Airports continually balance demands to improve infrastructure within the realities of available budgets. Green revolving funds (GRFs) offer an alternative approach for investing in projects that generate operational savings. These funds work by tracking verified cost reductions from implemented actions, and then transferring those savings to a reserve that provides capital for future qualified projects such as energy system upgrades. A number of universities have managed GRFs for over a decade. Municipa...

They met in June 1975 in Boise, Idaho, for a workshop organized by the Transportation Research Board’s (TRB’s) Special Task Force on Low-Volume Roads. Although the field trip took them over humble forest roads, workshop participants had global ambitions. Among the workshop’s sponsors were the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which today is part of the World Bank. To learn the whole story, check out the latest release in the T...

With the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic hitting the transportation industry hard, TRB’s catalog of research on infectious disease and other biological threats to people and transportation systems is crucial in helping to advise transportation professionals. Transportation officials must be prepared to know how to minimize the consequences to their communities. In regards to biothreats, a recent National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report suggests that there are advantages to...

If you’re fortunate enough to still be working during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, you are likely to be doing so from home. Teleworking (or telecommuting) has been suddenly and widely adopted. For example, Arizona DOT reports doubling the number of employees who telework in multiple departments in just two weeks. In conjunction with Texas' disaster declaration related to COVID-19, TxDOT is also requiring its office-based employees to telework beginning March 16. Your workplace is likely making si...

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Use of Surface Treatments to Extend Pavement Life: A Case Study on US 301, Sussex County, Virginia , released by the Virginia Department of Transportation

University of California Pavement Research and National Center for Sustainable Transport have postponed the International Symposium on Pavement Life Cycle Assessment from June 3-6, 2020 to January 13-15, 2021 in Sacramento, CA. TRB is pleased to cosponsor this event. The symposium will focus on the implementation of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for pavements. The workshop address the implementation of LCA in pavement operations at the network and project levels.

Self-consolidating concrete (SCC) is a highly flowable, nonsegregating concrete that is placed without any mechanical consolidation. TRB will conduct a webinar on Thursday, June 11, 2020, from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM Eastern to discuss how SCC may be used to fill heavily congested or irregularly shaped members in bridge applications more easily while providing improved in-place quality and surface finish.The use of SCC may also decrease construction costs due to the reduced labor requirements during construct...

Does your organization know how to measure and verify pavement surface condition data based on mapping sensor technologies? TRB will conduct a webinar on Wednesday, June 10, 2020, from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM Eastern to discuss the challenges and solutions from experience on actual projects. In pavement management systems, accurate and precise condition data are essential for making data-driven decisions about maintenance and rehabilitation projects. Some condition data, including surface cracking and other d...

Rubber Content of Crumb Rubber Modified Bitumen: Soxhlet Method , released by Austroads

EPA announces the availability of the All-Ages Lead Model (AALM), Version 2 software with updated supporting documentation (External Review Draft). The AALM Model is scheduled to undergo an independent peer review by EPA's Science Advisory Board in October 2019. For more information related to scheduling and peer reviewers for this new tool, please visit the SAB AALM Project website. [Federal Register Notice Sep 24, 2019]

EPA announced the availability of the Guidelines for Human Exposure Assessment (hereafter "Guidelines"). The Guidelines present the current policies and practices of exposure assessors across the Agency and supersede the 1992 Guidelines for Exposure Assessment Edition.

In March 2020, EPA announced a new website for finding key EPA resources about the Coronavirus (COVID-19) virus. Additional information can be found on CDC's Coronavirus (COVID-19) website, a list of Disinfectants EPA's Pesticide Program recommend (today) to ward off spreading the virus, and CDC's list of symptoms to watch for.

Ten months in space! The Planetary Society’s LightSail 2 spacecraft just reached that milestone. And the fine folks at the Society have released a bunch of new pictures from the spacecraft. Ten of them, in fact. One for each successful month. LightSail 2 is a technology demonstration mission for the most part. And it’s been …

Continue reading "New Photos From LightSail 2"

The post New Photos From LightSail 2 appeared first on Universe Today.

