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The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) developed an automated permitting system called the Kansas Truck Routing and Intelligent Permitting System (K-TRIPS) to issue permits for all OSOW trucks. Using four years of data from K-TRIPS (2014‒2017), the research team developed a series of heat maps using ArcGIS to help visualize the routes OSOW trucks were using to travel through the state of Kansas. It was found that around 87 percent of the approximately 72,000 annual OSOW trips in Kansas were taken by five industries (general construction equipment, general freight, agriculture equipment/implements, wind energy, and oil and gas equipment), and that the majority of fluctuation in the consistency of routes travelled came from two industries (wind energy and oil and gas equipment).

The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between roadway and environment-related factors and truck, crash severity at horizontal curves located on rural, two-lane state highways in Kansas. Single vehicle truck crashes and, multi-vehicle crashes involving at least one truck were extracted from the Kansas Department of Transportation’s crash and, roadway databases for the years 2006-2010, resulting in 452 crash records. Descriptive statistics and 95 percent confidence, intervals were constructed for an odds ratio analysis comparing single-vehicle truck crashes to multi-vehicle crashes involving, at least one truck for the variables that were included in both databases. Overall, the odds ratio analysis indicated that single, vehicle truck crashes were less likely to occur on wet pavement with shoulder rumble strips present and during non-adverse, weather conditions compared to multi-vehicle crashes involving at least one truck. Single-vehicle truck crashes were also, more likely to result in an injury crash compared to multi-vehicle crashes involving at least one truck. The latter were more, likely to result in a fatality or property damage only crash.

The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the use of Portable Traffic Signal (PTS) systems at long, rural two-lane work zones and to compare three different conditions for controlling one-lane traffic in conjunction with pilot car operations: flagging only, a PTS system with the presence of a flagger, and a PTS system without the presence of a flagger. The primary measures of effectiveness were determined as Red Light Running (RLR) violation percentages, vehicle delay estimates, queue lengths, signal timing operations, and general field operations. Data were collected three days per week over a period of four weeks from August 5, 2014, to August 28, 2014, at four different temporary work zones in Kansas. Two PTS units were used for the purpose of the study in conjunction with pilot car operations.

C1979, The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the use of Portable Traffic Signal (PTS) systems at long, rural, two-lane work zones and to compare three different conditions for controlling one-lane traffic in conjunction with pilot car, operations: flagging only, a PTS system with the presence of a flagger, and a PTS system without the presence of a flagger., The primary measures of effectiveness were determined as Red Light Running (RLR) violation percentages, vehicle delay, estimates, queue lengths, signal timing operations, and general field operations. Data were collected three days per week, over a period of four weeks from August 5, 2014, to August 28, 2014, at four different temporary work zones in Kansas., Two PTS units were used for the purpose of the study in conjunction with pilot car operations., It was found that the percentage of violations for the flagger only, PTS with a flagger, and PTS without a flagger, were 1.1, 1.3, and 3.1 percent, respectively. A test of proportions conducted on the three samples at a 0.05 level of, significance indicated that there was a statistically significant difference in the number of violations when a PTS was used, with a flagger and without a flagger, as compared to when flagging only operations were used. Similarly, there was a, statistically significant difference in the number of violations when a PTS was used with a flagger and when a PTS was used, without a flagger. It was also found that there was no statistically significant difference between the number of RLR vehicles, that followed an already departed queue for the PTS with a flagger and PTS without a flagger conditions. It was found that, there was a statistically significant difference in the number of RLR vehicles that left the stopped queue and the number of, vehicles that disregarded the PTS control for both the conditions., An exploratory delay analysis indicated that the presence of a flagger reduced the total delay by approximately 5, percent of the delay that could have occurred during the normal operations when flaggers waved the vehicles through the red, light. Finally, equations were developed to determine the volume thresholds at which the PTS system would fail and the, appropriate green intervals needed to serve a certain queue length. It was found that based on the existing KDOT policy of a, maximum pilot car roundtrip time of 15 minutes, the PTS system would fail at an annual average daily traffic (AADT) of, approximately 7,083 vehicles per day and at a corresponding maximum green time of approximately 446 seconds., In conclusion, it was recommended to use a PTS unit without a flagger in conjunction with pilot car operations at, long, rural two-lane work zones but other measures were suggested, such as engineering studies to more accurately estimate, queue lengths, installation of static signs indicating the expected wait time, and regular inspections of the PTS units by site, supervisors or crew members to mitigate excessive delays and monitor for RLR vehicles.

