- Yellow Left-Turn Signals Get Their Chance to Shine
Tired of waiting to make a left turn at a busy intersection? A growing number of states have decided there's a better way to make those turns that keeps traffic moving, increases safety and reduces gasoline consumption.
- RICAS in the Badger Herald
Setting aside a border battle as old as the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin is no easy task, but transportation researchers at both universities did just that to help residents of a northwestern Wisconsin town safely navigate dangerous intersections.
- RICAS Wins ITS Award
- Yellow Arrows Get the Green Light
Traffic engineers still have not perfected the best use of red and green lights to tell drivers what to do.
The Federal Highway Administration sets the standards that dictate the shapes and sizes of signs and the types of street signals, but the rules constantly are changing. Click here for the whole story...
- Southeast Wisconsin Transportation Research Roundtable
The Southeast Wisconsin Transportation Research Roundtable meeting was held on July 23rd, 2008 at the Statewide Traffic Operations Center in Milwaukee. Here are some presentations in the meeting.
- UW-Milwaukee (72 KB)
- Medical College of Wisconsin (1.14 MB)
- Milwaukee Institute (1.5 MB)
- Marquette University (295 KB)
- UW TOPS (8.49 MB)
- Transportation researchers evaluate Madison Metro service
University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering transportation researchers are compiling the results of ridership surveys conducted in March and April on board Madison Metro buses.
The survey results will provide the city of Madison with information about where passengers get on and off the buses, as well as passenger demographics and satisfaction.
Please check the University of Wisconsin-Madison News Release for more information.
- UW Safety Lab Says Technology Could Help Improve Interstate Backup Situations
(From Channel 3000-http://www.channel3000.com/news/15381326/detail.html)
MADISON, Wis. -- It's impossible to control Mother Nature, but technology can sometimes give authorities an upper hand. On Feb. 6, experts said it could have shaved hours off a 14-hour standstill on the interstate that state leaders said went on for too long. Click here for the whole story...
- Can technology prevent another Interstate crisis?
(From GazetteXtra-http://gazettextra.com/news/2008/feb/24/can-technology-prevent-another-interstate-crisis/)
JANESVILLE — When North Dakota wants drivers to stay off the Interstate, it simply closes gates on the ramps.
In Illinois, digital message boards alert drivers when there is a back-up or traffic incident. Cameras, Radio networks, and Traffic alert systems. Could tools such as these help prevent major weather-related backups in south central Wisconsin? Click here for the whole story...
- TOPS Lab Wins National Road Safety Foundation Award
UW-Madison TOPS’s Road Weather Safety Audits (RWSA) have won 2007 National Roadway Safety Award. Road Safety Audits are a formal review of a roads crash potential and safety performance. The RWSA is a logical extension of this audit with particular emphasis on highway safety from an adverse weather impact perspective. The institutionalization of the RWSA into the Wisconsin Department of Transportation has heightened awareness of weather issues that impact infrastructure and operations. Please click here for more information about the award.
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TOPS Lab Staff Visits China
TOPS Lab Director David Noyce along with Traffic Safety Program Manager Xiao Qin spent the first two weeks of October, 2007 in China. Dr. Noyce had the opportunity to provide lectures at Tongji University in Shanghai, Southeast University in Nanjing, and Tsinghua and Beijing Jiaotong Universities in Beijing. Students and faculty provided a very warm welcome and a wonderful discussion on traffic safety and operations issues. The trip also included visits of Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall, and downtown Shanghai. Drs. Noyce and Qin ended the trip by attending the ITS World Congress meeting in Beijing. Many new friends and research opportunities will undoubtedly lead to another China trip in the near future. - TOPS Lab Research on the Use of High Tension Median Cable Guard Leads to Positive Results...
TOWN OF BYRON - The cable guard installed in the Highway 41 median has proved it can withstand even the force of a semi. Click here for more... - MRUTC PROJECT NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED
The National Association of Development Organizations has selected the Midwest Regional University Transportation Center (MRUTC) project, "Roadwork detouring and crash mapping," as winner of its 2007 Excellence in Regional Transportation Award. Led by Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor and MRUTC Director Teresa M. Adams and TOPS Laboratory IT Program Manager Steven Parker, researchers developed an online data entry and search interface for local roadwork and other related information to provide alternate routing for municipalities and counties. The project used the Google Maps API, an open interface for developing customizable web-based mapping applications. In the future, the group hopes to develop a Community Maps crash mapping module that will leverage source code developed in this first roadwork phase. The project was a partnership with the Southwestern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, the Wisconsin Traffic Operations and Safety Laboratory, and Wisconsin DOT. - TOPS Lab 3-Year Anniversary Showcase Posters Now Available Posters
- "Web portal to paint BIG PICTURE of Wisconsin traffic safety"
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
THE CONDUIT Newsletter - Fall/Winter 2006-07 - A news release on the Wisconsin Traffic Operations and Safety (TOPS) Laboratory's WisTransPortal project.
