What's New in Data and Information Technology

Connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) are the wave of the future, but when will be ready for them? As part of the process towards getting there, TRB will host a webinar on Tuesday, September 29, 2020 that will present findings from a national pooled fund study on planning level capacity impacts of CAVs. Presenters will evaluate CAVs’ impacts on freeways and arterials under varying market pene...

Technology-enabled transportation services – like ridehailing, delivery apps, automated vehicles, and e-scooters – have revolutionized the way we move. But changing how we get around also impacts our environment. How does ridehailing affect air pollution in our communities? What are the environmental impacts of having packages delivered to our front door? Mark your calendars to join us on July ...

On October 4-7, the National Academy of Engineering will host its 56th annual meeting, on Engineering for Pandemics: Preparedness, Response, and Recovery . Plenary speakers and technical forum panelists will offer their perspectives on past pandemics, their impacts, and the role of engineering in preparing for and addressing them. The event will be held entirely online. The public program will ...

How are state departments of transportation incorporating weigh-in-motion (WIM) data into their highway projects? TRB will host a webinar on Wednesday, October 21, 2020 from 12:00-1:30 PM Eastern that will discuss WIM data use in the United States and in Europe. Presenters will focus on the benefits of using WIM data for bridge and pavement design and management, load ratings, weight enforceme...

The July-August 2020 issue of TR News —with a focus on stormwater—is available in hard copy and digital copy for subscribers. For those who are not subscribers, the table of contents is available. Feature articles in the issue include "Integrating Stormwater Infrastructure into State Department of Transportation Processes," "Transportation Perspective on Virginia’s Nonpoint Source Nutrient Cred...

Historically, certain individuals and communities, including those from minority, low-income, and limited English proficiency populations, have not benefited equitably from transportation investments and programs. Understanding the impacts of transportation investments on these individuals and communities and taking steps to address inequities are critical functions of transportation agencies. ...

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and equity issues will be included soon in   Critical Issues in Transportation 2019 . In this report, which is updated periodically by the TRB Executive Committee, a series of challenging questions are posed to explore issues and opportunities that may arise 10 to 20 years into the future. These questions, 63 in all, have been organized into 12 topic ar...

Highway infrastructure assets are critical to the productive capacity of our nation’s economy and well-being of the traveling public. The need to manage, maintain, improve, upgrade, and preserve our enormous highway infrastructure assets in an efficient and cost-effective manner has become more apparent. TRB will host a webinar on Tuesday, October 20, 2020 from 1:00-3:00 PM Eastern that will d...

The TRB “Tell Us ‘Our’ Story" centennial activity is designed to allow as many of you (TRB’s volunteers and friends) as possible to participate in the TRB Centennial Celebration through the submission of your stories, which are our stories. The “Tell Us ‘Our” Story” centennial activity consists of a series of monthly questions that will help capture your stories. TRB welcomes all stories: small...

Connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) are the wave of the future, but is the road infrastructure ready for them? TRB will host a webinar on Tuesday, September 29, 2020 from 2:00-3:30 PM Eastern that will present findings from a national pooled fund study on planning level capacity impacts of CAVs. Presenters will evaluate the impacts of CAVs on freeways and arterials under varying market pen...

The AASHTO Highway Safety Manual (HSM) has become a key safety management and evaluation resource for state and local roadway agencies; metropolitan planning organizations; and the safety, design, and traffic engineering professional community. The HSM was developed largely through NCHRP research and the first edition was published in 2010. TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (N...

Social media is an important, if not crucial, tool for sharing information among individuals and for connecting organizations with their customers. For this reason, social-media managers at airports are critical to emergency management for information gathering and sharing. The TRB Airport Cooperative Research Program's ACRP WebResource 8: Integrating Social Media with Emergency Management...

TRB's Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) has issued a request for proposalsto present key quantitative procedures for designing and operating scheduled and fixed-route ferry transit services and facilities that serve passengers-only and passengers and vehicles. Proposals are due October 13, 2020 at 5:00 PM Eastern.

