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 […]
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Episode 10. Shaking Up the System: Using disruptive technologies to create safer roads.
Roadway safety today is about much more than traffic laws, warning signs, and guardrails. TTI Senior Research Scientist Sue Chrysler illustrates how technologies – even disruptive technologies – are re-imagining how we can prevent crashes and mitigate their enormous personal and financial costs.
Guo-Led Team Advances as Finalist in ITE Vision Zero Design Sandbox Competition
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 […]
TTI’s Habermann Leads Intercollegiate Team to Recommend Ways Transportation Professionals Can Help End Human Trafficking
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, […]
TTI’s Khodadadi Publishes Article on Safety Performance Functions for Non-Federal Aid System Roads
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 […]
TTI Researchers Study Phone Use Behavior on Roadways
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. […]
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 […]
U.S. Roads Meant to Last Decades – But Not Forever
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 […]
Episode 9. Half the Wheels and Eight Times the Danger: Roadways are safer these days, unless you ride a motorcycle.
Passenger vehicle fatalities in the United States have declined recently, but not motorcyclist deaths, which total about 5,000 each year. Some reasons for that are obvious, as Senior Research Scientist Mike Manser notes, but the bigger picture is more complex. Advocates continue to prioritize robust safety programs targeting not only motorcyclists, but also those who […]
Wunderlich Featured in Washington Post Article
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 […]
Video Summary Report — Synthesis for Quantification of Binder Availability in Recycled Materials
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 […]