If you look out on the sky on a nice clear dark night, you’ll see thousands of intense points of light. Those stars are incredibly far away, but bright enough to be seen with the naked eye from that great distance – a considerable feat. But what you don’t see are all the small stars, …

Continue reading "In the far future, the universe will be mostly invisible"

The post In the far future, the universe will be mostly invisible appeared first on Universe Today.

A new breed of smart telescopes is set to take users past these hurdles, and get them out under the night sky. We recently had a chance to put Vaonis’ Stellina ‘smart telescope’ through its paces, and we’re intrigued at the glimpse it provides at the future of observational astronomy.

The post Our Review of Stellina: a ‘Smart Telescope’ for 21st Century Astronomy appeared first on Universe Today.

Fast radio bursts last for such a short time that it is difficult to track down the source. Now astronomers have found one in our own back yard.

The post A Fast Radio Burst Has Been Detected From Inside The Milky Way appeared first on Universe Today.

Astronomy is advancing to the point where we can see planets forming around young stars. This was an unthinkable development only a few years ago. In fact, it was only two years ago that astronomers captured the first image of a newly-forming planet. Now there are more and more studies into how planets form, including …

Continue reading "More Pictures of Planet-Forming Disks Around Young Stars"

The post More Pictures of Planet-Forming Disks Around Young Stars appeared first on Universe Today.

New research using data from MAVEN shows that Mars had a magnetic field earlier and later in its history than previously thought.

The post When Did Mars Lose its Global Magnetic Field? appeared first on Universe Today.

So, you think you know Galileo? A new book out from Simon and Schuster publishing looks at the life and times of one of the most famous astronomers there ever was: Galileo Galilei. Galileo and the Science Deniers by Dr. Mario Livio not only looks at the life and times of the famous astronomer Galileo, but busts some of the most famous myths surrounding Galileo, and looks at his greatest discoveries and tempestuous clash with the Roman Catholic Church and its aftermath. Livio also connects the science denialism of the day, with comparisons to modern clashes between politics and science.

The post Review: Galileo and the Science Deniers by Mario Livio appeared first on Universe Today.

One of the most fascinating things about planet Earth is the way that life shapes the Earth and the Earth shapes life. We only have to look back to the Great Oxygenation Event (GOE) of 2.4 billion years ago to see how lifeforms have shaped the Earth. In that event, phytoplanktons called cyanobacteria pumped the …

Continue reading "New Data Show How Phytoplankton Pumps Carbon Out of the Atmosphere at an Enormous Scale"

The post New Data Show How Phytoplankton Pumps Carbon Out of the Atmosphere at an Enormous Scale appeared first on Universe Today.

A new study indicates that, contrary to what has been previously argued, galaxies like our own may be the most likely place to find intelligent life

The post Galaxies Like the Milky Way are the Best for Life appeared first on Universe Today.

Poor, dim-witted humanity. We used to think we were the center of everything. That wasn’t that long ago, and even though we’ve made tremendous advancements in our understanding of our situation here in space, we still have huge blind spots. For one, we’re only now waking up to the reality of interstellar objects passing through …

Continue reading "A Cool Idea to Catch Up With an Interstellar Visitor"

The post A Cool Idea to Catch Up With an Interstellar Visitor appeared first on Universe Today.

The September 2015 issue of TRB’s Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Impacts on Practice explores how Philadelphia International Airport, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, and Changi Airport in Singapore applied guidance from ACRP Report 52 : Wayfinding and Signing Guidelines for Airport Terminals and Landside to help passengers find their way in and around an airport.

TRB’s Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Research Report 163: Guidebook for Preparing and Using Airport Design Day Flight Schedules explores the preparation and use of airport design day flight schedules (DDFS) for operations, planning, and development. The guidebook is geared towards airport leaders to help provide an understanding of DDFS and their uses, and provides detailed information for airport staff and consultants on how to prepare one.

