Project: #181 Proposal for a Before and After Impact Assessment of the Forbes Avenue Reconfiguration Project Progress Report - Reporting Period Ending: March 30, 2019 Principal Investigator: H. Scott Matthews Status: Active Start Date: Aug. 7, 2018 End Date: June 30, 2019 Research Type: Applied Grant Type: Research Grant Program: FAST Act - Mobility National (2016 - 2022) Grant Cycle: 2018 Mobility21 UTC Progress Report (Last Updated: May 4, 2019, 5:57 a.m.) % Project Completed to Date: 50 % Grant Award Expended: 50 % Match Expended & Document: 0 USDOT Requirements Accomplishments What are the major goals and objectives of the project? To study the engineering implications resulting from roadway modifications along the Forbes Ave. corridor. The roadway modifications include shrinking current 4-lane roadway (2 lanes in each direction) to a 3-lane roadway (1-lane each direction with center turn lane) with protected bike lane. Pedestrian crossings were added with traffic signals. The project objectives involve quantitatively analyzing project outcomes through a before and after study. The outcomes of interest consist of changes in: 1) traffic speeds, volumes, travel times, vehicle classification. 2) changes in active travel (pedestrian and bicycle counts) 3) Particulate matter (PM2.5) 4) Transit characteristics (transit ridership, on time percentage, travel time, etc.) 5) Traffic noise data 6) Traffic network implications (how does traffic change on adjacent roadways?) The project goals are to assess project outcomes to inform future infrastructure investment in the Pittsburgh region for similar projects. What was accomplished under these goals? Project is delayed as noted below, but significant data collection activities have been undertaken to date. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Several undergraduate and graduate student researchers have been working on the project, led by PhD student Rick Grahn. The ability to work in an interdisciplinary group with CMU development planners, local engineers, and CMU faculty from different departments with the goal to gather real-world data to inform future investment. How have the results been disseminated? If so, in what way/s? Not yet as the baseline construction project has not been completed yet. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals and objectives? We will begin to gather data for the "after" phase of the project hopefully later this year and compare with data already collected. Once a sufficient amount of data is collected during the after period, then an analysis can be conducted to compare the outcomes before, during construction, and after project completion. Impacts Few studies have tried to document the positive social benefits due to smart mobility corridor projects. The completion of this project will allow urban areas to better appreciate the longer-term benefits to mobility from redesigning corridors. We anticipate disseminating the results of our work on the efficiency of smart mobility corridors to such companies to help them demonstrate the benefits of their technologies to city planners and engineers who might be considering the implementation of their systems. Other While these outputs are not yet publicly available, we have been creating the following intermediate outputs of the project. * Archived video of the Forbes Avenue corridor through CMU campus * Image-processing code needed to count vehicular and other traffic counts and rates (based on open source software and methods) Outcomes New Partners CMU Center for Air Particle Studies (CAPS) Issues The main focus of this project was to document "before, during, and after" effects of the reconstruction of Forbes Avenue through CMU's campus. However, due to state funding challenges and weather-related constraints, the initiation of construction activities was significantly delayed. It is hard to know the current "progress rate" of the project, but it is currently about 6 months behind schedule, which means we continue to collect data for the "during" part of the project and are not sure when the construction project will be completed so that we can begin to document and collect the "after" data. In addition to the project delays, we are beginning to encounter some potential challenges in terms of sensor and data collection loss. For example, we have partnered with colleagues in the Center for Air Particle Studies (CAPS) to use some of their portable air pollution sensors during the course of our research project, in the understanding that we needed them for about a year, but that year is ending yet the construction has not completed. We are negotiating with them a small extension in time so that we will be able to continue to collect air pollution data through the remainder of the "during" time as well as the "after".