque adjustment without throttling. Such a means is provided by the Throttleless Premixed Charge Engine (TPCE) concept developed previously by the Principal Investigator. The essence of the TPCE concept is the use of a combination of fuel-air mixture ratio control (stoichiometric and lean mixtures) and intake air preheat in order to obtain power and torque adjustment without throttling. Higher intake temperatures reduce the air density and thus power and torque. Leaner mixtures also reduce power and torque, and the intake air preheat substantially reduces the lean misfire limit. Thus in the TPCE concept the synergistic use of preheating and lean mixtures is essential; neither technique individually provides a sufficient range of power and torque adjustment for use in practical vehicles.

The TPCE concept is ideal for applications in urban mass transit buses and goods transportation vehicles, because these types of vehicles are constantly changing load and speed, especially on the roads in the LA metropolitan area, and are only infrequently operated at wide-open throttle. The TPCE concept provides many of the best aspects of premixed-charge, spark-ignition engines (fast response time, high power to weight ratio, relatively low NO_s formation and negligible particulate emissions) with the best aspect of nonpremixed-charge compression-ignition (Diesel-type) engines (higher part-load thermal efficiency due to lean operation without a pressure-reducing throttle). These advantages of the TPCE are particularly noteworthy considering that most Diesel engine technologies used in urban buses and goods transportation vehicles are unlikely to be able to meet future NO_x and particulate emission standards, especially those proposed by the EPA for the year 2004.

Other Research Activities

· Research Conference: At the request of AASHTO, METRANS organized the National Symposium on Transportation, International Trade and Economic Competitiveness in October 2002. The Symposium took the place of our annual METRANS research conference for the 2002/3 year. The Syposium was funded by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program. Its purpose was to bring together the many stakeholders in the good movement and international trade community to identify goods movement problems, both national and local, and discuss solutions. The Symposium was one of four being held around the US on the role of transportation in various industry sectors. Attendance was about 110, and speakers included academics and industry leaders from throughout the US. Symposium Proceedings will be distributed by AASHTO and through the METRANS website. See Section E for details.

· Publications and Presentations: An important measure of the quality of the METRANS research program is the number of peer-reviewed publications generated. As more research projects are completed, academic publications follow. This year 11 of our METRANS faculty presented their research results at 32 conferences and have 30 articles published or forthcoming in refereed journals. In addition, Randolph Hall, former METRANS Director, has edited the Handbook of Transportation Science, 2^nd Edition (2002).

· Leveraging METRANS Funds: Additional transportation funding generated by METRANS research is another important measure of quality. Research by Ioannou and Chassiakos (00-15) on truck scheduling and routing, and by Gordon (99-25) have resulted in funding from the National Science Foundation. The latter project was the starting point for joint research with the USC Information Sciences Institute to develop a web services based intrametropolitan freight modeling system, for which NSF awarded a 3 year grant of $1.05 million. In addition, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority has funded two research projects totaling $323,000. These are the outcome of several METRANS transit research projects and the growing recognition of METRANS research expertise.

· Goods Movement Research: The California Governor’s office has identified goods movement and international trade as a top priority issue. Secretary Maria Contreras-Sweet of the Business, Housing and Transportation Agency visited USC with her staff in August 2002 for a briefing on METRANS research, education and outreach activities, and for an informal discussion of goods movement issues with industry stakeholders. Following this meeting, the Director and Deputy Director participated in meetings with Caltrans department managers to discuss how METRANS might best address goods movement issues. The result was an addendum to the 2002/3 RFP, soliciting research on a series of goods movement topics.

· Applied Research: To both address the continuing challenge of involving CSULB faculty in METRANS research and better support our outreach efforts, we are launching an experimental program in applied research. The applied research program will be directly linked with our goods movement and international trade outreach activities, and will be managed by the METRANS Deputy Director. Under the theme of “Monitoring the Ports,” CSULB faculty are being solicited for proposals on topics such as terminal gate operations, ILWU contract labor arrangements, cargo modal shares, empty container movements, and security ID cards. We anticipate short-term, small-scale efforts to determine the feasibility of the program. The intent is to 1) build an empirical base of information that can be used to inform future outreach activities, 2) support future port-related research, 3) increase METRANS’ visibility as a center for goods movement research. See Section E for further details.

· The METRANS Administrator continues to identify transportation funding sources, and has advertised these to faculty at CSULB and USC. In addition, the METRANS web page has been designed to link to 24 agencies that fund transportation research.

D. DESCRIPTION OF EDUCATION ACCOMPLISHMENTS

The METRANS education program emphasizes student involvement in research projects. METRANS continues to make graduate student involvement an explicit criterion in making research awards in our RFP. Involvement of undergraduate students in METRANS funded research is encouraged. As a result, all projects have had significant student participation (some undergraduate, some graduate, and some both). Investigators are strongly encouraged to budget for student presentations at conferences, such as the Transportation Research Board annual meeting. We have also organized events to reach out to pre-college students, including a popular competition among Los Angeles County high school students.

National Student Competitions

In 2002, METRANS again participated in the USDOT UTC “Outstanding Student Award” program. The METRANS student of the 2002-03 academic year is Merrill J. Weidner. Mr. Weidner recently completed his PhD in Industrial and Systems Engineering at USC. He was also a doctoral fellow in the NSF/USC Environmental Science, Policy, and Engineering—Sustainable Cities program, a program of integrated, cross-disciplinary doctoral-level training and research designed to prepare students for environment-related leadership roles in the public and private sectors as well as academia.

