The Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Berkeley
ITS: Facts and Figures
• Founded in 1948 • Average annual research awards around $20 million • Over 100 faculty and staff researchers • Over 100 graduate students • Houses the largest university transportation library in the United States
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Centers and Partners
The University of California Transportation Center
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Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways
• Established in 1986 in collaboration with California State DOT (Caltrans) to develop solutions to the problems of California’s surface transportation system • A multi-disciplinary statewide program including cooperative projects with private industry, federal, state and local agencies, as well as non-profit institutions
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Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways
PATH research is divided into four program areas: • • • • Traffic Operations Transit Operations Transportation Safety Behavioral Research
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Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways
Some examples of PATH research: • • • • Next Generation Traffic Simulation Bus Rapid Transit Intersection Decision Support Smart Parking Systems
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National Center of Excellence for Aviation Operations Research
• Established in 1996 as a consortium of four universities:
– – – – – UC Berkeley Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of Maryland at College Park Virginia Polytechnic Institute George Mason University added in 2003
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National Center of Excellence for Aviation Operations Research
• NEXTOR’s research mission is to drive improvements in the National Air Space and advance aviation technology • Focus areas include the following
– – – – Aviation system economics Performance metrics development and evaluation Aviation safety Aviation security
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The Volvo Research Foundation has awarded a 5-year $2.4 million grant to a team of ITS faculty to establish a Center of Excellence in the area of Future Urban Transport.
The Center focuses on the interaction between technology and policy to improve the sustainability of urban transportation systems.
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Current projects include:
• • • • • • Balancing mobility and accessibility in Chinese cities Bus lanes with intermittent priority Improving urban mobility through gridlock control Green city logistics Adaptive signal control for urban arterials Wireless infrastructure for urban traffic control
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California Center for Innovative Technology
• Established in 2001 in collaboration with Caltrans to facilitate the development, commercialization and deployment of promising transportation technologies and systems
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California Center for Innovative Technology
Berkeley Highway Lab is a roadway detection research and development site on a 2.7 mile segment of I-80 just north of Oakland. It includes 8 paired loop detectors and an automated video surveillance system mounted on the 30-story Emeryville tower, enabling automated vehicle tracking over an extremely congested area.
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California Center for Innovative Technology
PeMS, a joint effort between ITS researchers and Caltrans, collects real-time flow and occupancy data from loop detectors embedded in the state’s freeways and makes it available to transportation managers, researchers and the private sector, for reducing congestion, improving trip reliability, enhancing customer safety and more fully utilizing existing system capacity.
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Pavement Research Center PRC conducts research in partnership with other academic institutions, private industry and government to research questions pertaining to the design, construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of the highway infrastructure
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Pavement Research Center
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Research has extended beyond pavement design to problems of optimization of maintenance of highway pavements
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Pavement Research Center
The CA4PRS project integrates design, materials, construction and traffic analyses for freeway rehabilitation and reconstruction projects in order to lengthen pavement life, speed construction and minimize traffic disruptions
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Traffic Safety Center
• Started in 2001 as a joint venture between ITS and the School of Public Health • The mission of the TSC is to reduce traffic fatalities and injuries through multidisciplinary collaboration in education, research, and outreach.
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Traffic Safety Center Some current areas of Traffic Safety Center research:
•Crash Analysis and Methodology •Vulnerable or Underserved Populations •Policy, Practice and Enforcement •Advanced Technologies Deployed for Traffic Safety •Traffic Safety in Non-Automobile Modes
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The University of California Transportation Center (UCTC)
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Funds fellowships for transportation students. Holds an annual competition for research project funding. • Publishes ACCESS magazine. • Sponsors an annual student transportation research conference. • Not a part of the Institute of Transportation Studies, but important vehicle for policy research.
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Technology Transfer Program
• A sponsored project providing California’s public transportation agencies and transportation professionals with – Easy access to information and research – Low cost, high quality training at locations throughout California – One-on-one technical assistance Serving 4000+ professionals annually
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Technology Transfer Program
150 days of subsidized technical training annually in: • • • • Pavement maintenance & construction, Transportation planning & policy Traffic engineering Safety & project development
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Transportation Sustainability Research Center
• Collaboration of ITS, ERG, UCEI, UCTC, GMS & BIE
• Projects include:
• Low Carbon Fuel Standards Project
• EBAMM Biofuels Model •Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles •Non-Conventional Fuels •Roundtable on Sustainable Fuels
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For More Information…
Visit the ITS Web site at www.its.berkeley.edu
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