Work is a highway

Story by Steve Sullivan | Photo by Paul Gates

Shauna Hallmark, the inaugural Paulsen Professor in Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, is keeping her eyes – and research – on the road.

Shauna Hallmark is the inaugural holder of the Robert J. and Roxann L. Paulsen Professorship in Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, and director of Iowa State’s Institute for Transportation.

But her job title could be just lifesaver.

The daughter of a highway maintenance worker, Hallmark focuses on keeping people safe on the road.

“Someday I may be able to calculate how many lives I’ve saved, how many traffic injuries I’ve helped avoid,” she says. “It’s an exciting way to spend your day.”

Ever cruised down a rural highway and taken a curve too fast? Hallmark has looked at strategies to remind people to ease up on the gas pedal.

“I’ve evaluated several curve treatments,” she says. “Maybe you saw signs that lit up, or maybe you saw chevrons that were bigger. That’s how I save lives.”

And the center reflectors on a highway that light up at night as you approach them? Her work has helped demonstrate their effectiveness, too.

“Older drivers often have trouble seeing things,” she explains. “Raised pavement markers are great for them. They help keep people in their lane.”

Hallmark uses data from the Second Strategic Highway Research Program Natiralistic Driving Study, which equipped the vehicles of 3,000 drivers with an array of sensors. Using that data, Hallmark found a relationship between cell phone use and driver speed and the likelihood of being involved in a crash or near-crash toward the end of a construction zone queue. This work required digging through terabytes of data, finding the moments when drivers were approaching work zones and waiting in slow-moving one-lane lines of traffic. Her work has demonstrated the benefits of digital signage that provides instant speed feedback and earlier notices of “road construction ahead.” Minnesota officials are using the study as they develop policies regulating cell phone use in work zones.

“Policymakers need data like this to help them make laws,” she says.

Hallmark is turning her attention to autonomous and connected vehicles, which present a variety of safety concerns, not to mention budget issues for state highway departments.

Being the first to hold the Paulsen Professorship is deeply meaningful for Hallmark as a woman in engineering. She has used Paulsen funds to provide opportunities for students, including study abroad. Civil engineering students often don’t want to miss out on internships while in another country learning about construction codes that don’t necessarily apply in the United States. Because of this, Hallmark designed a program that allows students to study a country before spending two weeks abroad, providing a valuable international experience while avoiding any conflicts with internships. The program has taken students to Turkey, Italy and the United Kingdom.

“It’s had a big impact,” she says. “The Paulsens would be proud that this study abroad program came about because of their resources.”

After devoting so much time studying highway safety, can Hallmark leave work behind when she hits the road herself?

“I don’t ever leave it behind,” she admits. “A better question might be, what’s it like for my family? When my children were learning to drive, that was the hardest. I knew way too much.” 

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