TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Web-Only Document 251: Spot Painting to Extend Highway Bridge Coating Life: Volume 1: Guidance provides approaches for employing spot painting in a cost-effective, safe, and environmentally compliant manner. Bridge coatings are the primary means of corrosion protection for steel bridges in the United States. Most bridge coatings tend t...

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Web-Only Document 251: Spot Painting to Extend Highway Bridge Coating Life: Volume 1: documents the evaluation method for a guidance document that provides approaches for employing spot painting in a cost-effective, safe, and environmentally compliant manner. Bridge coatings are the primary means of corrosion protection for steel bridg...

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Research Report 871: Long-Term Aging of Asphalt Mixtures for Performance Testing and Prediction presents a proposed standard method for long-term laboratory aging of asphalt mixtures for performance testing. The method is intended for consideration as a replacement for the method in AASHTO R 30, “Mixture Conditioning of Hot Mix Asphalt...

To keep pace with accelerating rate of research distribution, the Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board is now publishing articles as soon as they are finalized. The latest papers to be published are as follows: Use of a Laser Diffractometer to Obtain the Particle Size Distribution of Fine-Grained Soils Interstate Speed Profiles Conditioning and Testing Pr...

TR Circular E-C228: Rebuilding and Retrofitting the Transportation Infrastructure documents the presentations from a conference of the same name held in Washington, D.C., in September 2017. This meeting was the 11th in a series of Spotlight Conferences funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology, University Transportation...

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) latest Research Topic Highlights explores solutions for roadway tunnels. It summarizes the results of several research projects that has framed the problems and mitigation strategies associated with tunnels. Included are summaries of tunnel inspection, rehabilitation, and preservation; tunnel design; and tunnel safety and security.

The full edition of the July–August 2017  TR News  magazine is now available.  Moving research into practice is the theme of feature articles in this edition. Authors describe today’s successes, present a systematic approach that has proved effective at a state department of transportation, describe federal programs encouraging innovations at the state level, discuss initiatives ...

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Research Report 863: Material Properties of Cold In-Place Recycled and Full-Depth Reclamation Asphalt Concrete  presents procedures for determining material properties of cold-recycled asphalt mixtures for input to pavement structural design programs. Highway agencies are placing increasing emphasis on sustainability, recycling, a...

TRB's Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) latest Impacts on Practice discusses how Harrisburg Airport (MDT), part of the Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania applied results of ACRP Report 92 : A Guidebook to Creating a Collaborative Environment Between Airport Operations and Maintenance. The tools contained in helped MDT employees collaborate across t...

The full edition of the May-June 2017 TR News is now available. This edition explores the role of transportation in economic development. Articles feature information about benefit-cost analysis, freight production models, transportation satellite accounts, and right sizing strategies. The TR News is TRB's bimonthly magazine featuring timely articles on innovative and state-of-the-art research ...

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Research Report 857: Performance-Related Specifications for Pavement Preservation Treatments presents guidelines for use in preparing performance-related specifications (PRS) for pavement preservation treatments and, if desired, determining pay adjustment factors. Although PRS have been used for the construction of pavements, their use...

TRB's Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) Program Safety 27: Field Evaluation of Ballast Fouling Conditions Using Machine Vision introduces a machine vision-based inspection system to assess ballast degradation levels for an in-service rail track. This system incorporates an approach to ballast sampling, procedures for image acquisition of horizontal and vertical ballast cross sec...

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Research Report 859: Consequences of Delayed Maintenance of Highway Assets presents a process for quantifying the consequences of delayed maintenance of highway assets that considers the asset preservation policy, the maintenance and budget needs, and the analyses of delayed maintenance scenarios. This process considers delayed mainten...

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) has released Final Report 181: Development of Small Specimen Geometry for Asphalt Mixture Performance Testing. The use of small specimen geometries in Asphalt Mixture Performance Tester (AMPT) offer a means to measure as-built pavement layers. Small specimen geometries may improve the e...

TRB's Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Synthesis 85: Alternative Fuels in Airport Fleets is designed to assist airport operators in analyzing complex procurement, operational, and environmental decisions when considering alternative fuels in airport fleets. Airports own and contract fleets to transport passengers, staff, and goods by on- and off-road vehicles. Although most transport...

