May 6, 2020
Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Ilir Bejleri
Dr. Ilir Bejleri, associate professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, applies innovative technologies to improve urban design and planning. His research includes the development of spatial databases and computer tools to support environmental and transportation planning. Dr. Bejleri is also researching geospatial tools to evaluate, map and analyze traffic accidents to improve Florida’s roadway safety.

Dr. Elefteriadou appointed to PAVE Academic Advisory Board
On April 28, PAVE announced the launch of its Academic Advisory Board; among the distinguished members of the Academic Advisory Board is Dr. Lily Elefteriadou, Director of the UF Transportation Institute (UFTI) and the Barbara Goldsby Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Florida. The Partnership for Automated Vehicle Education (PAVE) is a coalition of industry, nonprofit, and academic institutions that aims to inform the public of the potential of automated vehicles.

Notes from the UFTI's Remote Work Series: Research
We spoke with some of the UFTI’s affiliates to see how the move to remote work and changes in traffic patterns may have impacted their research.  

Dr. Sherrilene Classen, professor and chair of the Department of Occupational Therapy. Dr. Classen has dealt with a more challenging situation as her  STRIDE Center  funded work, Older Driver Experiences with Autonomous Vehicle Technology, involves seeing and assessing people which has been paused. Through proactive work they have been able to outline tasks they can work which included focusing on preliminary analysis and writing manuscripts.  
Dr. Eakta Jain, assistant professor from the Department of Computer and Information Science Engineering. Dr. Jain’s project, “Evaluation of Intelligent Schoo Zone Beacon and Vehicle-Cyclist Detection and Warning System” remains active. Her research team had already completed the data collection stage of their research and have been able to use this time to work on graph and table creation as well as manuscript writing. Some of their work schedule has had to be shuffled to accommodate the closure of campus labs, but they remain on-time with regard to their project.  
Dr. Lily Elefteriadou, director of the UFTI and professor of the Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering, has also had to adjust her project schedule as data collection has to be put off because traffic is so low. She has been able to move project schedules around so that everyone is able to keep busy with tasks that are able to be done remotely. Dr. Elefteriadou is positive about how quickly everyone has been able to smoothly transition to work from home.  
Dr. Pruthvi Manjunatha, research assistant professor and I-STREET testbed manager, reports that most of his projects are on schedule. One project that was about to gather data has been postponed as traffic is low at the moment, but he remains busy with multiple I-STREET projects at various stages.  
Upcoming Webinars
STRIDE Webinar: Technology Influence on Travel Demand and Behaviors

May 13: 12:00 PM Eastern

The rapid technological developments in the 21st century created new opportunities for shared-use economy applications in the US and around the globe. In recent years, many large- and medium-sized city markets have experienced increases in the availability and popularity of Transportation Network Companies (TNCs), for-hire vehicles, and on-demand services such as UberX and Lyft. However, it is still not clear how availability of smartphone-based traveler information services influence travel choices and what are the impacts from mode choice changes on transportation network operations. This seminar presents findings from a study that investigated the influence of ride-sourcing on transportation users’ choices and behaviors in the Birmingham, AL region. The study a) documented Birmingham metro transportation users’ attitudes, choices, and behavioral trends and b) examined the feasibility of using agent-based simulation modeling to quantify the impacts of mode choice shift due to ride-sourcing on local and regional congestion. The seminar introduces the study methodology, presents findings and conclusions, and discusses next steps.

Webinar Presenter:
  • Dr. Virginia Sisiopiku, University of Alabama at Birmingham


The Southeastern Transportation Research, Innovation, Development, and Education (STRIDE) Center is the 2016 USDOT Region 4 (Southeast) University Transportation Center (UTC) housed at the University of Florida Transportation Institute (UFTI). 

Mc Trans Highway Capacity Analysis Webinar Series

June 1 - 5: 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM Eastern

Mc Trans will be presenting a training course as a series of webinars on Highway Capacity Analysis covering the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM 6th Edition) methodologies including applications using the Highway Capacity Software (HCS7) organized as follows:

June 1 (1:00-2:30) – HCM 6th Edition with HCS7 Overview (included with all registrations) (1.5 PDH)

June 1 (2:30-4:00) & June 2 (1:00-2:30) – Freeway Segments (Basic, Weaving, Merge & Diverge) and Freeway Facilities (Reliability) (3.0 PDH)  

June 2 (2:30-4:00) – Highway Segments (Multilane Highways, Two-Lane Highways) (1.5 PDH)

June 3 (1:00-2:30) – Unsignalized Intersections (TWSC, AWSC, Roundabouts and Roundabout Corridors) (1.5 PDH)

June 3 (2:30-4:00) & June 4 (1:00-4:00) – Signalized Intersections (Multiple-Period Analysis, Phase Duration); Urban Streets (Flow Profile, Access Points, Reliability) and Interchanges (Ramp Terminals, Alternative Intersections) (4.5 PDH)

June 5 (1:00-2:30) – TransModeler SE Demonstration (HCS7 Streets Integration, 3D Animation, HCM-Compliant Simulation) (1.5 PDH)

Register for the entire series (13.5 PDH) at a discounted rate. Registrations will be limited to ensure questions and discussion can be managed appropriately. Individual registrations are required for all participants. Multiple registrations on the same order from the same company or agency are discounted.

STRIDE Webinar: Fly-By Image Processing for Real Time Congestion Mitigation

June 3: 12:00 PM Eastern

The fly-by system consists of a “flock” of interconnected, self-managed drones equipped with lightweight navigation, and perching mechanism allows the drone to record videos from fixed points. Image processing techniques are used to detect traffic parameters from the recorded videos. On the other hand, Traffic simulations models will be utilized to develop the database necessary in developing and training the Traffic Model-Based Image Processing (T-MBIP) algorithm. These simulations are focused on traffic congestions. Once the traffic parameters are detected it will be compared with the congestion case to obtain if the congestion is approached or not.

Webinar Presenters:
  • Dr. Nasim Uddin, University of Alabama at Birmingham
  • Dr. Yahya Mohammed, University of Alabama at Birmingham


The Southeastern Transportation Research, Innovation, Development, and Education (STRIDE) Center is the 2016 USDOT Region 4 (Southeast) University Transportation Center (UTC) housed at the University of Florida Transportation Institute (UFTI). 

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