Without curious minds, our transportation system would, quite literally, come to a standstill. In a very real way, the transportation research process keeps the system moving, and that process starts with a seemingly simple question: How can we do this better? Asking that question shines the light of innovation on the status quo to help … Read More
freight movement
Transformative by Design: The Autonomous Freight Shuttle Started with a Simple Drawing
As legend has it, Southwest Airlines started with an idea sketched on the back of a napkin. And from that humble drawing grew an idea that redefined air travel. About 30 years later, Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) Senior Research Scientist Steve Roop started with his own blank sheet of paper, in search of a … Read More
The Freight Shuttle System: Clearing the Air on Sustainable Freight Movement
Doing more with less: that’s the mantra of transportation agencies everywhere these days. We need to achieve greater mobility on our roadways, but we can’t afford to build our way out of congestion. We need to clean the air around urban areas to improve public health, but policies enforcing clean air are difficult to pass … Read More
Technology, New Concepts Drive Future Freight Movement Investments
Although we often take the safe, efficient movement of freight for granted, our local and global economies depend on it. Whatever the path — highways, railways, waterways, airports, ports of entry, pipelines — reliably getting goods to market drives the heartbeat of our economy. Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) researchers are at the forefront of … Read More
Troubleshooting Issues Before They’re Problems: TTI Partners with TxDOT on Seven Innovative Research Projects
In 2014, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) supplemented its Cooperative Research Program with an Innovative Projects program aimed at proactively addressing issues before they become problems. TxDOT’s Research and Technology Implementation Office (RTI) is overseeing 13 forward-thinking research efforts aimed at creating a safer, more efficient Texas transportation system. The Texas A&M Transportation Institute … Read More
Research Is Another Resource Texans Can Rely On
Texas is a resource-rich state. Blessed with oil and natural gas reserves, Texas has been a principal supplier of natural resources for the nation for more than a century. Although resource development is always welcome — and a boon to the state’s economy — planning for it can be challenging. New discoveries of oil and … Read More
Dredging Up Business: TxDOT Considers Maintenance Options for the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway in Texas
The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) stretches 1,100 miles, from St. Marks, Florida, to Brownsville, Texas. The waterway’s 379-mile Texas portion (the GIWW-T) links 11 deep-draft ports and 13 shallow-draft ports and handles two-thirds of the entire waterway’s traffic. In 2012, 90 percent of GIWW-T freight was classified as petroleum and chemical related. Maintaining the GIWW-T … Read More
TTI, TxDOT Team Up to Test Connected-Vehicle Technology
Connected vehicles are coming. The transportation industry is already working on standards and prototypes. And part of developing them is testing to ensure the future of transportation is as safe, efficient and reliable as possible. A portion of I-35 could soon become a national test bed for connected-vehicle research, thanks in part to a four-year … Read More
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, … Read More
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 … Read More