Fueled by the state’s steady growth and healthy economy, Houston’s West Loop this year repeats its 2018 rank as the most gridlocked corridor in the state. Interstate 35 in central Austin comes in a close second, with the Southwest and Eastex Freeways in Houston and Dallas’ Woodall Rodgers Freeway rounding out the top five. Researchers […]
mobility
Our Concept of Mobility is Transforming — But 3 Roadway Realities Are Unchanged
By Gregory Winfree This is not your grandfather’s mobility landscape. Not even your father’s. Not even close. Thanks to the sharing economy, we have more here-to-there options today than we would have dared to imagine a decade ago. And transportation today depends almost as much on smartphones as it does on steering wheels. How we […]
New Study Underscores Economy/Traffic Jam Link
If more Americans are working, a new report confirms, more of us are also tied up in traffic. The picture is painted clearly in the 2019 Urban Mobility Report, published by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI). Along with illustrating the problem, researchers also stress the same straightforward solutions they’ve long advocated: more of everything […]
Managing the Human Capital of Transit Scheduling
The success of a transit system will rise and fall on the strength and integrity of its scheduling, which directly impacts operating and capital costs, customer satisfaction, and operator wellness. As such, scheduling constitutes the foundation of any transit operation. Agencies now have a guide to help them strengthen that bedrock, in the form of […]
Mobility Issues In the Spotlight at Annual SXSW Gathering
Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) experts joined thought leaders from around the world recently during the annual South By Southwest Festival in Austin. Agency Director Greg Winfree joined healthcare leaders for a focus on “Plugging into rural healthcare solutions” as part of the Texas A&M Power House presence at SXSW on March 12. Winfree focused […]
At a Glance — Dollars and Sense: The Texas Rural Transportation Network
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Texas Transit Needs Assessment Identifies Underserved Areas of the Lone Star State
Many Texans rely on public transit to go to work or school, keep medical appointments, shop and run errands, and travel to recreational activities. In fact, in 2016, more than 30 million trips were made on Texas’ 67 transit systems (sometimes called districts) that receive state funding. Going to work was the most common trip […]
Helping Rural Communities Create a Multimodal Transportation Investment Plan
The peace and quiet rural Texas is known for can sometimes contribute to the notion that a quiet life in the country means that no problems exist. Yet many Texans who enjoy country living still have mobility needs, and that tranquil image can make it difficult for rural transportation providers to secure funding to meet […]
Two Decades of Super 2 Research and Implementation for TxDOT Continues to Produce Benefits
With more than 57,000 miles of two-lane rural highways in Texas — where it’s estimated that 68 percent of rural travel occurs — Texas drivers are known to pull onto the shoulder to let a vehicle pass, sometimes creating an unsafe situation. Developing and increasing use of low-cost roadway safety and capacity improvements are key […]
What We’re Thinking: Why Maintaining a Lone Desert Highway Matters to Us All
By Katie Turnbull This article was originally published in Dallas News, Dec. 26, 2018. For all the contrasts that distinguish urban and rural Texans, one thing that unites us all is the need for reliable transportation. Exactly what that reliable transportation looks like depends on where we choose to live. Regardless of that choice, certain […]
TTI Research Supports El Paso County’s Efforts to Coordinate, Enhance Regional Transit Service
El Paso, Texas, holds a number of distinctions: the state’s only major city in a separate time zone, the only city that borders both a foreign country and another U.S. state, and perennial bragging rights as one of the nation’s safest cities. But when it comes to public transportation, the El Paso region is pretty […]
New TCRP Handbook Helps Coordinate Non-emergency Medical Transportation with Public Transportation in Rural Areas
Consider this scenario: Dan lives in a small rural town and suffers from several health issues. He’s a very-low-income senior, making him eligible for Medicaid health care. Three times a month he must travel an hour away to the nearest city for medical care. Since he doesn’t own a vehicle or drive, Dan arranges to […]
What We’re Thinking: Rural Texas Highways Give Us a Reliable Path to the Pump
By Bill Stockton This article was originally published in The Texas Tribune, November 14, 2018. Your car’s next tank of gas is on its way to you. You can be assured of that, even though the journey it takes to get there is a sometimes arduous one. That journey could begin at one of hundreds […]
Decisions, Decisions: Lane Choices Aren’t as Simple as We Thought
Plastic or paper. Decaf or regular. Cash or credit. Consumers make choices every day. Whether it’s about how we shop, how we dine, or how we purchase goods and services, most of our decisions are pretty straightforward. We know what we want, and we know why. When it comes to how we commute, however, things […]
Double Time — Accelerated Construction Strategies Enable a Quicker Pace Toward Project Completion
ENCOUNTERING the same construction zones day after day, month after month, it’s only natural for travelers to ask “Why does this have to take so long?” Thanks to a growing reliance on creative thinking, it no longer does. That thinking is at the root of accelerated construction, an effort launched in Texas in 1998 and […]
Reaching the Worldwide Marketplace — TTI’s Center for International Intelligent Transportation Research Solves Cross-Border Transportation Problems
For the international economy to thrive, economic development can’t stop at national borders. Facilitating growth requires moving goods efficiently from one country to another, which in turn requires a vital, robust transportation system. In 2006, the Texas Legislature established the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s (TTI’s) Center for International Intelligent Transportation Research (CIITR). Through applied research, […]
Better Estimates, Smarter Development: Caltrans Adopts TTI’s New Smart-Growth Trip-Generation Tool
The traditional data used to estimate the transportation impact of urban development are not appropriate for smart growth or infill development, according to a study conducted by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) for the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). (Infill development refers to building on vacant land within a developed area.) As a result […]
The Campus As a Classroom: TTI Creates Opportunities for Texas A&M Engineering Students
In March 2016, the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) embarked on the Campus Transportation Technology Initiative (CTTI). Supported by Texas A&M University and funded by President Michael K. Young, the project’s vision is to bring transportation innovation to campus to improve safety, mobility and quality of life. TTI Senior Research Scientist Bob Brydia leads the […]
A Partnership in Progress: TTI, USDOT Celebrate a Half Century of Research Innovations
For the past 50 years, the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) has provided assistance to the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) to make the nation’s transportation system safer, more efficient and more resilient. Across the DOT’s spectrum of modal agencies—air, highways, motor carriers, rail, transit, maritime, traffic safety, and pipeline and hazardous materials—TTI expertise has […]
Using Big Data to Improve Traffic Counts
For years, Gene Hicks thought there had to be a better way to count the number of vehicles traveling his state’s roadways. As director of the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s (MnDOT’s) Traffic Forecasting and Analysis Section, Hicks oversees the tedious task of laying out road tubes at approximately 33,000 sites (about 12,000 each year) to […]