Transport research institutes 2004 research activity reports

Road & Transport Research, Dec 2004

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, UNIVERSITY OF CANTERBURY

Overview

In only three years, the Master of Engineering in Transportation (MET) program has developed a wide-ranging teaching and research portfolio. The Group is currently conducting research in areas such as pavement engineering, accident analysis and reduction, transport sustainability, public transport planning and operation and applications of GIS in transport.

Enrolments from both within the New Zealand transport industry and from overseas students have been strong, complementing the intake from the undergraduate program. In the long term, the Group expects that this will help achieve the aims of a better skilled transportation workforce and a larger base of people to undertake work in this sector.

The teaching complement in the transportation group rose to four with the appointment in March 2004 of Glen Koorey to the Transfund NZ Fellowship position. Mr Koorey had previously been involved in research and consulting with Opus Central Laboratories, and is currently completing a PhD at Canterbury. He has particular experience in rural highway geometry/ safety/modelling and planning/design for cycling.

Canterbury University is fortunate to be able to invite many respected overseas academics to visit here, courtesy of the Erskine Fund. During 2004, Professor Martin Snaith (University of Birmingham; Pavement design and road asset maintenance and management), Professor Michael Bell (Imperial College, London; Transport network reliability, Intelligent Transport Systems) and Dr Seosamh Costello (University of Auckland, Pavement Management) visited and contributed to the teaching programme, passing on their expertise in traffic engineering, travel demand modelling and pavement engineering, respectively.

Staff

Dr. Alan Nicholson, B.E. (Hons), M.E., M.Sc., Ph.D.

Assoc. Professor and Director of Transportation Engineering

alan.nicholson@canterbury.ac.nz

Dr. Mofreh Saleh, B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D.

Lecturer

mofreh.saleh@canterbury.ac.nz

Dr. André Dantas, B.E., M.Sc., Ph.D.

Lecturer

andre.dantas@canterbury.ac.nz

Glen Koorey, B.E, M.E., B.Sc.

Transfund NZ Lecturer in Transportation

glen.koorey@canterbury.ac.nz

Bruce Steven, B.E. (Hons), M.E.

Pavement Research Engineer

bruce.steven@canterbury.ac.nz

Dr Sabine Werkmeister, B.E, M.E., PhD;

Postdoctoral Fellow

Sabine.werkmeister@canterbury.ac.nz

Research projects

Development and implementation of a transport strategy for the University of Canterbury (Alan Nicholson, Glen Koorey). Study of staff and student travel behaviour and establishment of parking fees, with the income used for encouraging more sustainable modes.

Foamed bitumen stabilisation for New Zealand roads (Mofreh Saleh). A study of the foamed bitumen properties and testing methods.

Development of a mechanistic model for studying the effect of lateral support on the performance of road structures (Mofreh Saleh, Bruce Steven, and Opus International Consultants).

Braess' Paradox and its implications for road pricing: (Alan Nicholson, Andre Dantas and John Mao). Examines the special conditions in which improvements in the road network may result in additional costs considerably in excess of the expected benefits. A method to identify the occurrence of such paradoxical effects was developed.

Prioritisation and deployment of physical and human resources for recovery (Erica Dalziell, Andre Dantas). A planning instrument to assist infrastructure organisations to evaluate and prioritise options for deploying physical and human resources after natural disasters.

The conception of the New Zealand Transportation Data Warehouse (Andre Dantas). Using Intergraph GeoMedia GIS technology, this study is investigating and conceptualising a data warehouse.

New Zealand walking and cycling strategies - Best practice (Glen Koorey, MWH Ltd and others). A review of existing walking and cycling strategies, in New Zealand and overseas, to identify best practice for the development and future review of such strategies in NZ.

Perceptions of the cycling environment (Glen Koorey, Land Transport Safety Authority, MWH Ltd). Investigating cyclists' perceptions of various kinds of cycle facilities, via on-site surveys, to develop level-of-service measures for cycle planning.

Model validation using field test results of Canterbury Accelerated Pavement Testing Indoor Facility (Sabine Werkmeister). Study of the nonlinear resilient and permanent deformation behaviour of unbound granular materials used in pavement constructions. Transit New Zealand's Canterbury Accelerated Pavement Testing Indoor Facility at Christchurch/ New Zealand will be used to conduct the accelerated pavement tests.

Postgraduate research

Incorporating safety into rural highway design (Glen Koorey - Glen.Koorey@canterbury.ac.nz - Ph.D.).

Analysis of spatial distributions of road accidents (Haran Arampamoorthy haran.a_moorthy@opus.co.nz-Ph.D.).

Identification and evaluation of errors in trip matrices (John Shrewsbury JohnShrewsbury@compuserve.com-M.E.T.):

Driver behaviour characteristics during signal changes on major urban divided arterial roads (Darren Yong wmy15@student.canterbury.ac.nz-M.E.T.).