From August 11th to 13th, METRANS researchers presented their transportation research as part of the four-day Advanced Urban Planning Transportation Policy and Road Infrastructure in the United States conference for ten high level officials from China’s Road Administration held at the University of Southern California and hosted by the USC Price International Public Policy and Management program.  Participants included the Vice Section Chief of Programming and nine Deputy Directors of the Road Administration, all officials from China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, an area situated in China’s south and bordering Vietnam on the southwest.

Five researchers presented in total, including Dr. Thomas O’Brien, Dr. Chin Chang, and Dr. Shadi Saadeh from the METRANS Transportation Center, and two others, Dr. Eric Heikkila, the Director of International Initiatives at the USC Price School of Public Policy and Dr. Edward Huang, the Principal of the California Institute of Environmental Design and Management.  Participants traveled from China for the opportunity to learn from cutting edge research about how decisions about transportation policy, planning, and finance are made in the United States, and from lessons the researchers had learned from challenges in local freight-related planning in Southern California, local road construction, and transportation infrastructure that might be useful for China in its future planning.

Dr. Thomas O’Brien, Associate Director of Long Beach programs at the USC METRANS Transportation Center and the Executive Director at the Center for International Trade and Transportation at California State University, Long Beach provided an overview of the American transportation administration system and the role of federal, state, and local governments to transportation related planning.

Dr. Chin Chang, Professor of Electrical Engineering Department at the College of Engineering at California State University, Long Beach gave a presentation on fiber-optic smart structure for monitoring and monitoring transportation infrastructures.

Dr. Shadi Saadeh, Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and Construction Engineering Management at the College of Engineering at California State University, Long Beach discussed his research on the investigation of fracture properties of asphalt concrete mixtures in California.  Saadeh’s study ran several tests including beam fatigue testing and semi-circular bending fracture properties on six asphalt concrete mixtures.  Saadeh then used a non-contact camera and crosshead movement to make comparisons between the different mixtures.

They concluded with a field trip of local road construction and maintenance in the City of Rancho Palos Verdes.  Dr. Changyong Wei, a Deputy Directors of the Road Administration of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, was especially engaged by the field trip.  “Urban planners in China are not as good as the ones in the U.S,” he remarked.  “We’ve built lots of roads, but without good designs, and traffic and road quality have become huge challenges for us.  It is surprising to learn that a small city like Rancho Palos Verdes, with less than 50,000 people, has such comprehensive storm prevention and street facilities and plans.  Establishing a report card regarding public roads, traffic and facility websites for city residents to understand the performance of city management groups is incredible.  A score comparison of road conditions by each city located in Los Angeles County is a transparent and marvelous index that can reward and challenge the performance of public works departments."

For more information on the IPPAM program, see https://priceschool.usc.edu/programs/masters/ippam/

Arpita Sharma is currently studying public policy and planning at the USC Price School of Public Policy.  She expects to complete her dual Master in Public Policy and Master in Planning degrees in May 2017.  She can be reached at arpitasharma.net or at [email protected].