• Patrick Golier, USC Master of Planning student, received a Fellowship Award to attend the Eno Foundation Leadership Conference. Mr. Golier is in his first year of the MPL program, and has a background in economics and communications. He is a recipient of a Dean’s Merit Scholarship, and received the first year MPL student award.

• Ms. Stephanie Roberts, MPL and Transportation Systems Certificate 2000 alumna, won the Women’s Transportation Seminar Endowment Fellowship to attend the Eno Leadership Conference. Ms. Roberts is a Planner and Engineer-in-Training at Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas, Inc. She has won the Parsons Brinckerhoff Emerging Professional World Paper Competition, and was recently named one of ASCE’s Top Twenty New Faces of Civil Engineering.

• Mr. Alex Kenefick, USC Public Policy and Management major, was one of eight undergraduates selected for the Western Transportation Institute’s Undergraduate Research Experience in Rural Transportation summer program.

University of Southern California transportation students participated actively in other national competitions, including the Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC) dissertation awards and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning outstanding paper awards.

State and Local Student Competitions

Lea Webb, USC Master of Public Administration student, won the Women’s Transportation Seminar graduate scholarship in the Sacramento division.

Internal and External Graduation Awards

USC PhD candidate Yueyue Fan was named Teaching Assistant of the Year by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Ms. Fan completed her doctoral studies in Spring, 2003.

USC Master of Planning student Ajay Agarwal received the MPL Comprehensive Examination Prize. Patrick Golier received the California Planning Foundation First Year Student Award for Meritorious Achievement. USC Master of Real Estate student Dhiraj Narayan received a Certificate of Merit for Outstanding Master’s Candidates. At the undergraduate level, Jennifer Bassett-Hales received the Dean’s Senior Letter of Merit. All are specializing in transportation planning or policy.

The METRANS Administrator compiles opportunities for student competitions and will continue advertising them both by email to identified students and by advertisement on the METRANS web site.

Student Conference Participation

California Transportation Foundation’s Transportation Education Symposium

USC civil engineering and urban planning undergraduates consistently participate in the California Transportation Foundation’s (CTF) annual Transportation Education Symposium. The symposium gives upper-division undergraduates a unique opportunity to collaborate with senior industry and agency professionals as they prepare competing team responses to a mock request for project proposals. The CFT makes this experience available to outstanding student participants at no cost to these students. In 1999, USC requested that the CTF include CSULB in its annual solicitation of participants. METRANS funds transportation to Northern California for the USC and CSULB participants. USC Civil Engineering seniors Seth Mearing, Justin Noin, and Loehl O’Brien attended the November, 2002 Symposium at Asilomar Conference Center in Monterey, CA. Mr. O’Brien’s team won the 2002 competition. This is the second year in a row a USC attendee was a member of the winning team.

University of California Transportation Center Conference

A small number of USC students have attended the annual UCTC student conferences in past years. We are working towards expanding USC student participation, as this conference provides an excellent opportunity for graduate students throughout California to share research interests. One USC student (Qisheng Pan) was designated liaison to the conference planning committee so that USC students would be informed of opportunities for participation. This year 16 students attended the conference, and 2 students presented research projects in the poster session. We anticipate greater METRANS participation in future conferences.

2003 IGERT Student Research Conference on Advanced Transportation Technologies at UC Davis

In October of 1998, the University of California at Davis received a National Science Foundation Integrated Graduate Education and Research Traineeship award that focuses on transportation. The Institute of Transportation Studies at Davis hosted a separate, two-day student conference in June of 2003. Two USC students attended the conference, and gave it high marks. We anticipate greater METRANS participation in future conferences.

Other Student Activities

Student and Faculty Transportation Field Experience

Field experiences are a routine part of transportation engineering courses offered at USC and CSULB. There are many opportunities for unique site visits in Southern California, including technology facilities such as Caltrans District 7’s Transportation Management Center (TMC) and the Caltrans District 12 TMC; the Los Angeles County Department of Transportation (LADoT) Automated Traffic Surveillance and Control (ATSAC) Center; the Orange County Transportation Authority’s (OCTA) fully electronic State Route 91 Express lanes and the Transportation Corridor Agencies’ (TCA) system of Orange County toll roads; and the Partnership for Advanced Transit and Highways’ (PATH) technology test bed facilities at UC Irvine, the City of Irvine, the City of Anaheim, and Santa Ana. Southern California also includes specialized transportation facilities such as commuter, heavy, and light rail systems; the El Monte busway and the Harbor transitway; the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach; and the Alameda corridor.

Opportunities to visit these facilities and to discuss problems and objectives with associated professionals and officials contribute considerable depth to transportation education and research. METRANS serves as clearinghouse for field experiences associated with USC and CSULB classes and research and local transportation organizations such as WTS, providing van transportation when demand justifies it. This past year, student-centered field trips were organized to Caltrans District 7’s Transportation Management Center (TMC) and the Los Angeles County Department of Transportation’s (LADoT) Automated Traffic Surveillance and Control (ATSAC) Center, the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, and a pre-operation construction tour of the Metro Gold Line light rail system connecting downtown Los Angeles to Pasadena..

