Dave Ellis is the Texas Transportation Institute’s resident expert on economic trends associated with fuel prices and driving behavior. Recently we asked him some questions about why gas prices rise and fall so dramatically from time to time. Here’s what he had to say.

• Why are gas prices really going up? Is it a supply issue?

  Some say it’s price speculation, not a shortage, and so there’s no supply/demand reason for the price of oil to increase. I don’t believe we can blame it all on speculation. There are two parties to every futures contract. For every buyer who thinks the price will go up, there’s a seller who thinks it won’t.

  I think the price increase results from a combination of several things, including the instability in North Africa and the Middle East. Also, the weakness of the dollar tends to boost the price of dollar-denominated commodities, and oil is one of those.

• Will higher gasoline prices lead to increased domestic production of oil?

  Domestic production reached its peak in 1985 and then declined until it bottomed out in 2008. Production actually increased slightly in 2009–2010. Whether that’s the beginning of a new trend is debatable. Part of that production increase is due to price. Higher crude prices make potentially marginal wells more profitable. How long and to what extent exploration and drilling in the Gulf of Mexico are affected by the moratorium is also another factor.

• How much is gasoline in other countries? Why is it so high in some places?

  As of April 1, gasoline cost about $9.63 per gallon in Turkey, and a little over $8 in the Netherlands and the U.K. If you want a good deal on gasoline, you can try Caracas, Venezuela, where it’s 6 cents per gallon.

  So, why the difference? First, fuel tax rates can vary significantly. In Texas, we pay about 38 cents per gallon in fuel taxes; 20 cents is a state tax, and the rest is federal. In France and the U.K., the fuel tax is about $3.50 per gallon. Also, some governments choose to subsidize the price of gasoline to avoid potential political unrest and mitigate inflationary pressures that fuel-price increases can have on the general economy.

• How expensive must gasoline get before we start changing our behaviors?

  We don’t know with any precision. What I tend to think, though, is that we do change, but we do so gradually and to varying degrees depending on things like lifestyle, age, income and availability of alternatives. Higher fuel prices tend to cause us to think more before we drive. But if we want to decrease our commute distance because of high fuel prices, there are basically two things we can do: change where we work or change where we live. Both changes take time to implement.

• Did our driving behavior change when gasoline got so expensive in 2007–2008?

  Only for a while. But then, the number of miles we drove started to increase again at about the same rate it’s always increased.

• Do people drive less when gas prices go up?

  It depends. If the price goes up a lot and quickly, there tends to be an immediate response. Over time, though, people adjust. Also, a significant summer price increase tends to impact driving more because more of our discretionary driving, like vacation driving, tends to occur during those months.

“There has been a continuing effort to replace empirical methods of pavement design and analysis with more mechanistic approaches,” says Dallas Little, TTI senior research fellow and professor in Texas A&M University’s Department of Civil Engineering. “The mechanistic method is based on fundamental aspects of pavement mechanics, as well as the properties of the material components that comprise asphalt pavements, such as asphalt binder, mastic and aggregate.”

TTI has researched and developed this new method as part of the Asphalt Research Consortium (ARC). The Federal Highway Administration is funding the consortium with $27 million over a five-year period to evaluate asphalt infrastructure performance.

This project developed the state-of-the-art, three-dimensional computational code called the Pavement Analysis Using Nonlinear Damage Approach (PANDA). PANDA has a wide range of uses to predict when and where pavement damage will occur to help build better pavements.

“PANDA offers substantial improvements in modeling capabilities,” says Michael Harnsberger, principal scientist at the Western Research Institute. “It will have a great impact on the pavement design community in selecting materials and modeling performance.”

PANDA can simulate the behavior of pavements and predict pavement performance, including fatigue damage, permanent deformation (better known as rutting) and overall life span. PANDA considers the impact of moisture intrusion, aging, healing and temperature on how the asphalt composite mixture responds under traffic. Users of PANDA can see graphically (from color contours representing levels and locations of damage in the pavement) how the pavement responds under regional environmental conditions. This approach allows the user to readily compare the utility of various material constituent combinations.