TRB’s Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Research Report 200: Using GIS for Collaborative Land Use Compatibility Planning Near Airports offers guidance for using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as a collaboration tool to encourage compatible land use around airports. The report is designed to help airport and community planners seeking to work together to protect existing and future airport development as well as maintain safety and improve quality of life for those living and working near ...

Global business and tourism depend heavily on the efficient operation of airports and movement of passengers, baggage, and cargo across many areas. With increasing demand and connectivity requirements for airports comes the need for more sophisticated simulation and modeling tools to validate design assumptions. Furthermore, airport design and planning decisions have significant impacts on policy and major capital improvement decisions, which can be supported by simulation and modeling tools at many leve...

Major technological and security changes in the aviation industry over the past 20 years have forced airport leaders and aviation stakeholders to think of new research ideas that will improve the planning and development of policies and new models that foster growth of air service, incorporate new airport and customer technology, revise airport business models, and better interact with neighboring communities. ACRP (Airport Cooperative Research Program) Web-Only Document 39: Policy and Planning Issues Ro...

Introduction of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) will pose safety, economic, operational, regulatory, community, environmental, and infrastructure challenges to airports. These risks are further complicated by the dynamic nature of UAS technological development. Experiences and lessons learned from recent major aviation system changes demonstrate the critical importance of ensuring that airports have the resources needed to avoid adverse impacts and maximize benefits as early as possible. This pre-publica...

Airports in the United States are responding to the demand for increased air travel with sustainable development that incorporates more energy-efficient and lower-emission technologies. Funding for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions-reducing technologies, such as electrification, alternative fuels, and renewable energy, has also become more accessible as technologies are proven to be safe, reliable, and cost-effective. Newer strategies and programs to reduce GHG emissions reach beyond airport operations to i...

Environmental regulations have long required airports to undertake review of many actions associated with planning and development. More recently, airports have embraced sustainability as a means for ensuring the long-term viability and community benefits of their facilities. The TRB Airport Cooperative Research Program's ACRP Research Report 209: Integrating Sustainability Planning and the Environmental Review Process is designed for airport industry practitioners who are interested in gaining a better ...

As an East Coast tech hub, Raleigh, North Carolina, is one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the United States. Leaders there used the knowledge gained from two reports by TRB's Airport Cooperative Research Program to develop a draft Balanced Scorecard, which was then refined, approved, and implemented. Impacts on Practice: Measuring Success at Raleigh–Durham International Airport summarizes how RDU now better connects its strategic goals to its practices, tracks the right metrics, and develop...

Airports and the communities they serve view robust air service as an important element for economic well-being and overall quality of life. Incentive programs are often used to encourage airlines to maintain or augment service to a community. Recent airline industry trends, including airline consolidation, use of larger aircraft, the rise of ultra-low-cost airlines, and challenges with pilot supply as well as regulatory and policy developments, have affected the significance of these programs. The TRB A...

With large swaths of the country still stifling under quarantine from the COVID-19 pandemic, more people than ever are supplementing their meager IRL social interactions with online alternatives. But but doing so can become a proverbial minefield wit...

Whatever you think of Doom Eternal right now, id and Bethesda are determined to spice it up going forward. They’ve hinted at what’s coming next for the hellish shooter, starting with a preview of the game’s first free update. The simply titled Update...

Elon Musk has been frustrated that Tesla’s Fremont factory has remained shut down due to Alameda County’s lockdown order, and that anger has apparently reached the boiling point. Musk has claimed that he’ll move Tesla’s headquarters to Nevada or Texa...

Susan Heap, the Director of Operations at Ferrovial Services says that "Transportation is meaningful across all societies, for many different reasons. I chose a career that connected me to things that matter to all of us. I stay in this industry because of the variety of people and projects that I get to work with every day. There is always a new challenge to overcome or skill-set to learn." Thank you Susan for participating in TRB's Centennial Celebration. To read the more than 60 responses to April's q...

TRB's “Tell Us ‘Our’ Story" challenge is now looking into the future. What impact do you hope to have on the world and how is the Transportation Research Board helping you make that impact? What is your vision for the Transportation Research Board 100 years from now? What are solutions that you have identified as a result of research you learned about through TRB? TRB welcomes all stories: small or large, profound or light-hearted, sobering or humorous. In addition to posting responses to these questions...

