By: Elsie Puig / Staff Writer
Heading to school through the Palmetto Expressway to catch a 8 a.m. class might garner more delays than expected. Luckily engineering students and researchers at Florida International University’s new traffic research lab have the solution.

The Integrated Intelligent Transportation System Laboratory, which opened last April in the Lehman Center for Transportation Research in FIU’s Engineering Center, will allow students to develop and implement technology to facilitate transportation.

Javier Rodriguez, executive director of the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, said that congestion is a major issue in Miami.

“We are an urban and highly congested area which has experienced a lot of growth,” he said. “Although we are in a lull right now because of the economy, this research will help us keep ahead of the game.”

The $150,000 research facility, part of a joint effort between the University and the Florida Department of Transportation, is a small scale replica of the SunGuide Transportation Management Center located near Dolphin Mall.

The research lab is equipped with a video wall, central software, intelligent transportation system devices, servers and operator workstations.

Live feeds projected on two video walls displaying real time traffic at Interstate 95 and 75, Dolphin and Palmetto Expressways and the Turnpike monitor traffic volumes, congestion, time and speed of passing vehicles as well as collisions.

Furthermore, several electronic sensors along the road give accurate estimated travel times according to congestion levels.

“The Palmetto Expressway in morning rush hour is an area that especially sees a lot of problems,” said doctoral student Patricio Alvarez, who contributes in the lab. “Having this facility allows for us to better analyze the data and quickly diagnose what is causing the problem and decide the best course of action.”

Using communication and information technology, students collect data of traffic patterns and behaviors in order to create simulation models of traffic accidents and evaluate
alternatives to reduce delays on a congested roadway.

The researchers will participate in local and state projects in collaboration with the Florida Department of Transportation, which contributed the equipment seen in the research facility, according to Mohammed Hadi, professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of the research lab.

“The solution might not be just to add a lane to ease congestion,” Hadi said. “We look to implement technology to optimize highway operations.”

The research center will also serve as a “back-up” traffic management center as researchers and students provide feedback to the Transportation Management Center.

“We will devise ways to improve their operations, we really try to make their job easier,” Alvarez said. “I see it as my way of helping society by making their trips quicker and more reliable.”

Halit Ozen, a visiting researcher from Turkey said he likes seeing the effects of his ideas and decisions immediately when traffic begins to clear.

After three years in FIU, he hopes to take his knowledge to Turkey.