One unique feature of PANDA is that, rather than considering the pavement as a continuum, it can focus on the microstructure of the asphalt mixture. This helps the pavement engineer to assess specific mechanisms that can cause failure or to define the weak link in the design.

“Our vision is for wide use of PANDA, both within the United States and around the world,” says Rashid Abu Al-Rub, TTI assistant research engineer. “The results are easy to evaluate even if the user isn’t knowledgeable about mechanics.”

The research team, which also includes Research Engineer Eyad Masad at Texas A&M University–Qatar, is completing software development and performing validation in both field experiments and laboratory tests. Work continues to make the model more user friendly for widespread use.

Little is quick to praise TTI Research Engineer Bob Lytton for his tireless leadership and guidance in advancing the understanding of mechanics and fundamental properties. These are the bases for PANDA and help fuel ARC research in many other important areas.

FPS21 will help pavement engineers better assess how perpetual pavement structures meet ever-increasing traffic loads.

One of the best parts of a software upgrade is seeing the new features. Releasing next-generation software often requires a much-needed modernization of the hardware. Sometimes, though, it’s the other way around. Texas’ roadways — the state’s biggest collection of hardware —are being modernized, and that’s required the updating of the software used to design them.

FPS19, the current version of the pavement design software used by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), computes the required thickness of pavement layers to withstand the damaging effects of both traffic and the environment. It also calculates the required overlay thickness for existing highways and lets the designer estimate stress and strain within the pavement layers, as well as make predictions of pavement life.

Recently, a new generation of perpetual pavement (PP) structures has evolved to meet ever-increasing traffic loads. A PP structure is a long-lasting, thick, hot-mix asphalt (HMA) pavement structure with a design service life of up to 50 years. A typical Texas PP structure consists of several layers of HMA, a high-quality base layer over a treated subgrade material.

“You build a thick asphalt pavement, and you never have to repair anything except the surface. The largest trucks will never be able to cause any structural problems,” says Tom Scullion, Texas Transportation Institute’s (TTI’s) Flexible Pavements Program manager. “With well-constructed perpetual pavement, you never have to go more than 2 inches deep when repairing it.”

New perpetual pavement designs required software updates as well, so Wenting Liu, TTI assistant research engineer, developed FPS21. The software has a user-friendly interface and has completed beta testing. Features include

• the ability to handle more pavement layers than FPS19,
• a table look-up feature to access TxDOT’s specification items and obtain design moduli values,
• a database of soil types and their respective Texas Triaxial Class for each county in Texas, and
• structural analysis capabilities to provide target pavement deflections.

The deflection values can be used to ensure the pavement is being constructed and designed to handle anticipated loads.

“Every flexible pavement in Texas gets designed with this program in the area offices of TxDOT,” says Scullion. “The engineer can mix and match TxDOT-specific asphalt layers and then run strength and cost analyses for their designs based on traffic levels and environmental factors. The program has both a mechanistic design check to account for rutting and cracking and a Texas Triaxial Class check to ensure that sufficient depth exists to prevent subgrade failures for the heaviest anticipated truck loads.”

“The next step is to distribute this updated version of FPS to district users and train them through webinars on the new features. Anyone who used FPS19 should feel comfortable with FPS21,” says Joe Leidy, transportation engineer in TxDOT’s Construction Division. “It’s another big step in the modernization of the design process in Texas.”

Knowing how well you’re doing your job can be as easy as asking someone’s opinion. But when you’re a public agency, it can get a bit more complicated.

In a joint effort, the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) and the Bush School of Government and Public Service recently developed a guidebook, Tell TxDOT: Customer Satisfaction Program, to help the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) determine how it’s serving the people of Texas.

“Getting useful feedback requires more than just asking, ‘How am I doing?’” explains Assistant Research Scientist Tina Geiselbrecht, TTI’s lead on the project. “It also requires knowing how to ask that question — in what context, in what format and to what purpose.”

