Introducing an online Master of Engineering degree in Engineering for transportation professionals starting this fall. This groundbreaking program is presented to the transportation community by the Texas A&M University College of Engineering in collaboration with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. On this page: For More Information For more information: For more information on the online […]
Texas Transportation Researcher
The Last Stop with Greg Winfree: Making Transportation Personal — The Return on Investment in Our Shared System
When I was a kid in 1970s Long Island, N.Y., I’d regularly ride along the Southern State Parkway with my parents. Running east to west for 25-plus miles required a 10-cent toll in both directions. Even to my pre-teen mind that seemed a bit onerous, having to dig a dime out each way. I joined […]
TTI’s Participation in the University Transportation Center (UTC) Program
“As director of the Southwest Region University Transportation Center [SWUTC] for 25 years, it was my privilege to help advance the mission of the UTC Program,” says Senior Research Scientist Dock Burke, now retired from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI). “We mentored more than 1,300 college students and reached some 14,000 K–12 students with […]
Inspiring Minds, Kindling Careers: TTI’s University Transportation Centers
Volume 57, Number 2 (2021) Adobe PDF version Inside This Issue: TTI’s Participation in the University Transportation Center (UTC) Program Transportation and Public Health at the Crossroads: SMART Infrastructure to Improve Health Equity Ocean of Possibilities — MarTREC Explores Blockchains for Maritime Industry NICR-Sponsored Study Evaluates Managed Lane Pricing Methods — Researchers Create New Measures […]
Transportation and Public Health at the Crossroads: SMART Infrastructure to Improve Health Equity
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the world, including how we view our transportation system. But that interruption in “the way we’ve always done things” has also provided us an unprecedented opportunity to take a step back and reassess our habits, systems and interactions to achieve healthier outcomes. One strategy to do so demands that transportation […]
Ocean of Possibilities — MarTREC Explores Blockchains for Maritime Industry
Endless waves. Cloud-dotted skies. Foaming wakes left by ships. Along the shore, ports bustle with activity, their efficiency in transporting international trade a key part of the U.S. economy. Intermodal carriers move freight inland from those ports, ultimately to stock store shelves and land on consumer doorsteps. The Maritime Transportation Research and Education Center (MarTREC) […]
NICR-Sponsored Study Evaluates Managed Lane Pricing Methods — Researchers Create New Measures for Comparing Pricing Strategies
Optimizing traffic flow is one goal of transportation agencies looking to improve mobility for transportation system users. Doing so reduces congestion, which not only optimizes roadway operations but also gets folks where they’re going faster while often improving safety. Managed lanes represent one method for achieving this, and many states have implemented them. Managed lanes […]
Teens in the Driver Seat® Holds 12th Annual Summit: Month-Long Gathering Honors Student Leaders Advocating Teen Driver Safety
The Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s (TTI’s) award-winning Teens in the Driver Seat® (TDS) program recognized teen advocates as champions of young driver safety at the 2021 TDS Safe Driving Summit held in May. Second only to teen suicide, car crashes kill more teens in the United States aged 15 to 18 than any other cause. […]
Over Three Decades of Leadership and Contribution: TTI’s University Transportation Centers
In 1987, the U.S. Congress authorized the U.S. Department of Transportation University Transportation Center (UTC) Program, establishing 10 federal regional UTCs across the country. The UTC Program was designed to improve transportation research in the United States by advancing technology and expertise across multiple modes of transportation while addressing vital workforce needs for the next […]
Shaking Up the System: Safe-D Looks at How Disruptive Technologies Can Improve Roadway Safety
Funded through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s University Transportation Center (UTC) Program, the Safety through Disruption (Safe-D) UTC is led by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI). In partnership with San Diego State University and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), center researchers endeavor to maximize the potential safety benefits of disruptive technologies through targeted […]
TTI News
Kong Publishes Paper on Phone Usage and Distracted Driving TTI Graduate Research Assistant Xiaoqiang “Jack” Kong recently coauthored the research paper “Characterizing Phone Usage While Driving: Safety Impact from Road and Operational Perspectives Using Factor Analysis” published in Accident Analysis & Prevention. Kong’s Institute coauthors include Assistant Research Scientist Subasish Das, Associate Transportation Researcher Hongmin […]
Thinking Transportation Podcasts
Download, listen, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Every other week, we interview a TTI expert or special guest on a wide range of transportation topics and discuss how those topics impact the average person. Shaking Up the System Using disruptive technologies to create safer roads. Episode 10 Roadway safety today is about much […]
The Last Stop with Greg Winfree: National Strategies, Local Expertise — The Evolution of the UTC Program Benefits Everyone
When the Texas Highway Department formed in 1917, its engineers recognized the value of university-based facilities like those at the then-Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (later Texas A&M University) for conducting transportation research. Fast forward to 1950 and the birth of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) and its charter to apply Texas A&M’s […]
Measuring Up: Managing Infrastructure Assets Smarter
Volume 57, Number 1 (2021) Adobe PDF version Inside This Issue: America’s Infrastructure Score in 2021: C– Just Scratching the Surface: Electrical Resistivity Tomography Offers Nondestructive Solution to Drilling, Trenching Creative Strategies in Nondestructive Testing and Smart Coring Save Time, Resources Recipe in the Making: The TxDOT Balanced Mix Design Project Is Developing a New […]
America’s Infrastructure Score* in 2021: C–
*Statistics taken from ASCE’s 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. “It’s vital — especially now, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, when our economy needs all the help it can get — that Congress pass a bill aimed at rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure. Doing so will create many new jobs and continue to improve […]
Just Scratching the Surface: Electrical Resistivity Tomography Offers Nondestructive Solution to Drilling, Trenching
With roadway construction projects such as bridge construction, time and money are both at a premium. Mistakes may not only set the timeline back but stretch already strained budgets as well. Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) is becoming a popular method to study the subsurface of a construction project area in a nondestructive way. ERT scans […]
Creative Strategies in Nondestructive Testing and Smart Coring Save Time, Resources
Tailoring construction and repair solutions to unique problems along a discrete part of the roadway — instead of applying a one-size-fits-all method — is gaining popularity as a pavement design/rehabilitation method for entire corridors. It’s just one innovation that Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) researchers are using to help the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) […]
Recipe in the Making: The TxDOT Balanced Mix Design Project Is Developing a New System for Mix Design of Asphalt Mixtures
Using recycled materials on roadways has been standard procedure in construction for several decades. The challenge lies in having a practical mix design process — think of it like a recipe, selecting the right ingredients and proportions — that agencies responsible for highway infrastructure can rely on for guidance. The Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT’s) […]
IDEAL-CT — Simple, Reliable, Efficient, Repeatable, Cost Effective
State departments of transportation (DOTs) nationwide have long dealt with the problem of asphalt pavement cracking — the primary type of distress that creates the need for pavement rehabilitation. Many cracking tests have been developed, but no single test has been simple, reliable, efficient, repeatable and cost effective — until now. Over the past four […]
Making Space for Big Rigs: TTI Helps TxDOT Evaluate Technologies to Facilitate Truck Parking
Finding safe parking is a constant concern for the nation’s hundreds of thousands of truck drivers. There are typically not enough parking spaces along their routes, and there is no real way for truckers to know in advance about parking availability. How big is the issue in Texas? According to the Texas Department of Transportation’s […]