METSI

Metropolitan Transportation Support Initiative

The Metropolitan Transportation Support Initiative (METSI) provides grants that fund current and emerging urban transportation research and technical assistance and education required by other Illinois transportation and planning agencies.

METSI was created in 1999 by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). This ongoing source of funding gives the UTC the resources to find answers to some of the state’s most challenging transportation problems.  UTC Director Dr. P.S. Sriraj serves as Director of the METSI program.

Through METSI, UTC faculty and staff, affiliated UIC faculty partners and graduate student researchers study these and other transportation issues:

• The impact of electrification on transportation
• Transportation efficiency and safety
• Improving rural public transit
• Reducing traffic congestion
• Enhancing mobility
• Economic development and smart growth
• Upgrading inland waterways

METSI funds provide an avenue for technical assistance in all areas of transportation to the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), various IDOT departments and other Illinois planning and transportation agencies. The educational component includes workshops, conferences, training courses, presentations, seminars and webinars, as well as student education, assistantships, and development.

The current theme for METSI is “Livability and Sustainable Transportation.” Visit this page to access completed studies.

Here is a list of selected underway research studies funded completely or partly through the METSI program:

• Opportunities to Upgrade Illinois Inland Waterways. The focus of this research will include developing an outline of opportunities to improve impacts to adjacent communities. Researchers will work to:  Identify infrastructure improvements that may provide additional benefits to serve the local community, such as installing charging stations for public use, improving Illinois ferry boat signage, expanding ferry boat status information to include private ferries and expanding statewide AIS and reporting on IDOT website.
• Travel Behavior of Vulnerable Populations: The focus of this study is to explore whether travel behavior of populations that can be considered as vulnerable or disadvantaged is different than the rest. In addition, adequacy of transit supply will be examined.
• Capturing the True Transit Rider Demographics: Researchers are working to identify variations in transit rider demographics, and are developing recommendations to improve responsiveness of large-scale transit surveys.
• Developing a Framework for Rural Transit Customer Satisfaction Measurement: This study is designed to review customer satisfaction surveys conducted by the rural transit service providers, to design a standardized survey, and to develop an analysis plan that would allow comparable analysis across agencies and to determine drivers of rider satisfaction and key service components that must be prioritized in service delivery.
• Electrical Grid Expansion for Illinois Public Port District Study: As concerns about the impact of climate change on our health, ecosystems, and societies grow ever-present and as government policies mandate stricter emission regulations, the potential of electrifying essential infrastructure in our supply-chain presents a unique opportunity for climate-resiliency and adaptation. This study will investigate and identify the electrification needs of inland ports, with particular focus on the Illinois International Port District.
• Factors Affecting EVs in Statewide Models and the Driving Forces for EV Adoption in Illinois: The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) completed Phase I of the Illinois Statewide Travel Demand Model (ILSTDM). The proposed two-year study will address important matters that need to be considered regarding incorporating electric vehicles into the ILSTDM framework. The study will be conducted to investigate relevant activities in other Departments of Transportation around the country.
• Revised Cost - Benefit Analysis/ROI for Rural Transit: This study aims to develop a cost-effectiveness framework that is congruent with rural transit service provision. The traditional cost-benefit analysis approach will likely overlook individual and societal benefits since those may appear intangible or hard to quantify. The study will review the measures currently used and uncover additional value that rural transit services provide.
• Commuting Decisions Post Pandemic: In this study, researchers will study employee/employer preferences for telework, demographic disparities in telework adoption, and the shift in mode choice/commute patterns resulting from these emerging trends.
• Transit Connectivity Study. The study will determine how to improve regional public transit system connectivity to the social determinants of health and quality-of-life in the region consisting of Bureau, Grundy, LaSalle, Marshall, Putnam, and Stark Counties in north central Illinois.
• Transit Availability and Accessibility Project.  Researchers have mapped the volume of automobile, single-unit truck, and multi-unit truck statistics across the state and created a map package file that contains the volume of total flows of major roads in the state of Illinois and their volume/capacity ratios.
• Work from Home Study. The global COVID-19 pandemic has caused catastrophic public health, economic, and social crises that are expected to last for decades. Travel restrictions, social distancing, closing non-essential businesses, and self-isolation were among the various protective measures implemented to contain and slow down the spread of the coronavirus responsible for the pandemic. Heading to and from work was another critical element of our daily life impacted by the pandemic. This study will investigate the potential benefits of telecommuting and analyze underlying barriers.
• Monetized Cost of Railroad Crossing Delays Occurring in Illinois Low-Income Communities and Analysis of Selected Mitigation Measures. The research team used the simulation program INTEGRATION to estimate the impacts at each of the eight at-grade rail crossings in Dolton, IL. The outputs of the simulations were then used to estimate the impacts in terms of delay, fuel consumption, and air pollutant emissions (CO, NOx, and VOC). When monetized, the impacts of the eight at-grade rail crossings in Dolton are estimated to be over $70 million annually.

For more information on the program, please contact Dr. Sriraj via email or call 312-413-7568.