Tell TxDOT shows agency employees how to solicit citizen opinion. It covers the basics, like when to ask for feedback on a project, and also addresses how to select a research method — from online surveying to focus groups — and how to analyze the resulting data. Finally, the guidebook discusses how to communicate results to TxDOT staff, policy makers and others.

TxDOT recently developed a series of internal performance measures that evaluate how well the agency is meeting its strategic plan goals. Agency employees can supplement that knowledge using the guidebook to determine external perceptions of how well they are doing.

“By identifying differences between the internal and external portraits,” explains Geiselbrecht, “TxDOT can improve its transparency with the public while giving citizens a voice about what they feel can be done better.”

As part of this effort, TTI developed the Ride the Road with TxDOT Survey Program to study citizens’ expectations about specific roadway elements and services. Researchers conducted road trips in which citizens were asked to grade various elements of the roadway infrastructure, such as the smoothness of the ride or the presence of roadside trash. While TxDOT regularly conducts peer reviews with other state departments of transportation, this was the first such undertaking with the general public.

The survey studied participants’ knowledge of and attitudes toward TxDOT and its services, as well as solicited their opinions while driving across eight sections of roadway maintained by TxDOT. Data analysis shows that, overall, both males and females were “somewhat satisfied” with roadway conditions and the driving experience they were asked to evaluate. When the responses are further sorted by demographics, African Americans and participants aged 40–44 and 55–59 (regardless of gender or ethnicity) represent the most satisfied groups. TTI will use the results from this pilot survey to refine questions and procedures for future road trips conducted by the department.

“The people of Texas are our customers, pure and simple,” says Mary Meyland, director of strategic policy and performance management at TxDOT. “As we move to becoming a more results-based organization from a resource-based one, the Customer Satisfaction Program will provide us the necessary tools to gather and assess the public results of our performance.”

Improvements to Loop 410 are providing economic benefits to San Antonio and a template for successful expansion to the Texas Department of Transportation.

Accountability. Performance measures. “Bang for the buck.”

We hear these terms a lot these days about our transportation system. Knowing how to maximize the return on our transportation dollar is vital at a time when budgets are shrinking but commuter needs continue to grow.

In 1960, San Antonio’s population was 587,718. Loop 410, which opened to the public in 1966, was the first planned and constructed metropolitan loop in Texas. The loop was designed to handle 40,000 vehicles per day (twice the anticipated volume in the 1960s) and facilitate the growing trend of suburban commuting.

By 1995, however, 200,000 vehicles per day traveled the loop, and each San Antonio resident sat in traffic about 24 hours per year due to the congestion. To combat this reality, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) spent over $900 million on infrastructure improvement projects along the loop. The improvements multiply the loop’s original vehicle capacity by a factor of 10.

“The Loop 410 projects afforded us a unique opportunity to assign a real value to the improvements TxDOT made along the corridor,” explains Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) Research Engineer Steve Venglar.

To assess the projects’ economic benefits to San Antonio, TTI researchers looked at local trackable metrics, like impact on land use and business sales, along with regional impacts, including how jobs were affected. Other factors examined included

• reduced travel time,
• improved travel time reliability,
• vehicle operating costs (including fuel consumption),
• driving safety,
• air quality and
• accessibility.

“We also gathered anecdotal evidence from local companies and businesses within nine zip codes along Loop 410 to assess their perceptions of improvements,” says Venglar. “In general, business owners viewed the changes as positive, and many noted improvements in commute times.”

Conservatively speaking, the assessment calculated a 3-to-1 return on infrastructure improvement dollars invested, with some 12,000 new jobs created by the project. By 2035, commuter savings will likely accrue to $1.2 billion, and fuel savings could rise to $626 million. Tax-base contributions will reach an estimated $109 million by 2020. To increase the accuracy of the predicted benefits of the improvements, TTI suggests continued evaluation using a more comprehensive analysis after the project has been in place for several years.

“TTI’s work has helped us clarify the long-term benefits of our work on Loop 410,” says Clay Smith, director of transportation planning and development for TxDOT’s San Antonio District. “Knowing in advance how projects like this benefit the system helps us better plan and execute other such projects in the future.”

