TRB’s Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) program has released the latest issue of its New IDEAs for Highway Systems: Annual Progress Report , which summarizes projects active or completed during the 2024 program year. A project of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP), the NCHRP Highway IDEA program seeks proposals with potential to advance the construction, safety, maintenance, and management of highway systems. The program is sponsored by the member states of the Amer...

An important operational characteristic of an airport is the length of its longest runway. The longest runway determines the types of aircraft that can use the airport and dictates the operational limitations at the airport. The TRB Airport Cooperative Research Program's ACRP Web-Only Document 54: Development of a Small Aircraft Runway Length Analysis Tool provides a user-friendly computer tool to help airport planners and designers estimate runway length requirements for a variety of aircraft and design...

Dynamic curbside management has been the purview of cities, with much of the relevant research and guidance directed toward local transportation agencies. However, state departments of transportation, metropolitan planning organizations, and other regional agencies can be important partners for these local entities because, in many cases, roadways and other curb zone elements are part of the regional or state network. The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Web-Only Document 340: Dy...

Approximately 1,282 fatalities on U.S. interstate highways in 2020 were due to nighttime road departures. A new ultra-bright retroreflective lane marking tape can save lives as well as offer both a very short payback period and a very substantial benefit/cost ratio over its useful lifetime. The TRB IDEA (Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis) Program's NCHRP IDEA Final Report for Project 228: A Retroreflective Road Lane Marking Tape 1,000X Brighter than Existing Technology details a new product whic...

TR News 336: November-December 2021 examines the history of the MnROAD research facility, redesigning transit for the new mobility future, planning and design of airport terminal restrooms and ancillary spaces, understanding systemic risks of railroad hazmat transport, systems engineering for rural connected vehicle corridors, talent for today and tomorrow, and more.

Many technical and institutional issues related to estimating and reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) lie across a wide spectrum of the activities undertaken by state departments of transportation (DOTs). The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Web-Only Document 308: Methods for State DOTs to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Transportation Sector documents the research effort for an NCHRP project that focused on developing a guide for state DOTs on reducing GHG emission...

The AASHTO Guide for Enterprise Risk Management , published in 2016, defines enterprise risk management as “the formal and systematic effort to control uncertainty and variability on an organization’s strategic objectives by managing risks at all levels of the organization.” The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Research Report 986: Implementation of the AASHTO Guide for Enterprise Risk Management documents how several state departments of transportation are adopting risk man...

A January 31, 2022 letter report from TRB's Committee for the Review of Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Infrastructure R&D Program's Long-Term Infrastructure Program (LTIP) summarizes recent program progress, strategic issues, and committee recommendations for future actions. The program has produced some useful products and results over the past year and continued to improve user accessibility to data and information. Although FHWA’s infrastructure research and development is considerably broa...

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (9/11), transportation has broadened its role to include response and operations—from traffic incident management as a multiagency function to aviation security. But in the 20 years since 9/11, natural disasters, technology changes, and pandemics have presented new challenges. In TR News 335: September–October 2021 authors address these challenges, as well as how transportation agencies can incorporate resilience to respond quickly and effectively to an ...

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) has released its annual report. This Annual Report provides a concise list of research published in 2021 and a list of all active projects, projects completed in 2021, and projects that were approved in 2021 but are not yet under contract. The Annual Report also presents detailed information about how NCHRP operates with oversight by the AASHTO Special Committee on Research and Innovation.