Volume 28 No 3

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EL PUENTE NEWSLETTER, VOL. 28, NO. 2, 2014

Content

More than 80 parcipants present represenng the emergency response sector in Puerto Rico including Homeland Security, PR Fire Department, PR Police Department, Jusce

Department, Metropistas, State Emergency Management Agency, Highway & Transportaon Authority, and the Emergency Management Oce o arious municipalies

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The Puerto Rico Transportaon Technology Transfer Center is part of a network of 58 Centers throughout the United States that

comprise of the Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) and the Tribal Technical Assistance Program (TTAP), which enable local

governments, countries and cies to improve their roads and bridges by supplying them with a variety of training programs, an

informaon clearinghouse, new and exisng technology updates, personalized technical assistance, and newsleers.

Three injury crashes occur every minute in the United States,

potenally pung police, re, highway workers, tow truck

drivers, and other incident responders in harms way every day.

Congeson from these incidents can generate secondary

crashes, increasing traveler delay and frustraon. The longer

responders remain at the scene, the greater the risk they, and

the traveling public, face. Every addional minute clearing a

crash increases the chance of a secondary crash by 2.8 percent.

The Naonal Trac Incident Management (TIM) Responder

Connued on page 3

ELPUENTENwslr f h Pur Ric Trspr Tchly Trsfr Cr

Uivrsiy f Pur Ric, Myz Cmpus

Pur Ric LTA

Volume 28, Number 3, 2014

Pung Puerto Rico on the Map in Trac Incident Management Training

Educang to Save Lives on the Highways

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TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER CENTER

Wlcm!Best regards to all our readers of our third edition of El Puente Newsletterfor 2014. El Puente

has served as practical tool to share with our readers emerging technologies and innovative research

initiatives related to transportation, with emphasis on road safety, workforce development and

management of the built road infrastructure.

The feature article highlights the activities associated with our historic Train-the

-Trainer Traffic Incident

Management Workshop in Puerto Rico. Essentially, TIM is a planned and coordinated multidisciplinary

protocol to follow in the event of any type of traffic incident on the roadway. The end result is a faster and

safer clearance of the incident area, saving travelers from an overbearing traffic delay, and getting first -

responders out of harms way as quickly as possible. The importance of this activity is inherent to its

objective as a train-the trainer style workshop. With the culmination of this workshop, Puerto Rico now has

80 first responders whom represent the best of the police, fire, emergency health and roadside assistance

sectors qualified to provide training to their coworkers in the field. Finally, Puerto Rico joins the other States

in the Union whom have conducted Train-the-Trainer workshops and takes an significant step forward in

attending the goals established in the Puerto Rico Strategic Highway Safety Plan 2014-2018.

Our second article talks about the goals and benefits of the 3rd

edition of the Every Day Counts program

(EDC-3). On August 28, 2014 the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced the next round of

initiatives that will be promoted through this program and this article elaborates on these by explaining the

purpose and benefits of each initiative. Between October and December, FHWA will be hosting regional

summits for each of the 11 initiatives it is promoting through EDC-3; to shorten project development, and

delivery and enhance mobility, safety and quality of our highways. These workshops are open to all

transportation professionals and I encourage all transportation agencies to visit the EDC website to for

additional summit details.

The third article provides an overview of the recently approved Puerto Rico Strategic Highway Safety Plan.

The emphasis areas and the specific countermeasures recommended in this document are the main focus

within this article. The fourth article documents the awarding of graduate research projects through the

Abertis UPRM Chair for Transportation Infrastructure Management. The fifth article highlights research

being conducted by the Federal Outdoor Impact Laboratory (FOIL) of Turner Fairbanks Highway ResearchCenter in McLean, Virginia. Our sixth article promotes an initiative as part of the Decade of Action for Road

Safety in coordination with the UPR Mayagez Student Chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers

and the Metropolitan Bus Authority which consists of a contest known as Art on Buses. The objective of this

activity is to display educational messages through graphic designs which support road safety.

In this edition, the PR LTAP family recognizes Dr. Beatriz Camacho from UPRMfor her excellence in training

municipal and state transportation officials in the area of geotechnical infrastructure. The collaboration of

Dr. Camacho with the Puerto Rico LTAP Center on gabion applications in road and public works

infrastructure construction.