Steve Roop (above right) receives a Patent and Innovation Award from Darrell Kuhn of the Office of Technology Commercialization.

Eight TTI employees were recognized at the Patent and Innovation Awards Luncheon May 6, which was held at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center at the George Bush Presidential Library.

Steve Roop, Leslie Olson and Curtis Morgan were honored for their patent, described simply as a freight transportation system and method. The Freight Shuttle is a revolutionary cargo-movement concept consisting of a series of specially designed transport vehicles that carry freight containers and truck trailers. The containers travel on an elevated guideway, propelled by electric linear induction motors.

Patent number 7,656,203 was issued to the trio and former TTI employee Craig Roco in February of last year.

Akram Abu-Odeh, Dean Alberson, Roger Bligh, Lance Bullard and Gene Buth were issued patent number 7,694,941 in April. It’s described as a guardrail safety system for dissipating energy to decelerate the impacting vehicle.

“This system is the first guardrail terminal to meet the new national standard, ‘Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware,’ also known as MASH,” Bullard explains. “It is a tension terminal that has the potential to withstand a second impact, which is different than current guardrail systems.” TTI is currently in discussion with Trinity Industries regarding a licensing agreement, which is the first step before production.

The Texas A&M University System Office of Technology Commercialization handed out a total of 24 Patent Awards to 40 A&M System employees this year.

Christiansen Elected to ITS America Board

Christiansen

TTI Agency Director Dennis Christiansen was elected to a three-year term on the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) board and joined the board at the organization’s June board meeting. He will also serve on the ITS America Policy and Business Council, which focuses on transportation policy, business leadership, and government and international affairs.

“I am honored to be selected as a board member of ITS America, one of the nation’s primary thought leaders in emerging intelligent transportation system [ITS] technologies,” Christiansen says. “I am looking forward to being involved in moving these new technologies forward to improve our nation’s transportation system.”

ITS America was established in 1991 as a not-for-profit organization to foster the use of advanced technologies in surface transportation systems. The organization’s members include private corporations, public agencies and academic institutions involved in the research, development and design of ITS technologies to enhance safety, increase mobility and sustain the environment.

Transportation and Livable Communities Conference Planned

A conference devoted to making communities as livable as possible — including the role transportation plays in that community — will be held Sept. 7-8 in Austin, Texas.

“Transportation is a key element of livable communities,” notes Katie Turnbull, TTI executive associate director and chair of the conference planning committee. “This conference focuses on developing and applying appropriate performance measures to ensure transportation supports livable communities and federal, state and local goals.”

The Conference on Performance Measures for Transportation and Livable Communities will address the current state of the practice by presenting performance measures for transportation and livable communities in urban, suburban, exurban and rural areas.

Speakers in general and breakout sessions will examine the performance measures related to transit, bicycles and pedestrian travel, health issues, access to destinations, the environment, and sustainability. Areas for further study will be identified and discussed.

The conference is sponsored by the TTI (and its University Transportation Center for Mobility and Transportation Economics Center), the Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Minnesota and the Transportation Research Board.

Online registration for the conference will end Aug. 26.

Traffic Safety Conference Tackles Driving Behaviors

Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo was an opening-session speaker for the 2011 Statewide Traffic Safety Conference.

Distracted driving, drunk driving and speeding were among the topics discussed at the 2011 Statewide Traffic Safety Conference in Austin March 21–23. Two-hundred people attended the event, which is organized each year by TTI’s Center for Transportation Safety.

“Let’s face it…some [drivers] still think you can safely talk on your cell phone or send a text,” Administrator Janice Brown with the Federal Highway Administration Texas Section said during the opening session of the conference. “The truth is you simply can’t.”

Brown and many of the other speakers highlighted the improving fatality rate in Texas. In 2009, nearly 400 fewer people were killed than the year before, an 11 percent drop. Preliminary figures for 2010 indicate a further decline.

“These are really positive trends; however, we need to do more to reduce fatalities,” said Terry Pence, director of the Texas Department of Transportation’s Traffic Safety Section. “Texas is taking on the vision statement of Toward Zero Deaths, which you will hear more about in the months to come.”

