{"id":25,"date":"2017-10-18T14:19:10","date_gmt":"2017-10-18T14:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2017\/?p=25"},"modified":"2017-11-01T19:48:07","modified_gmt":"2017-11-01T19:48:07","slug":"improving-road-and-railway-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2017\/improving-road-and-railway-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"Improving Road and Railway Safety"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_161\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-161\" style=\"width: 840px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-161 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2017\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Rilett_14061-1-Color-BW_1-1200x801.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"840\" height=\"561\" srcset=\"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2017\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Rilett_14061-1-Color-BW_1-1200x801.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2017\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Rilett_14061-1-Color-BW_1-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2017\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Rilett_14061-1-Color-BW_1-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2017\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Rilett_14061-1-Color-BW_1.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-161\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Laurence Rilett<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Freight trains and trucks crisscrossing the Plains are a familiar sight. Less visible is what\u2019s inside \u2014 some of that freight is hazardous. With shipping expected to increase nearly 50 percent by 2040, improving rail and truck transportation safety is critical.<\/p>\n<p>Hazardous material transportation is just one focus of a five-year, multiinstitutional program Nebraska is leading to improve transportation safety regionally and nationally.<\/p>\n<p>The Mid-America Transportation Center, a consortium of academic institutions in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas, received $13 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation to develop tools and methods addressing a wide range of safety priorities, particularly in rural and underserved areas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe center isn\u2019t just about conducting cutting-edge safety research, it\u2019s also about implementing it,\u201d said center director Laurence Rilett, Keith W. Klaasmeyer Chair in Engineering. \u201cOur goal is to have a suite of products that promote safety and lead to measurable safety improvements.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The program focuses on both preventing accidents and mitigating problems after accidents or natural disasters. For example, researchers are developing methods to monitor railroad and truck operators\u2019 health and attentiveness in real time. They\u2019re also developing crash barriers able to withstand freight trucks and prevent the turnovers that release material.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe center isn\u2019t just about conducting cutting-edge safety research, it\u2019s also about implementing it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Flooding, another major regional issue, can scour out bridge foundations, causing collapses. Researchers are creating tools to identify and monitor vulnerable bridges and also to provide real-time diagnostics of a bridge\u2019s condition following a flood.<\/p>\n<p>Rural and tribal communities with limited resources are at particular risk from human-caused and natural disasters. The center is collaborating with these communities to develop disaster relief protocols and other strategies to improve their emergency response.<\/p>\n<p>Other projects include communication tools to alert authorities when accidents occur, devices that monitor and relay workers\u2019 hazardous material exposure to local medical facilities, and better bridge design guidelines.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-163\" src=\"http:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2017\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/TankerTruck_169710779-600x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-162\" src=\"http:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2017\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Bridge_700878418-600x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2017\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Bridge_700878418-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2017\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Bridge_700878418-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2017\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Bridge_700878418-1200x799.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2017\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Bridge_700878418.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>These complex projects require multidisciplinary approaches. Over 40 researchers from five colleges are partnering with consortium colleagues. Partnerships also encompass numerous private- and public-sector entities, including the Nebraska Department of Transportation.<\/p>\n<p>MATC, which serves as the Region 7 University Transportation Center, is one of 32 university transportation centers funded through the Fixing America\u2019s Surface Transportation Act.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CqZBYf5V5Sw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" gesture=\"media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Freight trains and trucks crisscrossing the Plains are a familiar sight. Less visible is what\u2019s inside \u2014 some of that freight is hazardous. With shipping expected to increase nearly 50 percent by 2040, improving rail and truck transportation safety is critical. Hazardous material transportation is just one focus of a five-year, multiinstitutional program Nebraska is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[88],"tags":[116,114,117,138,108,109,118,115,113,110],"class_list":["post-25","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-transportation","tag-accident-prevention","tag-disaster-relief","tag-emergency-response","tag-engineering","tag-laurence-rilett","tag-mid-america-transportation-center","tag-region-7-university-transportation-center","tag-rural-issues","tag-transportation-safety","tag-u-s-department-of-transportation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":471,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions\/471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}