Volume 54, Number 3 (2018) Adobe PDF version Inside This Issue: On the Road Again in Texas: TxDOT’s Projected Costs and Potential Savings with Accelerated Construction What We’re Thinking: It’s High Time for a Discussion on Infrastructure Faster, Safer, Less Expensive Road Construction Through Utility Engineering Slower Doesn’t Always Mean Safer — NCHRP Guide Helps […]
Archives for 2018
At a Glance — On the Road Again in Texas: TxDOT’s Projected Costs and Potential Savings with Accelerated Construction
1 Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). “Texas Transportation Asset Management Plan” (forthcoming). 2 TxDOT. Unified Transportation Program. (2019). http://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/tpp/utp/2019/utp-2019.pdf. Accessed October 4, 2018. 3 TxDOT. Accelerated Construction Guidelines. (2018). http://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot/cst/regional-workshops/accelerated-construction-guidelines.pdf. Accessed October 4, 2018.
What We’re Thinking: It’s High Time for a Discussion on Infrastructure
By Greg Winfree and Zachry Grasley This article was originally published in The Hill, August 20, 2018. This year, we mark 11 years since the Interstate 35 bridge in Minneapolis collapsed into the Mississippi River, killing 13 people and injuring 145 more. For anyone not living there, or otherwise not personally affected by that tragedy, […]
Faster, Safer, Less Expensive Road Construction Through Utility Engineering
The practice of burying or placing utility lines without adequate documentation has caused large-scale problems across the country. It’s also helped create a new program devoted entirely to the issue. The Utility Engineering Program, formed last year at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) to capitalize on the Institute’s two decades of leading-edge research and […]
Slower Doesn’t Always Mean Safer — NCHRP Guide Helps Planners Mitigate Work Zone Crashes
Roadways don’t build themselves. They require careful planning, construction and regular maintenance, all of which require work zones designed to keep both workers and travelers safe. Sometimes those measures fail. According to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), in 2017, there were 27,148 work zone crashes in Texas. Of those, 199 were fatalities, and 813 […]
Double Time — Accelerated Construction Strategies Enable a Quicker Pace Toward Project Completion
ENCOUNTERING the same construction zones day after day, month after month, it’s only natural for travelers to ask “Why does this have to take so long?” Thanks to a growing reliance on creative thinking, it no longer does. That thinking is at the root of accelerated construction, an effort launched in Texas in 1998 and […]
Quicker Funding, Shorter Project: TRZs Can Speed up Construction Projects from the Get-Go
According to the Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT’s) Accelerated Construction Guidelines, a typical major highway project might take anywhere from 8 to 15 years. TxDOT says decreasing the time it takes to complete the preconstruction phase alone can save $100,000 to $500,000. The construction phase of transportation improvements is often thought of as the determining […]
TTI’s Traffic Safety Conference Targets Ending Roadway Fatalities
“This is Texas together on the road to zero,” said Robert Wunderlich, director of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s (TTI’s) Center for Transportation Safety as he opened the 2018 Traffic Safety Conference in Sugar Land, Texas. The conference, supported by the Texas Department of Transportation, was held August 8–10. TTI hosts the Traffic Safety Conference […]
Child Passenger Safety Conference Highlights Life-Saving Efforts of Technicians
The 2018 Texas Child Passenger Safety Conference was held June 24–26 in San Marcos, Texas. About 300 child passenger safety seat technicians (CPSTs) and safety advocates heard firsthand from Michele and Brooke Ice, mother-daughter keynote luncheon speakers, who spoke on the importance of the work they do. Michele credits CPSTs with saving her daughter’s life […]
Cheap, Fast, Good: Cold, In-Place Recycling Can Deliver All Three
The old adage, “Cheap, Fast, Good: Pick Any Two,” applies to most things. Defying this commonly held belief, rehabilitating a roadway with cold-in-place recycling (CIR) can actually be faster and cheaper than traditional methods and still yield outstanding results. CIR is a single operation. An existing deteriorated hot-mix asphalt (HMA) layer is recycled and treated, […]
TTI News
Kuhn Receives ITE’s Matson Memorial Award TTI Senior Research Engineer Beverly Kuhn is the recipient of the Theodore M. Matson Memorial Award. Kuhn received the award at the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Annual Meeting in August. The prestigious Matson Award is given annually to those considered pioneers in their engineering professions. Kuhn has focused […]
Upcoming Conference
Transportation, Air Quality, and Health Symposium On this page: Transportation, Air Quality, and Health Symposium
The Last Stop with Greg Winfree: Accelerated Construction Is a Team Sport
In 2018, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) published Accelerated Construction: A Path Forward. The document lays out a vision for implementing the principles of accelerated construction statewide. TxDOT emphasizes the need to educate and train personnel, but also recognizes that accelerated construction is about a lot more than just working faster and cheaper — […]
CARTEEH’s Khreis Awarded the 2018 ISEE Rebecca James Baker Award
Assistant Research Scientist Haneen Khreis with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s (TTI’s) Center for Advancing Research in Transportation Emissions, Energy, and Health (CARTEEH) has been awarded the prestigious 2018 Rebecca James Baker Award by the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE). Khreis received this award for her work on the influence of traffic-related air pollution […]
It’s High Time For a Discussion on Infrastructure
By Gregory Winfree and Zachary Grasley In August, we mark 11 years since the Interstate 35 bridge in Minneapolis collapsed into the Mississippi River, killing 13 people and injuring 145 more. For anyone not living there, or otherwise not personally affected by that tragedy, the anniversary will likely pass without a single thought as to […]
TTI Helps Develop Innovative Flood Warning System for Houston
Flooding has plagued Houston roadways for decades, but now, thanks to a first-of-its-kind warning system initiated by Houston TranStar and developed by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), motorists will be warned in real time about locations where roadway flooding is likely occurring. View the Houston TranStar warning system “Houston was ground zero for Hurricane […]
As New School Year Begins, TTI Study Shows Risky Behaviors Continue by Teen Drivers, Despite Knowing the Dangers
Teen drivers understand that texting and talking on their cell phones are among their most dangerous behaviors behind the wheel, but they admit to doing them anyway. That’s one of the findings from the Teen Driver Risk Awareness Survey conducted by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI). The survey — one of the largest of […]
Jon Epps Named 2019 Thomas B. Deen Distinguished Lectureship Recipient
Jon A. Epps, Executive Associate Director, Texas A&M Transportation Institute, is the 2019 recipient of the Thomas B. Deen Distinguished Lectureship. Epps will deliver his lecture, “Innovative Asphalt Pavement Technology: Paving the Way for the World’s Roadways,” during the 98th TRB Annual Meeting, on Monday, January 14, 2019 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in […]
TTI Research Looks at What Makes Commercial Motor Vehicle Crashes More Severe
The Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) looked at nearly 2,800 commercial motor vehicle (CMV) crashes from 2011 through 2014 in 20 counties across the state of Texas. Half of the counties had high levels of oilfield activity. The researchers used statistical tools to identify the top factors associated with more severe crashes. The Federal Motor […]
TTI to Lead Autonomous Vehicle Research Team
Five-Year NHTSA Project Examines Collision Avoidance The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has selected the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) to lead a team of accomplished researchers on a recently announced, $7-million contract designed to improve the safety of autonomous vehicles. The five-year NHTSA Crash Avoidance Human Factors Research project is an indefinite delivery/indefinite […]