Roadway Infrastructure Management & Operations Systems (RIMOS)

RIMOS is a program at CTRE dedicated to developing practical tools for viewing, understanding, and making decisions for asset quality and performance over time.

The tools and systems RIMOS develops are helping transportation agencies make cost-effective decisions about their roadways and related assets. RIMOS focuses on helping transportation agencies improve their decision-making process through:

• Asset management
• Safety
• Traffic operations

Contacts

For more information about RIMOS contact

• Co-director
  Neal Hawkins
  hawkins@iastate.edu
  515-294-7733
• Co-director
  Omar Smadi
  smadi@iastate.edu
  515-294-7110
  

Asset management

Tools

RIMOS creates tools to help agencies decide how to allocate scarce funds and resources and understand the impact these decisions have on performance and safety. RIMOS researchers have created several asset management tools:

• A pavement marking management tool for the Iowa DOT that uses GIS mapping to visualize marking performance statewide. This tool gives staff the ability to see pavement marking quality on a map by color theme. Staff at all levels can look at any roadway and determine where and when to apply new markings. A similar system using a web application was created for the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
• A sign management system for the Iowa DOT that assists field staff in quickly and accurately collecting sign inventory information. The tool assists field staff in managing sign information on a daily basis. The tool helps Iowa DOT staff improve sign quality statewide.
• Data collection tools for bridge management that allow field inspectors to use PDAs to conduct the PONTIS element and NBI inspections in the field. This reduces inspection and data entry times. Tools were also developed to collect structural integrity information using PDAs and simple sensors.

Iowa Pavement Management Program

Since 1996, the Iowa Pavement Management Program (IPMP) has integrated data collection and a database to track the condition of pavements on non-National Highway System federal-aid-eligible roads. These 27,000 miles of Iowa pavement may be in state, county, and city jurisdictions.

The IPMP has information on pavement conditions—roughness, rutting, and surface distresses—and a supporting database for analyzing the condition data. The database includes state-of-the-art geographic referencing tools and built-in analysis software.

Agencies are given CDs with this condition data twice a year. Recently, the IPMP has also started including data on another 9,000 miles of non-federal aid roads for agencies that request it. See www.ctre.iastate.edu/ipmp/for more information.

Safety

Asset management data are also used in safety studies, including

• Pavement marking retroreflectivity is compared to crash data to evaluate the impact various levels of brightness have on nighttime crashes.
• Asset management and crash data are combined for a national study sponsored by the U.S. DOT that looks at the effectiveness of dynamic speed signs on reducing vehicle speeds and crashes on rural curves.

Traffic operations

RIMOS staff work with the state, cities, and counties to help them understand how their roads and streets are being used, to plan for future traffic demands, and to effectively design for the future.

Getting the full, long-term picture for streets and roads helps agencies make progressive design and maintenance decisions that improve safety for motorists and pedestrians. For example, agencies can save time and money by putting utilities farther out to accommodate future lane additions and capacity increases.

The group also researches traffic operations in specific situations. One project explored how to improve travel safety and efficiency to and from large-scale events such as the Iowa State Fair and college football games.

Education

RIMOS supports five to ten undergraduate and graduate students each year.

Partners

Working locally and nationally, RIMOS has partnered with the Iowa Highway Research Board, the Iowa DOT and other state DOTs in Florida, Arizona, Washington, Pennsylvania, and Texas. National partners include the Federal Highway Administration and industry like the Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC).