Scaling loose rocks from slopes adjacent to highways is a simple and effective measure for temporarily reducing the risk of rockfall potential on naturally occurring bedrock outcrops and highway rock–soil cuts. However, the current practice in estimating scope of work and contracting rock scaling projects are inconsistent from agency to agency. Many owners and transportation agencies conduct scaling work on a reactionary basis because of continued or prolonged rockfall activity. Transportation Research C...

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 that TRB can be best understood as an infrastructure—one that people purposely designed and devotedly maintained.

Ballast is an important part of railroad infrastructure. It is used as a support base for bearing the load from the track, as well as facilitating drainage of water from the track. Hence, the ballast layer serves an important role in track performance. The TRB IDEA (Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis) Program's Rail Safety IDEA Final Report 30: Ballast Real-time Information System details the development and validation of an integrated system – Ballast Real-time information System (BRIS) – o...

Transit agencies are beginning to harness the value of external data, but challenges remain. The TRB Transit Cooperative Research Program's pre-publication draft of TCRP Research Report 213: Data Sharing Guidance for Public Transit Agencies – Now and in the Future is designed to help agencies make decisions about sharing their data, including how to evaluate benefits, costs, and risks. Many transit agencies have realized benefits from sharing their internal data sets, ranging from improved customer infor...

The full issue of the July-August edition of the TR News is now available. This issue  focuses on types of trespassing in passenger and freight rail: the importance of the issue, possible strategies to prevent trespassing, and effects on the rail transportation system. Articles present an overview of the prevalence of trespassing deaths and address a variety of preventive strategies and technologies as well as related research.   The TR News is TRB's bimonthly magazine featuring timely article...

The Wisconsin DOT issues both single- and multi-trip permits for Oversize–Overweight (OSOW) vehicles. As the number of OSOW vehicle permits issued in Wisconsin have increased in recent years, the management and analysis of OSOW permit data has become more labor-intensive and time-consuming. This "Research Pays Off" feature in  TR News edition 324 (November-December 2019), by Hani Titi, Nicholas Coley, Daniel J. Mulder, and William Wondrachek, examines a research project that was designed to create s...

States and localities are beginning to recognize and act on the connection between health and transportation. A growing number of entities have produced a number of resources, guidance documents, and strategic plans on the topic. The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's  NCHRP Research Report 932: A Research Roadmap for Transportation and Public Health builds upon this body of work to provide a plan for funding research over the next decade that can lead to greater consideration of he...

Providing light beyond the limits of the roadway travel lanes benefits drivers’ visual performance, spectral content of light-emitting diode (LED) sources should be a design consideration, and there are not currently any health impacts from properly designed roadway lighting are among the findings of this survey report. The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's pre-publication draft of NCHRP Research Report 940: Solid-State Roadway Lighting Design Guide: Volume 2: Research Overview determin...

The lighting industry has changed dramatically over the past decade. The optical system design of legacy high-intensity discharge (HID) luminaires was restricted to the lamp, refractor, and reflector design, which had limits in the distribution of the light, controls, and adaptability. Roadway luminaires have moved beyond this design methodology to include the vast possibilities presented by solid-state lighting (SSL). At present, in the form of light emitting diodes (LED), SSL uses lower energy, reduces...

Prior to 2013, the use of bicycle-specific signals in the U.S. was limited to a few jurisdictions. However, in recent years, the number of installations has grown rapidly. This research identified more than 500 intersections using bicycle signals in a variety of contexts. Despite the recent approval and practice, the TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Web-Only Document 273: Road User Understanding of Bicycle Signal Faces on Traffic Signals explores the questions that remain regardi...