What's New in Law

TRB has released a prepublication version of Critical Issues in Transportation 2018. 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 areas and provide a way to frame future areas...

TRB's Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) latest Impacts on Practice explores the impact ACRP Synthesis 39 : Airport Wildlife Population Management has had on integrated wildlife management plans at airports. A wildlife biologist at Orlando International Airport utilized this report to develop a holistic approach to mitigating bird strikes with a specific species of heron that thrives i...

The TRB Young Members Council (YMC) Planning and Environment Group has developed a committee-based mentoring program focused on the TRB Annual Meeting , held January 13-17, 2019, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, in Washington, D.C. The program pairs interested professionals and students with more experienced TRB Standing Committee Members and friends of committees. Express interes...

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. Activities to commemorate the Centennial Anniversary include a website, brochu...

TRB will conduct a webinar on Tuesday, December 11, 2018, from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM ET that features a research from the Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Insight Event: Airport Roles in Reducing Transmission of Communicable Diseases and Legal Research Digest 34 : Airport Public Health Preparedness and Response: Legal Rights, Powers, and Duties. The March 2018 ACRP Insight event brought...

TRB's second annual Careers in Motion Networking Fair takes place on January 13, 2019 from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, during the 2019 TRB Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. The event provides an opportunity for prospective employers from a wide range of sectors and modes to meet with transportation professionals interested in working for their organizatio...

Register and make hotel reservations today for the TRB 98th Annual Meeting, January 13-17, 2019, in Washington, D.C. Early Bird Registration rates end November 30, 2018. Registration is required for all Annual Meeting attendees, including session speakers, poster presenters, and those who attend the exhibit hall, career fair, or any workshops. Full Registration also includes full access to: *A...

TRB will conduct a webinar on Monday, November 12, 2018 from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM ET and Wednesday, December 12, 2018 from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM ET that will help both new and returning Annual Meeting attendees get the most out of their meeting experience. The webinar will review issues related to planning for the meeting, including hotel reservations, airline reservations, and other basics; help at...

The Interactive Program for the 98th TRB Annual Meeting, January 13-17, 2019, in Washington, D.C. is now available. This helpful online tool enables you to navigate through some 5,000 presentations in more than 800 transportation-related sessions at the meeting. The Interactive Program contains the full schedule of sessions, workshops, and committee meetings. It includes titles, dates, times, p...

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Web-Only Document 253: Implications of Connected and Automated Driving Systems, Vol. 4: Autonomous Vehicle Action Plan (AVAP) develops awareness of the legislative landscape and the foundational laws and regulations that may need to be prioritized for modification for Connected and Automated Driving Systems (C/ADSs) technologies. The A...

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Web-Only Document 253: Implications of Connected and Automated Driving Systems, Vol. 3: Legal Modification Prioritization and Harmonization Analysis identifies how and when regulations and laws will need to be modified to facilitate the implementation of Connected and Automated Driving Systems (C/ADSs)-equipped vehicles. The report als...

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Web-Only Document 253: Implications of Connected and Automated Driving Systems, Vol. 5: Developing the Autonomous Vehicle Action Plan provides technical background on developing Volumes 1 through 4 of NCHRP Web-Only Document 253. It includes further background on terminology and definitions used in the suite of reports; legal and regul...

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Web-Only Document 253: Implications of Connected and Automated Driving Systems, Vol. 6: Implementation Plan provides a technical memorandum on how to put the research findings and products into practice; identifies possible institutions that might take leadership in applying the research findings/products; and identifies issues affecti...

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Web-Only Document 253: Implications of Connected and Automated Driving Systems, Vol. 1: Legal Landscape explores federal, state, and international legal activities and practices regarding Connected and Automated Vehicles and Highly Automated Vehicles (C/AV/HAVs): Section 1 reviews United States federal activities within the sphere of r...

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Web-Only Document 253: Implications of Connected and Automated Driving Systems, Vol. 2: State Legal and Regulatory Audit assists state agencies as they work to adapt their legal programs to reflect the realities of Connected and Automated Driving Systems (C/ADSs)—a term that in this report encompasses both vehicle connectivity and an A...