TTI Graduate Assistant Named Eno Fellow

Norboge

Nicolas Norboge, graduate research assistant in TTI’s Mobility Analysis Program, has been named an Eno Fellow by the Eno Transportation Foundation. Norboge is among only 20 Fellows named by the foundation. The Eno Fellows program is designed for graduate students in transportation-related disciplines.

Eno Fellows are invited to the Leadership Development Conference, which is Eno’s flagship program for emerging transportation professionals. All expenses for the conference are paid by the foundation. The conference was held in Washington, D.C., June 6–10.

Texas A&M’s TexITEs Win 2011 Collegiate Traffic Bowl

2011 Texas A&M Traffic Bowl team from left to right: Adam Kaliszewski, Mark Kranz and Scott Nelson.

Texas A&M University’s student chapter of the Texas District of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (TexITE) has won the 2011 TexITE Collegiate Traffic Bowl, a Jeopardy!-style competition that tests student knowledge of traffic-related subjects.

The competition was held at the spring meeting in Fort Worth. The Traffic Bowl allows students to demonstrate their abilities and expertise gained through their transportation education. The team will now represent the Texas District in the International Collegiate Traffic Bowl in St. Louis in August.

Seymour Receives Regents Fellow Designation

Ed Seymour (center right) was named a Regents Fellow by the Texas A&M University Board of Regents. (Also pictured, from left to right, are Regent Morris Foster, Ed’s wife Anna Petersen and Regent Jim Wilson.)

Ed Seymour, TTI associate agency director, was presented March 24 with a Regents Fellow Service Award, among the most prestigious honors bestowed by The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents. The award recognizes employees who have made exemplary contributions to their university or agency and to the people of Texas.

“To be recognized by the Board of Regents and the chancellor in this way is very humbling,” Seymour said of the Regents Fellow award ceremony. “However, I think any accolades I receive, especially one of this caliber, are a true reflection of the group of people I’ve had the pleasure of working with.”

Seymour is head of TTI’s Transportation Operations Group, which has offices statewide. He coordinates various initiatives involving everything from intelligent transportation systems and work zone safety to geometric design and professional development. He also oversees TTI’s growing international research effort.

TDS Organizes Festival for Teen Traffic Safety

Honoring the teenagers killed in traffic crashes, a balloon launch was conducted as part of TDS Fest at Creekview High School.

Less teens are dying on Texas roadways. The number of Texas teen traffic deaths has dropped from 549 in 2002, when the Teens in the Driver Seat (TDS) program began, to 343 in 2009, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. To celebrate this decline and spread awareness that car crashes are the leading cause of injury and death for teens, TDS organized a festival at Creekview High School in Carrollton, Texas, March 5.

Safety advocates and student leaders from around the state attended the rally sponsored by TTI, State Farm Insurance, the Texas A&M University 12th Man Kickoff Team Foundation, Omni Hotels and Resorts, and PBSJ (an Atkins company). About 300 people participated in the event.

Ray LaHood, U.S. Department of Transportation secretary, welcomed the participants in a video message made specifically for the festival. LaHood pointed out the importance of avoiding distracted driving and congratulated TDS for having the event.

A balloon launch and memorial walk to honor the lives of teens that have died in crashes were part of the activities, which also included food, prizes, music and a dance. Including Creekview High School, TDS is now active in more than 400 schools across Texas.

Leading the Distracted Driving Research Effort

Cooper

TTI’s Center for Transportation Safety (CTS) recently hired Joel Cooper, assistant research scientist, to champion research into distracted driving, a growing safety concern around the country. He has already testified twice before legislative committees as Texas contemplated five driver-distraction bills.

“CTS recognized the need to improve our ability to respond to legislative and media inquiries in this important area,” says Sue Chrysler, manager of the CTS Human Factors Group. “Joel will be able to make good use of our driving simulator, instrumented vehicle and eye tracker.”

Cooper is co-leading efforts at TTI to assess the distraction potential of the federally proposed program called Connected Vehicles. He will also lead the research on one of the first test track studies conducted on texting while driving, funded by the Southwest Region University Transportation Center.