Also, in this issue the PR LTAPs family is proud to recognize Eng. Gisela Gonzlez, Administrative Official of

the T2Center. Her contribution during the last 26 years in different administrative aspects of the program

and her active role in the Decade of Action for Road Safety and Every Day Counts Initiatives in Puerto Ricoand US Virgin Island is worth to be recognized.

The electronic version of El Puente Newsletter is available at www.uprm.edu/prt2. You can contact us

directly to submit technical articles for the Newsletter, of interest to municipalities and oriented to

transportation with emphasis on road safety, workforce development and management of the built

infrastructure.

I hope that the selection of these articles in this third edition of Newsletter El Puente for 2014 are of benefit

to our readers and other professionals in local transportation agencies in the 78 municipalities of Puerto

Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Benjamn Colucci Ros

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consisted of classroom training and hands-on

and outdoor acvies. This historic event puts

Puerto Rico on the map as being cered

amongst 45 states across the United States that

have hosted train-the-trainers.

The Naonal TIM Responder Training Program

is a part of the Strategic Highway Research

Program (SHRP2) soluons (L12 / L32). This

SHRP2 soluon promises to save lives, money

and me by improving eecve trac incident

clearance through coordinaon between

emergency response services including police,

reghters, DOT towing, transportaon

professionals, medical personnel and other

incident responders. Improved trac incident

clearance reduces the risk of secondary crashes

from the original incident, and reduces trac

delays, decreasing fuel waste and freight delays.

It also intends to improve responder safety by

cross-training TIM core competencies.

This SHRP2 program soluon has also been

selected as an Every Day Counts 2 and 3

Training program is building teams of well-

trained responders who can work together in a

coordinated manner, from the moment the

rst emergency call is made.

As part of eorts to connually improve the

quality of emergency response services across

the Naon, Puerto Rico conducted successful

Trac Incident Management (TIM) Train-the-

Trainer workshops this past 24-25 of

September 2014 in the CIAPR (Puerto Rico

Associaon of Civil Engineers and Surveyors)

headquarters. The workshops, which are part

of the Naonal Trac Incident Management

Responder Training Program, were held in

collaboraon with Metric Engineering of

Puerto Rico, Public Safety Communicaons

(PSC), Federal Highway Administraon (FHWA),

Department of Transportaon and Public

Works and Puerto Rico Local Technical

Assistance Program (PRLTAP). Over 80

representaves of the emergency response

sector aended the 1.5-day workshop, which

Pur Ric Cducs Succssful TIM Tri-h-Trir Wrkshp

Rspdrs wh hv rcivd TIM Tri-h-Trir Wrkshps s f Ocbr 6, 2014

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and the Muvete pa la derecha (move to the

right) laws in Puerto Rico. Later, case studies of

signicant incidents were used to detail lessons

learned in TIM. Among the topics covered

include:

Fundamental TIM concepts including

terminology ,

Nocaon and the importance of public

safety communicaon,

Safe vehicle posioning including the

concept of Lane +1 Blocking and safe

pracces in avoiding or working around the

zero buer,

Scene safety including emergency vehicle

markings, lighng and high-visibility safety

apparel,

Command responsibilies including

describing the need of Incident Command

Systems (ICS) and Staging Areas and

appropriate use of Unied Command,

Trac Incident Management Area and the

concepts of establishing advance warning

area, taper and types of buers that may be

used,

Special circumstances including a vehicle re,

hazardous material transport, vehicle uid

spill and crash invesgaons,

Clearance and terminaon including quick

clearance strategies.

As a result of the topics discussed, parcipants

learned of the best strategies to use to avoid a

iniaves. The program is intended to provide

course parcipants (trainers) the knowledge and

materials necessary for them to conduct TIM

training quickly thereaer, within their local

jurisdicon or agency. The states with the most

emergency responders trained is Ohio with

10,330, followed by Virginia with 5,988

responders trained, and California with 4,335.

The chart presented above indicates that 70% of

responders trained were part of lawenforcement (37%), and re or rescue (33%).

This programs curriculum was developed using

a common set of best pracces and advanced

standards that branch out to all the disciplines.

This training is delivered through interacve

seminars, case study analyses, and tabletop role

-playing scenarios. These scenarios consisted of

incident site plans, scaled-down vehicles, and a

narrave of the case study being studied.

The 1st

day kicked o with denions, Naonal

Unied Goals (structures and protocol), and

pernent laws and regulaons. The importance

of Quick, Safe and Clear laws were established


Rspdrs wh rcivd wrkshp by discipli

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approximately 12 feet in length by 4 feet in

width. These exercises were intended to

provide responders from all the represented

groups an opportunity to demonstrate TIM

competencies, help promote communicaon

and interacon among disciplines and help

responders beer understand the

complexity and possible acons applicable in

the trac management scenario.