Institute for Transportation Engineers Student Chapters

A student chapter of the Institute for Transportation Engineers (ITE) was formed at CSULB in 1997 during the final stages of the original METRANS proposal process. The chapter currently has approximately 20 student members, and is advised by Civil Engineering Associate Professor Emelinda Parentela. ITE approved the formation of an ITE student chapter at the University of Southern California, and CE Professor James E. Moore II agreed to be the faculty advisor, but to date, no students have agreed to accept roles as officers. This may be due to the ITE focus on traffic engineering, as opposed to transportation engineering. This is unfortunate, because formation of a USC ITE student chapter would help meet the objectives of students from multiple schools within USC, as well as the objectives of professional organizations interested in encouraging students to enter the transportation professions. Further, the existence of student chapters at both CSULB and USC would provide an additional avenue of collaboration across the two campuses.

MERIT Research Program/McNair Scholars Program

Every year, a select group of promising incoming freshmen are invited by the USC School of Engineering faculty to work on projects in their research laboratories or in the field. These student researchers actively participate in the development of new technology throughout their undergraduate years. In addition to giving students excellent first-hand research experience, this program can help offset the cost of education. Each participant earns an annual stipend for their work. The School of Engineering currently provides a stipend of $2000; $1500 as wages and $500 for research expenditures. This renewable award is separate from other financial assistance offered by the University.

These undergraduate Merit Research Scholars are brought to the attention of USC faculty based on the student’s interests and the faculty member’s willingness to participate in the Merit research program. USC engineering faculty funded by METRANS are encouraged to participate in the Merit Research Program. Funded METRANS projects and lists of investigators are forwarded to the Office of Student Affairs in the School of Engineering to ensure that prospective students know these research projects are available to them. Prof. James Moore acts as a liaison to encourage placement of MERIT Scholars in transportation projects, and for students participating in the McNair Scholars program. Undergraduate McNair Scholars are part of a parallel University-wide program that focuses on research opportunities for students from groups that are under represented in graduate schools.

Degree Programs, Courses, and Seminars

Student involvement in transportation education and research continues to be strong at both USC and CSULB. Ongoing changes in transportation-related course offerings make year-to-year comparisons difficult. Civil engineering enrollments (a large source of transportation-related course enrollments) at USC have remained steady over the past year, but transportation engineering enrollments have increased substantially, approximately doubling. Enrollment in the MPL also increased this year; other programs have remained stable.

Student Participation in Research

Student involvement in transportation research projects is difficult to compare across years. The number of students supported on METRANS research projects reflects year-to-year differences in the number of ongoing projects. METRANS student involvement also includes research projects funded from other sources and reflects the variability of university-wide extramural funding levels. The general trend is toward increased student support, as total research funding in transportation has significantly increased at USC.

The new 2002/3 METRANS research projects together have 20 student positions budgeted, representing 36.5 percent of the total project funding.

New Courses at USC

USC’s curricular offerings in transportation continue to expand. Two new graduate transportation courses, CE 589: Port Engineering: Planning and Operations and CE 579: California Transportation Law have been added to the Civil and Environmental Engineering curriculum, and will be offered in the 2003-04 school year. Both courses were offered on a special topics basis previously, but are now part of the permanent curriculum. An existing graduate course, CE 552: Managing and Financing Public Engineering Works, will be offered for the first time in the Fall of 2003.

In spring 2003 a graduate special topics course, “Coastal Zone Policy and Planning,” was offered in the School of Policy, Planning and Development. This course addressed the problem of the coastal zone as scarce resource, discussing the various uses (ports, recreation, tourism, etc.) and examining strategies for planning and managing the urban coastline.

Transportation Students

In the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development, four students completed the comprehensive examination in the Master of Planning “Transportation and Land Use” field specialization in 2002/3. Approximately 5 students are pursuing transportation-related dissertations in the doctoral program in Urban Planning. A number of students completed their doctoral studies in transportation.

In the USC School of Engineering, three students completed the MSCE – Transportation Engineering program. This program has shown considerable growth, with 12 students enrolled in the Fall of 2002. Two students completed the PhD program in Transportation Engineering, and both joined University faculties. Two students are continuing in the doctoral program in Civil Engineering.

Twelve new USC doctoral dissertations in transportation were either defended or filed by the Spring of 2003. One professional doctorate in planning was also awarded.

· “Multiobjective Optimization for Intermodal Container Freight Terminals: Mathematics of Transport and Operations,” Mohammad Ali Alattar, Doctor of Philosophy, Civil Engineering.

· “Mixing Enhancement of Jets and Drag Reduction in Bluff Body Wakes,” Diego Rodrieguez Arcas, Dr. of Philosophy, Aerospace Engineering.

· “Estimation of Origin-Destination Matrices from Link Traffic Counts and User Equilibrium Link Information,” Seongkil Cho, Doctor of Philosophy, Planning.

· “Optimal Routing through Stochastic Networks,” Yueyue Fan, Doctor of Philosophy, Civil Engineering.

· “Multi-worker Households Commuting and Location Choice Behavior,” Falan Guan, Doctor of Philosophy, Planning.

· “A Statistical Analysis of the Formation and Location Factors of High-Tech Centers in the United States, 1950-1977: An Evaluation Using Quasi-Experimental Control Group Methods,” Dr. Junghoon Ki, School of Policy Planning and Development.

· “An Essay on Korean Reunification: Spatial Effects of Regional Integration and its Implications for Regional and Transportation Politics, Beom Soo Kim, Doctor of Philosophy, Planning.

· “Essays in Supply Chain Management,” Mahesh Nagarajan, Doctor of Philosophy Business Administration

· “Non-Survey Regional Freight Modeling System,” Qisheng Pan, Doctor of Philosophy, Planning.

· “The Unfinished City: The Development of Roads and Freeways in Los Angeles,” Matthew William Roth, Doctor of Philosophy, History.