“Driver distraction is a hot issue right now, and it will only get hotter because the complexity of what drivers have to deal with is skyrocketing,” Cooper says.

RITA’s Peter Appel Connects with Students

Appel (center) poses with (from left to right) Director Emeritus Herb Richardson, SWUTC Director Dock Burke, UTCM Director Melissa Tooley and Agency Director Dennis Christiansen.

Peter Appel, who was appointed administrator of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT)in 2009, coordinates USDOT’s research, education and technology transfer programs. On Feb. 18, Appel toured TTI and spoke to Texas A&M University students involved in research sponsored by the Southwest Region University Transportation Center (SWUTC) and the University Transportation Center for Mobility (UTCM).

“One of my passions is to get people in different aspects of transportation talking to each other and realizing shared areas of interest,” said Appel at a luncheon with graduate students. His tour included overviews of TTI, SWUTC and UTCM; a crash test at TTI’s Riverside Campus; and a ride in the Institute’s instrumented vehicle designed for human factors research. “It’s an exciting time to be in transportation, to address the issues of safety, global communities and mobility and deal with environmental issues,” he told students. “I want to personally thank you for being in the transportation field.”

As he was leaving TTI, Appel said he was impressed with what he’d seen and heard. “TTI is a national leader in transportation with a tremendous variety of cutting-edge research. I really like the interdisciplinary aspects of its research.” Noting the linkages among the engineering, policy and finance issues of transportation, Appel said, “It’s great to have each of these groups talking to each other.”

Development of Performance-Based Evaluation Methods and Specifications for Roadside Maintenance, by Nasir Gharaibeh, 0-6387-1, February 11, 2011.

Evaluating the Impact of Overweight Load Routing on Buried Utility Facilities, by Edgar Kraus, 0-6394-1, February 18, 2011.

Realtime Monitoring of Bridge Scour Using Remote Monitoring Technology, by Jean-Louis Briaud, 0-6060-1, February 18, 2011.

Development of a Precast Bridge Deck Overhang System, by David Trejo, 0-6100-1, February 22, 2011.

Collision Loads on Bridge Piers: Phase 2. Report of Guidelines for Designing Bridge Piers and Abutments for Vehicle Collisions, by Gene Buth, 9-4973-2, March 15, 2011.

Development of Field Performance Evaluation Tools and Program for Pavement Marking Materials: Technical Report, by Yunlong Zhang, 0-5548-1, March 16, 2011.

Operational Performance Management of Priced Facilities, by Ginger Goodin, 0-6396-1, March 30, 2011.

Field and Laboratory Investigations for Full Depth Reclamation Projects, by Stephen Sebesta, 0-6271-1, March 31, 2011.

Operations and Safety of Super 2 Corridors with Higher Volumes, by Marcus Brewer, 0-6135-1, May 27, 2011.

Project Summary Reports and Products

Incorporating Sustainability into TxDOT’s Transportation Decision Making — Summary of Work Performed, Methods Used and Results Achieved, by Tara Ramani, 5-5541-01-1, February 3, 2011.

Is Texas Ready for Mileage Fees? A Briefing Paper, by Trey Baker, 0-6660-P1, February 14, 2011.

The SAFE Freight Shuttle: A Proposal to Design, Build, and Test an Alternative Container Transport System, by Steve Roop, 9-1528-S, February 21, 2011.

Use of Existing Information Systems and Data to Support Bridge Management at TxDOT, by Cesar Quiroga, 0-6389-P1, March 4, 2011.

Guidebook on Landside Freight Access to Airports, by Bill Frawley, 0-6265-P1, March 8, 2011.

Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) Fees Study, by Ginger Goodin, 0-6660-S, March 11, 2011.

Signing Guidelines for Flooding Conditions and Warrants for Flooded Conditions Detection Systems, by Kevin Balke, 0-6262-S, March 11, 2011.

Standards for Mounting Traffic Control Signs and Devices on Concrete Traffic Barrier (CTB) in Construction Work Zones: Project Summary Report, by William Williams, 0-6143-S, March 14, 2011.

