Volpe Center: Volpe Center Highlights

Information Resources

Volpe Center Highlights - February 2000

Mobility

Ensure that the transportation system is accessible, integrated and efficient, and offers flexibility of choices.

Volpe Staff Member Presents Global Positioning Systems Lecture at MIT

Mr. John Kraemer of the Center for Navigation presented a lecture on Global Positioning Systems (GPS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on January 24, 2000. The talk was part of an intensive one-week lecture series on transportation technology. The lectures were open to the entire MIT community, but were intended primarily for graduate students majoring in transportation studies. Professor Alan Chachich, who organized the lectures, pointed out that many students have very little understanding of the practical applications of key technologies that make modern transportation systems feasible. GPS is an example of one of these technologies.

Mr. Kraemer presented an overview of GPS from its inception in 1972 to today's GPS Modernization Program, which will be implemented over the next several years. Also included were specific transportation-related applications of GPS including the U.S. Coast Guard's (USCG) Differential GPS Marine Radiobeacon System, the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) and Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS) programs, and the Volpe Panama Canal Commission (PCC) Project. Dr. James Carroll of the Center for Navigation presented information on the Center's Panama Canal work. He is the Program Manager for the project.

Volpe Participates in Annual American Meteorological Society Meeting (FAA)

Dr. Thomas Seliga of the Surveillance and Sensors Division attended the 80th Annual American Meteorological Society (AMS) meeting from January 9 to 14, 2000, in Long Beach, California. Dr. Seliga is the co-author of five papers that were presented at the conference; he personally presented three of the papers.

The first paper, "Contribution to a Baseline Understanding of the Impact of Weather on Airline Carrier Operations," presents a methodology for assessing the impact of weather on airline carrier operations. The second paper, "Challenges and Opportunities for Using Weather Information to Support Transportation," discusses the Volpe Center's role in improving and developing new weather services for multimodal transportation applications. Dr. Basav Sen of EG&G Technical Services, Inc. and Mr. Michael Rossetti of the Transportation Strategic Planning and Analysis Office were co-authors of this paper. The third paper, "The Stand Alone Weather Sensors System: An FAA Program for Replacement and Backup of Critical Weather Observations at Service Level 'C' Airports and Flight Service Stations," discusses the Stand-Alone Weather Sensors (SAWS) system. The fourth paper, "Final Performance Evaluation of the Automated Lightning Detection and Reporting System (ALDARS)," presents the results from a series of tests to confirm the operational integrity of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) ALDARS prior to its deployment. The fifth paper, "Comparisons of Observer Reports of Thunderstorms with Similar Reports Derived from the National Lightning Detection Network Data," describes an analysis that was performed to compare manually observed thunderstorm observations to similar reports developed with ALDARS algorithms and lightning flash data from the National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN).

The theme of the 80th AMS Annual Meeting was "Applying Environmental Science to Societal Needs in the New Millennium." Dr. Seliga participated in two conferences: the Second Symposium on Environmental Applications and the 16th International Conference on Interactive Information and Processing Systems for Meteorology, Oceanography, and Hydrology. Both conferences include major topics of interest to the FAA programs that involve weather, and related systems and issues. The Volpe Center is supporting the FAA in a number of areas dealing with weather systems and with the relationship of weather to airline delays.

Valley Forge National Historical Park Works with Volpe to Resolve Transportation Issues (NPS)

Photo: Revolutionary standing with rifle among cannons
Valley Forge NHP is best known for its role in the American Revolution
(Photo courtesy of Valley Forge Convention & Visitors Bureau)

Dr. Jeffrey R. Bryan of the Volpe Center's Change Management Division has been working with the Valley Forge National Historical Park (NHP), the Philadelphia Support Office of the National Park Service (NPS), the Pennsylvania Division of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and the Pennsylvania DOT to resolve issues on several transportation projects affecting the Park.

Valley Forge NHP is perhaps the best-known location associated with the American Revolution. The goal of the NPS is to make Valley Forge NHP accessible for visitors. However, the park is located in the middle of rapidly growing suburban communities along the Philadelphia Beltway. The volume of traffic traversing the park, especially during commuting hours, has detracted seriously from the visitor experience and made it difficult to get to and around the Park. In addition, some of the planned major highway construction near Valley Forge potentially threatens the watershed of a Class A stream running through the Park.

Dr. Bryan led a consulting team of transportation planners and engineers to support the NPS in conducting a detailed assessment of the key transportation issues; developing, with the Valley Forge NHP and other key stakeholders, the strategic outcomes necessary for successful resolution of the transportation issues; and working jointly with the stakeholders to create mutually acceptable agreements.

Volpe Staff Member Participates in Boston Water Transportation Forum (NPS)

Photo: Boston Waterfront
Boston residents and visitors can access Boston's Harbor Islands by ferry from the Boston Waterfront

Dr. Jeffrey R. Bryan of the Volpe Center's Change Management Division recently was a panelist at the Boston Water Transportation Forum sponsored by the Boston Municipal Research Board. The panel was comprised of federal, state, city, and private sector representatives who have been working on water transportation planning for the Boston Harbor.

As a change management specialist, Dr. Bryan manages complex projects and provides services in the areas of managing large system change, designing team-based organizations, and stakeholder management. Dr. Bryan has been supporting the National Park Service (NPS) in developing an interim and long-term water transportation plan for the new national park in Boston's Harbor Islands.

Unlike most national park areas, Boston's Harbor Islands is administered by a partnership of national, state, and local representatives appointed by the Secretary of the Interior to develop and implement a comprehensive park management plan. Currently, the partnership is working to determine the services and facilities to be provided in the national park area.

At present, Boston's Harbor Islands are served by daily passenger ferries that operate seasonally from Long Wharf on the Boston Waterfront to George's Island and from Hewitt's Cove in Hingham, Massachusetts, to George's. Weekend ferries run from Lynn Heritage State Park in Lynn, Massachusetts, to George's. From George's, free water taxis take visitors to Gallop's, Peddock's, Lovell's, Bumpkin, and Grape islands.

As a member of the recent panel, Dr. Bryan discussed the complexity of issues related to current and future water transportation in the Boston Harbor including the need for intergovernmental cooperation; capital improvements; and operational, environmental, and access issues.

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