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TRB Transportation Research E-Newsletter*
April 2, 2013
* Please note that the appearance of the newsletter on TRB's website is different than that distributed to a subscriber's e-mail system; however, the content is the same. Subscribing to the TRB E-Newsletter is free. The opinions expressed in reports highlighted in TRB's Transportation Research E-Newsletter are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Transportation Research Board.
TRB News
TRB Webinar: Guidelines for the Use of Mobile LIDAR in Transportation Applications
March 28, 2013
TRB will conduct a webinar on April 11, 2013, from 1:00p.m.- 2:30 p.m. ET (note the updated time) that will highlight TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program report: Guidelines for the Use of Mobile LIDAR in Transportation Applications. Participants must register in advance of the webinar and there is a fee for non-TRB Sponsor employees. A certificate for 1.5 Professional Development Hours (PDH) will be provided to attendees who register and attend the webinar as an individual. Mobile LIDAR is a new 3D technology that offers a promising way to help transportation agencies plan, design, construct and maintain their highway networks. This active system of measurement can be used to obtain accurate and dense 3D information to support a wide variety of applications.
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TRB Webinar: Promising Practices for Concrete Paving for Young Engineers
April 1, 2013
TRB will conduct a webinar on April 30, 2013 from 2:00 p.m.- 4:00 p.m. ET that will provide an overview of basic, promising practices for concrete paving, and the effects these practices may have on long term pavement performance. Participants must register in advance of the webinar, and there is a fee for non-TRB Sponsor employees. A certificate for 2 Professional Development Hours (PDH) will be provided to attendees who register and attend the webinar as an individual.
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GeoHubei International Conference*
March 27, 2013
TRB is cosponsoring the GeoHubei International Conference July 20-23, 2014, in Hubei, China. The conference will explore recent developments and advancements in design, construction, and safety inspections of transportation infrastructures. Topics to be address will cover a broad array of contemporary issues for professionals involved in geotechnical, bridge, pavement, tunnel, and emerging techniques for safety inspections. Individuals or groups wishing to present at the conference must submit an abstract by May 20,2013.
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Workshop on the Safety Effects of Geometric Design Decisions
March 28, 2013
TRB is sponsoring the Workshop on the Safety Effects of Geometric Design Decisions on July 30-August 1, 2013, in Irvine, California. The workshop is designed to present transportation agency experiences and “lessons learned” from applications of Highway Safety Manual in various stages of the transportation project development process; discuss a future edition of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets (Green Book); and identify and document emerging research needs to support future editions of the AASHTO Green Book. The draft program is available. Early bird registration expires June 1, 2013. Special hotel room rate expires July 1, 2013.
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RFP: Impacts of Policy-Induced Freight Modal Shifts
March 27, 2013
TRB’s National Cooperative Freight Research Program (NCFRP) to develop a handbook for public practitioners that describes the factors shippers and carriers consider when choosing freight modes and provides an analytical methodology for public practitioners to quantify the probability and outcomes of policy-induced modal shifts. Proposals are due May 15, 2013.
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Recently Released TRB Publications
Guidelines for Geofoam Applications in Slope Stability Projects
April 2, 2013
TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Research Results Digest 380: Guidelines for Geofoam Applications in Slope Stability Projects explores the use of expanded polystyrene-block geofoam for slope stabilization projects. For the purpose of the report, slope stabilization projects include new roadways as well as repair of existing roadways that have been damaged by slope instability or slope movement.
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Guidebook for Construction Management Practices for Rural Projects
March 27, 2013
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Research Results Digest 381: Guidebook for Construction Management Practices for Rural Projects focuses on tools and techniques that may be used to help improve aspects of construction management in the rural environment. Tools and techniques covered in the report address issues such as construction administration, engineering, operation, and safety; cost estimation; scheduling; quality control and assurance; and claims and disputes. NCHRP RRD 381 defines rural projects as those that cost less than about $2 million and occur in an area with a population less than 50,000 people.
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Performance-Based Seismic Bridge Design
March 28, 2013
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 440, Performance-Based Seismic Bridge Design (PBSD) summarizes the current state of knowledge and practice for PBSD. PBSD is the process that links decision making for facility design with seismic input, facility response, and potential facility damage. The goal of PBSD is to provide decision makers and stakeholders with data that will enable them to allocate resources for construction based on levels of desired seismic performance.
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Fuel Usage Factors in Highway and Bridge Construction
March 30, 2013
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 744: Fuel Usage Factors in Highway and Bridge Construction includes fuel usage factors for work items in the construction and maintenance of highways and bridges. The report includes the Price Adjustment Calculator Tool, a Microsoft Excel® spreadsheet, designed to assist in the calculation of payment adjustments for construction projects using fuel price indices or fuel prices.
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Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 1: Scenario Planning for Freight Transportation Infrastructure Investment
March 29, 2013
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 750: Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 1: Scenario Planning for Freight Transportation Infrastructure Investment analyzes the driving forces behind high-impact economic and social changes as well as sourcing patterns that may affect the U.S. freight transportation system. The report also introduces scenario planning as a tool that can be used in conjunction with other planning methods to improve the quality of long-range transportation infrastructure planning.
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How Vulnerable Is Alaska’s Transportation to Climate Change? Managing an Infrastructure Built on Permafrost
April 1, 2013
A featured article in the January-February 2013 issue of the TR News explores how climate change in Alaska is forcing engineers and planners to adapt both to warming and to cooling trends. With warming permafrost, coastal erosion, and increasingly dramatic storms and flood events, Alaska’s highways, runways, and other infrastructure are frequently icing, cracking, and washing away. Although these adversities challenge all of the state’s major transportation systems—maritime, aviation, and surface—the most acute and costly damage occurs within the road system.
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TRB Security, Emergency Management, and Infrastructure Protection Research Status Report
March 31, 2013
Since September 11, 2001, 145 security-, emergency management-, and infrastructure protection-related planning and implementation projects have been initiated through programs managed by the Transportation Research Board (TRB). One hundred eleven of these projects have been completed; 24 projects are in progress; and 10 projects have contracts pending or are currently in development. This report, updated monthly, provides information on about $20 million worth of completed and ongoing TRB security research.
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Federal Research News
University Research News
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Evaluation of Design Methods to Determine Scour Depths for Bridge Structures
March 28, 2013
The Louisiana Transportation Research Center has released a report that evaluates the applicability of the Federal Highway Administration’s Hydraulic Engineering Circular documents method to Louisiana bridges situated on cohesive soils as a way to develop a design method for scour depth and scour rate prediction.
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Examining Consumer Behavior and Travel Choices
March 28, 2013
The Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium has released a report that explores the history of scholarly work on impacts of non-work travel along with consumer spending by mode of travel. This report is available for no fee after logging on to the site.
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World Transit Research Newsletter: March 2013
March 27, 2013
Monash University’s Institute of Transport Studies has released the latest issue of its bimonthly newsletter that is designed to highlight recently added items to the World Transit Research database.
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International Research News
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Differentiated Marginal Costs in the Railway Sector
March 28, 2013
VTI—the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute, has released a report that reviews three of its previous studies on marginal costs within the railroad industry to determine how the track charges could be further differentiated. This report is written in Swedish with an English summary.
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In the Know
The New Real Estate Mantra: Location Near Public Transportation
March 28, 2013
The Center for Neighborhood Technology has released a report that investigates how well residential properties in proximity to fixed-guideway transit have maintained their value as compared to residential properties without transit access.
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