September 8, 2021
NEWS
UF is Partnering with the FDOT and the City of Gainesville to Promote Traffic and Pedestrian Safety

UF students and UF President Kent Fuchs discussed the importance of the recent traffic pattern changes in the city of Gainesville, which include the modifications taking place in crowded locations such as University Avenue to increase security and safety on roads. Students and locals are appreciative of these changes, which are a collaborative effort amongst UF, the Florida Department of Transportation, and the city of Gainesville. Learn more in this video report filed by WCJB TV20 News, ABC’s local affiliate in Gainesville.
Dr. Kent Fuchs - UF President
Dr. Elefteriadou Discusses the Benefits of Automated Vehicles In the Era of COVID-19

Commuting can be a positive experience, but there are various factors that drivers consider. The article "Best & Worst Cities to Drive in" discusses the effects of factors such as cost,  safety, and environmental impact to determine the best and worse cities to drive in the U.S. UFTI Director Dr. Elefteriadou is interviewed in this article and gives her point-of-view on the usage of automated vehicles, changes of traffic, and the effects that the COVID-19 pandemic is having on commuting and travel.
Dr. Lily Elefteriadou - UFTI Director & Professor
UF Researchers Publish GPS Dataset for Wildfire Evacuation on DesignSafe

The UF research team comprised of Dr. Xilei Zhao, Dr. Erica Kuligowski, Dr. Daniel Nilsson, Dr. Lovreglio Ruggiero, and Dr. Yiming Xu published the first GPS dataset for wildire evacuation on Design Safe in a paper titled "A Highway Vehicle Routing Dataset During the 2019 Kincade Fire Evacuation". The NSF-funded Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure, NHERI, leverages the DesignSafe cyberinfrastructure.

With increasing wildfire events across the nation this study can be used to better analyze a householder’s evacuation departure time and route choice and to validate the existing evacuation simulation models. This paper can also serve as an educational instrument to train the next-generation disaster scientists and engineers.
Researchers: Dr. Xilei Zhao, Dr. Erica Kuligowski, Dr. Daniel Nilsson, Dr. Lovreglio Ruggiero, and Dr. Yiming Xu
Dr. Xilei Zhao Presents at the TRB AMS50 Webinar Series

Dr. Zhao, assistant professor from the Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering, presents her recent paper “Identifying Key Factors Associated with Ridesplitting Adoption Rate and Modeling their Nonlinear Relationships” in this virtual webinar Hosted by Jason Cao from the University of Minnesota as part of the Transport Research Board (TRB) AMS50: Economic Development and Land Use Webinar Series. Dr. Zhao discusses the advantages of ridesplitting for society in the video recording of the webinar below.
 
Other UF researchers associated with this paper include: Dr. Yiming Xu, Dr. Xiang "Jacob" Yan, and Dr. Xinyu "Cindy" Liu. 
Dr. Xilei Zhao discusses her work on ridesplitting adoption with TRB AMS50: Economic Development and Land Use Webinar Series
UFTI T2 Center Awarded Grant to Develop Master Plan for Florida’s Safe Routes to School Program

University of Florida Transportation Institute (UFTI) researchers Dr. Nithin Agarwal, Dr. Siva Srinivasan, and Dr. Ruth Steiner have received funding from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to develop a master plan for Florida’s Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program.

Dr. Agarwal, Director of the UFTI Technology Transfer (T2) Center and serves as the Principal Investigator (PI) on this project, said, “The needs of schools vary in different jurisdictions within the state, and the objective of this grant is to develop a data-driven framework to identify and prioritize improvements for schools that encompasses all the 5 Es: Education, Encouragement, Engineering, Enforcement, and Evaluation. This effort directly supports the FDOT’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan”.

Florida Safe Routes to School Program
EVENTS
Save the Date!
2021 STRIDE Research Products Showcase
November 16, 17, & 18

The UFTI’s STRIDE Center, which is the USDOT grant-funded 2016 Regional University Transportation Center for the Southeast, has produced a variety of products which impact and benefit transportation agencies, state DOTs, transportation professionals, transit agencies, planners, low income or marginalized populations, researchers, students, and more.

The STRIDE Center Research Products Showcase will provide participants with snapshots of products as described by STRIDE researchers. Each day, from 12 PM to 2 PM, ET, will focus on one of three themes: Transit and Mobility; Advance Strategies and Technologies for Congestion Mitigation; and Equity.
The STRIDE Center is the USDOT grant-funded 2016 Regional University Transportation Center comprised of 10 colleges and universities in the southeast. The University of Florida is the lead institute. 
WEBINARS
T2 Center Courses
Register for Professional Development Courses and Pilot/Escort Flagging and Maintenance of Traffic courses.

 
As an umbrella organization for many national and state-based programs, the T2 Center provides training, technical assistance, technology transfer services, and safety information to transportation, public works, and safety professionals as well as the general public. Our mission is to transform engineering research and technology into common practice and to foster a safe, efficient, environmentally sound transportation system by improving skills, and knowledge.
For more information,
contact Jasper Masciocchi, Education/Training Specialist III,
or call (352) 273-1685.
McTrans Training Webinars
Register for the McTrans Training Webinars below:

Highway Safety Analysis:
18 PhDs provided per each series
Oct 26-27 1-5PM ET

Highway Capacity Analysis:
8 PhDs provided per each series
Nov 1-5 1-5PM ET

HCS Hands-On:
8 PhDs provided per each series
Nov 9-10 1-5PM ET

The McTrans Center at the University of Florida distributes and supports software programs for traffic engineering and transportation planning applications.
Visit McTrans at mctrans.ce.ufl.edu/training/
Have questions or want to learn more?
Send an email at mctrans@ce.ufl.edu.
UFTI's T2 Center Offers Course on Transportation Data Analytics
Data offers solutions to existing transportation challenges as well as opening the door to the next generation of transportation developments.

As more sensors are added to roadway infrastructure and vehicles themselves, opportunities are created to advance traffic signal timing efficiency and enhance safety applications for traditional vehicles as well as for connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs). 

This course will provide participants with the tools to collect, validate, and analyze transportation data.
Instructors: Dr. Xilei Zhao - University of Florida; Dr. Jacob Yan - University of Florida; and Dr. Sanjay Ranka - University of Florida
DATES:
October 6, 18, & 27
TIME: 10 AM to 2 PM, ET

PDH: 9 hrs
You can help power and move forward the Research, Education, Technology Transfer, and K-12 efforts at the UFTI by making your tax-deductible contribution.