Finally, in the aernoon hands-on acvity

that took place on the fronng street of the

CIAPR headquarters, they were able to

complete the training idenfying the

components of the re trucks, and the

placement of re trucks, signage, and cones

in the appropriate manner. They pracced

second incident at the emergency response

site. The future trainers of the program

were able to clarify the person in charge of

jurisdicons, and cases of conicng

protocols between re and police.

During the second day, the parcipants

were divided into representave groups and

they explored potenal soluons or

treatments to clear the scene, quickly and

safely, through teamwork and the strategies

they had studied the day before. Emergency

Response vehicle placement and scene

safety strategies were pracced using a

model scenario to be solved visualized

through paper plans and miniature vehicles

on 4 rectangular tables that measured


MUTCD cmpli sis ypiclly usd fr Trc Icid Mm Ars

Prcips f h TIM Tri h Trir wrkshp prfrm xrciss wih mdls h simul rc icids pply ccpslrd i h clssrm.

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Incident Management Responder Training

Program.

A special thanks goes out to those people

who made this workshop a reality including

but not limited to engineers Felipe Luyanda

Andino of Metric Engineering Puerto Rico,

Andrs Alvarez Ibaez, Bruce Varner of BH

Varner and Associates and Maribell Prez of

the Federal Highway Administraon Puerto

Rico Division, as well as Josue Cruz and Jose

Pagn from the Oce of Trac Engineering

and Operaons of ACT, Highway and

Transportaon Authority. For more

informaon and photos of the workshop,

please visit our FB page under PR LTAP.

eliminang six addional hours of potenal

road closures by applying the TIM training.

Several states are now requiring their state

police or highway patrol ocers to take the

TIM training in order to be prepared to

manage trac in emergency incidences.

Emergency Response is idened as a core

emphasis area in the Puerto Rico Strategic

Highway Safety Plan 2014-2018. This

workshop is a step forward in meeng the

goals established in this document of

reducing emergency response mes. With

the parcipaon of all emergency response

sectors in this train-the-trainer exercise,

Puerto Rico has taken a leap forward in

expanding the reach of the Naonal Trac


Frm l rih: Flip Luyd (Mric Eiri), Adrs lvrz (FHWA), Bjm Clucci (PRLTAP), *****, Mribll Prz(FHWA) d Grdy Crrick (FHWA). Crdirs d cllbrrs f h TIM Tri-h-Trir Wrkshp.

Frm l rih: Flip Luyd (Mric Eiri-Pur Ric), Adrs lvrz (FHWA), Bjm Clucci (PRLTAP), Bruc Vrr

(BH Vrr d Asscis), Mribll Prz (FHWA) d Grdy Crrick (FHWA). Crdirs d cllbrrs f h TIM Tri-h-

Trir Wrkshp.

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3rd

round of EDC through consultaon with

transportaon agencies and industry

stakeholders:

1. Shortening Project Development and Delivery

A. Regional Models of Collaboraon

B. Improving Collaboraon and Quality

Environmental Documentaon

C. 3D Engineered Models: Schedule, Cost and

Post-Construcon

D. e-Construcon

E. Geosynthec Reinforced SoilIntegrated

Bridge Systems

F. Locally-Administered Federal Aid Projects:

Stakeholder Partnering

G. SHRP2-R16: Improving DOT and Railroad

Coordinaon

2. Mobility

A. Smarter Work Zones

3. Safety

A. Data-Driven Safety Analysis

A. Road Diets: Roadway Reconguraon

4. Quality

A. Ultra-High Performance Concrete

Connecons for Pre-fabricated Bridge

Elements

Some iniaves that have the potenal to be

implemented in Puerto Rico or United States

Virgin Islands will be elaborated.

Within the interest of Shri Prjc

Dvlpm d Dlivry, EDC fosters

The Federal Highway Administraon (FHWA)

connues developing the success of the EDC-3

program announcing a new series of funds

available for the implementaon of the selected

technology under this program. On December 9

& 10, 2014, ACT, DTOP, USVI, FHWA-PR Division,

ITE, CIAPR and LTAP ocials will parcipate in

the regional exchange in North Carolina as part

of the implementaon of EDC-3. Every Day

Counts, or EDC, is an iniave that began in

November 2009 that encourages the use of

proven technology that highlights the 4 Is:

Innovaon, Ingenuity, Imaginaon and

Invenon. The goal is to solve transportaon

problems in less me, and for a reduced cost.

