This summer, researchers, faculty and students at Texas A&M University explored innovative new ways to use artificial intelligence (AI) to improve campus transportation for mobility-challenged riders on campus. As part of its Campus Transportation Technology Initiative, the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) worked with IBM and the Texas A&M University College of Engineering to explore […]
mobility
TTI’s Traveler Information System Helps Keep I-35 Drivers Safer, Better Informed
In Texas, I-35 stretches some 500 miles, from the Rio Grande to the Red River. Much of I-35 was once known as the Chisholm Trail, and 50 percent of the state’s population — that’s nearly 14 million people — live within 50 miles of I-35 today. No wonder Texans refer to the interstate as Main […]
TTI Wants Your Input on Proposed Bush-Wellborn Intersection Reconstruction
The Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) want to know what you think about a proposed reconstruction project to improve the intersection of George Bush Drive (FM 2347) and Wellborn Road (FM 2154) in College Station, Texas. The survey is anonymous and takes 10 to 15 minutes to complete. […]
TTI-Texas A&M Engineering Collaborations Enhance Educational Opportunities
A transportation revolution is about to take place, the likes of which we’ve not seen since the invention of the internal combustion engine. Connected and automated vehicles (CV/AVs) hold the promise of vastly improving safety, mobility and the economy. We’re on the cusp of this transformation, and The Texas A&M University System’s engineering community is […]
Texas A&M, TTI, TEES Partner in Campus Transportation Technology Initiative
The Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) and the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) are partnering under a contract with Texas A&M University to develop a smarter campus transportation ecosystem. Texas A&M University President Michael K. Young created the Campus Transportation Technology Initiative (CTTI) to bring private-sector transportation innovation into the real-world environment of a […]
TTI Selected for $10.75 Million Federal Contract to Evaluate Connected Vehicle Projects
The Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) has been selected by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to evaluate connected vehicle projects in southern Wyoming, New York City, and Tampa, Fla. The multiyear federal contract is for $10.75 million. Vehicle challenges and opportunities have driven the need for the pilot tests and evaluations. Roadway congestion in the […]
TTI-Led Team Develops New Guidebook for States Implementing Intercity Passenger Rail
The world seems to be moving faster. Our transportation system, however, seems to be slowing down. Expanding economies place increasing demands on our current transportation system. While economic growth is good, increased freight and commuter traffic is filling roadways that, when built 50 years ago, seemed luxurious in their emptiness. Given this reality, how can […]
TTI Earns Federal Technology Contract That May Top $10 Million
The Texas A&M Transportation Institute has been awarded a multi-year federal contract worth up to $10.75 million to evaluate connected vehicle pilot tests in several U.S. cities. TTI will conduct the evaluations for the U.S. Department of Transportation, for connected projects in southern Wyoming, New York City, and Tampa, Florida. Connected vehicles are those that […]
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 […]
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 […]
TTI Creates New Methodology for Multimodal Assessment
Helping El Paso Manage Growing Pains The Office of the State Demographer projects Texas’ population will rise from 25.2 million in 2010 to 33.9 million in 2030. That’s a 35 percent increase in the state’s population, and the growth isn’t just happening in cities like Austin, Dallas or Houston — it’s happening statewide. In El […]
Interagency Cooperation: Working Together for Texans
Relieving Traffic Congestion, Facilitating Evacuations for Houston Thanks in part to a decades-long relationship developed and strengthened through an interagency agreement (IAC) between the Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT’s) Houston District and Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) researchers, 1,000 miles of Houston roadways are monitored by a low-cost traffic data collection system. The system collects […]
Traffic Gridlock Sets New Records for Traveler Misery
Action Needed to Reduce Traffic Congestion’s Impact on Drivers, Businesses and Local Economies America’s traffic congestion recession is over. Just as the U.S. economy has regained nearly all of the 9 million jobs lost during the downturn, a new report produced by INRIX and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) shows that traffic congestion has […]
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 […]
Most Texans Support More Funding for Transportation, New Poll Shows
Traffic congestion in Texas continues to worsen each year, but that’s not changing how the vast majority of Texans feel about their cars and trucks. This and a variety of other insights come from the first Texas Transportation Poll conducted by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s Transportation Policy Research Center (PRC). The survey examines the […]
One Is the Costliest Number — Managing Travel Demand to Reduce Congestion, Increase Mobility
When looking to buy a home, you’re more likely to get the most bang for your buck when a lot of houses are on the market. The bigger the market, the more likely a seller is to accommodate how much you want to spend, right? It’s simple supply and demand. Similarly, when travel demand exceeds […]
Keeping Texans Informed During Construction Projects
The I-35 Expansion Project in Central Texas For travelers and business owners, construction projects — whatever their long-term benefits — can be an annoying, frustrating experience. Exits closed, access limited, traffic slowed down in work zones — mitigating the effects of those necessary evils is what a mobility coordinator does on behalf of the Texas […]
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 […]
Modeling the Effects of Austin Chamber’s “All of the Above” Approach to Traffic Challenges
In its 2013 Mobility Report, the Austin Chamber of Commerce makes extensive use of a study by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) that models a strategy scenario designed to address the region’s mobility challenges. TTI Research Scientist Tom Williams, Senior Research Engineer Ginger Goodin and Research Specialist Byron Chigoy were responsible for the study, […]
Annual Study Ranks Traffic on Nearly 1,800 Road Segments
Traffic congestion is relative. What constitutes “bad” depends on where you live. And for the first time, the state’s annual ranking of its most gridlocked roadways will give Texans in smaller cities a look at problem roadways in their own areas, regardless of how they compare to big-city bottlenecks. What originally began as the list […]