ATSSA & TRB announce winners of 2022 TCD Student Challenge

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. Jan. 10, 2022 – The American Traffic Safety Services Association ATSSA, in partnership with the National Academy of Sciences Transportation Research Board TRB, announces the winners of the 2022 Traffic Control Device (TCD) Student Challenge.

Engineering students from across the U.S. competed in the TCD Student Challenge, which was titled, “Innovative Traffic Control Device Strategies for Speed Management on Limited Access Freeways.”

The team from Michigan State University received the first place award with a project entitled, “Active traffic management using combined dynamic speed limit display and speed feedback sign.” The team from Michigan State included, from left, Emma C. Hagel, team leader Nischal Gupta, Md Shakir Mahmud and Anshu Bamney. Team member Nusayba Megat Johari was not available for the photo.

The second place award went to a team from Florida International University with a project entitled, “Radar speed detection for speed management on limited access facilities.” That team included team leader John H. Kodi pictured and members Francisca P. Kasubi and Abdallah N. Kinero.

“It is always fun to interact with students and see their talents come together to brainstorm ways to solve real world problems,” said ATSSA Director of Innovation & Technical Services Eric Perry. “Speeding is a significant contributor to crashes in work zones that lead to fatalities, so seeing some new ideas to help solve these problems is great.”

The TCD Student Challenge is open to high school, junior college, college and university students or teams of students who have an interest in transportation and an understanding of traffic control devices. Students in relevant fields such as transportation, human factors and technology- related curricula are particularly encouraged to participate.

Entries are judged on the ability of the idea to address the problem, applicability of the idea and its transferability to various environments and roadways, and feasibility of implementation.

The two winning teams were chosen today during the TRB Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. Both teams receive a cash prize $1,500 for first place and $1,000 for second place and the opportunity to present their submissions to members of the roadway safety infrastructure industry at ATSSA’s 52nd Annual Convention & Traffic Expo in Tampa, Florida, Feb. 11-15.

The following six teams also competed in the 2022 challenge.

Auburn University, Fangjian Yang, team leader, Han Luo, teammate, “Novel freeway terminal speed management strategy.”

Auburn University, Beijia Zhang, team leader, Qing Chang, Yukun Song and Anthony Aspito, teammates, “Speed management system to alleviate freeway bottlenecks near the weave zones.”

Oregon State University, Eileen Pei Ying Chai, team leader, Amy Wyman, Joseph Neils and Helena Breuer, teammates, “Connected speeding detection communication system.”

Penn State University, Agnimitra Sengupta, team leader, and Asif Mahmud, teammate, “Driving feedback mechanism using crash likelihood as a measure of speed management in freeway.”

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Monash University, Abdelrahman Ismael, team leader, Carlos Rivera-Gonzalez and Jennifer Rivera-Gonzalez, teammates, “Speed management as a long-term behavior change strategy.”

Westminster Schools, Evan Le, “Leverage variable speed limit signs for freeway speed management.”