This project seeks to merge the need for flexibility affordability, and physical distancing along our streets by developing flexible traffic signal infrastructure. The goal is to use smart and connected communication systems to maximize the throughput of people on bike, scooter, and other micromobility modes and minimize physical proximity (when needed) that happens if a group arrives at a red light in any given cycle. With safe and efficient infrastructure, micromobility has the potential to meet a majority of household trip needs, is more affordable than car ownership allowing households to either reduce expenses or allocate more to address housing needs, and is more inclusive for people aged eight to eighty to access their communities more fully.
This work proposes to expand the nation’s only bicycle and driving simulation lab to create dynamic, immersive environments to test new V2X communication with flexible streets and traffic signals that can help municipalities dynamically and quickly change the use of their public right of way due to changing needs, whether due to pandemics, disasters, or just to respond to overall changing community preferences. The team intends to install a network of traffic signals and test the efficacy of this new smart system on streets in Portland, Oregon, in partnership with community stakeholders. The team includes researchers in urban planning, transportation engineering, and computer science from two universities, a private sector vendor of next generation smart traffic signals, and traffic engineers from the cities of Portland (OR) and Utrecht (Netherlands). The results of this work can help fully integrate micromobility into traffic signal systems, in a scalable way, that also gives information to users in ways that help them optimize their travel. This project is in response to the Civic Innovation Challenge program, Track A— Communities and Mobility: Offering Better Mobility Options to Solve the Spatial Mismatch Between Housing Affordability and Jobs—and is a collaboration between NSF and the Department of Energy.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
