What's New in Materials

Supply of Bolts, Nuts and Washers , released by Austroads

The TRB 2021 Annual Meeting and TRB’s flagship journal, Transportation Research Record (TRR), invite research papers addressing Racial Inequity and the COVID-19 Pandemic. Paper submissions are due August 1, 2020. Racial Inequity Transportation can play a key role in addressing, as well as intensifying, the racial disparity that exists is in our society. We invite research that examines the tran...

As in many industries, transportation is facing significant challenges as a result of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Through the ongoing and rapidly changing phases of the pandemic, TRB is giving researchers, practitioners, and experts opportunities to share their insights with a wider audience through our webinars, Zoom meetings, blog articles, social media, and other platforms w...

Create or update your MyTRB profile  now if you will be a credited author of a paper submitted for presentation or for inclusion in the Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board . Having up-to-date profile information in the MyTRB system will ensure that you’ll have a smooth paper-submission process. If you are the designated corresponding author for a pa...

The TRB Centennial Book is available for purchase in ebook or print format. 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, she argues...

In a video submitted in response to TRB's "Tell Us 'Our' Story" centennial activity, Michael Morris, Director of Transportation, North Central Texas Council of Governments notes that TRB's centennial is an opportunity to "celebrate the accomplishments of TRB...and help us understand where we should go and how we should get there in the next 100 years."  Thank you Michael! Michael's video i...

TRB is committed to holding its 100th Annual Meeting in January 2021. We are closely monitoring the evolving situation related to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak and its potential impacts on the meeting. We are evaluating how to hold the meeting in a way that continues the important convening value and ensures the health and safety of everyone involved in the event, including whethe...

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine is hosting a virtual workshop on June 23, 2020, titled “COVID-19 and Black Communities.” To register for this event, please visit the registration page . To learn more information, including the agenda, please visit the web page . The workshop will also be recorded for those unable to join live. Members of the Roundtable on Black Me...

Performance testing of asphalt mixtures is becoming more widespread for a variety of reasons and with a variety of testing devices. The tests results are sensitive to the procedures used in preparation of the specimens. Guidelines exist for conducting the tests; however, they do not all provide uniform or comprehensive direction for fabricating test specimens. The TRB National Cooperative Highw...

Next steps for practitioners to take. Impacts on managed lanes. Security planning. Travel behavior and telework trends. Those are just a handful of the resources now available on the COVID-19 transportation resources website available from TRB and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

According to Dr. Susan Shaheen, Professor Civil and Environmental Engineering; and Co-Director, Transportation Sustainability Research Center, UC Berkeley, "Transportation is arguably experiencing its most transformative evolution since the introduction of the automobile. Concerns about climate change, the global pandemic, an economic recession, and social equity are converging with dramatic te...

The transportation industry faces a wide range of plausible future scenarios that may affect standard practices over the next 30 to 50 years. Because the range of possibilities over such a long-term period is quite broad, making a focused prediction of the implications for highway infrastructure preservation, maintenance, and renewal (PMR) is quite challenging. TRB is hosting a webinar on Thurs...

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://...

The American Association of State Highway Officials, the Bureau of Public Roads, and the National Academy of Sciences signed the three-party agreement officially creating the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) on June 19, 1962. The states funded NCHRP through dedicating 4.5 percent of their federal aid designated by law for planning and research—also known as the 1½ percent f...

A video created as part of TRB’s Centennial celebration has been named the winner of three 2020 Telly Awards, which annually showcase the best work created within television and across all types of video production. The video, titled Your Future in Transportation , highlights the excitement, challenges, and fulfillment that those who select transportation as their career can expect to enjoy. Fo...

Concrete bridges were included in the focus areas of the first bridge committee, the Committee on Bridges, established in 1949 in the Department of Highway Design of the Highway Research Board. The Committee on Bridges held its first meeting in May 1950 in Washington, D.C. At that meeting the committee developed plans for a session on highway structures for the January 1951 HRB Annual Meeting. ...

According to Dr. Geraldine Knatz, Professor of the Practice of Policy and Engineering, University of Southern California, "100 Years from now at TRB's 200th year anniversary, people will look back and wonder about the vehicles people own and think "how inefficient." Single owner vehicles will be replaced by a transportation system that will be fast, efficient, clean, accessible to all and on-de...

Reliability and Endurance Testing of Locomotive Waste Heat Recovery System , released by the U.S. Federal Railroad Administration

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is hosting Transportation Asset Management Summer MegaMeeting on July 13-15, 2020 online. TRB is pleased to cosponsor this conference. The event will be a series of six web-based sessions to continue the crucial work of the community of practice despite the inability to meet in person. Content will include coronavirus d...

The TRB Technical Activities Division’s Standing Committee on Public Involvement in Transportation is holding its 14th annual John and Jane Q. Public Communications Contest. TRB seeks best practices in successfully communicating with John and Jane Q. Public during disruptive, crisis situations that affect the transportation industry. The John and Jane Q. Public Communications contest recog...

Dear Transportation Colleagues, Like many of you, I am deeply troubled and heartbroken by the brutal killing of George Floyd by police officers who were sworn to protect the lives of their fellow citizens. His death has sparked protests and demonstrations across the nation and the world. I relate to and empathize with the hundreds of thousands of people who are protesting peacefully about endu...

Microplastics from Tyre And Road Wear , released by the Transport Research Institute in Sweden

The TRB 100th Annual Meeting is scheduled for January 24 to 28, 2021, in Washington, D.C. The paper submission site is now open starting and all are due August 1, 2020.

High Percentages of Reclaimed Asphalt Affect the Performance of Asphalt Binder , released by the National Center for Sustainable Transportation at the University of California, Davis

According to Dr. Xiaohua Lou, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Ingram School of Engineering, Texas State University "I hope 100 years later, TRB will be the most popular academic conference in the world. The researchers can not only come to Washington DC to attend the meeting, but they can also use the new technology to virtually attend this meeting. The conference will be 100 times bigger tha...

Corrosion of steel reinforcement is the primary cause of durability problems in Reinforced- and Prestressed-Concrete (RC and PC) structures. The TRB Highway Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis Program's IDEA Final Report 207: MILDGLASS: GFRP Strand for Resilient Mild Pre-Stressed Concrete developed corrosion-resistant tendons for PC application that, in addition to durability and mechani...

Missy Rudin-Brown, Manager, Human Factors and Macro Analysis, Transportation Safety Board of Canada says, "I have conducted research in transportation safety and been investigating transportation occurrences for over 20 years. My work has contributed to road safety policy and practice, and to safety improvements in all modes. I hope that, in future, I can have a positive impact on the world by ...

TRB's “Tell Us ‘Our’ Story" challenge is now looking into the future. What is your vision for the Transportation Research Board 100 years from now? What are solutions that you have identified as a result of research you learned about through TRB? How have you or your team been the “hero” at work as a result of TRB? TRB welcomes all stories: small or large, profound or light-hearted, sobering or...

Self-consolidating concrete (SCC) is a highly flowable, nonsegregating concrete that is placed without any mechanical consolidation. TRB conducted a webinar on Thursday, June 11, 2020, from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM Eastern that discussed how SCC may be used to fill heavily congested or irregularly shaped members in bridge applications more easily while providing improved in-place quality and surface ...

In the development of a quality assurance program, a state highway agency (SHA) incorporates policies and procedures for assessing how well the materials and construction used by a contractor on a construction project satisfy the agency's specifications. The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Research Report 946: Procedures and Guidelines for Validating Contractor Test Da...