CTI gets fed funds to study transportation security
A University of Connecticut institute has been named a National Center of Excellence for Transportation Security, one of six research laboratories to receive a combined $72 million in a new homeland security bill.
The “grant will transform CTI (Connecticut Transportation Institute) into one of the leading authorities on transportation security, which has become a critical area of study in the wake of numerous terrorist attacks against transportation systems around the globe,” said U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman in a prepared statement. Lieberman helped secure the grant with U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd.
The Storrs-based CTI is part of the university’s School of Engineering, which last week hired as its new dean, Mun Young Choi, an associate dean at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
CTI uses computer simulation models, real-time traffic data, and video feeds from traffic management systems to study transportation issues. In the past, the center has focused on practical planning and construction issues, including:
• tolls and other pricing mechanisms;
• modeling freight traffic patterns;
• analyzing how drivers choose routes;
• the use of GPS receivers to track vehicles;
• the impact of crashes on traffic;
• pavement and bridge materials;
• designing roads that reduce vehicle speeds; and
• parking management.
It also has a technology-transfer center that hosts workshops on its developments.
While CTI has performed little direct research on transportation security, the topic is increasingly coloring research in the overall sector, said James Mahoney, CTI associate director.
“If you are monitoring a bridge to see what its health is, in terms of normal wear and tear, those same systems can be used to monitor it for … suspicious activities,” Mahoney said.
CTI has yet to define security research pursuits, Mahoney said. In 2004, the Transportation Security Administration used Connecticut’s busy rail corridor to test devices that screen rail passengers for explosives while a train is moving.
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