Students participating in the STRIDE Center’s Transportation Research Internship Program (TRIP) concluded their program on Friday, July 28, 2016 with presentations related to their individualized summer projects.

Daniel Royer of the University of Florida presented on the “Economic Impact of Shared Use Paths.” His presentation focused on the bicycle and pedestrian data collection study he participated in on the Brevard Greenway and the American Tobacco Trail. Because it is the first year of data collection, only statistical observations were made from the findings, with more conclusive insights being made available once the three-year study is complete. Internship adviser: Sarah O’Brien, ITRE, North Carolina State University Click here to view Royer’s presentation slides.

Taehyun Kim of the University of Florida presented on “SwashSim – Signalized  Intersection Simulation and VTAPE.” In the presentation, Kim gave an overview of SwashSim, the simulation software that has the ability to model individual vehicle characteristics and dynamics in great detail. It is also able to account for the effects of roadway design features on vehicle performance more accurately than other simulation tools. Kim then demonstrated Split Phases and Lagging Left Lanes to the audience. Internship adviser: Dr. Scott Washburn, University of Florida

Matthew Elias of the University of Florida presented on “Visualization of New York Taxi Data”. Elias analyzed one month of taxi trip data in New York City, focusing on trip distance, trip fare, and pick up and drop off locations. Internship adviser: Dr. Mehrdad Shahibi, University of Florida

Alex Dixon of Arizona State University presented on “Florida REDI Counties and Communities – GIS Analysis for Safe Routes to Schools.” Dixon reviewed the Florida State, District, and County Maps he created from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) data in the Florida Geographic Data Library (FGDL) for the Safe Routes to School project. In addition, he reviewed maps he created to display elementary schools that are ideal pilot candidates for the program. Through his GIS analysis, he found twenty-four ideal candidate schools within five counties. Internship adviser: Dr. Ruth Steiner, University of Florida

Fernando Dahbura of Florida International University presented on “Bicycle Crash Trend Analysis.” In the presentation, he identified specific contributing causes and crash patterns by reviewing police crash reports, identified and located bicycle crash clusters within high crash locations, and prepared collision-condition diagrams. He found that majority of bicycle crashes occurred due to carelessness of the driver and/or failure to yield right of way to bicyclist. He also found that a large portion of crashes occurred while bicyclist was crossing the street and that there is no significant difference between the number of crashes that occurred at a signalized or an unsignalized location. Internship adviser: Dr. Albert Gan, Florida International University