Understanding pandemics, their impacts to transportation, and potential effective response has become more important, not only for the response to COVID-19, but also if, as the World Health Organization warns, we are now “living in a time of viruses.” TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program and Transit Cooperative Research Program have jointly issued  NCHRP Research Report 963/TCRP Research Report 225: A Pandemic Playbook for Transportation Agencies , which was created to improve transpo...

The accurate characterization of the in situ aging of asphalt pavement materials over the service life of the pavement is of utmost importance to the implementation of mechanistic empirical (ME) pavement design and analysis methods. The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's pre-publication draft of NCHRP   Research Report 973: Long-Term Aging of Asphalt Mixtures for Performance Testing and Prediction: Phase III Results refines the aging procedure developed in the original NCHRP Researc...

Light emitting diode (LED) technology has revolutionized the lighting industry. The dimming and instant-on capabilities of these light sources along with their high efficiency have allowed lighting designers to overcome some of the limitations of previous technologies, particularly in roadway lighting environments. However, concerns related to the health and environmental impacts of LEDs have been raised. The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Research Report 968: LED Roadway Light...

Effective transportation asset management (TAM) depends on having good data about the assets under management, their descriptions, current condition and history, functional performance, and the activities conducted to develop, maintain, improve, and rehabilitate them during the course of their service lives. The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Research Report 956: Guidebook for Data and Information Systems for Transportation Asset Management presents a structured approach for as...

Transportation officials recognize that a reliable and sustainable transportation system is needed to fulfill their agency’s mission and goals. The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's pre-publication draft of NCHRP Research Report 970: Mainstreaming System Resilience Concepts into Transportation Agencies: A Guide provides transportation officials with a self-assessment tool to assess the current status of an agency’s efforts to improve the resilience of the transportation system through t...

Asphalt binders experience aging that occurs in two distinct stages under quite different conditions: (1) short-term during construction (plant mixing, storage, placement, and compaction) and (2) long-term during the service life of the pavement. The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's pre-publication of NCHRP Research Report 967: Asphalt Binder Aging Methods to Accurately Reflect Mixture Aging documents research conducted to improve laboratory binder conditioning methods to accurately si...

There is a need to identify new or improved laboratory and field test methods to measure the electrochemical properties of earthen materials surrounding buried or embedded steel elements. The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Research Report 958: Electrochemical Test Methods to Evaluate the Corrosion Potential of Earthen Materials presents a protocol for evaluating the corrosion potential of earthen materials in contact with steel highway structures.

Cross-frames are important structural components that serve many functions throughout the service life of steel I-girder bridges. Under repetitive load cycles caused by heavy truck passages, cross-frames and their connections can be susceptible to load-induced fatigue cracking if not properly designed. The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Research Report 962: Proposed Modification to AASHTO Cross-Frame Analysis and Design addresses knowledge gaps in an attempt to improve the reli...

Alternative Intersections and Interchanges (A.I.I.s) are designs that improve operations and safety for motorized traffic by strategically adjusting the geometric features at a given location, working on the general principle of redistributing motor vehicle demand at an intersection in an attempt to limit the need to add capacity with new lanes to improve traffic flow. The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Research Report 948: Guide for Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety at Alternati...

Laboratory testing and field experience have shown that highway concrete should be properly air entrained to resist the action of freezing and thawing, particularly in wet climates. Several gaps in the state of the knowledge still exist. The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Research Report 961: Entrained Air-Void Systems for Durable Highway Concrete addresses these gaps and, more specifically, investigates innovative test methods for effectively characterizing the air system in f...