- See THE CONDUIT Newsletter (PDF).
- Link to WisTransPortal Project - http://transportal.cee.wisc.edu/
- "Database Will Help In Study of Traffic Crashes"
Wisconsin State Journal - November, 2006 - A news release on the Wisconsin Traffic Operations and Safety (TOPS) Laboratory's WisTransPortal project.
- See the Wisconsin State Journal News Release
- Link to WisTransPortal Project - http://transportal.cee.wisc.edu/
- "Web Portal to Paint ‘Big Picture’ of Wisconsin Traffic Safety"
University of Wisconsin-Madison - October 26, 2006 - A news release on the Wisconsin Traffic Operations and Safety (TOPS) Laboratory's WisTransPortal project.
- See the University of Wisconsin-Madison News Release
- Link to WisTransPortal Project - http://transportal.cee.wisc.edu/
The Intelligent Transportation Society of Wisconsin (ITSWisconsin), a chapter of ITS America, has awarded its 2010 ITS Project of the Year Award to the Rural Intersection Collision Avoidance System (RICAS) project. RICAS is an intersection collision avoidance system that was installed at a rural expressway intersection in Minong. This research was led by Todd Szymkowski and Madhav Chitturi of UW-Madison Traffic Operations and Safety (TOPS) Lab along with Craig Shankwitz and Arvind Menon of the University of Minnesota’s Intelligent Vehicle Lab.
Press Releases
| TOPS Lab Research Presented at 2009 ITE Annual Meeting | August 9-12, 2009 | 138 KB | |
| TOPS Laboratory Researchers Well Represented at 2006 ITE Annual Meeting and Exhibit | August 11, 2006 | 59 KB | |
| The LINK interagency video sharing service is now available through the TOPS Laboratory | July 19, 2006 | 84 KB | |
| TOPS Hires Research & Development Engineer – Freeway Traffic Engineering | July 6, 2006 | 71 KB | |
| TOPS Hires Research & Development Engineer – Traffic Operations Microsimulation | July 6, 2006 | 69 KB | |
| TOPS Hires 511 Program Manager | June 30, 2006 | 69 KB | |
| 511 Traveler Information Program in Wisconsin | June 30, 2006 | 80 KB |
Upcoming TOPS Laboratory Sponsored Events
2007 Wisconsin ITS Forum Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Marquette University – Alumni Memorial Union
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
The 13th Annual Wisconsin ITS Forum is scheduled for Wednesday, November 14, 2007.
More information on program content, registration, sponsorship, and exhibitor opportunities will be available here
Awards
TOPS Laboratory Co-Principal Investigator David Noyce Wins Award
NOYCE RECEIVES OUTSTANDING TRANSPORTATION PAPER AWARD
Through the Committee on Pedestrians, the Transportation Research Board (TRB) selected Civil and Environmental Engineering Assistant Professor David Noyce's paper, "Determination of Pedestrian Pushbutton Duration at Typical Signalized Intersections," as a 2005 Outstanding Paper Award winner. It is the second time in three years Noyce has received a TRB best-paper award. In 2003, he received the D. Grant Mickle Award for the best paper in Safety, Operations, and Maintenance for "Drivers' Understanding of Simultaneous Traffic Signal Indications in Protected Left-Turns." (March 2005).
- Determination of Pedestrian Pushbutton Duration at Typical Signalized Intersections (PDF, 1496 KB)
- Drivers' Understanding of Simultaneous Traffic Signal Indications in Protected Left-Turns (PDF, 429 KB)
TOPS Alumni
Henry X. Liu
Henry X. Liu (Ph.D., 2000) joined the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities as an Assistant Professor starting from Fall 2005. Before joining the University of Minnesota, he was an Assistant Professor at Utah State University and a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the California PATH Program of UC-Berkeley. Dr. Liu’s major research interests include traffic control and operations, transportation network modeling, and traffic simulation. His current research activities include arterial data collection and signal optimization, real-time traffic management for emergency evacuation, analytical dynamic traffic assignment and application of microscopic traffic simulation models. Back to Top