Pennsylvania’s Road to Innovation in Transportation

From cutting-edge extended reality training platforms for first-responders to an overview of Pennsylvania Turnpike capital plans and implementation, the Transportation Forum 2024 highlighted what is down the road for the Pennsylvania transportation industry in the months and years ahead.

“Innovative Solutions through Research” highlighted faculty innovation at the Swanson School in addition to prevalent industry-related topics. Hosted by the University of Pittsburgh Center for Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure (CSTI) and the Impactful Resilient Infrastructure Science and Engineering (IRISE) Consortium in collaboration with the Pittsburgh chapters of WTS and American Society of Highway Engineers (ASHE) on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, the forum helps to promote, networking and collaboration between academics, researchers, and transportation and infrastructure organizations.

“This annual meeting is a great opportunity for members of government agencies like PennDOT to gain insight on novel transportation and infrastructure research at Pitt,” said Dana Vidic, IRISE Associate Director. “Traditionally, daily work schedules seldom allow time to delve into the latest advancements in research and groundbreaking technologies such as artificial intelligence. Part of the IRISE mission is to foster academic, industry, and government collaboration that ultimately benefits society.”

The Road to Innovation

The average public perception of transportation and infrastructure is probably limited to the roads we drive and the bridges we cross or - as with the recent Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore - what happens when infrastructure fails. What sets Pitt’s Transportation Forum apart is leveraging new technologies in civil engineering to improve construction and benefit the public at large. 

Assistant Professors Amir Alavi and Alessandro Fascetti and Anthony Gill Chair Professor Lev Khazanovich presented on the evolving use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in safety, design and maintenance. Fascetti began by exploring the immense potential and limitations of artificial intelligence and machine learning, while Alavi focused on the potential of advanced materials and artificial intelligence in revolutionizing the field of civil infrastructure design. Khazanovich spoke on how to train GPT models to find potential causes of safety related accidents at construction sites. 

Other presenters included:

• Melissa Bilec, Co-Director of Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation and William Kepler Whiteford Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering - “Advancing Sustainability through Circular Economy and Digital Twins”
• Piervincenzo Rizzo, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering - “Data Mining & Instrumentation for Bridges”
• Julie Vandenbossche, Associate Chair of Research and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering - “Pitt CEE Department - Transportation Research Update” 
• Eric Sponsler, Traffic Operations Project Manager, Jacobs, Nathan Bordner, Traffic Incident and Emergency Management Supervisor, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, and Lauren Doyle, Environmental Planner and Project Manager at Jacobs - “RealScene”
• Kevin Scheurich, Assistant Chief Engineer - Design of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission - “PA Turnpike Capital Plan & Implementation”
• Keith Miller, Director of Site Development, and Ellie Ezzell, Project Manager of Strategy, Regional Industrial Development Corporation - “PennSTART: Pennsylvania Safety Transportation and Research Track”

Michael Carroll, PennDOT’s Secretary of Transportation and keynote speaker, addressed the challenges in facilitating the repair of transportation infrastructure throughout the state, which first requires cooperation from the Pennsylvania Senate and House of Representatives.

“Innovation in changing technologies is something we must lean into,” said Secretary Carroll. “We can’t continue to do things the same way forever. Continue the work that you do by convincing us with math and science that these strategies you’re employing are right and smart. I’m confident in the team we have assembled in central offices that they’ll deliver for the residents of this fine state.”

After the keynote address, Julie Vandenbossche, Professor and Associate Chair of Research in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, led Secretary Carroll on a tour of Benedum Hall of Engineering, home of the Swanson School. 

Vandenbossche showcased three different research labs for the Secretary: 

• The Pavement Mechanics and Materials laboratory, which focuses on concrete materials and testing; 
• Amir Alavi, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, highlighted the Intelligent Structural Monitoring and Response Testing Laboratory (iSMaRT); 
• Alessandro Fascetti, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, showcased the Digital-Twin Infrastructure Science for Operations and Visualization in Engineering Resilience Laboratory and creation of virtual and augmented reality health and safety training systems. 

An Interchange of Collaboration

More than 120 attendees ranged from Swanson School faculty and students, to consulting engineers from companies including McCormick Taylor and Michael Baker International, to members of government organizations such as Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) districts, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, and the Allegheny County Department of Public Works. 

“I’ve come to this forum the past couple of years and it’s always been a great opportunity to see new research and get ideas where it can be applied or what the next steps need to be,” said Matt Devlin, a transportation engineer and designer at McCormick Taylor. “It’s been good to meet people we may work with in the future.”

Historically, the Transportation Forum has been a popular conference for civil engineers and infrastructure experts to attend on an annual basis.

“We had a lot of positive feedback from attendees about this forum,” said Joseph Szczur, Director of both IRISE and CSTI. “We have faculty and attendees that go to conferences and similar events all over the world, but attendees from our Transportation Forum say this rivals anything they’ve gone to in the past. It's therefore important to build upon that momentum and further strengthen these collaborations, which are rare in transportation and infrastructure.”