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Volpe Center Highlights - March 2001

Papers and Presentations

Director's Notes | Focus | Safety | Mobility | Human and Natural Environment |
Economic Growth and Trade | National Security | Papers and Presentations

• Ms. Melissa Laube of the Service Assessment Division and Mr. Robert Stout of the Federal Transit Administration co-authored a paper titled "Grand Canyon National Park: Assessment of Transportation Alternatives." The paper explores the environmental benefits of transit services for park visitors, and was published by the Transportation Research Board, in Transportation Research Record, No. 1735, pp. 59-69.

• On December 13 and 14, 2000, Mr. William Lyons of the Service Assessment Division joined sponsor Mr. Edward Weiner of the Office of the Secretary of Transportation in Madrid, Spain, as a participant in an international conference, "Overcoming Institutional Barriers to Implementing Sustainable Urban Travel Policies." The conference was organized by the Working Group on Urban Travel and Sustainability, a joint effort of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, and the European Conference of Ministers of Transport. Mr. Lyons delivered a paper on the institutional frameworks for transportation and environmental decision making. He also joined Dr. Pieter Boot, Policy Director of the Dutch Ministry of Transport and Waterworks, in a discussion of the different approaches used in the United States and the Netherlands, based on collaborative work conducted by the Volpe Center and the Dutch Ministry. Mr. Lyons' paper was titled "The U.S. Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century and Clean Air Act Amendments: An Innovative Framework for Environmental Policy."

• On January 9, 2001, Dr. Paul Valihura of the Environmental Engineering Division, supported by staff from the Safety and Environmental Technology Division and the Transportation Strategic Planning and Program Development Division, submitted a two-volume Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) in support of the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) Maglev Deployment Program. This PEIS is part of the environmental review process required under the National Environmental Policy Act before Maglev system construction can begin. After a 30-day review period, the FRA will release a Record of Decision, indicating the future of the Maglev Deployment Program.

• Dr. Thomas Seliga of the Surveillance and Sensors Division co-authored two papers that were presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society held on January 10 to 13, 2001, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. These papers result from work done by the Volpe Center in support of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) programs related to weather systems and the relationship of weather to air traffic operations. Specifically, the Center has worked on the development and implementation of the new-generation Runway Visual Range (RVR) System, which monitors visibility at critical locations on runways. The first paper is titled "Visibility Variability at Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon: Insights into the Impacts of Runway Visual Range (RVR) Measurements on Aviation Operations." The second paper is titled "Severe Winter Weather Performance of Runway Visual Range (RVR) Systems at Five Alaskan Airports."

• On January 23, 2001, Ms. Stephanie Markos of the High Speed Ground Transportation Division co-presented "Development of a Hazard Assessment-Based Method for Evaluating the Fire Safety of Passenger Trains" at the 7th International Conference on Fire and Materials held in San Francisco, California, January 22 to 24, 2001. This paper provides an overview of the results to date of work being done by the Volpe Center and the National Institute of Standards and Technology to study the fire performance characteristics of current rail car materials in support of the rail car fire research program sponsored by the FRA.

• Mr. Christopher Roof of the Safety and Environmental Technology Division presented the paper "A Differential GPS for Determining Time-Space-Position Information in Support of Aircraft Noise Certification" at the 2001 National Technical Meeting of the Institute of Navigation (ION) held in Long Beach, California, January 22 to 24, 2001. The paper discusses a method of precision tracking of aircraft during noise certification testing, co-developed by Mr. Roof, in support of the FAA's Office of Environment and Energy.

• At the same 2001 ION National Technical Meeting, Ms. Karen Van Dyke of the Center for Navigation presented a paper titled "Use of Standalone GPS for Approach with Vertical Guidance." Presentations at this meeting were closely related to work that the Center for Navigation performs on aviation and maritime applications of the Global Positioning System (GPS).

• Ms. Alexandra Kuchar of the Vehicle Crashworthiness Division presented a paper at the Society of Automotive Engineers 2001 World Congress in Detroit, Michigan, held March 7 and 8, 2001. The paper, titled "A Systems Modeling Methodology for Evaluation of Vehicle Aggressivity in the Automotive Accident Environment," describes a computational approach for evaluating changes in the vehicle fleet, such as increasing sport-utility sales, and their effects on passenger safety.

• Dr. Judith Rochat of the Safety and Environmental Technology Division gave a presentation titled "Field Evaluation of the Traffic Noise Model" at a workshop of the Institute of Transportation Engineers in Phoenix, Arizona, on March 15, 2001. The presentation covered the selection of highway sites, noise measurement procedures and instrumentation, and preliminary results. Dr. Rochat's work supports the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Office of Natural Environment in the development and maintenance of the FHWA Traffic Noise Model.

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