Every 2 years, a set of innovaons are idened

and showcased across the Naon and each State

is allowed to select which ones to implement.

The resounding success of these programs has

been the adopon across the United States and

Puerto Rico of technologies previously limited

to a few States. Such has been the case with

technologies such as Geosynthec Reinforced

Soil-Integrated Bridge Systems, Safety Edge, and

Warm-Mix Asphalt. The EDC iniave also

promotes enhanced project delivery methods

and more eecve stewardship agreements.

The following innovaons were selected for the

G Rdy fr Evry Dy Cus 3!

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coordination between stakeholders and the use

of technology within construction engineering.

Ril Mdls f Cpri provides a

framework for collaboration across agency

boundaries while Lclly Admiisrd Fdrl-

Aid Prjcs ensures smarter and faster

delivery of transportation projects through

stakeholder partnering which clarifies State and

Federal project requirements. Lclly

Admiisrd Fdrl-Aid Prjcs supports

strategies designed to allow Local Public

Agencies (LPAs) to manage federal-aid projects

in partnership with State Transportation

Agencies (STAs). The most significant of these

are certification and qualification programs,

flexibility towards consultant services, and

stakeholder partnering, which may be

implemented through a Stakeholder

Committee. Improving the efficiency of these

types of projects is significant since 15-20% of

Federal Aid program dollars are directed

through LPAs.

The concept of -Csruci focuses on

transitioning from paper to electronic filing

which provides a number of benefits including:

(1) decreased communication delays, (2)

allowing concurrent document reviews and

electronic approvals, (3) increased transparency

and audit control, all which combined to

improve partnering and reduce project delivery

time. One of the most technologically relevant

innovaons within EDC 3 is 3D Eird

Mdls: Schdul, Cs d Ps-Csruc.

This technology can foster stakeholder

engagement and communicaon between

dierent phases of project development. 3D

modeling can contribute to beer decision

making in the construcon phase and can

posively impact safety, project costs,

maintenance and asset management. While 3D

engineered models were a part of EDC-2, in EDC-3

this innovaon will focus on: using raw data for

roadway inventory and asset management,

incorporang schedule, and cost informaon into

models and using post-construcon survey data

to correct the design model and create an

accurate as-built record drawing.

The innovations in the area of Mobility consist

of promoting Smrr Wrk Zs. This considers

a number of strategies including improved

interagency and corridor-level road-project

coordination as well as technological applications

in speed and queue management.

Better inter-agency road-project coordination

results in cost savings, and a greater ability to

reduce and manage traffic disruptions, ultimately


Exmpl f Smrr Wrk Zs. Ph by Txs A&M.

Exmpl f Smrr Wrk Zs. Ph by Txs A&M

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providing a better experience for drivers.

Variable speed limit (VSL) systems and queue

management strategies can be used to improve

driver expectancy and increase safety within

work zones.

The goal of D-Driv Sfy Alysis is to

provide a more scientifically sound, data-driven

approach to allocating resources that results in

fewer fatalities and serious injuries on the

Nations roadways, according to FHWAs Every

Day Counts website. This would be accomplished

through the deployment of predictive and

systemic analysis approaches to highway safety

investment decision-making. Roadway inventory,

crash and traffic volume data are considered

when employing a predictive approach of anexisting or proposed roadways safety

performance. Moreover, systemic approaches

identify high-risk design features associated with

severe crashes over a broad area. While the

predictive approach focuses on spot safety

improvements, the systemic approach can tackle

a certain crash type more exclusively. This state-

of-the-art effort builds on the past two decades

of collaborative research conducted by theAmerican Association of State Highway and

Transportation Officials (AASHTO), FHWA,

Transportation Research Board (TRB), and

industry partners.

Road safety is a top concern for Puerto Rico. .

