Smart Transportation

Keeping transportation infrastructure operating during COVID-19

UTA is working to keep transportation construction workers safe during the pandemic while ensuring that critical infrastructure systems are properly inspected and maintained.

Transportation program utilizing autonomous vehicles

UTA and the City of Arlington are launching a new public transportation pilot program in downtown Arlington and on UTA’s campus that features autonomous vehicles.

Making streets safer for cyclists

A UTA researcher is investigating the effectiveness of implementing green pavement markings to denote where bicyclists have dedicated lanes or share the road with motorists.

Emerging vehicle technology scenario planning

UTA is developing a scenario- planning framework to identify trends and influencing factors, gather expert feedback, and assess the impact of emerging transportation technologies to help public agencies prepare for future scenarios.

Big-data-driven traffic monitoring and management system

UTA researchers are integrating traditional traffic data and emerging internet-based traffic data to provide better interpretation and prediction of highway traffic conditions.

Data fusion platforms

Evaluation, integration, and processing of emerging sources of travel behavior and activity data to understand marginalized transportation users such as pedestrians, cyclists, and commercial trucks.

Creating more efficient food transportation systems

A UTA researcher is helping small ranchers and farmers in Texas get their products to market more efficiently and less expensively through collaborative transportation and aggregation.

Taking proactive steps to manage storm water and flooding at DFW International Airport

A UTA team is working to improve storm water management strategies and runway operations, perform systematic evaluations of green storm water infrastructure on airport property, and develop an advanced flood warning system that mitigates potential issues before they happen.

Geothermal bridge de-icing

A UTA civil engineer and his team are testing a new design for geothermal loops beneath bridge decks and performing a cost/benefit analysis and environmental impact survey for the use of geothermal de-icing systems.

Underground freight delivery

A UTA civil engineer and his team are working to determine how to create a network of underground freight-delivery tunnels to reduce congestion on roads and speed transportation of goods from point to point.

Snowplow operations management system

UTA researchers are creating a map-based snowplow operations management system that will allow TxDOT winter weather operations managers to predict where conditions will worsen, and when, to allow crews to operate more effectively and more safely.

Developing online education resources for transportation education

UTA is partnering with the University of South Florida and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in developing online educational resources in transportation and planning courses to reduce student expenses and improve the educational experience.

Autonomous Systems Laboratory

High-bay testing and staging area for robotics and aerial and ground vehicles. Includes a 22-camera Vicon motion-capture camera system, ground vehicles (DR Robot Jaguars, Clearpath Husky), air vehicles (3D Robotics X-8 Multicopter, Parrot AR Drone quadcopters, DJI S1000 Octocopter with Pixhawk Autopilot) and multiple sensor packages (sonar, lidar, vision).

Accelerated Pavement Testing Center

The APT uses the Pavement Testing Machine, which is a transportable linear device capable of applying single axle loads up to 36,000 pounds in uni-directional and bi-directional modes, at speeds up to 5 mph. Up to 600 axle loads can be applied in one hour. A fully-enclosed environmental control chamber is used for temperature control.

Center for Transportation Equity, Decisions and Dollars (CTEDD)

CTEDD is a USDOT (Tier-1) University Transportation Center, focused on equity in transportation planning and policy, with an aim of transforming the nation’s transportation policy and decision-making processes to better meet the needs of commuters, businesses, and policymakers by generating research and analysis that can quickly inform transportation leaders.

Human Factors Lab

The lab features simulation equipment that mimics riding a bike, driving a car, or driving a truck. This equipment is used to gather valuable data about the human responses in various traffic situations.

Transportation Consortium of South-Central States (Tran-SET)

Tran-SET is a USDOT University Transportation Center. It was established in 2016 to “solve emerging transportation resiliency, sustainability, and economic challenges through the use of innovative materials and construction methods

from research to implementation” and focuses on research in the areas of enhancing durability and service life of infrastructure, and preserving existing transportation systems and the environment.

National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC)

NITC is a USDOT University Transportation Center. Advances in technology and shared mobility can address climate change and other transportation challenges, yet they pose new ones in implementation and equity. NITC supports a safe and efficient multimodal system that promotes economic opportunity, improves health, and reduces inequality through technology and data-driven decision making.

Center for Transportation Studies (CTS)

CTS investigates all transportation challenges including planning, safety, operations, and traffic control. CTS has a driving simulator and traffic control testbed. Most of its research seeks to develop applied transportation solutions for a smarter future transportation system.