Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s Gregory Winfree, J.D., and Allan Rutter weigh in on rail safety A number of high-profile passenger rail crashes have captured public attention recently. Although their circumstances may differ, the tragedies are a grim reminder that train safety belongs high on our list of transportation policy priorities. A long-distance train from New […]
freight movement
Student Insights Lead to Research Innovations
TTI Provides Guidelines for Ports Seeking TRZ Financing IN 2007, THE TEXAS LEGISLATURE ENABLED A NEW FINANCING MECHANISM, the transportation reinvestment zone (TRZ), to encourage local infrastructure development. TRZs have proven very successful over the last decade for highway development. TRZs designate an impact area around a needed improvement project. A municipality or county can […]
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 […]
The Future of Freight: Troubleshooting Texas’ Shipping Strategies and Technologies
Growth is a good thing. In economic terms, it can mean increased opportunity for businesses and more choices for consumers. But economic growth also means more demands on — and often more congestion for — our transportation system. Sometimes, the rate of economic expansion can outpace the capacity of our transportation infrastructure. In its 2013 […]
Trending Upward: Recent Cross-Border Freight Traffic Might Spell Good News for U.S. Economy
Things are looking up for the U.S. economy. Or that’s what freight moving across the U.S.-Mexico border between 2012 and 2014 seems to indicate. There are 25 land ports of entry (POEs) along the 1,969-mile U.S.-Mexico border that serve as trade gateways between the two countries. Recent negative changes in the global economy resulted in […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Texas and the Panama Canal Expansion
TxDOT formed the Panama Canal Stakeholder Working Group in 2012…TTI assisted TxDOT with the working group meetings, reviewed previous studies and prepared the working group report.
TTI Studies Efficacy of Waterborne Freight for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
TTI’s Center for Ports and Waterways has conducted three studies for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The purpose of all the studies was to determine the viability of maintaining the country’s inland waterways.
Using RFID Readers to Measure Wait Times at the U.S.-Mexico Border
For years, the movement of freight along the U.S.-Mexico border has been a long, slow process. As a first step in making improvements, actual wait times are being measured by radio-frequency identification (RFID) readers.
TTI on the Border
Research findings from TTI’s CIITR staff often provide the foundation upon which stakeholders build new opportunities for improving and expanding international trade and tourism.
Should We Move More Cargo via America’s Marine Highways?
To evaluate America’s marine highways potential as a substitute for road and rail, the U.S. Maritime Administration has launched the North American Marine Highways Initiative.
Toward a National Freight Data Architecture: TTI Researches the First Steps
Although much information exists on all aspects of freight movement and their intricacies, a comprehensive catalog of freight-related data sources does not exist.
Celebrating 60 Years of Innovation: A history of saving lives, time and resources
Celebrating 60 Years of Innovation: A history of saving lives, time and resources The original 1950 charter of the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI), given by the Texas A&M Board of Directors, charged the Institute with enlisting the broad resources of the college in all forms of transportation research, while giving students the opportunity to study […]
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