By Katherine F. Turnbull For all of 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 interests and challenges are commonly shared. Safety and mobility are at […]
planning
Geiselbrecht Receives New Public Participation Certification
Tina Geiselbrecht, research scientist at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), has become one of the first people in the United States to become a Certified Public Participation Professional (CP3) as designated by the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2). IAP2 is a professional association “whose members seek to promote and improve the practice of […]
Kuhn Receives ITE’s Matson Award
Beverly Kuhn, senior research engineer with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), is the recipient of the Theodore M. Matson Memorial Award. Kuhn received the award at the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Annual Meeting in August. The prestigious Matson Award is given annually to those considered pioneers in their engineering professions. For Kuhn, transportation […]
Slower Doesn’t Always Mean Safer — NCHRP Guide Helps Planners Mitigate Work Zone Crashes
Roadways don’t build themselves. They require careful planning, construction and regular maintenance, all of which require work zones designed to keep both workers and travelers safe. Sometimes those measures fail. According to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), in 2017, there were 27,148 work zone crashes in Texas. Of those, 199 were fatalities, and 813 […]
TTI’s Center for Ports and Waterways Helps Sponsors Navigate Economic Opportunity
The Texas Marine Transportation System includes 1,000 harbor channels; 25,000 miles of inland, intracoastal and coastal waterways; and 3,700 terminals handling passenger and cargo movements. And it connects with 152,000 miles of rail, 460,000 miles of pipelines, and 45,000 miles of interstate highways. With 11 deepwater seaports as international gateways and more than 1,000 miles […]
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 […]
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 […]
Innovative Data Applications Improve Border Planning, Air Quality
Using GPS Devices to Get Better Emissions Estimates The World Trade Bridge crossing in the Laredo–Nuevo Laredo region is the most used Texas-Mexico port of entry (POE). The crossing’s popularity helps explain the location’s relatively high vehicle emissions, caused by high truck volumes and slow speeds as traffic makes its way across the bridge. A […]
Helping Agencies Manage Infrastructure Renewal: TTI’s Asset Management Group
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 […]
The Texas 100: Texas Leads the Way in Data-Driven Performance Measures
In 2009, researchers at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) began compiling its Texas 100 Most Congested Highways list as part of an interagency contract with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). Over the past nine years, the list has helped TxDOT identify and begin to address the most congested highways in the state. It’s […]
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, […]