CTIP FY 2014 Program
Obtaining Visitor Counts Using Anonymous Cellular Phone Data
This project will deploy a visitor counting system based on anonymous cell phone data. The ability to correlate visitation patterns determined from signal data produced by cellular wireless devices is a market ready technology. The project is comparing eight months of historical cell signal counts against actual ground truth data collected within the National Parks of Arcadia, Great Smoky Mountains, and Grand Canyon, and National Forests of Hoosier (Indiana); Shawnee (Illinois), and San Bernardino (California). This ongoing extrapolation methodology comparison will develop and apply a calibration algorithm to the cell phone data so that ultimately, reliable information on visitation in Federal land units throughout the country can be measured. The U. S. Forest Service is the lead agency.
FLMA Geospatial Transportation Decision Support Tool
Federal Land Management Agency (FLMA) transportation managers maintain large, spatially dispersed, and diverse transportation networks. Data is needed at the unit, regional, and national levels make better informed and timely decisions. This project will use a map driven web application that integrates a wide variety of geospatial and traditional tabular data sets and allows users to easily search, visualize the results on a map, drill down on the underlying data, and export or print results in a user-friendly file formats. The National Park Service is the lead agency.
Remote Geotechnical Monitoring
Many Federal Land Management Agencies and Tribes have roads and other transportation facilities that are located in remote areas. Landslides, debris flows, and other forms of mass wasting frequently cause substantial damage to these assets so it is necessary to install subsurface instrumentation to determine depth and movement. Site monitoring using traditional methods can be expensive, sometimes seasonally inaccessible, and does not provide real time data. This project has implemented remote geotechnical monitoring to automate real-time performance data collection at two remote locations in Denali National Park & Preserve in Alaska.
Road Embankment Protection for Fire and Burned Area Emergency Response
Fire remediation and burned area emergency response, rehabilitation, and remediation are costly and can be a large road maintenance repair issue. Where forest fires have burned all the trees and grass, and in areas that will channel rain water, this project has installed flexible "drapes" on the adjacent downhill side of gravel road slopes to prevent flood waters from washing away surface material and destroying the road. These drapes are placed in the Sierra National Forest in California (after the French Fire), and two more installations are planned in the National Forests of Klamath in California (after the Happy Camp Fire) and Okanogan-Wenatchee in Washington (after the Carlton Complex Fire). The drape material will be monitored in place for one or more seasons and then can be removed and re-used at other sites. Once installed, each project must then wait for an extreme flood event to demonstrate effectiveness. The U. S. Forest Service is the lead agency.
Remote Wet Weather Management System to Prevent Resource Damage and Extend Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) Use Opportunities
Across the United States, transportation agencies manage thousands of miles of native-surfaced roads and trails that are subject to resource damage from motorized vehicle use during overly wet conditions. Implementation of a remote system enables road and trail managers to make quick and easy, yet scientific-based trail/road closure decisions in response to deteriorating ground conditions. This information maximizes road and trail use to the public and minimizes potential resource damage from sediment. The remote sensing technology will be deployed in the National Forests of Tahoe (Nevada) and Sierra (California), and at Bureau of Land Management's Ivanpah Dry Lake (California) in the Mojave Desert. Soil moisture and compaction correlations are complete and equipment installations are underway. Extended extreme dry weather conditions may require a longer monitoring period in order to demonstrate this deployment. The U. S. Forest Service is the lead agency.
Digital Trip Planning Coordination
More and more visitors to public lands are using digital tools to find out about attractions on federal lands and to plan their travel. These tools can help visitors make efficient decisions about what transportation resources to use, and provides an opportunity for Federal Land Management Agencies to communicate about emergencies, congestion, planned road maintenance, and other transportation disruptions. This pilot in Boston National Historical Park and Acadia National Park will deploy enhanced trip planning data layers to existing online resources such as apps and visitors maps. Experience gained will be used in other Federal recreational areas. The National Park Service is the lead agency
Using Locally Available Sustainable Resources for Mechanically Stabilized Earth Walls
Select fills are commonly specified for the construction of mechanically stabilized earth walls. Often, select fill materials are not available locally and their import to the jobsite and the associated disposal of local native soils increases project costs, environmental and socioeconomic impacts. With less funding being stretched further in the transportation industry, the demand for use of on-site materials will increase annually. This project will finalize planning, design and quality control tools based on prior work that established a risk based framework for using locally available sustainable resources. These tools will be implemented for the design and construction of mechanically stabilized earth walls on two projects.
Paper Mill Boiler Ash for Low Volume Road Stabilization
The most common material used to stabilize unpaved roads is gravel. However, a cost effective source may not be available. Within forested regions, there is an abundance of paper mill by-products including paper mill boiler ash which have pozzolanic properties making them particularly suitable for road stabilization. This project will apply paper mill boiler ash to stabilize unpaved roads in the Chequamegon National Forest (Wisconsin). State and Federal environmental clearances have been received, the paper mill has stockpiled the boiler ash, and a contractor is ready to blend it into the gravel. Experience gained will be shared across the transportation community. The U. S. Forest Service is the lead agency.
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology for Low Cost Monitoring of Soil Moisture and Temperatures.
Studies have shown that just two or three heavy trucks on thaw-weakened low volume paved roads can result in the same amount of damage as normal traffic the remainder of the year. Such catastrophic damage is easily preventable if data exists to make road management decisions. RFID sensors are being fabricated that can collect frost and thaw depths throughout the winter/spring and in combination with local weather forecasts and current conditions. A predicted date for placing seasonal load restrictions can then be determined. Instrumentation will be deployed late summer or fall 2015 in the National Forests of Allegany (Pennsylvania), Kootenai (Montana), and Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, Gunnison (Colorado). A fourth site from Oregon or Washington will also be selected. The U. S. Forest Service is the lead agency.
Wicking Fabrics to Minimize Localized Muddy Sections of Unpaved Roads
Muddy sections of unpaved roads are a universal, common problem. Safety can be compromised when road conditions are not severe enough to warrant a closure. One approach to addressing this issue is the use of wicking fabric (Geosynthetic) for the drainage of moisture within the roadway. This summer (2015) the project will install wicking at three problematic sites and monitor the subsurface moisture content in the National Forests of Kootenai (Montana), Sierra (California), and Allegheny (Pennsylvania). Lessons learned will be shared across the transportation community. The U. S. Forest Service is the lead agency.
Low Cost Dust Palliative Application for Remote and Rural Communities
In rural areas, dust from gravel and earthen roads have been identified in remote communities as the number one health and safety issue impacting all community members especially the elderly and the young. Dust generated from vehicle tires is especially problematic during the dry conditions in the winter and summer months. Costs for transporting heavy equipment into remote locations for dust control remediation is extremely expensive and time consuming due to logistical constraints. Dust palliatives will be applied this summer (2015) using light weight equipment that can be flown via small plane to the Village of Ruby, AK. Air monitors are collecting PM10 levels to validate behavior changes and the success of the palliative applications. The EPA and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation will be educating community members about the importance of reducing road dust and steps they can take to improve air quality. Lessons learned will be transferred to other rural communities. FHWA is the lead agency.
Deep Patch Field Instrumentation
Many roads in mountainous terrain are plagued with widespread subsurface instability problems. Deep Patch Embankment Repair with Geosynthetics (DPERG) is broadly used by many transportation agencies as a cost effective method to mitigate recurring pavement damage due to shallow slope instabilities. This project has instrumented a full depth deep patch installation to better understand behavior and performance on an ERFO project near Gold Beach, OR. The collected data will be analyzed to optimize the design of deep patch construction to make it more efficient for widespread use.