New! TRB Annual Meeting Paper Submission Updates

Short-format research summaries are required for review and presentation consideration for the 2025 TRB Annual Meeting. A research summary is a concise summary that may include implementation of new knowledge, case studies, work in progress, or experience. 

Learn more about factors contributing to the decision to move with this new process for paper submission at this time.

Honoring Women's History Month

“Countless women have inspired, mentored, and supported me throughout my profession," says TRB volunteer Susan Shaheen of University of California, Berkeley Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Read more and share who inspires you during Women's History Month!

AI Technologies for Transportation Featured in TR News

AI technologies have fueled advances in autonomous driving and intelligent transportation systems, for example, enabling the public in Phoenix, San Francisco, and other cities to hail a self-driving taxi from their smartphone apps. Transportation professionals also are tapping computer-vision technologies to manage transportation assets, collect traffic data, and dynamically adjust traffic signals. Despite such promising developments, many who work in transportation continue to see AI as a theoretical concept.

"Artificial Intelligence Frontiers in Transportation," by Bo Wang, David Reinke, and Yinhai Wang, highlights several successful transportation applications as well as the challenges and risks of implementing them. In addition, a few suggestions are offered on how to successfully apply AI technology in transportation. The article appears free online from the January-March 2024 edition (Issue 348) of TR News, TRB's quarterly magazine.

To subscribe to TR News and receive the full issues four months before everyone else, sign up through MyTRB.org.

From other related TRB resources, TRB Volunteer Yinhai Wang talks more about AI for asset management. 

Transit Fleet Changes Bring Some Lower Costs and Flexibility

The increase in the population of older adults who are ambulatory but are eligible to use paratransit has increased the demand for paratransit service delivery. This growth has, in turn, led some transit agencies to move away from standard one-vehicle type fleets in favor of a mixed fleet incorporating smaller accessible vehicles and non-accessible vehicles (generally sedans).

Paratransit Fleet Configurations (TCRP Synthesis 174), from TRB's Transit Cooperative Research Program, was released this past week.

Improving Bridge Design by Simulating Their Failure

"Retrofits in Twin Tub Girder Bridges for System-level Redundancy" (TRB's Transportation Research Record journal) examines whether certain steel bridge parts, currently requiring frequent inspection due to fracture risk, can be made safer. The authors of the article used computer models to simulate failures in three bridges, with the goals of improving bridge design, reducing the need for costly inspections, and enhancing safety.

The April total solar eclipse could snarl traffic for hours across thousands of miles, reports USA Today, citing TRB's TR News magazine.