News Archives

COVID-19 Gave Us an Historic Traffic Hiatus, But the Pause Didn’t Last Long America’s worst public health crisis in a century flattened roadway congestion to levels not seen in 40 years, but the respite was short-lived, according to the 2021 Urban Mobility Report (UMR) from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI). In the pandemic shutdown […]

Dr. Zachary Grasley has been named the new head of the Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Texas A&M University, effective Sept. 1. Grasley has been the director of the Center for Infrastructure Renewal (CIR) at Texas A&M since January 2018. “I am really excited for the opportunity to lead this dynamic department […]

Led by Xiaoyu “Sky” Guo, Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) engineering graduate student worker, the Aggie Vision team is one of two student finalists for the second annual Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Vision Zero Design Sandbox Competition. The team includes Sruthi Ashraf, TTI engineering graduate student worker; Zihao Li, TTI graduate research assistant; Chaolun […]

John Habermann, Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) research engineer, recently coauthored the article “The Contribution of State and Local DOTs to Disrupting Human Trafficking” in the June 2021 issue of the ITE Journal. The publication reaches nearly 16,000 subscribers and Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) members. The article defines human trafficking as the “recruitment, harboring, […]

Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) Graduate Research Assistant Ali Khodadadi recently published the article “Application of Different Negative Binominal Parameterizations to Develop Safety Performance Functions for Non-Federal Aid System Roads” in volume 156 (June 2021) of Accident Analysis & Prevention. The authors also include Subasish Das, TTI assistant research scientist; Yingfeng Li, Virginia Tech Transportation Institute […]

Researchers at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and Texas A&M University investigated the relationship between phone use behavior and road geometrics determining that using a phone while driving is more than just a self-choice. The combination and presence of a shoulder, median, higher speed limit and extra lanes could encourage more phone use while driving. […]

By: Gregory Winfree and Zachary Grasley The subject of our nation’s infrastructure is once again prominent, both in the wake of the recent release of the American Society of Civil Engineers quadrennial report card on the state of America’s infrastructure and among our policymakers in Washington, D.C. The ASCE report card presents one of those […]

Texas A&M Transportation Institute Senior Research Engineer and the Director of the Center for Transportation Safety Robert Wunderlich was recently quoted in an article in The Washington Post. The story, Think the pandemic made you forget how to drive and park? Experts explain what’s going on, focuses on how some people are reporting that they’ve […]

Increasing recycled materials content in asphalt mixtures has numerous economic and environmental benefits, but ensuring good performance has always been a challenge. That’s because stiff, brittle, heavily aged materials can result in premature cracking. This synthesis project sets the course for revising TxDOT’s Standard and/or Special Specifications to recognize this challenge. The TTI video production […]

The National Highway Safety Administration published a Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) report, State of Knowledge and Practice for Using Automated License Plate Readers for Traffic Safety Purposes, Apr. 1, 2021, in the National Transportation Library. The authors include TTI Associate Research Scientist Ben Ettelman, TTI Associate Research Scientist Laura Higgins, TTI Center for Alcohol […]

At the Apr. 26 Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Capital Metro) Board of Directors meeting based in Austin, Texas, Capital Metro adopted microtransit service standards based on research led by TTI Associate Research Scientist Todd Hansen. A relatively new term in the transit industry, microtransit services focus on meeting on-demand trip requests through dynamic routing technology, […]

Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) Senior Research Engineer Robert Wunderlich briefed the Texas House Committee on Transportation Mar. 30, 2021 on pedestrian fatality statistics as background for House Bill 443. Wunderlich, director of TTI’s Center for Transportation Safety, briefed lawmakers on the increase in Texas pedestrian fatalities since 2011 and the characteristics associated with them. […]

The Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) and its Center for Advancing Research in Transportation Emissions, Energy and Health (CARTEEH), in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy in Texas (TNC), recently completed a study entitled Analysis of the Performance and Calibration of Low-Cost Air Quality Monitors. The study assesses the performance and calibration of low-cost air quality […]

COVID-19 safety measures forced people to reconsider how they travel and seek out safer alternatives, like bicycling and walking, to reduce viral exposure by social distancing. The question is, as the world opens back up and vaccines become more readily available, will we continue to see active transportation becoming more popular compared to traditional modes […]

Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) Assistant Research Scientist Bahar Dadashova is the team lead on a recently contracted project evaluating the safety of on-street bicycle facility design features. Funded primarily by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, the effort also includes support from Portland State University, Toole Design Group and Safe Streets Research and Consulting. […]

The Texas Transportation Hall of Honor board is accepting nominations for 2021 inductees until July 31, 2021. Texas is recognized as having one of the finest multimodal transportation systems in the world. The existence of this system has been a key aspect of the economic development of the state and in providing Texans with a […]

Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) Assistant Research Scientist Subasish Das published the article, “Data Dive Into Transportation Research Record Articles: Authors, Coauthorships and Research Trends,” in the Jan.–Feb. 2021 issue of TR News, the Transportation Research Board’s bimonthly magazine. In the article, Das examines the Transportation Research Board’s Transportation Research Record (TRR), a peer-reviewed journal. […]

Making sure the numerous existing or planned traffic control devices — like signs, pavement markings and pedestrian crossing treatments — are performing as planned or are sufficiently appraised before implementation, researchers with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute conducted a high-priority, wide-ranging and multi-year evaluation project. The TTI video production group worked with the research team […]

Episode 5. Good News, Bad News. A better grade for America’s infrastructure, but still no bragging rights. FEATURING: Charles Gurganus, Edith Arámbula Mercado American roads and bridges get us to where we live, learn, work, shop, and play. And that network has needed repair for a while, now. TTI experts Edith Arámbula Mercado and Charles Gurganus […]

Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) Research Scientist Juan Carlos Villa published International Trade and Transportation Infrastructure Development: Experiences in North America and Europe (1st edition) Apr. 24, 2020, on Elsevier’s publisher platform. Villa is a co-author with Maria Boile, director of the Hellenic Institute of Transport, part of the Center for Research and Technology Hellas, […]