Development of Field Performance Evaluation Tools and Program for Pavement Marking Materials, by Yunlong Zhang, 0-5548-S, March 15, 2011.

An Evaluation of the Performance of High-Impact Signs, by Geza Pesti, 0-6120-S, March 15, 2011.

Benefits of Public Roadside Safety Rest Areas in Texas, by Jodi Carson, 0-6267-S, March 15, 2011.

Framework for Comprehensive Bridge Management and Information System (BMIS), by Andrew Wimsatt, 0-6389-S, March 22, 2011.

Super 2 Design for Higher Traffic Volumes, by Marcus Brewer, 0-6135-S, April 13, 2011.

Guidelines for Designing Bridge Piers and Abutments for Vehicle Collisions, by Gene Buth, 9-4973-P2, May 5, 2011.

Triple Left-Turn Lanes: Keys to Successful Public Outreach, by Scott Cooner, 0-6112-P1, May 6, 2011.

Implementation of TAMSIM and EROW Right-of-Way Acquisition Decision-Support Tools, by Paul Krugler, 5-5534-01-1, May 11, 2011.

Implementation of the UV-VIS Method to Measure Organic Content in Clay Soils: Technical Report, by Pat Harris, 5-5540-01-1, May 13, 2011.

Prototype Design for a Predictive Model to Improve Evacuation Operations, by Russell Henk, 0-6121-S, May 18, 2011.

TTI Publications

A full catalog of TTI publications and other products is online at http://tti.tamu.edu/publications. You can find the publications by searching for either the title or publication number listed here. Most of these publications are available as free downloads in portable document format (PDF).

Printed, bound versions of these reports are also available through the URL above.

by Dennis Christiansen Agency Director

Getting where you’re going costs money. Whether that’s bus fare, filling up your gas tank or keeping our transportation system operational, it all costs money. And it’s getting more expensive. How much we pay at the pump might be the most visible reminder that transportation isn’t free, but it’s not the only reminder.

Recently, Texas Transportation Commission Chair Deirdre Delisi asked Texas’ 2030 Committee to take another look at our state’s transportation needs. (The original committee produced a 2008 report projecting needs through 2030.) The revised version gets more specific by examining the cost/benefit ratio of investing now in efforts to address the effects of increased population and failing infrastructure through 2035.

Essentially, the revised report concludes that the longer we wait to mitigate those problems, the more we’ll pay in the end. That future cost could come through monumental maintenance expenses, increased prices for goods in stores (costs passed along by manufacturers using a substandard transportation system to get their goods to market), lower quality of life (less time spent with family, more time spent in traffic) or jobs moving out of state.

In this issue of the Texas Transportation Researcher, we tell you more about this latest call to action from the 2030 Committee. We also tell you how the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) is helping our sponsors be more accountable to the citizens of Texas. For example, TTI recently helped the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) create a customer satisfaction program to better assess how Texans view TxDOT‘s performance. And our assessment of the Loop 410 expansions in San Antonio will help TxDOT better plan improvements in other urban areas to get the best bang for the taxpayer’s buck.

We’ve also been abroad teaching road design courses in Kosovo to help our global neighbors improve their own transportation systems. At home we’re assisting TxDOT and other sponsors to improve how they maintain the roads with software like FPS21 and techniques like PANDA. The longer the roads stay in one piece, the less they cost over time, and we’re sharing those lessons learned with other states to help them plan more sustainable transportation systems.

Finally, our feature story takes a look at that most visible sign of transportation and the economy — how much you pay at the pump. We ask TTI Research Scientist Dave Ellis why gas prices rise and fall; and Joe Zietsman, head of TTI‘s Environment and Air Quality Division, gives some pointers for saving gas and money by driving smarter.

So we’re back where we started: the system costs money. But how and when we spend that money and how much we spend — those are factors we can control. Research helps us do that. It shows us how best to optimize the system, minimize expenses and maximize safety while ensuring a viable return on our investment. In short, research shows us how best to balance dollars and sense.