The latest of TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Ready Results explores new technologies and practices to inspect culvert and storm drains. The manual assists transportation agencies with incorporating culverts into modern asset management systems—a move that allows agencies to improve the way they prioritize rehabilitation activities and more clearly demonstrate the ne...

The latest of TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Ready Results summarizes nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods for assessing the condition of in-service post-tensioning and stay cable systems. Post-tensioned (PT) girder bridges and stay cable bridges pose a challenge to bridge inspectors because steel tendons used as the primary structural support in these bridges ar...

A featured article in the May-June 2017 issue of the TR News examines how to develop appropriate evaluation frameworks that account for the integration of new technologies into the infrastructure in order to accurately value the current highway system. The TR News is TRB's bimonthly magazine featuring timely articles on innovative and state-of-the-art research and practice in all modes of trans...

The latest of TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Ready Results explores guidelines to prevent failures in small-movement expansion joints (SMEJs) on bridges. SMEJs enable a bridge to accommodate movements caused by temperature changes and rotation, while also directing water and deicing chemicals off the deck and away from the bridge. This summary explores research aime...

The latest edition of Research Pays Off examines how the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) has collaborated with Ohio districts and counties in the research process in order to solve common transportation challenges and save costs. The TR News is TRB's bimonthly magazine featuring timely articles on innovative and state-of-the-art research and practice in all modes of transportation. It ...

TRB’s Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2612 consists of 17 papers that explore maintenance and preservation, including: Travel Quality Assessment of Urban Roads Based on International Roughness Index: Case Study in Colombia Use of Crack Characteristics in Crack Sealing Performance Modeling and Network-Level Project Selection Method for Ranking Re...

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Web-Only Document 236: Incorporating Slab/Underlying Layer Interaction into the Concrete Pavement Analysis Procedures develops mechanistic-empirical (M-E)  models (and software) to consider the interaction between the concrete slab and base layer and its effect on pavement performance. The current American Association of State Hig...

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Web-Only Document 235: Quantifying the Influence of Geosynthetics on Pavement Performance develops a methodology for quantifying the influence of geosynthetics on pavement performance for use in pavement design and analysis. This project focused on the use of geosynthetics in unbound base/subbase layers or as a base/subgrade interface ...

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) Program has released Report 175: Rapid Detection of Fatigue Cracking in Steel Anchor Rods Using the Impulse Response Method. The report explores the development of a rapid screening nondestructive test procedure utilizing stress wave interrogation that could detect fatigue cracks in ste...

TRB’s Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2617 consists of 11 papers that explore visibility and work zone traffic control, including: Field Evaluation of Pilot Vehicles and Portable Traffic Control Signals With and Without a Flagger Effects of Full Matrix Color Changeable Message Signs on Legibility and Roadway Hazard Visibility Influence of Truck-...

TRB has released its requirements for submitting papers for presentation at the 2018 TRB Annual Meeting and/or publication in the Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board . This guide covers the organization and formatting of manuscripts for peer review and for publication, as well as instructions for submission. Papers that do not follow the guidelines will ...

TRB’s Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2613 consists of 10 papers that explore traffic and equipment maintenance, especially with regards to weather, including: Use of Calorimetry to Measure Ice-Melting Capacity Investigating Safety Effectiveness of Wyoming Snow Fence Installations Along a Rural Mountainous Freeway Relating Public Opinions of Roa...

A featured article in the March-April 2017 issue of the TR News highlights photos from the 96th TRB Annual Meeting, January 8-12, 2017. The article features photographs of sessions, workshops, committee meetings, and awards. Bruce M. Smith, Apperson Crump PLC, and General Counsel, Memphis Area Transit Authority, delivered the delivered the 2017 Thomas B. Deen Distinguished Lecture on “Ethical I...

A featured article in the March-April 2017 issue of the TR News highlights photos from the 96th TRB Annual Meeting, January 8-12, 2017. The article features photographs of sessions, workshops, committee meetings, and awards. Bruce M. Smith, Apperson Crump PLC, and General Counsel, Memphis Area Transit Authority, delivered the delivered the 2017 Thomas B. Deen Distinguished Lecture on “Ethical I...

TRB's Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Synthesis 129: Managing Extreme Weather at Bus Stops documents current practices of transit systems to determine methods and procedures used for maintaining transit stops and associated infrastructure during and following such weather events. This synthesis provides a state-of-the-practice report on transit systems' management of extreme weather...