New online game explores world of traffic management

A new traffic control game developed by the ITS Institute and Web Courseworks lets high school students try their hand at working in the engineering and transportation field.

"Gridlock Buster" is a traffic control game that incorporates tools and ideas that traffic control engineers use in their everyday work. Players must pass a series of levels while acquiring specific skills in exercising control and fixing situations in a simulated environment. For example, a player might need to manage a high volume of traffic passing through an intersection, where long lines form if vehicles don't get enough green-light time. The more drivers are delayed, the more frustrated they get — causing the game's "frustration meter" to rise. Sound effects and animation simulate cars honking and drivers' fists shaking to illustrate the realistic results of backed-up traffic queues.

The game is based on work by Chen-Fu Liao, the ITS Institute's education systems engineer. The goal is to provide a fun way to engage students in the traffic engineering field, teach what is involved in traffic grid management, and make transportation interesting and relevant.

Play "Gridlock Buster"

Experts say re-timing traffic signals could reduce pollution, travel times

Minnesota Public Radio, June 18, 2009

Researchers suggest that dramatic reductions in pollution could be achieved simply by retiming traffic lights... The other problem impeding smoother Twin Cities traffic flow is too many cooks in the kitchen, according to the John Hourdos, a University of Minnesota engineering researcher and traffic expert.

Minnesota seat belt legacy comes full circle with new law

KARE - TV, June 8, 2009

If you don't already have enough reasons to buckle up you'll gain one more motivating factor Tuesday... More than a half century ago University of Minnesota mechanical engineering professor James "Crash" Ryan made his mark in auto safety history by perfecting his retractable harness.
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Minneapolis high school students visit U of M

On May 15, Institute director Max Donath provided a group of multicultural students from Patrick Henry High School in Minneapolis with a University-level class experience—an introduction to robotics. The visit, arranged by the University’s Office of Admissions, was meant to introduce the students to the University of Minnesota as well as encourage them to attend once they graduate.

Experimental safety sign to go up on Highway 53

KUWS Radio (Wisconsin), May 17, 2009
Wisconsin is installing traffic safety equipment in Minong to stop rural car crashes.... Engineers and psychologists at the University of Minnesota developed the new traffic sign.

NATSRL research honored

A research team led by Xun Yu, Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, has been selected as one of three teams representing the North American region to participate in the Third Collegiate Student Safety Technology Design Competition at the 21st International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles in Stuttgart, Germany, June 15–18, 2009. Yu’s group is one of two teams selected from the USA; the other group is from Canada. With support from the Northland Advanced Transportation Systems Research Laboratories (NATSRL), Yu has been working to develop a Driver Drowsiness Detection System.

In addition, a proposal by Yu to develop “Self-sensing Concrete Pavement” has been recently recommended for funding at the National Science Foundation (NSF).  This research is an extension of Yu’s current NATSRL research project, Intelligent Pavement for Traffic Flow Detection with Carbon Nanotubes

Gonna make it home tonight: researchers study effects of sleep deprivation on truck drivers

CTS Research E-News, April 2009
From Bakersfield to Nashville, truck drivers’ long hauls are the stuff of country music legend. But fatigue is a significant problem for truckers—and everyone else who eschews rest in order to get to their destinations sooner. More

STAR sheds light on technology-transportation connections

CTS Research E-News, April 2009
University of Minnesota researchers recently concluded a six-year study of the connections between transportation and the information and communication technologies that permeate the modern world. The Sustainable Technologies Applied Research (STAR) project examined a wide range of issues including travel behavior, emergency services, and modeling techniques. More