Thinking Transportation: Engaging Conversations about Transportation Innovations

 It’s been said that all politics is local. Given the unique nature of major population centers everywhere, the same could be said for transportation. 

Obvious pressures when we’re driving on the roadways—like aggressive drivers, stormy weather, and unruly passengers—are widely recognized. But less conspicuous triggers can compromise safety, too. 

Decarbonizing the transportation sector—the single-biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions—won’t happen overnight. But the U.S. Department of Energy has a plan.

The dangers for those who travel on foot have constituted a public health challenge for as long as we’ve had motor vehicles. Why are pedestrian deaths increasing so fast? And what can be done to stem the tide?

Disasters – whether natural or man-made – can cripple transportation systems. Sophisticated modeling can go a long way in minimizing disruptions and restoring routine conditions. 

Two years have passed since America’s last road and bridge report card, and we’ll wait another two years for the next one. An unofficial mid-term grade suggests that conditions are improving.

Texas owes its transportation primacy in large part to an elite group of visionary leaders whose contributions merit permanent and meaningful places in the Lone Star State’s history.

In recent years, roughly half of the motorcyclists involved in fatal crashes in Texas were unlicensed. Safety advocates are working to enlist more instructors who can help riders develop the safety skills they need.

Nearly 300 million vehicles are on American roads today. Nearly all of them run on gasoline or diesel, so a large-scale shift to electric power would be transformative. A new Texas A&M University System venture is working to figure out how that might work. 

As a transportation journalist, Bernie Wagenblast has been weaving narratives of a professional sort for more than 40 years. As it turns out, one of her most recent stories is more personal.

The value that small general aviation airports deliver far exceeds what their modest size might suggest. To many local government officials, those facilities represent “the most valuable mile of pavement in the county.”

Major railroad disasters tend to produce major news headlines, but there are hundreds of derailments each year in America that we never hear about. Why is that?

It’s been said that journalists are responsible for writing the first draft of history. As the transportation writer for the Houston Chronicle, Dug Begley has been crafting that city’s mobility story for more than a decade. 

Even after wrapping up a 46-year stretch at TTI, Tim Lomax still enjoys the adrenaline rush that comes from finding new traffic challenges, and fixing them. 

America’s roads were built to last, but they weren’t built to last forever. New research is taking a forensic approach to maintaining and repairing our surface transportation infrastructure.

Most of what we buy and use every day comes to us on cargo ships, which represent essential links in worldwide distribution systems. A global public health crisis reminded us of how important they really are.

Big-time athletic events can create big-time roadway gridlock. Experts game out the possibilities to navigate chaos – from the first car in, to the last one out. 

Wrong-way crashes on high-speed roadways are uncommon, but they’re almost always fatal. Ongoing research is supporting countermeasures to help drivers avoid – or escape -- a rare but perilous roadway hazard.