1 - Purdue University



CE 361 Introduction to Transportation Engineering |Out: Fri. 26 August 2005 | |

|Homework 1 (HW 1) Solutions |Due: Fri. 2 September 2005 |

TRANSPORTATION BASICS

In the HW you submit, identify every problem by its number and name, be clear, be concise, cite your sources, attach documentation (if appropriate), and let your methodology be known.

Newspaper Articles. Look at any newspaper issues that appeared in August 2005 and select three articles about different topics in transportation.

A. (6 points) Attach to the HW you submit a copy of each article.

B. (12 points) Using the Index or Table of Contents in Fundamentals of Transportation Engineering (the textbook for CE361), find the page(s) where each topic is (or could be) addressed. For each article, list the headline, topic, FTE page number(s), and the main point(s) from each newspaper article.

[Place tally of Sections cited here.]

C. (12 points) For any one of the newspaper articles you selected, write a brief reaction. Your reaction may be in the form of an analysis of pros and cons, a policy proposal, an idea for further study, etc. One paragraph should be sufficient.

Determining the value of time. How valuable is your time, especially as it relates to travel?

A. (10 points) Imagine a case in which you could spend $1.00 cents to take a 6-minute bus ride, instead of walking 17 minutes to the same destination. How much would your time be worth if your decision is to take the bus? Remember to express your answer as an inequality.

I am willing to spend $1.00 to save 11 minutes. VoT = [pic]= $5.45 per hour. I may have been willing to pay even more to save that 11 minutes.

B. (10 points) Devise and clearly describe another experiment to determine the Value of Time (VoT), provide actual or hypothetical values for the experiment, then calculate the VoT value from that experiment.

(Stealing an idea told to me by a student) Mechanic A can fix my car in two hours for $400. Mechanic B can fix it in one hour for $800. If I accept Mechanic B’s offer my VoT =[pic]$400/hour. If I use Mechanic A, my VoT < $400/hr.

C. (10 points) What would be the flaws in “experiments” such as those in Parts A and B?

(1) One or two VoT calculations may not give a good approximation of one’s true VoT. The inequality value may be far from the true breakeven point for VoT. (2) The same person faced with the same options may make different decisions, depending on the circumstances. How important is it to be on time? Is the weather bad? Are there other factors besides time and cost that affect the decision between alternatives?

3. (30 points) Specifications for Trash Collection. The city council of Shoridan has become concerned about Saturday morning automobile traffic at the City Dump, because each household must dispose of its own trash. There also has been a rash of illegal dumping of trash by the residents in vacant lots and along roads. The city has purchased property in the hills at the edge of the city. That property is suitable for a landfill that will last 30 to 60 years. The council members now want to hire a company to provide curbside trash pick-up service and transport it to the landfill. The city will pay for the landfill operations and the road needed to reach the landfill by charging dumpers a "yet to be determined" fee. The private company will also need to provide some recycling services. The council, therefore, has asked you, a consultant, to help them prepare the specification for the service that the prospective bidders will respond to. Using the general criteria for system specifications and your knowledge of the kind of services needed, prepare a set of specifications for the council to use in framing their Request for Proposal.

Follow the method outlined in FTE Section 1.3.2. There are many possible system specs that could be written. One possible set is shown below. Whatever specs you propose should be faithful to the definitions and explanations given in FTE pages 25 and 26.

|Adaption of FTE Table 1.5 Sample system specifications for City-Sponsored Trash Collection |

|1. PURPOSE/GOAL |Provide reliable, effective trash collection and recycling services to Shoridan households |

|2. COVERAGE |All residences in Shoridan |

|3. TECHNICAL SPECS |Provide removal of household trash placed at curbside once each week for disposal at the City|

| |Dump. Pickup of recyclable materials (glass, plastic, and metal) each week for delivery to |

| |County Recycling Center. |

|SAFETY |No injuries to workers or residents |

|4. CAPACITY |Each household is entitled to have two 35-gallon garbage cans, one city-issued recycling |

| |container, and one pile of yard waste removed each week. |

|5. AVAILABILITY |One pickup of trash and yard waste per week. One pickup of recyclables each week. |

|6. RELIABILITY |No household must miss more than one pickup per year. |

|7. COST-EFFECTIVENESS |Benefits are derived from reduced congestion at the landfill on Saturdays, from fewer cases |

| |illegal dumping of trash at the landfill and elsewhere, and an increase in recycling. |

| |Increased costs come from the purchase of the new landfill and the cost of the contract with |

| |a trash hauling company. While a benefit-cost ratio greater than 1.0 cannot be expected, the|

| |costs should be comparable to similar operations in similar cities. |

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