TRB conducted a webinar on Monday, November 5, 2018, from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM ET that features research from the Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP)’s Legal Research Digest 32 : Evolving Law on Airport Implications by Unmanned Aerial Systems and ACRP Project 03-42 Topic A : Managing Unmanned Aircraft Systems in the Vicinity of Airports. Airports are using unmanned aerial systems (UAS), a...

Register and make hotel reservations today for the TRB 98th Annual Meeting, January 13-17, 2019, in Washington, D.C. Registration is required for all Annual Meeting attendees, including session speakers, poster presenters, and those who attend the exhibit hall, career fair, or any workshops. Full Registration also includes full access to: *Annual Meeting Interactive Program (available in Novem...

TRB conducted a webinar on Wednesday, October 10, 2018, from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM ET that provides an update of case law as it relates to environmental review of transportation projects. The webinar focused on recent case law in the areas of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act, and environmental justice. These cases provide lessons fo...

TRB turns 100 on November 11, 2020. To commemorate this milestone, TRB has a yearlong celebration planned that will begin in January 2020 to recognize and honor the extraordinary record of achievements accomplished by TRB’s volunteers, sponsors, affiliates, friends, and staff. Please support TRB's upcoming centennial anniversary activities by contributing to the Century Club (individuals) or Ce...

Raquelle (Kelly) Myers, staff attorney with the National Indian Justice Center (NIJC), is a featured volunteer in the TR News . Ms. Myers’ areas of interest are federal Indian law, family law, and tribal transportation programs. At NIJC, she aids the organization’s mission to improve the justice systems, health, and welfare in tribal communities, focusing on tribal transportation issues. While ...

TRB's Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Legal Research Digest 35: Legal Considerations in the Funding and Development of Intermodal Facilities at Airports provides background on multimodal or intermodal facilities, funding challenges, and a review of the guidance and decisions the Federal Aviation Administration has made pertaining to intermodal facility development at airports. As su...

Mary E. Peters is the 2019 recipient of the Frank Turner Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Transportation. Ms. Peters is former U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, and Director of the Arizona Department of Transportation. She is currently principal of Mary Peters Consulting Group, LLC. The Award will be presented during the Annual Meeting's Cha...

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has released a report that examines the DOT’s policies and procedures for prompt referral of potential criminal violations to the OIG office. The OIG detects and prevents fraud, abuse, and mismanagement, and provides criminal enforcement for violations of law.

Titles, dates, times, and brief descriptions are now available for the 100+ specialty workshops at the TRB 98th Annual Meeting, January 13-17, 2019, in Washington, D.C. Annual Meeting registration is required for all workshop attendees. The Human Factors workshops, which are those with titles beginning with “HR,” have limited attendance and require a separate registration and fee. Mark your cal...

TRB's Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Legal Research Digest 34: Airport Public Health Preparedness and Response: Legal Rights, Powers, and Duties addresses the legal issues concerning the measures to detect communicable diseases, regulations to control communicable diseases, methods for decontamination, emergency legal preparedness, privacy, and potential sources of liability. This ...

The Competitive Enterprise Institute has released a report that provides an overview of following-too-closely (FTC) statutes and regulations in order to identify specific changes for FTC rule exemptions for automated vehicle (AV) platoons. Although platoons of AVs are not explicitly prohibited in most states, many current FTC statutes would not allow platooning AVs.

TRB conducted a webinar on Tuesday, August 14, 2018, from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM ET that featured research from the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP)’s Legal Research Digest 50 : Public Transit Emergency Preparedness Against Ebola and Other Infectious Diseases: Legal Issues. This webinar examined legal issues that transit agencies may face when an infectious disease epidemic arises. Prese...

The National Conference of State Legislatures have released a report that examines traffic safety bills implemented in 2017. This report identifies bills related to occupant protection, impaired driving, driver licensing, speeding, driver characteristics and behavior, and more.

The Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University has released a report that summarizes how personal transportation devices (PTDs) are regulated through the United States. PTDs include small wheeled devices such as kick scooters and electric skateboards.

In 2012, Congress gave the U.S. Federal Transit Administration (FTA) the authority to establish a new comprehensive framework to oversee the safety of the country’s public transit systems. As part of that framework, state and local transit agencies are required to engage in safety planning. In the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act of 2015, Congress asked the National Academies of Scie...