What's New in History

A primary goal of the Standing Technical Committee on Aviation Economics and Forecasting, that continues to this day, is to help inform the FAA’s annual forecast of aviation activity. The findings of the FAA forecast are especially important for predicting the financial needs of the air traffic control system (ATC) and feed directly into the annual federal budget process. The FAA forecast in tu...

The Human Factors Workshop had a prominent place among the workshops that crowd the day before the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting. The oldest workshop, it dates to 1967. Not only did the workshop introduce new ideas to TRB, it became a pathway for leadership. Among these new leaders was a psychologist who had switched careers to dive headfirst into highway safety research. H...

TRB officially turns 100 on November 11, 2020. To help celebrate the centennial TRB is asking you to “Tell Us ‘Our’ Story.” This month’s question is: How has TRB helped enhance the quality of life, safety, and/or economy of your physical community? Please submit your responses in to this month's question by January 31, 2020. TRB welcomes all stories: small or large, profound or light-hearted, ...

The January 12 - 16, 2020 TRB Annual Meeting generated headlines, podcasts, and video from the various press on hand to cover more than 5,000 presentations in nearly 800 sessions and workshops. Catch up on your reading, watching, and listening!   Video   C SPAN 2020 Transportation Policy Agenda   Automation Technology and Transportation     Podcast   Land Line Agen...

Presentations from the 2020 Annual Meeting are now available on the interactive program . To see presentations, log into the program, then search for the session you are interested in.  If approved for posting by the speaker, the presentations are listed under the scheduled presentations towards the bottom of the page. Click the ‘View Presentation’ button to view. (If there is no pres...

We hope you had a wonderful experience at the 2020 TRB Annual Meeting. Thank you for joining us. The meeting may be over, but this is a great time to jump start your interactions with TRB. Subscribe & follow: Weekly newsletter TR News print subscription TRR Journal Social media Be a friend: Receive email updates and volunteer opportunities. Log into MyTRB , update your Profile and navigate ...

Your Future in Transportation, a new video produced especially for the TRB Centennial Celebration, is now available. You can view it on the Centennial website's homepage or watch it here. Critical to TRB’s and the transportation community’s future is a diverse workforce that can creatively deal with the innovations that will define transportation in the future. This video highlights the excitem...

TRB is pleased to announce that the TRB Centennial Book is now available for purchase. In The Transportation Research Board, 1920–2020: Everyone Interested Is Invited , author Sarah Jo Peterson tells the story of how people and institutions created and have continued to shape TRB. In a compelling narrative accompanied by more than 150 images exploring the history of transportation and research,...

Autonomous vehicles (AV) took center stage at the Chair’s Luncheon of the Transportation Research Board’s Annual Meeting this week. U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao announced “AV 4.0,” a new DOT-White House initiative created to unify AV efforts across 38 federal government entities, focusing chiefly on the potential of increased safety with less human error. One part ...

Autonomous vehicles (AV) took center stage at the Chair’s Luncheon of the Transportation Research Board’s Annual Meeting this week. U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao announced “AV 4.0,” a new DOT-White House initiative created to unify AV efforts across 38 federal government entities, focusing chiefly on the potential of increased safety with less human error. One part ...

TRB gathered a group photo at the Annual Meeting to celebrate attendees and a record year of attendance at 13,900+. The result was a magnificent display of many of the world's best and brightest thinkers in the world of transportation, also showing what a multimodal group the annual meeting brings together of people from all over the world. For the full-size photo that allows you to scroll clos...

TRB released a new video, Your future in transportation , at the TRB Annual Meeting. As the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine turns 100 on November 11, 2020, we are focused on the role of research and taking the lessons learned into the future of transportation. Along with the video, we released a companion book, The Transportation...

Intermodal terminal design and operations are now facing different kinds of challenges, with escalating volumes, rising customer expectations, and increased community concerns over emissions and traffic congestion. The Standing Committee on Intermodal Freight Terminal Design and Operations (AT050) has evolved by both broadening the scope of the intermodal terminal issues it addresses and foster...

Congratulations to TRB Division Committee chair Chris Hendrickson! On Saturday, January 11, Dr. Hendrickson received the Council of University Transportation Centers’s CUTC-HNTB Lifetime Achievement Award for Transportation Education and Research. He is recognized for decades of research and professional leadership as well as his unparalleled impact on the field of transportation through nurtur...

The Wisconsin DOT issues both single- and multi-trip permits for Oversize–Overweight (OSOW) vehicles. As the number of OSOW vehicle permits issued in Wisconsin have increased in recent years, the management and analysis of OSOW permit data has become more labor-intensive and time-consuming. This "Research Pays Off" feature in  TR News edition 324 (November-December 2019), by Hani Titi, Nic...

