Contact: Phil Hearn
Mississippi State scientists will use high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery to help state highway corridor planners improve traffic flow and access along a busy stretch of U.S. 49 linking Jackson and the Gulf Coast.
The university's GeoResources Institute will use its remote sensing and spatial information technologies to help the Mississippi Department of Transportation analyze environmental conditions and examine various design scenarios that could better serve communities and enhance economic development along an approximately 100-mile segment of the four-lane artery from Wiggins to Florence.
"This project will demonstrate that economic development, land use and sustainability planning may be enhanced by remote sensing and spatial information technologies utilized in integrated approaches to planning transportation corridors," predicted Chuck O'Hara, a GRI researcher and principal investigator on the project.
Chief engineer K.T. Thirumali of the U.S. Department of Transportation's Research and Special Programs Administrations, which is sponsoring the project, said it may help reduce delays in getting transportation projects from planning to completion.
"Using remote sensing to evaluate prospective corridors can save years of time and millions of dollars when used appropriately to complement other necessary 'on-the-ground' components of corridor planning," noted GRI director David Shaw.
Roger King, GRI's associate director of research, said $650,000 in federal dollars channeled to GRI will fund the two-year "test-bed" study, targeted for completion in the fall of 2006. Researchers will utilize such technologies as high-resolution photo imagery of the Quick Bird satellite.
"It's the type of satellite imagery you'll see on TV when you watch the news and see imagery depicting bomb damage assessment of Saddam Hussein's palaces in Iraq or look at 3-D views of Fallujah," said King, an MSU Giles Distinguished Professor of electrical and computer engineering.
O'Hara said the MSU team will work closely with MDOT's planning, environmental, roadway design and photogrammetry divisions to deploy and integrate technologies that provide a common 'base map' for all groups involved in the project along the highway route. It will allow MDOT to share data and exchange products seamlessly between divisions, he pointed out.
"This is an interesting, challenging and far-reaching approach to a transportation solution, where creative and innovative ideas can contribute to the decision-making process," said Claiborne Barnwell, MDOT environmental division engineer.
"This corridor is vital to the economics of South-Central Mississippi and if the capacity and safety can be improved without harming the existing and potential economic prosperity, then this becomes a true win-win situation," he added.
Thanks to the efforts of O'Hara and a grant from Intergraph Corporation, Terrashare software has been made available to MSU for a pilot deployment at MDOT. The software will allow planners to merge everything into a computational model--a visual demonstration prototype that could change the way transportation engineers conduct their work-flow assessments in long-range highway corridor planning.
"This is another example of how MSU scientists are utilizing their skills and cutting-edge research technologies to reach out and improve the quality of life for Mississippians in a variety of ways," said Colin Scanes, the university's vice president of research and graduate studies.
Developing timely, cost-effective transportation projects is a major goal of the U.S. Department of Transportation, state transportation departments, NASA, Metropolitan Planning Organizations and the National Consortium on Remote Sensing in Transportation. MSU's GeoResources Institute, with funding of about $3.5 million from the DOT over the past five years, is using its unique technology to assist that effort.
The Mississippi State institute also is part of a five-university consortium of the NCRST, which is exploring ways remote sensing and spatial information technologies can be used to assist corridor planning in the southeastern United States. MSU is directing the environmental assessments part of that broad-based effort.
"We have to look at many overlapping issues such as maritime interests on the coast, wildlife and fisheries, and state archaeology," said King. "You have to assess each possible environmental impact fairly, get public input and determine what appears to be the best alternative.
"Our focus (at GRI) is using remote sensing and other geospatial technologies--whether it's Global Positioning Systems or Geographical Information Systems--to make environmental assessments," he said.
The GRI brings together faculty from 22 departments within six colleges or units of the university. It conducts and coordinates research and educational activities in geospatial technologies and resource management.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For more information, contact: Dr. Chuck O'Hara at (662) 325-2067; Dr. Roger King at 325-2189; or Dr. David Shaw at 325-9575.