Issue 324 of TRB's magazine (November-December 2019) focuses on climate change resilience. Along with several explorations within that topic, a short history of TRB is offered as well as all the usual standing features of the magazine. TR News is TRB's bimonthly magazine featuring timely articles on innovative and state-of-the-art research and practice in all modes of transportation. It also includes brief news items of interest to the transportation community, research pays off articles , profiles of tr...

TRB 2021 Committee Paper Review will go on as scheduled. The submission site will open June 1 and the deadline is August 1. We have learned a lot during this year’s transition to the TRR Editorial Board workflow for publication papers and have listened to your feedback. Important improvements this year include: • Committee review comments will go to authors by October 31. • Full papers will be posted in the interactive program unless the authors “opt out” because they wish to publish the paper elsewhere....

As all aspects of transportation deal with the unfolding effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are research needs, gaps, and potential ways to leverage innovation revealing themselves across all modes, systems, and disciplines in transportation. In keeping with the mission of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to provide trusted, timely, impartial, and evidence-based information exchange and research, TRB is issuing an urgent and directed call for Research Needs Statements sp...

Accelerated bridge construction (ABC) utilizes rigorous planning, new technologies, and improved methods to expedite construction. Prefabricated columns and their connections to adjoining bridge members (cap beams, footings, pile caps, and pile shafts) are the most critical components of ABC in moderate- and high-seismic regions. The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Research Report 935: Proposed AASHTO Seismic Specifications for ABC Column Connections develops AASHTO specificatio...

The University of Texas at Austin is hosting Bridging Transportation Researchers (BTR) Online Conference  on August 11-12, 2020. TRB is pleased to cosponsor this event. This zero-carbon, zero-cost conference will host multiple Zoom-based tracks to virtually and globally unite transportation engineers, planners, and policymakers to discuss a wide range of transportation research topics and results, including: Multi-modal transportation network and systems Travel demand forecasting, including connecte...

The March-April 2020 issue of TR News (#326) - including a cover feature on TRB's "century of progress and foundation for the future" of transportation research - is available in hard copy and digital copy for subscribers. For those who are not subscribers, the table of contents is available. Other feature articles in the issue include ones on whether research processes can keep up, accessible rail sleeper compartments, drones and lasers for railroad bridges, implications of California wildfires, and muc...

According to Ken Murray, Sr. Landscape Architect, California Department of Transportation "TRB allows for expanding your influence and connections throughout the transportation world nationally. You're able to connect with fellow peers from different states and share experiences, discuss strategies for difficult situations, and solutions to issues that others may have already handled that you personally are dealing with. It expands your network that allows for more diverse information for other areas tha...

Standing Technical Committee on Critical Transportation Infrastructure got its start as the Task Force on Critical Transportation Infrastructure Security tied directly in response to the Presidential Decision Directive 63, Critical Infrastructure Protection (PPD-63). Soon after the task force was established, as a way to bring awareness to this topic, TRB published a special edition of TR News (211): Transportation Security: Protecting the System from Attack and Theft (November-December 2000). The editio...

Airports — especially in the past two decades—have generally sought to promote and increase collaboration among the members of the airport community, particularly between an airport and its airlines. One metric of this trend has been the increase in the number of U.S. airports with full-time emergency managers, from fewer than 10 in 2007 to more than 120 today. Collaboration and increased professionalism in airport emergency management have gone hand in hand. No matter whether the incident is aircraft-re...

Incompatible land uses can threaten the safe utility of airports and expose people living and working nearby to potentially unacceptable levels of noise or safety risk. At the state level, all 50 states have enacted some form of airport zoning legislation since the 1950s. The majority of states (90 percent) have enacted laws mandating or enabling local governments to adopt, administer, and enforce airport zoning regulations. The TRB Airport Cooperative Research Program's ACRP Research Report 206: Guidebo...