Roadway reconfigurations, also known as Rd

Dis, are strategies that are oen used to

update an exisng roadway design to create a

complete streets environment, oen mes by

incorporang facilies and safety enhancements

for vulnerable users (cyclists and pedestrians)and/or addressing concerns of motorists

speeding through a community. Dan Burden and

Peter Lagerwey of the Walkable and Livable

Communies, Inc. originally championed this

soluon, as far back as 1999, as a means of

improving roadway safety, mobility and

accessibility without sacricing capacity. The

strategies are named Road Diets because they

trim excess travel lane width and typicallyinvolves substung a passing lane with a turn

lane, which helps provide addional capacity at

intersecons. These innovaons will serve as

opportunies for states to work in partnership

with Federal Highway Administraon in

deploying innovaons that shorten project

delivery while reducing costs. Many communies

have already beneted from this program

through the implementaon of the latest andgreatest transportaon technology.


Crss Sc () Bfr d (b) Ar h pplic f Road Diet, Daid Soto UPRM

()

(b)

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Introducon

This arcles summarizes the ndings and

recommendaons of the Puerto Rico Highway

Safety Plan (PR-HSP) for 2014-2018. The

presentaon of the PR-HSP on July 30, 2014 in

the Colegio de Ingenieros y Agrimensores de

Puerto Rico (CIAPR) headquarters in San Juan,

Puerto Rico was instrumental in the compliance

to MAP-21 requirements for State Highway

Safety Plans (SHSPs). The document represents

a mul-sectorial collaboraon between Federal

and State government agencies, including

Department of Transportaon and Public Works

(DTOP), Highway & Transportaon Authority

(ACT), Trac Safety Commission (CST), Puerto

Rico Police Department (PRPD), State Health

Department as well as Federal Highway

Administraon (FHWA), Federal Motor Carrier

Safety Administraon (FMCSA) and Naonal

Highway Trac Safety Administraon (NHTSA).

The goals for the 5-year plan are to achieve a

reducon in serious crashes, injuries and

fatalies on Puerto Rico roadways. Emphasis

areas were determined based on an analysis of

fatalies and injuries from available crash data.Within these core emphasis areas, (1) Trac

Records Coordinang Commiee (TRCC), (2)

Emergency Medical Response (EMS) and (3)

Occupant Protecon, the following emphasis

areas were established.

Pur Ric Sric Hihwy Sfy Pl 2014-2018

Integrated Approach Zone

Concrete Parapets

The preceding gure is taken from the PR-SHSP

and illustrates the role of each emphasis area in

the percentage of crashes in Puerto Rico from the

year 2007-2009 and 2012.

The ranking magnitude of percentages was

inuenal in establishing these emphasis areas.

The strategies being pursued through the PR-

SHSP along with performance measures include:

Emphasis Areas

1. Vulnerable Users

2. Alcohol Impaired Driving

3. Aggressive Driving

4. Young Drivers (15-20 yrs.)

5. Roadway Departure

6. Intersecons

Cribu Circumscs. Grph frm PR-SHSP

Strategic Emphasis Area Goals Performance Measure

Trac Records and Informaon

Systems

Time for crash data entry

Improve EMS Response

Capabilies

PREMS Annual Average

Time to Crash Scene

Reduce fatalies and serious

injuries of occupants

unrestrained

Unrestrained occupant

fatalies

Reduce alcohol impaired driver

fatalies

Alcohol-impaired driver

fatalies

Reduce speeding fatalies

Speeding fatalies

Reduce fatalies and serious

injuries of fatalies involving

young drivers

Young driver fatalies,

Young driver serious injuries

Reduce vulnerable road user

fatalies and serious injuries

Vulnerable user fatalies,

Vulnerable user serious

injuries

Reduce roadway departure

fatalies

Roadway departure

fatalies

Reduce trac fatalies at

intersecons

Fatalies at intersecons

Sii f Pur Ric Sric Hihwy Sfy Pl
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/map21/qandas/qashsp.cfmhttp://www.fhwa.dot.gov/map21/qandas/qashsp.cfm

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Moing Forward or Less

Fatalies on Saer Roadways

Some areas that have been

the target of historic road

safety campaigns, such as

fatalies associated with

alcohol-

impaired driving, havebeen on the decline in recent

years, suggesng the success

of these awareness

campaigns. Not all soluons

will work for every fatality

category, for instance, some

crash types such as pedestrian

fatalies may require infrastructure

enhancements in addion to educaonal

awareness campaigns in order to be eecve.

The PR-SHSP reects this need and to that end

promotes the implementaon of soluons that

require low to medium implementaon eorts

(minor changes to public policy or regulaons)

and medium to high eecveness (proven

strategies that signicantly reduce injuries) in

reducing fatal crashes. With the racaon of

the PR-SHSP, the coming years promise to be full

of interesng road safety projects and iniaves

in Puerto Rico.