· “Green Transit Scheduler: A Methodology for Jointly Optimizing Cost, Service and Life-Cycle Environmental Performance in Demand-Responsive Transit Scheduling,” Merrill Jan Weidner, Doctor of Philosophy, Industrial and Systems Engineering.

· “Optimization Problems for Bus Transit Operations,” Jiamin Zhao, Doctor of Philosophy, Industrial and Systems Engineering.

· “Freeway Transit Center” Shahab Rabbani, Doctor of Planning and Development Studies.

Dr. Alattar joined Kuwait University as an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering. Dr. Cho joined the Seoul Development Corporation. Dr. Fan joined the University of California at Davis as an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering. Dr. Pan joined Texas Southern University as untenured Associate Professor. Dr. Ki joined the Milken Institute, and was awarded direct dissertation support by the National Science Foundation. Dr. Guan was awarded direct dissertation support by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

CSULB Students

In 2002-2003, one student completed the MSCE – Transportation Engineering program.

CSULB’s new Master of Arts in Global Logistics debuted Spring of 2002 with 23 students, 21 of them will graduate in Fall 2003. The second cohort of 19 students was admitted to the program in Spring 2003 and will complete the program in October 2005.

This new degree is interdisciplinary, combining the analytical skills of a traditional MBA with a strong emphasis on logistics in a global setting. It is a 30-unit accelerated graduate program that can be completed in less than two years (21 months), and is offered through CSULB’s Center for International Trade and Transportation (CITT) and the University College. This degree program was developed in response to increasing demand for broad training in global logistics and supply chain management. The program prepares professionals to deal with the complexities of supplier relations/selection, purchasing negotiations, operations, e-commerce and many other dimensions of supply chain management.

In 2002-2003, approximately 60 students completed the CITT certificate program leading to the Professional Designation as a Global Logistics Specialist.

Transportation and Location Research Seminar

This seminar series serves to 1) provide speaking experience for advanced graduate students, 2) remind faculty of interdisciplinary transportation research opportunities, 3) provides a focus for transportation teaching and research, 4) provide a speaking forum for external visitors, and 5) increase the visibility of transportation research at USC and CSULB. The seminars are typically scheduled on Fridays throughout the academic year. In some cases external visitors are jointly sponsored with other groups in order to provide wider opportunities for seminar participation. The seminar resulted in excellent cooperation between faculty and students in several USC departmentsUSC and CSULB faculty and graduate students, local alumni, and local agency representatives are invited to the the seminar. As a practical matter, the distance between USC and CSULB has proven to be a significant barrier to participation from CSULB. The 2002/3 seminars are listed below.

USC Transportation and Location Research Seminar Fall 2002
Date	Speaker	Location		Topic
October 18	Najmedin Meshkati Associate Professor Dept. Civil and Environmental Engineering, USC	RGL 105		Investigating the Role of Driver Decision Styles in Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Accidents
November 1	Le Dam Hanh, Ph.D. Research Assistant Professor Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, USC	RGL 209		The Logistics of Empty Cargo Containers in the Southern California Region: Are Current International Logistics Practices a Barrier to Rationalizing the Regional Movement of Empty Containers
November 12 Joint with SPPD Urban Growth Seminar	Donald Shoup, Professor Dept. of Urban Planning, UCLA	RGL 101		How Parking Requirements Dictate Land Use: New Insights for Smart Growth
November 25	Roger Snoble Chief Executive Officer Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority	RGL 209		Los Angeles County’s Mobility Toolbox
December 12	Myung-Jin Jun Associate Professor Chung-Ang University, Korea	RGL 209		The Effects of Portland’s Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) on Urban Development and Commuting
USC Transportation and Location Research Seminar Spring 2003
Date	Speaker		Location		Topic
January 24	Robert O. Vos, Ph.D. Research Associate USC-Center for Sustainable Cities	RGL 215		Partial Life-Cycle Inventory as complementary Environmental Impact Assessment: A Case Study of the Alameda Corridor Project
February 14	Mohammed Alattar PhD Candidate Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, USC	RGL 215		Multi-objective Optimization for Intermodal Container Freight Terminals
March 14 Joint with USC Lusk Center for Real Estate	Randall Crane Professor Dept. of Urban Planning, UCLA		RGL 219		Traffic and Sprawl: The Influence of Firm Suburbanization on Commute Length, 1985-2001
April 11	Merrill Weidner PhD Candidate Dept. of Industrial and Systems Engineering, USC		RGL 105		Green Transit Scheduler: A Methodology for Jointly Minimizing Cost, Service Delays, and Environmental Impacts in Demand-Responsive (Public) Transit Scheduling
April 15 Joint with SPPD Urban Growth Seminar	James Marshall Moore Urban Designer		RGL 101		Transit Oriented Development on Figueroa: Fantasy or Future?

USC Doctoral Student Lecture Positions at CSULB

One of the most important missions for the University of Southern California is training and education of doctoral students intending to join the academy as faculty members. The USC/CSULB METRANS partnership provides a good opportunity place doctoral students in lectureship positions. METRANS hopes to facilitate opportunities for collegiate and graduate teaching experiences at CSULB to advanced doctoral candidates at USC working in areas related to transportation policy and transportation engineering. Students selected for this experience must have passed their Ph.D. qualifying examination, be making satisfactory progress on their doctoral dissertations, and have a professed interest in a faculty career.

