Live Load Effect in Reinforced Concrete Box Culverts Under Soil Fill

The objective of this study is to determine the effects of live load (truck loads) on bridge-size (spans greater than 20 ft) reinforced concrete box culverts under soil fills of different thickness. Testing results show that live load effect does diminish with increasing fill depth. The AASHTO LRFD and LFD Standard Specifications were both overly conservative in predicting strains and displacements compared to the field data for fill depths less than 8 ft. At above 6 ft of fill the measured effect of the live load was less than 10% of the dead load effect. This could be considered as a point at which to ignore the live load effect and therefore not load rate the culvert.

Title: Live Load Effect in Reinforced Concrete Box Culverts Under Soil Fill
Published: February 2014
Report number: cmr 14-009
Project number: TR201314
Author(s): Sarah Orton, Erik Loehr, Andrew Boeckmann, and Garrett Havens
Performing organization: University of Missouri-Columbia

Links to reports:
Final Report (2.0 MB, 45 pages)
Appendix A-All Results (3.1 MB, 110 pages)

Freeway Travel Time Estimation Using Existing Fixed Traffic Sensors (Phase I)

The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) collects traffic data from more than 700 fixed traffic sensors located along major freeways and arterials in the greater St. Louis area. The department wanted to utilize this data more fully to extract useful information for stakeholders. One potential application is to convert the information collected by the fixed traffic sensors directly into travel times without the need to install additional sensors. The study team developed a database specifically designed and optimized for the purpose of freeway performance measurement and implemented a data quality assurance procedure to examine the quality of the data collected. After conducting several case studies, they were able to prove the feasibilty of this approach.

Title: Freeway Travel Time Estimation Using Existing Fixed Traffic Sensors (Phase I)
Published: February 2014
Report number: cmr 14-008
Project number: TR201311
Author(s): Yao-Jan Wu, Shu Yang, and Saber Abdoli
Performing organization: Saint Louis University Department of Civil Engineering

Calibration of the Highway Safety Manual in Missouri

This report describes the challenges, practical solutions, and results from a statewide HSM calibration in Missouri, including lessons learned from other states such as Kansas, Illinois, and New Hampshire. The models calibrated included five segment and eight intersection site types, as well as three freeway segment types that will be part of the next edition of the HSM. The calibration results indicated that the HSM predicted Missouri crashes reasonably well, with the exception of a few site types for which it may be desirable for Missouri to develop its own SPFs.

Title: Calibration of the Highway Safety Manual in Missouri
Published: February 2014
Report number: cmr 14-007
Project number: TR201302
Author(s): Carlos Sun, Henry Brown, Praveen Edara, Boris Claros, and Kyoungmin (Andrew) Nam
Performing organization: University of Missouri-Columbia Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering