Roger Bligh, Ph.D., PE

TTI Senior Research Engineer
Program Manager

Education

• Ph.D., Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University, 2001
• M.S., Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University, 1988
• B.S., Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University, 1985

Short Biography

Dr. Bligh is a research engineer and manager of the Roadside Safety Program at TTI. He holds both a Master of Science and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University, and is a registered Professional Engineer in Texas. Since joining TTI in 1986, Dr. Bligh has specialized in the field of roadside safety. He has served as principal investigator or co-principle investigator on numerous studies sponsored by NCHRP, FHWA, various state agencies (including Arizona, Florida, Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming DOT's), and private concerns having a combined budget of over $8 million. Dr. Bligh has extensive experience in applied research dealing with the design, analysis, testing, and evaluation of highway safety appurtenances. He has made contributions to the design of a number of roadside safety devices (including guardrails, bridge rails, median barriers, guardrail/bridge rail transitions, guardrail end treatments, crash cushions, breakaway sign supports, work zone barriers, and other work zone traffic control devices), and has developed guidelines for their use. He has co-authored more than 80 publications, including 22 journal papers, and has made invited presentations at numerous technical and professional meetings. Dr. Bligh is currently serving as a member of Transportation Research Board (TRB) Committee AFB20, "Roadside Safety Design" and is co-chairman of the Bridge Rail and Transition Subcommittee within the AASHTO-AGC-ARTBA Task Force 13, "Standardization of Details for Bridge and Road Hardware." Dr. Bligh is intimately familiar with the impact performance guidelines presented in NCHRP Report 350 and has supervised many crash tests following its procedures. Some of his recent research accomplishments include developing safe practices for encasing guardrail in pavement mowing strips, designing a low-deflection portable concrete barrier system, and developing crashworthy barricades and sign support systems for use in highway work zones. Dr. Bligh also has a wide range of experience in the development, validation, and use of computer simulation in the design, analysis, and evaluation of highway safety appurtenances and roadside geometric features. He currently serves as Director of the "Center for Transportation Computational Mechanics" at TTI which is a competitively procured center established by FHWA that focuses on the application of nonlinear, dynamic finite element analysis to roadside safety design. Dr. Bligh is also currently serving as chairman of TRB Subcommittee AFB20(1), "Computational Mechanics."