Consolidation of USC Graduate Programs in Transportation Engineering

Changes within the School of Engineering are resulting in a consolidation of transportation faculty within the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. The PhD in Transportation Engineering within Civil and Environmental Engineering is being phased out. Prospective doctoral students indicating an interest in transportation engineering will be directed the PhD program in Industrial and Systems Engineering. This is an appropriate match, and reflects a deliberate, strategic focus on applied mathematics and systems as opposed to materials and facilities. Transportation planning and public policy PhD programs in the School of Policy, Planning, and Development remain unchanged.

CSULB/USC Joint Ph.D. Program

USC and CSULB faculty have discussed the creation of a new joint Ph.D. Program in Civil Engineering with a focus on transportation engineering. Both institutions already have joint curricula in place with other institutions. CSULB has joint Ph.D. program with the Claremont Graduate School, and USC has a joint Ph.D. program with Hebrew Union College. Because of the complexities of launching such a program, the Executive Committee has elected to emphasize recruitment between the two universities, focusing on recruiting CSULB masters students for Ph.D. programs at USC.

In previous years, a small but consistent stream of CSULB engineering undergraduates has transitioned to USC for graduate work. Hopefully, this flow can be increased. Further, a procedure has been defined making it possible to clear CSULB Civil Engineering faculty members for participation on USC doctoral dissertation committees, regardless of whether a new curriculum option is defined. This would expand the number of faculty members eligible to adjudicate the work of USC graduate students in transportation engineering, and would increase the exposure of CSULB faculty to candidates for service as CSULB lecturers.

Pre-College Events

METRANS has held an art competition, “Transportation in the Future,” each year in conjunction with the annual METRANS research conference. The art competition is open to all high schools in the region, and has been a very popular event. The purpose of such activities is to engage young people’s interest in transportation. Although the art contest gets students to think about the future, a single exercise likely has limited impact. We have therefore been considering different ways to reach out to pre-college students. We have been in discussions with the Sea Grant Program at USC, and we are investigating opportunities to incorporate an educational segment on ports and goods movement in K-12 training materials. The Sea Grant Program provides K-12 training materials for teachers. By developing a training module on ports and goods movement, we could potentially reach many more students in a far more systematic way.

Continuing Education Programs

These are described in the technology transfer section under technical training.

E. DESCRIPTION OF TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER ACCOMPLISHMENTS

METRANS technology transfer activities are conducted primarily at CSULB through the University College and Extension Services and the Center for International Trade and Transportation. Technology transfer at METRANS is more appropriately described as professional training and information dissemination. The topical focus of METRANS technology transfer is goods movement and international trade.

Professional Training

CSULB offers a series of industry driven training programs through the University College and Extension Services and the Center for International Trade and Transportation (CITT).

Global Logistics Specialist

The Global Logistics Specialist (GLSâ) professional designation is the foundation of a spectrum of programs to cover the industry’s training/education needs. It is designed to set professional standard for the international trade logistics industry and, as such, is aimed at foreign traders and all stakeholders involved in the movement of cargo around the world. This includes both asset-based companies (ocean carriers, rail, trucking, and warehousing) and non-asset-based companies (freight forwarders, customs house broker, consolidators, etc.). In an industry/university partnership, the curriculum is designed to provide broad based, hands-on training for individuals involved in, or entering any part of the logistics chain. Carefully selected topics have been grouped into six core modules that are offered within a one-year time frame one night class per week. Each module contains up-to-date, practical information delivered through innovative hands-on instruction and site visits, making the program a unique training concept in this industry. After successfully completing all six modules and submission of a capstone project on integrated logistics planning, the participant will earn a professional designation and be a Global Logistics Specialist.

In 2002-2003, 60 students were awarded the Professional Designation as a Global Logistics Specialist (GLS®). Since ins inauguration in January 1997, over 700 people attended classes in the program and to date over 400 have earn the GLS® profession designation.

GLS Online

Our highest priority technology transfer goal this year was the development of an online web-based version of the (GLS®) certificate program. Increased METRANS funding, together with a significant cost sharing commitment from CSULB has made development of the online course possible. Development of an online version of GLS is a response to increasing demand for the program; we are unaware of similar programs elsewhere, yet there is great demand for this type of training. The online version will make it possible to offer the course throughout the US. The conversion of this rigorous, 118 hour program, taught by top practitioners from every facet of the industry, is in progress. Testing of the first module will take place in the fall, and a first cohort of online students is expected to begin studies in Spring of 2004.

Outreach Events: CITT Activities

Industry Stakeholder Workshops

With sponsorship from METRANS, the CITT has conducted two workshops. These workshops are an outcome of the annual Town Hall Meetings. The first workshop was held in May 2001, and its purpose was to lay out the possible implications of extending the hours of operation of ocean terminals in order to improve port and supply chain operations efficiency. The result of the workshop has been summarized and distributed to stakeholders in the form of a white paper. The second workshop was staged on November 29, 2001 CITT, titled “Use of Information Technology to Improve Goods Movement in Southern California”.

Workshop III

The port complex, like other major transportation complexes, generates significant public benefits but also significant localized costs. Increasingly communities bearing these costs are seeking to limit the growth of these transportation complexes. These efforts may limit overall economic growth of the region and the nation.

The region and the industry are deeply divided on how growth can be absorbed over the next several years. The Annual State of the Trade and Transportation Industry Town Hall Meetings, sponsored by METRANS over the past five years, have addressed the importance of increasing productivity and garnered a number of proposals for reducing the external negative impacts of trade from the stakeholder.