Each Emphasis Area has a team

assigned to it represenng

each of the 4 Es: Engineering,

Enforcement, Educaon and

Emergency Management

Systems (EMS). Among their

responsibilies, they must:

1. Prepare Acon Plans

A. Idencaon of specic

countermeasures using

outcome based objecves

B. Idencaon of pares

responsible for

implementaon

C. Establishment of project schedules

2. Idenfy Best Pracces in Highway Safety

3. Ensure integraon with exisng and future

transportaon plans

In order to ensure that the PR-SHSP is

successfully implemented and its objecves are

met, its acon plans must be connually

assessed and adjusted as needed. To successfullymeasure this progress, the report recommends

ulizing a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunies

and Threats (SWOT) analysis, Evaluaon Process

Model (EPM), Implementaon Process Model

(IPM), and performance assessment to track the

progress of emphasis area goals. The ndings of

such an analysis as well as all relevant Emphasis

Area team acons must be presented in an

Annual Report.

Pur Ric Sric Hihwy Sfy Pl 2014-2018

Fiur 16. Sris Pririz Mrix

Fiur 15. Cvr f PR-SHSP 2014-2018.

Fliy cus by cry fr Pur Ric (2007-2011)

Cvr f PR-SHSP 2014-2018.

Sris Pririz Mrix

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The Abers UPRM Chair for Research in

Transportaon Infrastructure Management was

created by the Abers Foundaon in 2003. Theobjecve of this program is to promote the study

of economic and social development resulng

from the parcipaon of the private sector in

transportaon management. The main acvity of

this program is the call for papers which has two

(2) awards, one for students in Masters and the

other in Doctorate level. The Abers Chair

program is present in Spain, France, Puerto Rico,

Chile and Brazil.

In Spring 2012 an agreement of collaboraon was

signed by Abers Chair and University of Puerto

Rico to bring this research awards to the Island.

Professor Benjamin Colucci from the University of

Puerto Rico Mayagez Campus was selected to

manage the program. The jury is composed of

professors of transportaon from the University of

Puerto Rico Mayagez Campus, representaves

from the General Contractors Associaon (AGC by

their Spanish acronym) and directors from Abers

Foundaon. Winners of the naonal Abers

Awards contests are automacally entered to

parcipate in the Internaonal Abers Awards.

Last year Puerto Rico hosted the 1st

Naonal

Abers Awards Ceremony. The Island also served

as the principal forum to honor winners of the 3rd

Internaonal Abers Awards on Research in

Transportaon Infrastructure Management.

Winners of the local awards contest were Doctor Luis

E. Zapata Orduz and Yeritza Prez Prez, both

graduates from the University of Puerto RicoMayagez Campus. Dr. Zapatas winning entry was

tled Rheological and Mechanical Characterizaon of

Portland Cement Mixes Containing Micro and Nano

Amorphous Silica Parcles while Ms. Prez was

awarded for her thesis Development of an

Applicaon to Assist in the Value for Money

Decision Making Process for Highway Projects in

Puerto Rico (tle translated to English) On the

internaonal stage Dr. Aida Calvio Marnez from

Spain and Pierre Antoine Laharroe from France both

received this years recognions by Abers Awards for

best research.

Students who are interested in parcipang in this

years call for papers must apply by this years

deadline, 1st

of December 2014, to qualify for the

grant. They must present a project that was

researched or completed within the last year. The

awards are open to all master s and doctoral students

of the University of Puerto Rico. Students must

present a bounded physical copy of the work, a

digial copy, and an ocial leer demonstrang

interest in parcipang in the UPRM Abers to the

Puerto Rico Transportaon Technology Center of the

Department of Civil Engineering and Surveying of the

University of Puerto Rico Mayagez Campus. For

more informaon, please contact 787-834-6385 or

reach out to the email [email protected].

Abrs Awrds Grdu Rsrch i Trspr Ifrsrucur Mm

Students received their awards in a ceremony in Foundation for Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

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This reacon in an unstable manner is due to the

fricon with the concrete barrier and reducing

the fricon forces could minimize the tendency

to rollover.

The rst phase consisted of proving the

feasibility of deploying a low fricon coang

exisng barriers across the countrys roadways.

The coang design must withstand the repeated

impact of a crash, show environmental

durability, be easily applied on the eld to

exisng barriers and reduce fricon with the

impacng vehicle as to avoid rollovers. Chemical

experiments and component level tests were

conducted with previously used concrete

barriers with the aid of the 4500 lbs pendulum of

the FOIL.

