Publications
Imperfect Condition-Based Maintenance Strategy for a Deteriorating Rail Track System with Multiple Competitive Failure Modes with Behnam Rahimikelarijani, Maryam Hamidi, and Brian Craig Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems, 2020, 146(9)
Railroad Track Geometric Degradation Analysis: A BNSF Case Study with Behnam Rahimikelarijani and Maryam Hamidi Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems, 2020, 146(2)
Policy Briefs
Crop Modeling to Support Climate Change Resilience in Kenya with Eric Muchughu
Working Papers
The Effect of Highway Construction Spending on Congestion: Evidence from California
Using disaggregated data on highway construction projects from the California Department of Transportation from 2001 to 2013, and matching the project locations with traffic data, I investigate the effect of highway construction projects on reducing congestion. I employ fixed effects models and instrumental variable to identify the effect of each dollar spent per mile of highways. I find positive effects on both the average speed and the traffic flow of the affected highway segments.
Drivers’ Response to Temporal & Spatial Parking Price Adjustment: Evidence from SFpark Project
I examine the effect of SFpark project, a parking price adjustment experiment that was conducted from April 2011 to May 2013 in San Francisco, on drivers' behavior. Using hourly data on occupancy rates of on-street parking, I estimate the responsiveness of commuters to price changes that vary across locations and time of day. I use fixed effects model and regression discontinuity design to estimate the elasticity of price changes on occupancy rates. I find positive price elasticities that are consistent with the law of demand.
Using hourly lane closure data of California highways, I study the traffic congestion cost caused by highway construction activities. I estimate the congestion effect of lane closure for different hours of the day to find out the optimal construction time to minimize the disruption cost to road users. I find heterogenous effects of lane closures on different hour of the day. I find that the social cost of closure are smaller than the lane reopening penalties imposed by Caltrans.