The community reaction to the proposed expansion of the I-710 freeway, a major freight connector to the San Pedro Port Complex, lead to a change of focus for the planned third workshop. Instead of equipment management, the workshop planning committee suggested a different direction: bring community interest groups together to discuss the issues. The objective is to document their concern with port growth and the resulting impact on the communities surrounding the ports.

Town Hall Meeting

With sponsorship from METRANS, the CITT staged the Fifth Annual State of the Trade and Transportation Industry Town Hall Meeting, titled “What’s In It For Me? Collaborative Strategies for New Transportation Infrastructure in California” in March 2003 at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center, California State University, Long Beach, California. The event attracted a capacity crowd of about 900 industry stakeholders, including organized labor, port authorities, industry representatives, and a particularly noteworthy assortment of public officials.

The annual CITT town hall meetings have been attracting a very large number of rank and file of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). In view of the labor disputes that had occurred, it was decided that a town hall topic outside the marine terminal environment yet common to all participants would be prudent. Hence the topic of infrastructure was selected, a timely issue, yet neutral enough to avoid potential hostilities.

Infrastructure experts acknowledge that it will be extremely difficult to secure the funding needed to develop the necessary infrastructure improvements and expansions to bridge the significant gab By and large, the industry is unaware of this problem and has not created the kinds of coalitions necessary to effectively address the issues. With this the objective of the 5^th Annual Town Hall Meeting was to educate the industry and public representatives about (a) the scale of the infrastructure challenge facing California and the international trade industry, and (b) non traditional funding solutions to bridge the infrastructure gap.

To set the stage, a video was produced to provide a pictorial and verbal summary or the current situation on freeways, highways, bridges, and marine terminals. The video opened with a panorama of regional surface transportation infrastructure followed by a series of interviews featuring industry leaders, government agencies, and community representatives.

The event received support and financial sponsorships from the executive directors of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the Pacific Maritime Association and the Gateway Cities Partnership, Inc. The event also received formal endorsement by the board of directors of 23 trade associations. The Town Hall was open and free of charge.

A VIP reception was held prior to the Town Hall in order to provide industry leaders an opportunity to communicate with the presenters. The event was webcasted; the webcast will remain available for at least one year, until March 2004, at www.amp.csulb.edu/projects .

The Town Hall meeting was a full success by any measure. It brought together a cross-section of the ILWU rank and file and industry professionals to educate them on the need for collaboration between stakeholders and for devising a plan to deal with the projected exponential growth in containerized goods volume. The Town Hall meetings have been praised by union members, management, Long Beach and Los Angeles Port officials, and the public sector. The extent of local stakeholder support is demonstrated by the formal endorsements received, as well as by the $25,000 in matching funds contributed to CITT in support of this event.

Applied Research Program

As noted in Section C, to both address the continuing challenge of involving CSULB faculty in METRANS research and better support our outreach efforts, we are launching an experimental program in applied research. The applied research program will be directly linked with our goods movement and international trade outreach activities, and will be managed by the METRANS Deputy Director. Under the theme of “Monitoring the Ports,” CSULB faculty have been solicited for proposals on topics such as terminal gate operations, ILWU contract labor arrangements, cargo modal shares, empty container movements, and security ID cards. We anticipate short-term, small-scale efforts to determine the feasibility of the program. The intent is to 1) build an empirical base of information that can be used to inform future outreach activities, 2) support future port-related research, 3) increase METRANS’ visibility as a center for goods movement research.

Preliminary work on this project included a meeting with CSULB faculty to discuss the program and a series of topics. A request for short pre-proposals resulted in seven submissions. These are being evaluated, and those selected will be asked to submit a more detailed proposal with specific tasks and appropriate budget. A part-time (25%) project manager will be hired to give this effort the close management and monitoring it will require. 

The applied research effort is a key component for future outreach activities under the METRANS technology transfer / outreach program. There is a wealth of information on port operation and goods movement issue provided by industry stakeholder; however much of it is anecdotal. It has become clear that valid data is needed to proceed with the planned and previously discussed Goods Movement Summit. The proposed summit is the culmination of the applied research program , the series of stakeholder workshops, and the annual Town Hall Meetings and Industry Forums intended to highlight marine terminal and inland freight movement.

Other Outreach Events

National Symposium on Transportation, International Trade, and Economic Competitiveness

METRANS joined the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) in organizing this one-day conference on October 25, 2003. The Syposium was funded by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program. Its purpose was to bring together the many stakeholders in the good movement and international trade community to identify goods movement problems, both national and local, and discuss solutions. The Symposium was one of four being held around the US on the role of transportation in various industry sectors. Attendance was about 110, and speakers included academics and industry leaders from throughout the US.

The conference presentations and discussions focused on the scope and impact of trade on the national economy, the state of the national goods movement transport system and projections for future goods movement demand, major problems associated with the goods movement transport system, problems from various stakeholder perspectives, suggestions for solving these problems

Conference presenters included academics, industry representatives (port authorities, trucking, shipping, labor), public agency representatives (federal, state, local), and elected officials (federal and state). Conference attendees included faculty and graduate students as well as a wide range of industry stakeholders, both public and private.

The Conference Proceedings, summarizing the speaker presentations and panel discussions, were submitted to NCHRP for review and are currently under revision. The approved document will be distributed by NCHRP and AASHTO, and will be placed on the METRANS website.

