Archive for 'Transportation Infrastructure'
The ideal intersection, in a roundabout way
Posted on 19. Apr, 2012 by perspective.
They’ve become the subject of myriad YouTube “how-to” videos. Entire department of transportation websites explain how to navigate them. And, they elicit more than a little anxiety and confusion in the minds of drivers entering, circling and exiting them. Yet, roundabouts are rapidly cropping up in locales ranging from city streets to rural intersections and [...]
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Freight consortium picks up speed
Posted on 19. Apr, 2012 by perspective.
The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded a $3.5 million grant to the National Center for Freight and Infrastructure Research and Education (CFIRE). Led by researchers at UW-Madison, CFIRE is a partnership among 10 U.S. universities and encompasses a geographical area that serves the majority of freight traffic in the United States. The new grant will [...]
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Keeping U.S. transportation investments on track
Posted on 05. Oct, 2011 by perspective.
In the finance world, ROI, or return on investment, is a common performance measure that essentially tells investors whether their money was well-spent, or not. In Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Teresa Adams’ case, the investors were U.S. citizens, and the money they spent funded transportation projects via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. On [...]
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100-year study mirrors U.S. history of concrete
Posted on 21. Jun, 2011 by perspective.
Almost since the beginning of recorded history, people have used concrete substances in everything from infrastructure to artwork. Yet, recently as the early 1900s, there had been little scientific research of concrete and only a few standards existed to guide its modern-day mixing and implementation. UW-Madison Mechanics Professor Owen Withey recognized this deficit and, in [...]
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Kings of the road
Posted on 01. Sep, 2010 by perspective.
With gleaming stainless-steel equipment, Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Hussain Bahia’s third-floor Engineering Hall laboratory feels much like a high-tech kitchen. There, he and his students meticulously develop and test “recipes” for asphalt mixes that can help contractors make the most of their material. Among their ingredients are polymer additives developed by Honeywell Specialty Additives [...]