Problem statements are now being accepted for the FY 2021 Behavioral Traffic Safety Cooperative Research Program (BTSCRP) identify potential research needs and form the basis for selection of the annual BTSCRP research program. Problem statements should be no longer than three pages, and should be sent in a Microsoft Word attachment to BTSCRP@NAS.EDU . Problem statements are due by February 21,...

Nearly 14,000 people – including industry leaders, policymakers, administrators, and researchers from government, industry, and academia – gathered for the Transportation Research Board’s 99th Annual Meeting (you can still register at this link too)  in Washington, D.C., from Jan. 12-16, 2020. TRB is celebrating its centennial with the launch of a book chronicling the history of how the o...

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. The “Tell Us ‘Our” Story” Centennial activity consists of a series of monthly questions that will help capture your stories. According to Sharid Amiri, Senior Transportation Engin...

In an effort to ensure that the talent of TRB’s thousands of volunteers can best focus on 21st century critical and emerging transportation issues, the Technical Activities Council and Technical Activities Division of TRB are announcing a new volunteer structure. TRB is positioning itself to be the premier source of ideas, knowledge, and innovations. A key part of this effort is a review and st...

This article is adapted from The Transportation Research Board, 1920–2020: Everyone Interested Is Invited , to be published by the National Academies Press in January 2020. TRB can be best understood as an infrastructure—one that people purposely designed, carefully constructed, and devotedly maintained to share and strengthen knowledge about transportation. The core missions and structures tha...

In a century when we google instead of perform manual searches, researchers can take instant information for granted. In the early 1960s, the Highway Research Board led the charge in developing “automated information systems” to replace searching by hand through card catalogs and publications such as Highway Research Abstracts. To learn the whole story, check out the latest release in the TRB H...

The Standing Committee on International Trade and Transportation (AT020) committee was initiated in 1986. Unlike more modally specific committees, AT020 did not follow a modal, regional, or even U.S. domestic focus, but was one of the earliest committees to explore the intersection of trade and transportation issues, recognizing that international trade is the seminal demand input for transport...

Interested in having a TRB Centennial component as part of a 2020 meeting or event your organization is sponsor? The TRB Centennial Roaming Exhibit is designed to allow organizations to have a TRB Centennial exhibit booth as part of a meeting or event they are hosting during 2020. The booth can be configured for a table top exhibit or for a 10 x 10 to 10 x 20 square foot booth. The booth is not...

The November-December 2019 issue of TR News - with a focus on climate change resilience - is available in hard copy and digital copy for subscribers. For those who are not subscribers, the table of contents is available. Other feature articles in the issue include ones on the history of both TRB and transportation in general and a preview of the TRB Annual Meeting slated for January in Washingt...

Thomas D. Larson, only a year after completing his Ph.D., led a group of young engineers at The Pennsylvania State University, including Philip Cady, M. Franzen, and Joseph Reed, in producing what was only supposed to be an interim report for NCHRP. Instead, their work was honored with publication as the Highway Research Board’s 80th Special Report. To learn the whole story, check out the lates...

Download the TRB Annual Meeting mobile app prior to arriving at the 99th TRB Annual Meeting, January 12-16, 2020, in Washington, D.C. To download the app, search “TRB 2020” in the App Store or Google Play. When opening the app for the first time, enter the same email address used to register for the Annual Meeting. The app provides registered attendees with the ability to search the full schedu...

The TRB E-Newsletter will be on a holiday schedule for the next two issues. There will not be a newsletter next Tuesday, December 24. There will be an issue the week of New Year's, but it will be on Monday, December 30. We will resume our regular publishing schedule of every Tuesday beginning on January 7. Enjoy the holidays and thank you for being part of the TRB Family!

In a letter from the Editorial Board of TR News, the many changes and updates that TRB's official magazine is undergoing are detailed. The magazine is starting now to be available digitally to subscribers and members of TRB committees and panels. A free year-long subscription will also be available to people who submit articles that get published. So email us now to become a subscriber . And do...

In 1863 the National Academy of Sciences, TRB's parent organization, took on two studies on ironclad ships.  The Academies' presence in the marine industry remains strong to this day as detailed in part by TRB's Marine Group Centennial Paper - Advancing Knowledge of the Marine Transportation System.  As part of TRB's Centennial Celebration, the Technical Activities Council invited all...

TRB turns 100 on November 11, 2020. You are invited to join your colleagues listed below who have contributed to the TRB Century Club to support activities that will mark the anniversary; promote the value of transportation research; and celebrate the achievements of TRB’s volunteers, sponsors, affiliates, and staff. Details on the Century Club and a link to contribute is available at https://...