The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)’s Office of the Inspector General has released a report that determines the DOT's progress in aligning federal environmental reviews. It also assesses the impact of DOT's actions on accelerating the environmental review and permitting process. The environmental review and permitting process is part of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST)...

The Illinois Center for Transportation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has released a report that analyzes alternative noise barriers. Current Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) specify that noise barriers can be constructed of earth, masonry, concrete, and composite materials. The objective of this report is to develop recommendations that provide guidance to IDOT o...

The U.S. Government Accountability Office has released a report that examines airline consumer protection issues. This report highlights trends in airline service, identifies compliance efforts, and determines the extent to which the Department of Transportation (DOT)’s passenger education efforts align with key practices for consumer outreach. The DOT has the authority to issue and enforce cer...

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of the Inspector General has released a report that evaluates the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)’s processes for granting waivers under the rule for small Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) operations. FAA is allowed to issue waivers for certain UAS operators. This report also evaluates the FAA’s oversight of these operators.

TRB's Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Legal Research Digest 36: Legal Issues Related to Implementation and Operation of SMS for Airports provides a review of potential legal issues, an in-depth analysis of identified issues, and the benefits experienced by airports that develop and operate a Safety Management Systems (SMS). Implementation of SMS in the airport and aviation sector ha...

The Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Minnesota has released a report that explores ways to regulate bike share in cities based on the implementation of Nice Ride Minnesota's dockless pilot program. This report also identifies challenges in implementation and highlights potential approaches, focusing on the future of bike share in the Twin Cities.

TRB's Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) latest Impacts on Practice explores the impact ACRP Research Report 69 : Asset and Infrastructure Management for Airports -- Primer and Guidebook has had on managing airport assets. An asset management director at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) utilized this report to incorporate and directly correlate asset management ...

TRB's E-Circular 240: Workshop on Implementing a Freight Fluidity Performance Measurement System explored emerging tracking and measurement technologies, including blockchain, and examples of multisector data sharing to capture multimodal freight performance as discussed during a September 2018 conference. Performance of the freight transportation system is important to shippers and carriers, p...

The full edition of the July–August 2018 TR News is now available. This edition examines 20 years of research and TRB activities on alternative contracting methods (ACM) and success stories from implementing research innovations. Explored are pioneering tools and contracting techniques used by state departments of transportation such as Georgia and Colorado, along with tested project delivery m...

Austroads has released a report that develops a framework to assess the value of maintenance and renewal works in a manner consistent with capital investments. This report specifically identifies cost-benefit analysis frameworks for three distinct road asset groups: road surface, bridges, and navigation and guidance. It is available for no fee after logging onto the site.