The results of the rst phase were rened in

phase 2. The coang developed shall be ne-

tuned, crash-tested and equipped for its rapid

deployment. In order to idenfy the crical case

that would be studied in the crash tests, vehicle

dynamic simulaons of varying scenarios were

Jersey barriers are the most widely used form

of concrete trac barrier. The tendency of

small cars to roll over is a concern to the

Federal Highway Administraon (FHWA) and

previous research has yielded the F-Shape

barrier design, which limits the potenal for

rollover. From September 10-12, 2014 the

Federal Outdoor Impact Laboratory (FOIL) of

the Turner Fairbanks Highway Research

Center conducted a crash comparison exercise

on the applicaon of a low-fricon coang to

Jersey barriers.

Research into the low-fricon coang is being

conducted through the Small Business

Innovave Research (SBIR) program. The

objecve is to establish the technical

foundaon to enable the rapid integraon of

low fricon coangs to concrete barriers for

the reducon of vehicle rollovers. Under

certain crash scenarios outside of what the

concrete barriers are designed for, impacng

vehicles might have the tendency to roll over.

FOIL Cducs Jrsy Brrir Lw Fric C Crsh Cmpris Ts

Sll frm vid rcrdi f crsh cmpris s shwi mm f impc Fdrl Hihwy Admiisr Yuub

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conducted. Two (2) full-scale crash tests have

been conducted at FOIL. Beforehand a test was

conducted to ensure that the method of rigidly

xing the barriers was going to work during the

crash tests. Once this had been completed, a

second test with a small sedan weighing 2600 lbswith the weight of 4 passengers impacted a row

of J-hook jersey barriers at a speed of 60mph

and at an angle of 10 degrees. This crash test

resulted in the vehicle climbing and lunging with

a high rolling angle eventually causing the vehicle

to roll four (4) mes. The subsequent test was

idencal to the last except the yellow coang

had been applied to the Jersey barrier. This

resulted in the vehicle once again climbing the

barrier but in a stable manner, which did not

induce any roll.

Further tests will be conducted before the study

concludes next year including what the forces

perceived by the occupants of the vehicle were

and whether these were within the allowable

limit for this type of Jersey barriers. Other

concerns include the maintenance of these

facilies and whether the vehicle climb can be

reduced. The results demonstrate the impact of

this improvement on roadway safety by reducing

the likelihood of rollover crashes.

This is one of many dierent innovaons that

are being studied at Turner Fairbanks Highway

Research Center. Turner Fairbanks is located in

McLean, Virginia and houses more than 20

laboratories, data centers and support facilies

where applied and exploratory advanced

research in safety, pavements, highway

structures and bridges, human-centered

systems, operaons, intelligent transportaon

systems and materials is conducted. The

research center provides the world highway

community with advanced research and

development with the goal of maintaining a

safer, longer-lasng, more reliable

transportaon system.

FOIL Cducs Jrsy Brrir Lw Fric C Crsh Cmpris Ts

Sll frm vid rcrdi f crsh cmpris s shwi rllvr. Fdrl Hihwy Admiisr Yuub

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Spanish acronym), announced an iniave

as part of an exisng alliance with the

Instute of Transportaon Engineers

University of Puerto Rico Mayagez Student

Chapter (ITE-UPRM) as part of the Decade of

Acon for Road Safety. The compeon is

part of a new road safety awareness

campaign that promotes local arsc talent.

The 4 winning artworks would be

incorporated into the available

adversement spots displayed on 16 new

buses that are operated by AMA. This

historic alliance will serve to create

awareness among the students and also

create an impact to the communies served

by the transit agency. This will also serve to

strengthen collaboraon between academia

and the public sector. This iniave will help

enhance the behavior of road users, the 4th

pillar of the Decade of Acon for Road

Safety.

The compeon will be open to students of

the University of Puerto Rico Mayagez

The Decade of Acon for Road Safety 2011-

2020 is a proclamaon from the United

Naons to stabilize and decrease the number

of road fatalies around the world. In Puerto

Rico there is a special concern for vulnerable

users since the pedestrian fatality rate is

higher than any other jurisdicon in the

United States. The iniave has become a

mutual cause between members of the

transportaon eld to work together for the

common goal of reducing trac fatalies.

