As in 2013, ASCE once again rated America’s infrastructure a D+ in its latest 2017 assessment. Although several categories, such as ports and rail, achieved modest improvements, others declined. And six core categories that many think of when they think of infrastructure itself — including bridges, roads and aviation — remained unchanged from four years […]
planning
Transportation Leaders Explore Congestion, Funding, Alternative Modes at Policy Symposium
Roadway congestion challenges and solutions were front and center on November 3 as transportation policy followers gathered for a symposium hosted by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) and the Texas Tribune. Throughout the morning, policy makers and other leaders stressed the need for careful planning in anticipation of continued rapid population growth, most of […]
TTI Researchers Find Innovative Ways to Use Rural Transit to Move People and Goods
Texas is a big state. Serving the mobility needs of rural residents is important. Public transit plays a key role in getting people where they need to go and might play a future role in getting goods to people. As part of a Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) project, researchers at the Texas A&M Transportation […]
Papal Visit Provides Vital Data for El Paso’s Transportation Planners
Major events typically produce major traffic issues, but when Pope Francis visited the El Paso/Juarez area in February, that wasn’t the case at all. Researchers with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) used data provided by INRIX, a leading provider of historical, real-time and predictive traffic information, to monitor congestion during the Pope’s visit. Using […]
A Look into Tomorrow: What-If Scenarios and Planning the Future of Transportation
Researchers at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) recently formulated scenarios for how CV/AV technologies might be deployed. Using the scenarios as context, the research team interviewed state and local transportation agency personnel and then created flexible strategies to prepare for potential issues arising from implementation. As Senior Research Scientist Johanna Zmud explains, “The goal […]
Improved Data Collection for Improved Mobility
Planning Transportation planners have long been surveying motorists about where they were going and why — information vital in determining where the next road should be built or how to improve mobility. Travel-demand models based on that feedback have been used for planning the best locations for new facilities and for prioritizing roadway improvements. However, […]
Transportation Research Challenges
Transportation research is a multi-disciplinary, national effort to identify and solve the challenges we face in planning, building and maintaining the thousands of miles of roadway in this country. Traffic Safety Fatal rear-end collisions nationally in 2012 — 1,933 with 120 of those occurring in highway work zones. Trade In 2012, a record 5.1 million […]
Old Modes, New Data: TTI’s Work in Bike and Pedestrian Research
Researchers have been perfecting methods for counting cars and trucks for the last half century. Comparatively speaking, there are very little biking and walking data.
Assessing Customer Satisfaction
TTI Helps TxDOT Ask Texans the Right Questions Knowing how well you’re doing your job can be as easy as asking someone’s opinion. But when you’re a public agency, it can get a bit more complicated. In a joint effort, the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) and the Bush School of Government and Public Service recently […]
Valuing Research
TTI Assesses Loop 410 Improvements in San Antonio Accountability. Performance measures. “Bang for the buck.” We hear these terms a lot these days about our transportation system. Knowing how to maximize the return on our transportation dollar is vital at a time when budgets are shrinking but commuter needs continue to grow. In 1960, San […]
Workshops Bring Local, State Planners Together
Every one of us likes to drive safely and without undue delays. To keep our roads safe and efficient, operators must effectively manage the existing system while simultaneously planning for evolving transportation and land development needs. Corridor management (CM) involves land development, roadway design, access control and traffic operations along existing transportation corridors. In short, […]
Funding Tomorrow’s Transportation in Texas: Not a Question of If…a Question of How
We often take our transportation system for granted. Then something happens — an ice storm, for example — to remind us just how much we depend on that system. Without it, our mobility, our economy, our very lives can become paralyzed. Keeping existing system infrastructure operational and effectively planning future roadways are vital to meeting […]
Rural Transportation Planning: It’s Not Just for Urban Areas Anymore
It’s an unfortunate cliché these days: economic times are difficult. Federal, state and local budgets are shrinking. As communities look for ways to get more bang for their transportation buck, leveraging strengths across agencies becomes ever more important. Metropolitan planning organizations have coordinated local urban planning efforts with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) for […]
Planning for the Future: TTI’s Center for Strategic Transportation Solutions
Where are we going? How will we get there? These questions aren’t just philosophical…they’re strategic. In February 2009, the Texas Transportation Commission adopted the 2030 Committee Texas Transportation Needs Report, which was developed by the Texas Transportation Institute and the Center for Transportation Research. The report identifies that Texas will need some $315 billion to […]
TTI Contributes to 2030 Committee’s Texas Transportation Needs Report
On February 26, the Texas Transportation Commission adopted the 2030 Committee’s Texas Transportation Needs Report. The 221-page report concludes that meeting Texas’ transportation needs between 2009 and 2030 will require $315 billion, or about $14.3 billion per year. The 2030 Committee is comprised of 12 Texas business and civic leaders appointed in May 2008 by […]
Edwards announces Mobility Initiative at TTI
Rep. Chet Edwards detailed the “Bryan/College Station Mobility Initiative” — a unique agreement designed to improve the quality of transportation in smaller communities — during a news conference at the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) on January 30. Edwards secured $1 million in funding for the initiative, which will house a traffic management system at TTI’s […]
Measuring twice, cutting once: Integrating sustainability into transportation planning
Tailoring and transportation share at least one thing in common — the better the planning, the better the product. When tailors measure cloth twice before cutting, they’re maximizing efficiency and minimizing waste by first calculating carefully. In the transportation planning arena, that’s what sustainability is all about. “Sustainable transportation” means different things to different people. […]
Evaluating the 4Ts
What impacts do tolling, transit, technology and telecommuting/travel demand management have on reducing traffic congestion in major travel corridors? Researchers at the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) are part of a team helping the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) answer that question. The U.S. DOT is funding congestion reduction strategies at multiple sites throughout the […]