METRANSNational Center for Metropolitan

Transportation Research

Annual Meeting

February 2, 2001

METRANS Vision

• Prominence at National and Local Level

• Known as the Center for Strategic Thinking on Transportation in Metropolitan Areas

• Leverage the METRANS Seed to Build a Major Program in Transportation

• Positive Impacts on Transportation

• Collaboration Across Disciplines and Campuses with Implementers

METRANS Highlights

Close ties to the agencies, issues and people of Southern California: – 2nd largest region of the country; – Largest container port in the country;– 3rd largest airport (largest for originating traffic)– Worst (maybe second worst) air pollution– Huge influx of immigrants

State DOT Support

• Caltrans has matched DOT support dollar for dollar

• Caltrans participates in review of all proposals

• Caltrans has joined in supporting METRANS events and outreach

Metropolitan Transportation Theme

• Building from ties in Southern California

• Addressing high priority issues in large cities

• Specific focus areas in:– goods movement– mass transit– infrastructure renewal

Collaboration

• Joint effort of a private university and a public university, in close proximity

• All funding decisions made through joint executive committee

• Proposal selection process encourages joint proposals, across disciplines and campuses

Multi-Disciplinary

• Engineering

– Civil

– Electrical

– Industrial

– Mechanical

• Public Administration

• Planning

• Business Administration

• Economics

Quality• Center embraces principle of peer review• Faculty are active in publishing within peer reviewed

journals; books on transportation• Faculty are funded through competitive programs, such

as NSF• Faculty are active in editorial capacity for peer reviewed

journals• Faculty participate in national committees• Regarded nationally and internationally among top

universities

Efficiency

• First to receive 2nd year funding

• One of first to have strategic plan approved

• Top-notch center administrator

• Quick to respond to requests; quick to process funding

• On-time, on-budget

Impact on Campuses

• 15 faculty at USC/8 faculty at CSULB have participated in METRANS projects

• 9 of these faculty are new to transportation

• 30 students have been supported

• Greatly enhanced the awareness of transportation activities at USC/CSULB among local transportation community

• Established national ties through CUTC

METRANS Outreach • Transportation in the Next Millennium

• eTransport Conference

• One DOT Community Building Forum

• ILWU Town Hall Event (3 years)

• Intelligent Transportation Systems Journal

Transportation in the Next Millennium

• 3 day event at the California Science Center• 1-day professional conference, attended by 80

people• 15 exhibitors, including SCAG, MTA, SCAQMD,

Toyota, PATH, CTA• High school art competition: 90 Participants• Presentations on transportation careers by: Honda,

PATH, Locke Transportation Academy, Cypress College, Art Center College of Design

Julian Dixon Award for Transportation Imagination,

Innovation and Design

• First: $500 for student; $200 for school;

• Scholarship to Art Center College of Design

• Honorable Mention: 10 awards of $150 each

• Sponsored by Toyota and SCAG

One DOT Community Building Forum

• 150 attendees, professional and community

• 20 speakers, Including METRANS director

• Event held at USC Davidson Conference Center

• METRANS administrator provided logistical support, arrangements

• USC students volunteered to provide check-in, provide logistical support

ITS Journal

• ITS America affiliated scholarly journal

• Focus on information technology in transportation

• METRANS Director named editor-in-chief; creating an affiliation with the center

METRANS Research Program• Areas: 1) goods movement, 2) transit, 3)

infrastructure renewal

• All projects involve students

• Regular limit: $50,000

• Cross campus/cross school limit: $100,000

• Research initiation limit: $20,000– assistant professor, or– never funded before in transportation

Collaborators on Projects• Caltrans (most projects)• Southern California Association of Governments• South Coast Air Quality Management District• LAX• Access Services, Inc.• Metropolitan Transportation Authority• City of Los Angeles• Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles• ILWU

Selection Criteria

• Impact on solving transportation problems

• Significance as original research

• Student involvement (required)

• Collaboration

• Impact on research program

• Capabilities

• Clarity/quality of proposal

Selection Process Continued• Results compiled by METRANS

Administrator; numerical ratings produced by each; other proposal characteristics compiled

• Executive committee (4 USC/4 CSULB) reviews results

• Secret ballot used to fund/not fund• Final budget adjustments made by

METRANS office

Proposals Submitted: 00/01• 17 proposals submitted

• About $900k in funding requested

• 2 of these were joint CSULB/USC

• 1 was joint Business/Engineering at USC

• Area split:– Goods movement: 8– Transit: 7– Both Goods/Transit: 1– Infrastructure: 1

Newly Funded Transit Projects• Giulano Travel Patterns of the Elderly• Meshkati/Rahimi/Driver Investigating the Role of Driver

Decision Styles in Highway-Rail Crossing Accidents• Toossi Assessment of Hybrid Vehicle Control Strategies in

Metropolitan/Urban Transit Systems• Bukkapatnam/Dessouky Distributed architecture for real-

time coordination in transit networks• Banerjee Freeway Bus Station Area Development:

Critical Evaluation and Design Guidelines• Williams Solid State Sorption Air Conditioner System for

Containerships and Vehicles

Newly Funded Goods Movement Projects

• Parentela Developing Risk Model for Commercial Goods Transport

• Grobar An Integrated Approach to Managing Local Container Traffic Growth in the Long Beach/Los Angeles Port Complex Phase II

• Ioannou/Chassiakos Dynamic Optimization of Cargo Movement by Trucks in Metropolitan Area with Adjacent Ports

• Hall Alternative Access and Locations for Air Cargo

• Kosmatopoulos Design and Optimization of a Conceptual Automated Yard Using Overhead Grid Rail

•

Research Budget

• $560k allocated to projects (supplemented by some non-Caltrans matching funds)

• 11 projects selected

• 6 transit/5 goods movements

• 15 faculty supported

• 13 students supported (most receive half-time salary + tuition)

Total Budget(approximate, fully loaded)

• Research Projects: $560,000

• CITT Tech Transfer: $75,000

• Administrator: $45,000

• Director: $30,000

• Assoc Director (education): $15,000

• METRANS Office M&S/Travel: $10,000

• Other Tech Transfer/CSULB Admin/Conference/Web Page: $125,000

01/02 RFP

• Budget similar to last year

• Due Date February 23

• Would like to see infrastructure proposals, in addition to transit and goods movement

• Can download at www.metrans.org

Center Competion

• Process begins October 1, 2001

• Decesions by February, 2002

• Opportunity to Double Funding

• 10 Centers Selected from Group of 17

• Everyone’s Help is Needed to Succeed

Today

• Goods Movement Issues

• Intermodalism: National Perspective

• Technology, Freight and Congestion

• Planning for the Future: Panel Discussion

• Reception/Demonstrations

• Award Ceremony