In a continuing and growing partnership designed to ease worsening traffic conditions as a result of “amazing and remarkable growth,” representatives from the City of College Station, The Texas A&M University System and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) detailed the city’s new traffic management plan — funded in part by a large donation from […]
Archives for June 2015
Traffic Safety Conference Ignites Passions, Examines New Ways to Save Lives
During the 2015 Traffic Safety Conference, the Texas Division Administrator for the Federal Highway Administration revealed that his passion for pedestrian safety stems from the death of his sister in 1990. Al Alonzi was a speaker during the opening session of the 7th annual conference, sponsored and hosted by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) […]
Texas Legislative Update Given at 2015 Traffic Safety Conference
On June 10, 2015, an attentive audience at the Texas Traffic Safety Conference listened as State Senator Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa shared his personal insights on the recently concluded 84th Regular Session of the Texas Legislature. Senator Hinojosa covered a number of topics in the traffic safety arena including texting and other distracting practices while driving, […]
Cool (and Hot) Cutting: TTI Environmental Chamber Used for R&D Testing
The Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s (TTI) Environmental Emissions Research Facility (EERF) recently tested a unique (and large format) piece of equipment that uses a laser to cut sheet metal for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and job shops alike. The machine, manufactured by Trumpf Inc., traveled from Connecticut via a flat-bed trailer and was positioned in […]
TTI Employees Recognized for Patents
A fifth U.S. patent has been granted related to the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) developed Freight Shuttle System, a low-cost and low-emission alternative to moving freight. Patent #8,622,352, a Guideway Switching Mechanism, was granted for a new design switch to be used in the Freight Shuttle, which is currently in the prototype stage. Inventor […]
Follow Along During the Traffic Safety Conference
The 2015 Traffic Safety Conference kicks off Monday, June 8. We’ll be posting on our social media channels throughout the conference. Follow along using the hashtag #2015TSC. Online registrations have closed, but walk-up registrations will still be accepted at the conference. Visit our conference website for more details and to find the conference program. Don’t […]
The World is Our Laboratory
Volume 51, Number 2 (2015) Adobe PDF version Inside This Issue: TTI Facilities Provide Reliable, Real-World Results for Sponsors TTI’s SEC Lab: A Quarter Century of Product-Testing Excellence Research in All Kinds of Weather: TTI’s Environmental and Emissions Research Facility TTI Upgrades Driving Simulator to Produce More Reliable Results TTI’s High-Bay Structural Testing Facility Brings […]
TTI Facilities Provide Reliable, Real-World Results for Sponsors
A classroom, a roadside, even a cow pasture — you can call any space where a critical thinker tests a theory a laboratory. Any tool, handheld or electronic, can be considered technology when applied to a given task. But it takes a special kind of laboratory, with the right tools wielded by qualified experts, to […]
TTI’s SEC Lab: A Quarter Century of Product-Testing Excellence
Since 1989, the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s (TTI’s) Sediment and Erosion Control Laboratory (SEC Lab) has generated an Approved Products List (APL) for the Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT’s) use of erosion-control products. Some 25 years later, the SEC Lab continues to be the nation’s premier facility for performance evaluation of roadside environment management. TTI’s […]
Research in All Kinds of Weather: TTI’s Environmental and Emissions Research Facility
When researchers at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) need a place to test vehicle emissions, they don’t have to go far — one of the largest drive-in environmental chambers in the United States is housed at Texas A&M University’s Riverside Campus. But the Environmental and Emissions Research Facility (EERF) does more than just emissions […]
TTI Upgrades Driving Simulator to Produce More Reliable Results
Researchers these days are using computer simulations rather than actual testing environments to evaluate driving behavior. Why? For the most part, simulations are more cost effective and safer. However, reliably capturing reality in a simulated environment can be challenging. In an effort to increase the realism of its driving simulator, the Texas A&M Transportation Institute […]
TTI’s High-Bay Structural Testing Facility Brings Real-World Conditions to a Lab Setting
Standing outside of the Wisenbaker Engineering Building on the Texas A&M University campus, you’d never guess inside is one of the largest, most modern and best-equipped facilities of its kind — the High-Bay Structural Testing Facility. The High-Bay Lab enables researchers to perform full-scale tests on structural systems using different types of loads that simulate […]
TTI Enhances Its Proving Ground with New Research Facilities
The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 introduced a new concept to motorist safety: the forgiving roadside. A year before that act was implemented, engineers at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s (TTI’s) Proving Ground Research Facility developed and crash-tested breakaway sign supports — just one example of the new philosophy then being […]
McNew Laboratory: Venerable Roadway Material Testing Lab Remains the Go-To Place for Pavement Evaluation
The bottom line for the driving public is safer, smoother rides on better roads at a lower cost. The facilities at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s (TTI’s) McNew Laboratory allow sponsors to access some of the most advanced, state-of-the-art equipment to help achieve those goals. Located behind the Civil Engineering/TTI Building at Texas A&M University, […]
Visibility Research Laboratory: One-of-a-Kind Facility Changes with the Times
In 2009, when the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) added a Visibility Research Laboratory (VRL) to its collection of world-class research facilities, TTI Senior Research Engineer Paul Carlson had a vision for what the lab could accomplish. “Before the lab opened, when we needed to take controlled photometric measurements in order to tie those into […]
TTI Hosts Accelerate Texas Inaugural Meeting
The Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) hosted the inaugural meeting of Accelerate Texas, a center founded by TTI and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to focus on economic development to help position Texas as a leader in the commercialization of connected and automated vehicle (CV/AV) technologies. On March 22 and 23, representatives from 19 […]
TTI Advisory Council
Advancing the Vision The Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) Advisory Council is comprised of a small group of high-level transportation professionals from across Texas and every sector of the transportation world. The council, which meets annually, offers a tremendous service to the Institute by advising on transportation issues and trends and supporting TTI’s research programs […]
TTI News
Former TTI Research Associate Becomes NTSB Member A former TTI research associate has been sworn in as the newest member of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). T. Bella Dinh-Zarr, who worked at TTI from 1997 to 2000, was sworn in March 23 following her presidential nomination and congressional approval. Dinh-Zarr was then designated as […]
TTI Publications
Research Videos Access the research topics listed below via the URLs shown. TTI Enhances Its Proving Ground with New Research Facilities: https://vimeo.com/131557369 Assessing the Effectiveness of Wrong-Way Driving Countermeasures: https://vimeo.com/127093778 TTI’s Air Quality Program: https://vimeo.com/123978706 TTI’s Flexible Pavements Program: https://vimeo.com/118643727 What Texans Think About Their Transportation System: https://vimeo.com/114683447 Connected Transportation Is Just Up the Road: […]