April '25 Newsletter

In 2022 alone, over 7,500 pedestrians and 1,000 bicyclists lost their lives in motor vehicle crashes across the U.S., with tens of thousands more injured. To address this public safety crisis, new research is using Virtual Reality (VR) to better understand how road design and environmental factors influence how safe people feel when walking or biking.

By simulating real-world conditions in immersive VR environments, researchers can track how cyclists respond by monitoring speed, heart rate, gaze patterns, and more. Early results suggest that VR is a powerful tool for testing roadway designs and identifying features that promote safer, more comfortable travel for nonmotorized users. These findings aim to guide future infrastructure planning that better protects vulnerable road users.

Infrastructure construction is vital to economic growth, especially in the transportation sector. This project developed and tested an AI-based method to detect, classify, and track construction equipment during roadway construction and rehabilitation. Researchers created a custom database of annotated images and trained deep learning models to optimize detection accuracy while minimizing memory use. Results showed strong performance in identifying machinery in ground-level images from highway construction sites. It’s important to note that the study was limited to ground-level image and video data and does not apply to Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) footage. Overall, the study offers valuable insights into how AI and deep learning can improve monitoring—enhancing both safety and efficiency in transportation infrastructure construction.

Roadway pricing strategies, like tolling and congestion charges, are proven tools for reducing traffic and pollution while generating revenue. But how should these revenues be used? A new perspective paper explores the compelling case for reinvesting toll revenues into public transit operations.

Although U.S. law allows for this reinvestment, uncertainty and perceived legal barriers often deter agencies from doing so. This paper clarifies the legal framework and highlights successful case studies—from the Golden Gate Bridge to Virginia’s Express Lanes—showing how transit reinvestment can improve mobility, equity, and system efficiency.

With limited federal guidance on this issue, state and local agencies must be prepared to justify and defend their decisions to use toll revenues for transit. By providing a clear explanation of the policy rationale, legal basis, and real-world applications of toll revenue reinvestment, this paper aims to equip policymakers and practitioners with the information needed to advance these efforts with confidence.

2025 MSTM Capstone Showcase

Wednesday, May 21, 2025
Online
5:30-8:30p.m. (PT)

Join students from the Master of Science in Transportation Management program at San José State University as they present their final capstone research projects. This interactive event will provide opportunities to meet with the students and learn about their research on critical transportation management challenges.

Keeping AAPI Seniors Connected: Addressing Mobility and Safety

Wednesday, May 28, 2025
Online
12:00-12:30p.m. (PT)

This webinar is based on a California State University Transportation Consortium research project, funded by California's Senate Bill 1, Road Repair and Accountability Act.

As the U.S. population ages, how is transportation adapting to serve more older adults? Projections indicate that the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community will make up 11 percent of people 65 years and older in the United States by 2050. AAPI elders face unique mobility challenges, including language barriers, cultural barriers, anti-Asian hate, accessibility to public transit, traffic safety and public security concerns. Experts discuss how to best serve the aging AAPI population to ensure everyone can access opportunities and engage with their communities.

Presenter: Yongping Zhang, PhD, MTI Researcher; Associate Professor, Cal Poly Pomona
Moderator: Davey Kim, MTI Trustee; Senior Vice President, WSP

An estimated 49.6 million individuals are currently trapped by human trafficking, with women and girls making up about 71% of trafficking victims worldwide. Transportation hubs are key locations where trafficking takes place, and it is critical for the transportation industry to understand how traffickers take advantage of weaknesses in networks and who they target in order to stop trafficking and help survivors. Featured speakers shared insights into how traffickers take advantage of transportation networks and discussed potential points for tailored interventions. In this webinar, attendees learned how to support survivors and implement anti-trafficking strategies that will make transportation safer for everyone. 

Featured Speakers: 

• Evelyn Chumbow, Director of Advocacy & Survivor Leadership, Human Trafficking Legal Center (HTLC)
• Christi Wigle, Co-Founder & CEO, United Against Slavery
• Dr. Kezban Yagci Sokat, Research Associate, Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI)