Theses and Dissertations from UMD
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New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
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Item REDUCING CONGESTION POST-COVID-19 THROUGH TELECOMMUTING AND HOV LANES(2021) Ugwu, Nneoma Maxine; Niemeier, Deb; Civil Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The historic low traffic during the COVID-19 pandemic reignited interest in telecommuting as a low-cost effective Travel Demand Management (TDM) strategy. Telecommuting, introduced as a TDM in 1970, has been studied extensively but there has never been an opportunity of this magnitude to investigate its potential. As the percentage of teleworkers increased from five percent to over 50 percent in 2020, commuter traffic in the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia region was almost non-existent. We argue that increased telecommuting played a significant role in the traffic reduction during the pandemic, and that continued sustainable and equitable telecommuting coupled with implementing more High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes could significantly remove traffic bottlenecks. This study uses mobility data from the University of Maryland COVID-19 platform and traffic data from the Maryland Department of Transportation to specify a regression model that estimates roadway performance in hypothetical telecommuting and HOV scenarios. The investigation showed that the reduced work-related trips were a major cause of the congestion reduction in 2020. With only 20 percent more of the population telecommuting than in 2019, there was a significant improvement in roadway congestion on almost all major roadways. We propose two low-cost sustainable transportation strategies to maintain the reduced congestion post-COVID-19: promoting telecommuting and implementing HOV lanes. Policies through which the government and employers can support telecommuting are also recommended.Item THE IMPACT OF MULTIPLE SPATIAL LEVELS OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT ON NONMOTORIZED TRAVEL BEHAVIOR AND HEALTH(2019) Mahmoudi, Jina; Zhang, Lei; Civil Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Over the past several decades, the primacy of the automobile in American travel culture has led to rising congestion and energy consumption levels, rampant air pollution, sprawled urban designs, pervasiveness of sedentary behaviors and lifestyles, and prevalence of many health problems. Nonmotorized modes of travel such as walking and bicycling are sustainable alternatives to the automobile and suitable remedies to the adverse environmental, economic, and health effects of automobile dependency. As research continues to reveal the many benefits of nonmotorized travel modes, identification of the factors that influence people’s levels of walking and bicycling has become essential in developing transportation planning policies and urban designs that nurture these activities, and thereby promote public health. Among such factors are the built environment characteristics of the place of residence. To date, research on the impact of the built environment on nonmotorized travel behavior has been focused on neighborhood-level factors. Nonetheless, people do not stay within their neighborhoods; they live and work at a regional scale and travel to different places and distances each day to access various destinations. Little is known, however, about the impact of built environment factors at larger scales including those representing the overall built environment of metropolitan areas on nonmotorized travel behavior and health status of residents. Guided by the principles of the ecological model of behavior, this dissertation systematically tests the impact of the built environment at hierarchical spatial scales on nonmotorized travel behavior and health outcomes. Advanced statistical techniques have been employed to develop integrated models allowing comprehensive examination of the complex interrelationships between the built environment, nonmotorized travel, and health. Through inclusion of built environment factors from larger spatial scales, this research sheds light on the overlooked impact of the macro-level built environment on nonmotorized travel and health. The findings indicate that built environment factors at various spatial scales—including the metropolitan area—can influence nonmotorized travel behavior and health outcomes of residents. Thus, to promote walking and bicycling and public health, more effective policies are those that include multilevel built environment and land use interventions and consider the overall physical form of urban areas.