Research

UA researchers have the deep expertise and state-of-the-art facilities needed to address issues impacting modern transportation systems. The Transportation Research Institute was created to enhance existing and develop new, mutually beneficial partnerships between the University and industry, federal agencies, fellow researchers, and other stakeholders. These collaborations are part of the UA’s latest strategic plan, Never Settle, which can be found here.

Current and Recent Research Activities

• Multi-Modal Intelligent Traffic Signal System. This project developed and field-tested an advanced traffic control system that utilizes the USDOT Connected Vehicle architecture of vehicles communicating with other vehicles and the infrastructure for safety, mobility, and environmental purposes. The system was tested in the Arizona Connected Vehicle Test Bed in Maricopa County (Anthem, AZ).
• Women in the ADOT Workforce. This project is investigating the role of women in the transportation workforce with the goal of developing a better understanding of the barriers that have limited the number of women working in transportation. Women, and other underrepresented groups, may ask different questions about the type and quality of services and could offer innovative approaches and solutions to solving challenging transportation system problems.

Technology Transfer

A successful UA technology transfer example, Metropia is a traffic demand manage-ment app that predicts vehicular traffic flows using real-time traffic data and pre-dictive algorithms to provide travelers with the fastest routes and future departure times to help alleviate traffic congestion and pollution. The Metropia Mobile® app incentives commuters to choose departure times, routes, and modes that help reduce and eliminate traffic congestion. Metropia Synergy is a behaviorally-effective, active demand management and data analytics platform that achieves congestion mitiga-tion via a social rewards-based ecosystem.

Current Research Pursuits

• The University of Arizona is leading a consortium of universities (Minnesota, Maryland, Georgia Tech, Arizona State, San Diego State, and Norther Arizona) in a Tier 1 University Transportation Center (UTC) to establish the nation’s first trans-portation center whose sole mission is to improve the mobility of people and goods at the megaregion scale. Megaregions have interlocking economic systems, share natural resources and ecosystems, and manage common transportation systems — all experiencing common transportation challenges.
• For six months of the year (~November-April), the Yuma area supplies over 90% of the lettuce and vegetables to the nation’s dinner tables. There is an opportunity to deploy CV and freight signal priority to enhance mobility, safety, environment, and commerce. The underlying research to coordinate the transportation of a head of lettuce from the field to the supermarket can be improved by using MMITSS. The UA TRI is working with Stakeholders in Yuma to deploy CV capabilities to enhance a multi-billion dollar ($2.5B) industry.