C2066, The main objective of this research was to provide guidance to the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) in establishing strategies to improve the traffic safety culture in Kansas. This was done by analyzing crash data with respect to the seven coalition districts in Kansas. A detailed literature review along with a survey of existing conditions in 27 states was carried out. Web research was carried out to determine existing safety culture programs both in the United States and internationally. The applicability of the documented safety culture programs is determined based on the crash analysis of the coalition districts. The summary of the crash statistics and traffic safety culture programs, shown in Appendix C, was presented at the coalition meetings in order to positively impact the state’s traffic safety culture by making sure the citizens of Kansas are thinking about safety proactively rather than reactively., The safety culture survey and the crash data analysis were able to provide a comparison between the largest issues contributing to traffic safety in Kansas and the types of issues where other states are spending their money. A common thread between the two is the appearance of younger drivers; drivers under the age of 30 made up over a third of drivers in crashes in Kansas, and most of the programs cited by other states have a youth component., This research will be the foundation upon which the Kansas regional safety coalitions build their traffic safety culture strategies. Additionally, this can be a valuable tool for other states going through a similar local involvement of traffic safety responsibilities or for traffic safety professionals to use as a reference for current traffic safety programs in the United States.

C1825, This research was designed as proof-of-concept study to investigate how Bluetooth data loggers can be used to collect vehicle, operational data over traditional vehicle counting methods. The reliability test included mapping areas for five antenna options and, their detection reliabilities were investigated. Other tests were conducted to assess the impacts of roadside antenna placement, vehicular speeds and in-vehicle source placement. The feasibility of using data from Bluetooth enabled devices in vehicles as a, surrogate for traditional traffic engineering data were investigated for several types of traffic studies. These studies included, urban, corridor travel time monitoring, freeway travel time monitoring, origin-destination studies, estimating turning movements at, roundabouts, and truck tracking across the state of Kansas. Each of these studies demonstrated how the same technology could be, applied to different study objectives. While this technology was found to have enormous potential to collect vehicle operational, data, it was not found to be completely stand-alone. An identified weakness of the technology was that it was found to sample, around 5 percent of the available traffic. The implication of this was that Bluetooth data were not always available for analysis due, to low traffic volumes at some rural locations.

The widespread use of portable electronic devices among consumers has allowed new opportunities for traffic data collection. Many of these devices contain short-range Bluetooth radios in addition to other electronic equipment. The included Bluetooth radio on each device is intended to provide a low-power communications protocol to connect devices such as cell phones, headphones, music players, and more to each other. The presence of a unique identification number when activated can be discovered electronically which unintentionally creates anonymous probes in the traffic stream.

The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) has a history of using, tests such as concrete strength, permeability, and air void structure as design, and acceptance criteria on concrete paving and bridge deck projects. In 2012, the KDOT Concrete Research group concluded a study on testing the length, change of hardened concrete according to ASTM C157 (2008), commonly, referred to as free shrinkage. This free shrinkage test was reviewed as a, possible design or acceptance test for construction projects, primarily, relating to bridge decks where even minimal cracking is detrimental.

The State of Kansas has approximately 25,464 bridges that are located on the state, county and, city roadway network. As the infrastructure in Kansas ages, bridges can become structurally, deficient or functionally obsolete. The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) defines, a bridge as structurally deficient if an inspector determines the bridge deck, superstructure, substructure, culverts and retaining walls are not able to support today’s federal legal, loads (KDOT, 2008). A bridge that is defined as functionally obsolete consists of design, characteristics, which could include narrow width, inadequate clearance beneath, condition, of the structure, or deficient approaching roadway alignment (KDOT, 2008). Limited research, has been performed that specifically investigates advantages and/or disadvantages of closing, a bridge on a rural low volume road. The objective of this research project was to determine, a cost comparison of replacing and/or repairing a rural low volume structurally deficient, bridge, versus closing the same bridge and finding the change in vehicle operating cost based, on the proposed driver detour.