Starting in
December 2014 I was honored with the opportunity to intern with the Facilities
Department of George Mason University. This was my introduction into the
complex world of transportation engineering. One of my first tasks was to
perform a traffic count of the campus, covering all entrances and exits. During
this task I became immersed in everything transportation, including traffic
patterns and analysis. While completing my task I determined that the next
logical step would be to create a traffic pattern for the campus. Part of this
process is to determine an origin destination estimate. When researching this
process I learned that the process of estimation is relatively primitive and
boils down to two different options. Neither of which is both accurate and/or
simple. This motivated me to develop my own method of estimation.
My long-term
goal is to focus my career in mass transit structures. My URSP project plays a
fundamental role in my education of transit, how it works and most importantly
how to predict its future pattern. This project is my first step in achieving
my future goals in transit.
I am currently
in the process of developing a traffic pattern for the campus. I have completed
the data collection portion. Which is simply taking traffic counts at different
locations. The process of creating a traffic pattern is completed using
software. This week I spent all my time designating the campus roadways and
determining all intersections and parking locations. Once complete this will
allow me to develop a traffic pattern that I can then use as my sample. I
discovered additional functionality of the software I am using allowing me to
get more accurate models.