The central themes of the Global Plan for the

Decade of Acon for Road Safety 2011-2020

are the 5 pillars: (1) Road Safety

Management, (2), Safer Roads and Mobility,

(3) Safer Vehicles, (4) Safe Road Users and (5)

Post-crash response.

As another example of successful

partnerships for the Decade of Acon on

Monday, September 22, 2014, Alberto

Figueroa Medina, President and CEO of the

Metropolitan Bus Authority (AMA for its

Dcd f Ac fr Rd Sfy: Ar Buss Cmp

Ar Buss Cmp l.

Sfy Awrss d Bus i Mryld.

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Eng. Gisela Gonzlez natural from Mayagez,

completed her Bachelor of Science in Civil

Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico

Mayagez Campus (UPRM) in 1978. She married Dr.

Mario Rivera, who is now a professor at UPRM.

Between 1978-1990, she moved to Blacksburg,

Virginia where she supported her husband in his

graduate studies and during that time she dedicated

herself to raising their children. In 1991, she started

working with the development of the Center for

Hemispherical Cooperation in Research and

Education in Engineering and Applied Sciences

(COHEMIS), recently founded with grants from the

National Science Foundation (NSF), as well as theCivil Infrastructure Research Center (CIRC).

Eng. Gonzlez began collaborating in the

Transportation Technology Transfer Center (T2) in

1992 at a moment in which the Center was involved

in a historical process. By then, the Center had just

received the monumental responsibility of hosting

the National Local Technical Assistance Program

Association Meeting, in which the Directors and thePersonnel of all the Centers across the United States

were expected to attend.

Eng. Gonzlez began as an Executive Official at the

Transportation Technology Transfer Center (T2),

being the right hand of the directors during projects

of great magnitude, to complement the training

program of the LTAP Center. Examples of such

innovative initiatives includes Every Day Counts

(EDC) of the Federal Highway Administration

(FHWA), the Professional Development Program

UPR/MIT/Tren Urbano, the Professional

Development Program UPR/PUPR/ATI, congresses co

-sponsored with NSF, COHEMIS as well as other

engineering projects and community services. She

has also been instrumental in carrying out initiatives

like the Decade of Action for Road Safety and other

initiatives with student and professional organization

such as the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE).

Her positive attitude, intention of solving and

addressing the challenges and opportunities to the

next level, have been a key element to the success

stories of the Center. Her ability to identify the

appropriate resources for the challenging tasks of the

Center, has been impressive. She also had the

responsibility to perform all administrative tasks and

the distribution of funds to provide a balanced

program for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

Throughout the years she has demonstrated to be

able to manage her time between her work and her

family. Eng. Gonzlez is a model of inspiration,

providing wisdom and knowledge, both the

professional development and human aspect, to the

staff who have worked with her over the years.

The T2 Center family gratefully welcomes her great

contributions, efforts and dedication as a professional

and as a human being during these 22 years.

We hope she enjoy her well-deserved retirement with

her husband Mario, her children Mario Alfredo,

Camille, Kathia and Marah, and her grandchildren

Angel Toms Jr., Mario Alfredo, Alejandro Xavier, Maia

Alexandra, and Omar Antonio. Congrats!

Pur Ric Lcl Tchicl Assisc Prrm Cr S: Gisl Gzlz

8/10/2019 Volume 28 No 3

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EL PUENTE is published by the Puerto Rico Transportation Technology

Transfer Center located at the Department of Civil Engineering and Surveying

PUERTO RICO TRANSPORTATION

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER CENTER

University of Puerto Rico at Mayagu ez

Department of Civil Engineering and Surveying

Call Box 9000, Mayagu ez, PR 00681

787.834.6385 PHONE

787.265.5695 FAX

www.prltap.org

LPU NT

N WSL TT R

The opinions, ndings or recommendaons expressed in this newsleer are those of the Center Director and Editor and do not necessarily reect the views of the

Director & Editor

Benjamn Colucci Ros

Administrae Staf

Wilmarie Coln Reyes

Irmal Franco Ramrez

Adlin Santos Vlez

Grisel Villarubia Echevarra

Editor Assistant

David R. Soto Padn

Student Staf

Gretchen Avils Pieiro

Yari L. Babilonia Obregn

Carlos Fuentes Rosa

Marivic Hernndez Quezada

Anne M. Mndez Ramrez

Yanira Rivera Maas

EL PUENTE NwslrVOL. 28, NO. 03, 2014

PR LTAP Cr S

Volume 28 No 3

Documents

Transcript of Volume 28 No 3