TTI maintains state-of-the-art laboratories, buildings and outdoor test beds. The 67,000-square-foot Gibb Gilchrist Building, located in the Texas A&M University Research Park, was designed and built specifically to house TTI’s transportation research programs. The TransLink Gilchrist Laboratory for traffic operations, a fully interactive driving and pedestrian environment simulator, and extensive video, photography, web and publishing facilities are located in the Gilchrist Building. The CE/TTI Building, a 85,640-square-foot building on the main campus of Texas A&M University, houses a portion of TTI staff, many of whom are also faculty in Texas A&M’s Dwight Look College of Engineering. The CE/TTI Building connects to several laboratories in the areas of pavements and materials; soils and aggregates; and structures. The new three-story, 66,700-square-foot TTI State Headquarters and Research Building houses additional TTI research programs and TTI’s administrative offices. Other highlights of the building include the Visibility Research Laboratory, which features a 125-foot-long corridor and is used to test materials for traffic signs and pavement markings, as well as vehicle headlamps, sign lighting and roadway lighting.
TTI’s expansive field-testing facilities are essential in providing real-world findings to state, national and international sponsors. TTI’s Proving Grounds at the Texas A&M Riverside Campus, a 2,000-acre complex about 10 miles from the main campus, is home to many TTI testing facilities. At the Proving Grounds, TTI conducts crash testing of roadside safety devices and antiterrorist protection barriers; pavement friction and smoothness testing; and a variety of traffic engineering studies. The Riverside Campus facilities also include a drive-in Environmental and Emissions Research Facility capable of accommodating tractor-trailers and buses, and a 19-acre Hydraulics, Sedimentation and Erosion Control Laboratory. The Proving Grounds test track is also used for human factors studies using an instrumented vehicle with an eye-tracking system to measure driver behavior.
TTI operates real-world research implementation testing sites in seven cities across the state and has locations on the campus of Texas A&M University at Qatar and at the Texas A&M University Center in Mexico City, Mexico. As a member of the Texas A&M University System, researchers have access to other Texas A&M facilities, including the prestigious Sterling C. Evans Library and world-class computing resources to support them in their research endeavors.
Maps to Facility and Office Locations
From this page, you can find general information and details on TTI’s individual facilities and extensive equipment by browsing the locations or by facilities that serve one of the following general research areas:
