Transportation research is not an end unto itself. It’s a means by which the system we have can be transformed into the system we need. By proposing, testing and refining new ideas that improve and extend our transportation system, we make that system safer, help stretch dollars farther, and better serve the interests of the […]
Volume 50, Number 3
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 and initiatives. TTI […]
Keeping Texans Informed During Construction Projects
The I-35 Expansion Project in Central Texas For travelers and business owners, construction projects — whatever their long-term benefits — can be an annoying, frustrating experience. Exits closed, access limited, traffic slowed down in work zones — mitigating the effects of those necessary evils is what a mobility coordinator does on behalf of the Texas […]
TTI Helps Keep Americans Safe at Home and Abroad
How do you keep a terrorist from bombing an embassy with a fast-moving car or truck fitted with explosives? The terrorist tactic goes back more than 30 years when the U.S. Marine barracks were bombed in Beirut, Lebanon. Today, embassies, consulates, and other facilities and bases here and abroad are protected with bollards and other […]
Helping TxDOT Build Better Bridges
BRIDGE TO THE PAST One often hears the phrase, “They just don’t build ’em like they used to.” It’s true of many things, including bridges. In Fort Worth, Texas, local historic preservation groups expressed concerns that historically significant bridge structures in the area could be endangered due to infrastructure upgrades demanded by modern traffic. In […]
Improving Traffic Incident Management
Have you ever seen the YouTube videos of traffic in China? Pedestrians, cyclists and drivers alike approach intersections willy-nilly, with no traffic signals regulating them. Sometimes, only human reflexes and constantly honking horns keep crashes from happening. And even with traffic signals and conscientious attention by drivers, crashes still occur. In American cities, local traffic […]
Time Is Money: Cutting Shipping Times Without Compromising Security
Getting goods to market incurs costs for manufacturers, costs inevitably passed on to consumers. But if manufacturers paid less through expedited shipping practices, consumers could benefit too. Researchers with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s (TTI’s) Center for International Intelligent Transportation Research have studied how goods are shipped from maquilas (Spanish for “manufacturers”) in Ciudad Juarez, […]
TTI-Developed Sugar Land Rail-Monitoring System Reestablished
The Sugar Land rail-monitoring system is back in operation, alerting emergency personnel of approaching trains along a 6-mile section of US 90-A. This is the same system that is credited with averting a disaster in 2003 when police dispatchers were able to notify rail officials that a truck containing sodium hydroxide was stalled on a […]
Designing and Maintaining Tougher Roadways for Texas
Oil and gas production has increased dramatically in Texas in recent years, and every indication is that this trend will continue into the foreseeable future. The state now has 48 percent of all active drilling rigs in the United States. Many of these rigs are in the Eagle Ford Shale play in South Texas. Recent […]
Modeling the Effects of Austin Chamber’s “All of the Above” Approach to Traffic Challenges
In its 2013 Mobility Report, the Austin Chamber of Commerce makes extensive use of a study by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) that models a strategy scenario designed to address the region’s mobility challenges. TTI Research Scientist Tom Williams, Senior Research Engineer Ginger Goodin and Research Specialist Byron Chigoy were responsible for the study, […]
TTI News
TTI Earns Telly Award for Documentary TTI and the Texas Lyceum were jointly honored with a 2014 Telly Award for the documentary Decision Time. The production highlights the Lyceum’s 2013 Public Conference on Texas Infrastructure held in Austin, Texas, in April 2013. The conference encouraged leaders from across the state to discuss complex issues and […]
TTI Publications
Research Videos Access the research topics listed below via the URLs shown. TTI Partners with the U.S. State Department to Protect Americans Worldwide: https://vimeo.com/106825832 Better Preparing the El Paso Region’s Transportation System for Extreme Events: https://vimeo.com/106293407 Connected Transportation Is Just up the Road: https://vimeo.com/97270483 TTI’s Sediment and Erosion Control Laboratory: https://vimeo.com/74722165 TTI and the Mobility […]