The challenges for truck drivers are immense. Now, with fluctuations in the supply chain and dramatic increases in e-commerce due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, TRB is recognizing National Truck Drivers Appreciation Week with a compendium of resources for the industry. TRB’s April 8 webinar on supply chains and COVID-19 addressed major changes in freight flows and the current ...

You've heard the news that TRBAM is going virtual for 2021. In order to attend the meeting, be sure to create or update your MyTRB profile  now. MyTRB allows TRB volunteers, contributors, and participants to maintain their own contact information. You can identify your areas of interest, upload your bio, become a friend of a standing committee, update your address, and order print pub...

Issue 326 of TRB's magazine dives into details from the TRB 99th Annual Meeting, which had a record crowd of nearly 14,000 attendees gathered January 12–16, 2020, in Washington, D.C. The March–April 2020 TR News features photo highlights from the Annual Meeting along with more coverage of the conference. TR News is TRB's bimonthly magazine featuring timely articles on innovative and state-of-th...

The majority of travel demand models are derived from daily home- and work-based travel. But modeling intercity travel is also important. TRB will host a webinar on Monday, September 21, 2020 from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM Eastern that will discuss long-distance intercity travel models from Vermont, Florida, and Ontario. These models use integrated air and surface mode choice, social media data, and ...

A Visible Light Communications Framework for Intelligent Transportation Systems , released by the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University

All transportation researchers and students are invited to a TRB webinar on Wednesday, September 23, 2020 from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM ET. The webinar will provide users of TRB's Research in Progress (RiP) Database with the latest information about RiP's search and data entry interfaces.  The RiP Database is a leading tool for transportation professionals to stay updated on current or recently...

Nathaniel P. Ford, Chief Executive Officer of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority in Jacksonville, Florida, will receive the Outstanding Public Transportation Manager Award from the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). Known as the “best of the best,” APTA award winners are outstanding role models of excellence, leadership, and innovation whose accomplishments have greatly a...

There is a wide disparity between the goals that state departments of transportation (DOTs) have for priced managed lanes and the public assumption for those goals. The public tends to be highly skeptical of priced managed lanes because the concept is difficult to explain to a nontechnical audience. The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Synthesis 559: Emerging Challenges...

ACRP is seeking panel nominations for 18 new projects selected for the FY2021 program. Please nominate yourself or other candidates to serve on the expert panels of these research projects online at MyTRB . These panels will develop requests for proposals, select contractors, and review draft deliverables. Nominations are welcome anytime before September 21, 2020.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) is establishing a Highly Automated Safety Systems Center of Excellence (HASS COE) within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology (OST-R), and OST-R is seeking a Director to lead the Center. The Center will be charged with reviewing, assessing, and validating the safety of highly automated technologies in transportation. The new po...

Compared with much of the world, the United States has relatively few highway tunnels. Norway, for instance, has more than 900 roadway tunnels, while the entire United States has 503. In a feature article in TR News magazine, Number 327, May-June 2020, the authors examine the challenges of using tunnels in a road or rail network, including relatively high first costs, the need for continuing ma...

Occupant Safety in Vehicles Equipped With Automated Driving Systems, Part 1: Initial Evaluation of Usability, Stability, and Injury Prediction Capabilities , released by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Occupant Safety in Vehicles Equipped With Automated Driving Systems, Part 3: Biofidelity Evaluation of GHBMC M50-OS Against Laboratory Sled Tests , released by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Eco-Driving Systems for Connected Automated Vehicles: Multi-Objective Trajectory Optimization , released by the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University

The U.S. Federal Railroad Administration has an  opening for a senior engineer advisor position  that closes September 28, 2020.

The U.S. Federal Railroad Administration has an  opening for a senior data scientist position  that closes September 28, 2020.

Carlos Braceras, Executive Director, Utah Department of Transportation and Chair of TRB's Executive Committee added his highlights to our rich history in celebration of TRB's Centennial.  Carlos says, “We are going to see tremendous technology changes and certainly the context of our communities is going to change, but the reason that TRB has been successful over the last 100 years will s...