When communities are faced with hurricanes, wildfires, and other natural disasters, airports serve critical response and recovery roles by enabling evacuations and the flow of emergency resources, supplies, and personnel. Yet when these same disasters damage airports and disrupt airport operations, response and recovery times in affected communities can be significantly delayed.  This ACRP Impact on Practice highlights how ACRP Report 73: Airport-to-Airport Mutual Aid Programs —and the tools, strat...

The size and mass of the private vehicle fleet in the United States have increased over time due to many factors, including prioritization of vehicle occupant safety, vehicle standards, and consumer preference. Studies have consistently found that pedestrians are likely to sustain greater injury from an SUV than a car, particularly at higher speeds. While larger, heavier vehicles increase injury risk for people walking, bicycling, and rolling in the event of a crash, there are still unanswered questions...

As the asphalt pavement industry advances toward the use of higher reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) contents in asphalt mixtures, it becomes increasingly important to accurately assess the quality and variability of RAP to ensure consistent pavement performance. Final Report for NCHRP IDEA Project 245: Simple and Rapid Tests for Assessing Quality and Consistency of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) for Recycled Asphalt Mixture Applications documents a project that investigated innovative methods for dete...

Cantilevered traffic signal structures are critical components of urban infrastructure. However, their slender, cantilevered design makes them particularly vulnerable to wind-induced vibrations, which can lead to fatigue failures at the pole-to-mast arm connections—locations where stress concentrations are highest. Despite ongoing research into fatigue-rated joints and passive damping devices, limited attention has been given to the real-world aerodynamic behavior of these structures under natural wind ...

Highway construction workers are regularly exposed to loud and complex noise environments from equipment, tools, and nearby traffic. While hearing protection equipment (HPE) is essential for preventing hearing loss, it often blocks important warning sounds—such as backup alarms or vehicle intrusion alerts—that are vital for worker safety. T The TRB IDEA (Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis) Program's NCHRP IDEA Final Report for Project 247:  Augmenting the Hearing of Safety-Critical Sounds fo...

Researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and transportation-industry leaders are exploring how additive manufacturing (commonly referred to as 3D printing) and construction technologies can accelerate innovation in transportation infrastructure. Among the impacts being evaluated are supply chains, logistics, infrastructure resilience, and workforce development. Transportation Research Circular E-C304: TRB Conference on Advancing Additive Manufacturing and Construction in Transportation , from the Transp...

Transportation agencies and the industry in North America are migrating to an approach known as Balanced Mix Design, wherein proposed asphalt mixtures are held to physical property standards based on the results of mixture performance testing. This approach has been used successfully for high-volume roads in Europe for decades. Transportation Research Circular E-C303: The Effect of Asphalt Supply on Balanced Mix Design , from the Transportation Research Board, compiles presentations made during Workshop ...

Horizontal curves, comprising only about five percent of highway miles, account for a disproportionately high number of fatal crashes, nearly 25 percent. Excessive driving speed on curves is the leading cause of these run-off-road crashes, due to vehicles exceeding the amount of friction available. Understanding existing curve safety conditions, such as advisory speeds, is crucial for planning and designing safety countermeasures. The TRB IDEA (Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis) Program's NCHRP ...

As the airport industry continues to evolve to meet the latest workforce, operations, and technological developments, ensuring that small airports have the resources and information necessary to adapt is essential. The TRB Airport Cooperative Research Program's Impacts on Practice: Onboarding New Staff with ACRP Resources details how the Indiana Department of Transportation shares ACRP research products with new airport managers to provide guidance and real-world case studies for addressing a range of ai...

Access Management is defined as “the coordinated planning, regulation, and design of access between roadways and land development.” Transportation Research Circular E-C301: Access Management Safety and Design from the Curb to the Interchange for All Users contains extended abstracts from selected presentations presented at the Transportation Research Board 4th International/13th National Conference on Access Management, held June 24-26, 2024, in Boston, MA.