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Construction Research at TRB
The mission of the Transportation Research Board is to provide leadership in transportation innovation and progress through research and information exchange, conducted within a setting that is objective, interdisciplinary, and multimodal. This page highlights recently released TRB reports, meeting announcements, requests for proposals, and other announcements related to construction. In addition, it includes links to selected construction research-related activities taking place at the federal and state levels, and within the academic and international transportation communities. Finally, this page also highlights and provides links to TRB programs and activities, which are the source of most of TRB’s construction-related research products. |
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What's New
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TRB Construction-Related Programs and Activities
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 TR News July-August 2018: Transportation Project Delivery: Alternative Contracting Methods ResearchAugust 9, 2018 The July–August issue of TR News 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 methods, selection tools for transit, internatio... |
TRB Webinar: Pavement Design Role Reversal: Mixtures Before Design and Construction August 9, 2018 TRB will conduct a webinar on Thursday, August 23, 2018 from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM ET that will illustrate case studies where asphalt mixtures were specifically designed to meet situations in which conventional design approaches were not appropriate. In conventional practice, the pavement is designed using a set of standard asphalt mixture properties, resulting in a structural pavement thickness t... |
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 Staffing for Alternative Contracting MethodsAugust 1, 2018 TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 518: Staffing for Alternative Contracting Methods documents current practices in state departments of transportation (DOTs) staffing and organizational structure for alternative contracting methods (ACMs). ACMs include design–build, construction manager/general contractor, public–private partnerships, and other innovative con... |
 Coastal Green Infrastructure to Enhance Resilience of State Route 1, DelawareJuly 29, 2018 The U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has released a report that describes a pilot project sponsored by FHWA and the Delaware Department of Transportation to assess the potential for green infrastructure techniques to protect sections of Delaware State Route 1. It is one of five pilot projects FHWA sponsored to assess the potential for natural infrastructure to protect specific locatio... |
 Inertial Profiler Certification for Evaluation of International Roughness IndexJuly 27, 2018 TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 526: Inertial Profiler Certification for Evaluation of International Roughness Index determines the state of practice of certification of inertial profilers at the national and international levels. Inertial profilers are used to collect the repeatable and reproducible road profiles analyzed to calculate a smoothness or ride ... |
TRB Webinar: Construction of Mass Concrete Transportation Infrastructure July 26, 2018 TRB conducted a webinar on Monday, August 6, 2018, from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM ET that explored construction of mass concrete structures, such as bridge piers and other large volume placements. The presenters discussed the reasons why it is important to control concrete temperatures in mass concrete construction projects, how to control in-place concrete temperatures, and the latest advances in pos... |
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Appropriate Use of Marginal and Non-Standard Materials in Road Construction and MaintenanceJuly 14, 2018 Austroads has released a report that provides the basis for the use of marginal and non-standard materials in sealed roads and considers the factors that affect performance. It also describes case studies of unsealed roads to demonstrate the effective selection of unsealed road wearing course materials. The report is available for no fee after logging onto the site. |
 Using Recycled Asphalt Shingles with Warm Mix Asphalt TechnologiesJuly 6, 2018 TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) has released a pre-publication, non-edited version of Research Report 890: Using Recycled Asphalt Shingles with Warm Mix Asphalt Technologies. The report documents the development of a design and evaluation procedure that provides acceptable performance of asphalt mixtures incorporating warm mix asphalt (WMA) technologies and rec... |
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Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Problems
TRB's Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Problems searches out and synthesizes useful knowledge from all available sources and prepares concise, documented reports on specific topics. Reports from this endeavor constitute an National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) report series, Synthesis of Highway Practice.
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Highway Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) Program
TRB's Highway Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) Program is designed to provide an opportunity to investigate new and unproven concepts or to evaluate novel applications of technologies that have been tried, tested or used for highway systems practice.
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Cooperative Research Programs
TRB's Cooperative Research Programs Division manages several cooperative research programs that frequently produces reports that have relevence to issues outside of the program's core focus areas.
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Technical Activities Standing Committees
TRB's Technical Activities Division provides a forum for transportation professionals in all modes and functions to identify research needs and to share information on research and issues of interest. The Division's staff of specialists in each mode and discipline work with a network of volunteers to carry out activities on behalf of TRB sponsors and the transportation community, including the TRB Annual Meeting, conferences and workshops, publications, visits to each state, and responses to inquiries. This network includes members and friends of over 200 standing committees, supplemented by designated TRB representatives in each state, over 150 universities, and 35 transit agencies. |
Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2)
Congress established the SHRP 2 in 2006 to find strategic solutions to three national transportation challenges: improving highway safety, reducing congestion, and improving methods for renewing roads and bridges. Research was focused in four areas, which are described below. The program carried out 145 research projects and produced 130 products as well as 132 research reports. |
Research in Progress in this Subject Area
TRB's Research in Progress (RiP) Database now contains more than 11,900 current or recently completed transportation research projects. Most of the RiP records are projects funded by federal and state departments of transportation. University transportation research is also included. The RiP Database also serves as a clearinghouse of University Transportation Centers ongoing research. |
Research Needs in this Subject Area
An important function of TRB is to stimulate research that addresses concerns, issues, or problems facing the transportation community. In support of this function, TRB Technical Activities standing committees identify, develop, and disseminate research need statements (RNS) for use by practitioners, researchers, and others.
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Research Completed in this Subject Area
TRB's TRID is integrated database that combines the records from TRB's Transportation Research Information Services ( TRIS) Database and the OECD's Joint Transport Research Centre’s International Transport Research Documentation ( ITRD) Database. TRID provides access to over 900,000 records of transportation research worldwide. |
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