ASCE Conference: Foundations for the Future

As part of our effort to leverage resources as effectively as possible, METRANS co-sponsored the ASCE Conference, “Foundations for the Future: A Summit on Los Angeles County Infrastructure.” The conference was hosted by the USC Keston California Infrastructure Institute, the USC Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Los Angeles Section of ASCE, and Southern California Public Radio. The ASCE is holding a series of conferences that assess the capacity and condition of transportation, water, and waste control systems via a “Report Card” that grades each component of infrastructure systems. The conference was held February 2003 at USC, and attendance was approximately 500. Speakers included METRANS Associate Director James Moore, other USC faculty, elected officials, interest group leaders, and other stakeholders. The event was carried live on KPCC radio, and subsequently rebroadcast.

Reality Check on Growth

In October 2002 a unique regional visioning process took place. About 300 people (public agency leaders, elected representatives, real estate developers, planners, academicians, interest group leaders) gathered around maps of the Southern California region, and took on the task of locating the additional households and jobs expected in the region within the next 20 years. The exercise took the form of physically locating growth via chips representing numbers of housing units or jobs. Participants worked in groups of up to 15, with each group assisted by an expert facilitator. METRANS faculty provided input on mapping the current and future transportation facilities and served as expert facilitators for the October exercise and for a second smaller event in April 2003. Reality Check is a joint project of the Urban Land Institute-Los Angeles and the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate.

Publications

Building Bridges

A bi-monthly newsletter, Building Bridges, began publication in January 2001. The newsletter is a briefing document to inform and promote dialogue within the maritime/logistics industry community. Three thousand hard copies and about 100 electronic versions of each issue are distributed to ILWU local members, industry leaders, government agencies, and METRANS Advisory Committee Members. In addition, the newsletters are made available at the Town Hall meetings, trade association meetings, and via the METRANS and CITT websites.

The objectives of Building Bridges are:

· To provide a neutral communications channel on industry issues

· To lead to fruitful and open dialogue

· To encourage closer cooperation among all industry stakeholders

The newsletter is formulated, edited, and distributed by an Editor-in-chief selected by the CITT Engagement Subcommittee. An Editorial Board that includes members of the subcommittee and the METRANS Director provides oversight.

METRANS News

Increased METRANS funding has made possible the launching of a newsletter. The first issue of the METRANS News was published in February 2003. This newsletter summarizes METRANS research, education and information dissemination activities. It compliments the METRANS website and broadens our exposure to the research community, government, and industry. The newsletter features METRANS researchers, conferences and other events, recent publications, interviews with key individuals involved in METRANS, and other newsworthy activities and events. With a quarterly publication schedule, it is distributed electronically to the national research community, federal, state and local leaders, industry leaders, and federal, state and local transportation agencies. Printed copies are distributed to the METRANS Advisory Committee, public agency managers, and elected officials. The newsletter is also available on the METRANS website.

Outreach - Website

The METRANS website is the primary source for dissemination of information on METRANS activities. The METRANS Strategic Plan, Annual Reports, and Semi-Annual Reports are available in downloadable form. All research project final reports, conference summaries, and technology transfer reports are also available. The Building Bridges newsletter and Metrans NEWS is available, as well as new information on CSULB’s Master of Arts in Global Logistics. An in depth program description including a list of core courses and options of specialization courses is provided. The website also identifies educational programs in transportation and links to 120 sources of transportation information. In particular, we have sought out organizations that find funding for transportation research, student internships, student awards and professional organizations, and provided links to their webpages. The UTC search engine locates documents on all other UTC websites by keyword.

The website is continually updated to include the latest research project reports. The website maintenance also included updates to information on key personnel, past events, and changes to the METRANS Advisory Committee. Updated information was added for METRANS’s conferences and presentations including the 2002/3 Seminar schedule. [CHECK THIS] Several pages were added and updated, including the Building Bridges and Metrans NEWS publications, the AASHTO Symposium, a link for the Caltrans New Technology Research Manual, and a link for the MEYTRANS Publication Style Guide. As of June 2003, www.metrans.org had received more than 29,700 hits on the home page.

Commercialization Project

Several METRANS project have commercialization potential, but none have been commercialized to date. Project 01-2, “Reducing Pollutants from Mobile Sources” (Rahai) is in the process of seeking a patent. Other projects with significant commercialization potential include 99-5, “Improving Fuel Economy and Emissions Performance of Commercial Goods Transportation and Mass Transit Vehicles Using Throttleless Engines” (Ronney); 00-7, “Solid State Sorption Air Conditioner System for Containerships and Vehicles” (Toosi); 01-10, “Smart Damping for Monitoring the Health of Bridge Structures” (Johnson).

Project Reports

Project reports are distributed through the METRANS website. The Research page of the site provides a convenient mechanism for downloading and viewing reports. All completed reports are available online. This year we have begun making a limited number of printed copies of METRANS Final Reports for distribution. All Final Reports completed after May 2003 will have printed copies available by request.

F. LIST OF PROJECTS

The following lists ongoing and completed research projects in METRANS. Complete project descriptions can be found on the METRANS web site at www.metrans.org.

