Workshops aim to educate transportation planners and designers on the big picture Context…cooperation…collaboration…compatibility…compromise…consensus. Those are but a few of the key terms that are heard during the context sensitive solutions (CSS) workshops currently underway throughout the state of Texas. Sponsored by the Federal Highway Department (FHWA), the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and local metropolitan [...]

TTI celebrates construction of new state headquarters On April 30, friends and supporters from around the Lone Star State joined the employees of the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) to celebrate the construction of the agency’s new state headquarters. Many of the 36 members of the TTI Council attended the celebration, with Texas A&M University System [...]

The National Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Safety Training Conference When the unstoppable force of a train meets the very moveable object of an automobile, the obvious dangers associated with highway-rail grade crossings can be deadly. In 2007, 338 people were killed and another 1,014 injured at these crossings in the United States. A wide variety of [...]

2008 Texas Aviation Conference addresses economic realities Some things you just take for granted. And some things you don’t even realize you had until they’re gone. Access to air travel, for example. Or even access to affordable goods flown to market by the air cargo industry. The Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT’s) 26th Annual Texas [...]

Hint: it isn’t oil… In the not-too-distant future, water might just prove more valuable to our national transportation system than gasoline. Rising gas prices are making it harder for truckers to make ends meet. Shipping goods in general is becoming ever more expensive, and those costs are being passed on to consumers. In short, the [...]

Mobility demands meet historic trends at the Texas Transportation Forum When asked where they were headed to homestead in the 19th century, many Americans famously answered, “Gone to Texas!” Back then, wagon trains were lucky to find wheel ruts to follow to the Lone Star State. These days the roads are just a little bit [...]

Greg Richmond, long-time Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) employee and director of TTI Human Resources, lost his courageous, three-year battle with cancer on June 25. Richmond was undergoing cancer-related surgery at the time of his death. In an e-mail he wrote to employees the week before he left for the surgery, Richmond, 54, described the rare [...]

TTI aids Mexican government with GPR In an effort to make sure its new road construction meets specifications, the Mexican state of Coahuila has turned to the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) for help in obtaining a ground penetrating radar (GPR)-equipped vehicle. Officials from Coahuila took possession of the system June 4. TTI also trained Mexican [...]

Technical Reports “Verification of the Load-Thickness Design Curves in the Modified Triaxial Design Method,” by Emmanuel Fernando, 0-4519-1, June 10, 2008. “Evaluation of Traffic Control Devices: Fourth-Year Activities,” by Gene Hawkins, 0-4701-4, June 20, 2008. “Traffic Signal Warrants,” by Gene Hawkins, 0-4701-P2, April 17, 2008. “Evaluation of Chevron Markings on Freeway-to-Freeway Connector Ramps in Texas,” [...]

TRB’s 18th Visibility Symposium encourages collaborative solutions Seeing the road ahead is just about the most important requirement for driving safely. And just as importantly, a driver’s ability to process and understand what he or she sees is vital to maintaining a safe driving environment. Since 1968, the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Visibility Symposium has [...]

New courses offer ground-floor training on seal coats With a tight budget and thousands of miles of paved roads to care for, the importance of effective preventive maintenance is a priority for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). Seal coats, the process by which a layer of liquid asphalt is applied to an existing roadway [...]

Got a road that’s ailing? Many older ones are. Perhaps the proper treatment requires a radical and expensive replacement of the entire roadway. But what if a less expensive procedure can cure what’s ailing that road…how’s a pavement engineer to know? Using tools such as falling weight deflectometers (FWD) and ground penetrating radar (GPR), Tom [...]

Traditionally, professionals have had to travel to a distant hotel conference room if they wanted to share information face to face. Yet with today’s escalating travel costs, making that trip is increasingly and often prohibitively expensive. Web-based seminars (or webinars) now provide a convenient, cost-effective alternative to in-person seminars. Individuals interact online to share information, [...]