The full edition of the November–December 2017 TR News is now available. This edition explores a design competition to re-envision the essential transportation facility. It also follows up on the innovations presented by participants in the TRB Six-Minute Pitch Competition since 2013 and finds inspiring successes. Other articles describe policy studies related to transportation by other units o...

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 515: Practices for Preventing Roadway Departures identifies and summarizes practices being used by state departments of transportation (DOTs) to prevent roadway departure crashes and to identify the data-driven advantages and disadvantages of these practices. More than half of all traffic fatalities result from roadway depart...

A featured article in the March-April 2018 issue of the TR News explores highlights from the 2018 TRB Annual Meeting. This article provides information about the number of attendees and sessions. It includes pictures of individual events, presenters, and award winners.   The TR News is TRB's bimonthly magazine featuring timely articles on innovative and state-of-the-art research and practi...

TRB's Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Synthesis 136: Contracting Fixed-Route Bus Transit Service documents the state of the practice in contracting bus services. Today many transit agencies contract out their fixed-route bus transit services; however, there is not enough research that focuses on the procurement and oversight process of these contracts. This synthesis will assist tra...

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...

TRB's Special Report 325: Safely Transporting Hazardous Liquids and Gases in a Changing U.S. Energy Landscape reviews how the pipeline, rail, and barge industries have fared in safely transporting the increased volumes of domestically produced energy liquids and gases. The report, sponsored by TRB, reviews the safety record of the three transportation modes in moving these hazardous shipments a...

TRB Special Report 324: Designing Safety Regulations for High-Hazard Industries, examines key factors relevant to government safety regulators when choosing among regulatory design types, particularly for preventing low-frequency, high consequence events. In such contexts, safety regulations are often scrutinized after an incident, but their effectiveness can be inherently difficult to assess w...

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 ...

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) 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 National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Research Report 854: Guide for Identifying, Classifying, Evaluating, and Mitigating Truck Freight Bottlenecks provides transportation agencies state-of-the-practice information on truck freight bottlenecks using truck probe data rather than traditional travel demand models. The report embraces a broad definition of truck freight bottle...

TRB’s Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2609 consists of 10 papers that explore freight systems, including: Hierarchical Value Chains Encompassing Freight Transportation and Logistics Sectors in the United States: Network Analysis Approach Probabilistic Modeling of Single and Concurrent Truckloads on Bridges Development of a Duty Cycle for the Des...

TRB’s Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2637 consists of 12 papers that explore motorcycles, trucks, buses, and roundabouts, including: Safety Effects of Horizontal Curve Design on Motorcycle Crash Frequency on Rural, Two-Lane, Undivided Highways in Florida Investigating Total Annual Average Daily Traffic as a Surrogate for Motorcycle Volumes in E...

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...

TRB’s Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2644 consists of 13 papers exploring traffic monitoring, including: Sensor Location Decision Model for Truck Flow Measurement Bicycle and Pedestrian Counts at Signalized Intersections Using Existing Infrastructure: Opportunities and Challenges Quality Assurance and Quality Control Processes for a Large-Scale...

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has released a report that examines the effectiveness of the use of the percentile ranks produced by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA’s) Safety Measurement System (SMS) for identifying high-risk carriers, and if not, what alternatives might be preferred. In addition, this report evaluates the accuracy and suff...

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 ...

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 National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Web-Only Document 231: Challenges to CV and AV Applications in Truck Freight Operations explores connected vehicle (CV) and automated vehicle (AV) technology, focusing on heavy trucking. The report identifies existing and emerging freight regulatory, planning, policy, and operational environments and challenges for connected and autono...

A March 13, 2017 letter report from TRB's Motor Carrier Safety Research Analysis Committee (MCSRAC) advises the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Research and Technology (R&T) program on a number of topics. At the request of the FMCSA, this first letter report explores the goals and strategy of the FMCSA R&T Program as well as the recommendations regarding data made in...

TRB's National Cooperative Freight Research Program (NCFRP) Research Report 37: Using Commodity Flow Survey Microdata and Other Establishment Data to Estimate the Generation of Freight, Freight Trips, and Service Trips: Guidebook provides policy makers with improved establishment-level models that estimate the Freight Trip Generation (FTG), the number of vehicle trips produced and attracted at ...

A featured article in the November-December 2016 issue of the TR News highlights the challenges of freight transportation with regards to meeting new emissions standards. 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 also includes brief news items of interest to the transportation com...

TRB's Hazardous Materials Cooperative Research Program (HMCRP) Web-Only Document 3: Evaluation of Small Quantities of Class 3 and Class 9 Hazardous Materials in Transportation identifies the commodities comprising Class 3 (Packing Group II and III) and Class 9 liquid hazardous material (HAZMAT) (UN 3082) to determine the risks of transportation of the HAZMAT in commerce by motor carriers. The r...

The full edition of the May–June 2016 issue of the TR News is now available. This edition explores bus transportation in the United States. Articles include the intercity bus renaissance and curbside long-distance services; the myths, history, status, and future of bus rapid transit, with a case study of a newly launched service; technology-enabled bus services; the state of rural bus transit; ...

TRB's Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2547 consists of 13 papers addressing freight systems issues, including: Characterization of International Origin–Destination Truck Movements Across Two Major U.S.–Canadian Border Crossings Investigation of Commercial Vehicle Parking Permits in Toronto, Ontario, Canada Effects of Safety Chains on Dynamics of...

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 830: Multi-State, Multimodal, Oversize/Overweight Transportation is a compilation of existing permitting requirements for the transportation of oversize/overweight (OSOW) freight throughout the United States. It identifies and presents information about state-by-state differences in OSOW road transportation regulations and permi...

The May–June 2016 issue of the TR News explores how curbside bus operators are rejuvenating a sector of transportation providing trip between 125 to 350 miles—distances considered too short for airline trips but uncomfortably long for driving. 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...

TRB’s Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2593 consists of 9 papers exploring traffic monitoring, including: • Identifying Factors to Improve Transportation Asset Management Program Sustainment: Applying Implementation Research and Change Management Principles • Accuracy of Bicycle Counting with Pneumatic Tubes in Oregon • Battery-Saving Communicati...

A featured article in the March-April 2016 issue of the TR News highlights photos from the 95th TRB Annual Meeting, January 10-14, 2016. The article features photographs of sessions, workshops, committee meetings, and awards. Dr. Hani Mahmassani, William A. Patterson Distinguished Chair in Transportation and professor, Northwestern University, and Director, Northwestern University Transportatio...