ONGOING PROJECTS:

Draft Report Submitted

Project Number: 99-20

Research Project: Use of Robotics and Expert Systems in Improving the Handling Containers at the Port Terminals

Project Number: 00-7

Research Project: Solid State Sorption Air Conditioner System for Containerships and Vehicles - II

Project Number: 00-12

Research Project: Freeway Bus Station Area Development: Critical Evaluation and Design Guidelines

Project Number: 01-2

Research Project: Reducing Pollutants from Mobile Sources

Project Number: 01-6

Research Project: A Methodology for Joint Optimization of Service and Life Cycle Environment Impact Assessment of Transport Systems

Project Number: 01-10

Research Project: Smart Damping for Monitoring the Health of Bridge Structures

Project Number: 01-14

Research Project: Developing and Testing Methodologies for the Evaluation of Highway Widening Plans to Facilitate Freight Flows

Project Number: 01-16

Research Project: Automated Trucks on Dedicated Lanes for Cargo Movement

Research in Progress

Project Number: 00-11

Research Project: Investigating the Role of Driver Decision Styles in Highway-Rail Crossing Accidents

Project Number 01-3

Research Project Analysis of Vibrations as Infrastructure Deterioration Caused by High-speed Rail Transit

Project Number 03-06

Research Project Robust Investment Decisions for Highway Capacity Expansions

Project Number 03-07

Research Project Freight Routing and Containerization

Project Number 03-13

Research Project Hydrogen Storage System for Transportation Applications

Project Number 03-17

Research Project Innovative Bridge Structural Health Monitoring Using Variable Stiffness and Damping Devices

Project Number 03-18

Research Project Cooperative Optimum Time Window Generation for Cargo Delivery/Pick Up with Application to Container Terminals

Project Number 03-19

Research Project Measuring California’s Role in Supporting Interstate Goods Movement: Comprehensive Assessment of Interstate Freight Flows

Project Number 03-20

Research Project Neighborhood Attributes and Commuting Behavior: A Comparative Study of California’s Major Metropolitan Areas

Project Number: 03-24

Research Project: Increasing Bus Transit Ridership: Dynamics of Density, Land Use and Population Growth

Project Number: 03-25

Research Project: Development of an Artificial Intelligence Based Traffic Simulation Model Using the Discrete Element Method

COMPLETED PROJECTS:

Project Number: 99-3

Research Project: A Task Decomposition Model for Dispatchers in Dynamic Scheduling of Demand Responsive Transit Systems

Project Number: 99-5

Research Project: Improving Fuel Economy and Emissions Performance of Commercial Goods Transportation and Mass Transit Vehicles Using Throttleless Engines

Project Number: 99-7

Research Project: Modeling and Route Guidance of Trucks in Metropolitan Area

Project Number: 99-10

Research Project: Implementing a Statewide Goods Movement Strategy and Performance Measurement of Goods Movement in California

Project Number: 99-11

Research Project: The Role of Public Transit in Mobility of Low Income Households

Project Number: 99-14

Research Project: 2D Virtual and Physical Simulation of Automated Container Terminal Facilities and Analysis of Impact on In-Land Transportation

Project Number: 99-18

Research Project: Identification and Analysis of Local Agency Transit Project Performance Criteria

Project Number: 99-19

Research Project: Solid State Sorption Air Condition System for Containerships and Vehicles – Phase I

Project Number: 99-22

Research Project: Highway Oriented Transit System (HOTS): A Comprehensive Land Use-Transportation Strategy to Improve Transit Service Delivery

Project Number: 99-23

Research Project: Non-Invasive Means of Investigating Container Contents for Customs Agents at Port

Project Number: 99-25

Research Project: Assembling and Processing Freight Shipment Data: Developing a GIS-Based Origin-Destination Matrix for Southern California Freight Flows

Project Number: 99-27

Research Project: Dynamic Coordination Framework for Resource Allocation in Trucking Operations

Project Number: 00-3

Research Project: Alternative Access and Locations for Air Cargo

Project Number: 00-5

Research Project: Developing Risk Model for Commercial Goods Transport

Project Number: 00-6

Research Project: Assessment of Hybrid Vehicle Control Strategies in Planning Future Metropolitan/Urban Transit Systems

Project Number: 00-8

Research Project: Travel Patterns of the Elderly

Project Number: 00-13

Research Project: Distributed Architecture for Real-Time Coordination in Transit Networks

Project Number: 00-15

Research Project: Dynamic Optimization of Cargo Movement by Trucks in Metropolitan Area with Adjacent Ports

Project Number: 00-16

Research Project: Design and Optimization of a Conceptual Automated Yard Using Overhead Grid Rail System

Project Number: 00-17

Research Project: An Integrated Approach to Managing Local Container Traffic Growth in the Long Beach/Los Angeles Port Complex Phase II

Project Number 01-5

Research Project Re-engineering the Logistics of Empty Cargo Containers in the SCAG Region

G. FUNDING SOURCES AND USES

Funding Sources

This section reports on cumulative budgeted expenses and income for five years of METRANS’ existence (1998-2003). METRANS received $5,460,082 in total funding during this period, an increase of 67% over the previous year’s total of $3,254,504. These numbers include matching funds from all sources. USDOT funds now account for 42% of the total. The largest portion (50%) comes from state and local sources: the full dollar-for-dollar match from the California Dept. of Transportation, plus additional contributions from local agencies. University matching funds account for 7%, with the remainder coming from private industry and other sources. Matching funds of $1.34 have been obtained for each dollar of federal funding, compared to $1.32 through 2002. This is particularly impressive in light of the doubling of federal funding this year.

Funding Uses

The primary use of METRANS funds is research, and its share has increased to 57% of total expenditures. Administrative expenses account for 22% of the total, and it includes administrative support for outreach events, information dissemination, and educational activities, as well as the general operation and management of the research center. Technology transfer accounts for 19%; it includes conferences and other events, publications, and training. The education share has increased slightly as a result of a new scholarship fund. However, the largest source of support for students is the research program. The new 2002-2003 research projects include 20 student assistant positions.

Please refer to Section I of the financial section of the report for additional details on expenditures and income.

H. APPENDIX