This paper provides a description of the state of the art in flexible pavement design; a look to the future in terms of some specific technical needs; a translation of the new technology into practice; and making flexible pavement design a more credible discipline. A brief discussion is provided of the key components that constitute the state of the art flexible pavement design procedure.
New mobility is a fundamentally new approach to transportation. The underlying premise is that existing alternatives to the privately owned automobile (for example, telecomunications, small personal vehicles, and smart transport modes) have faltered because they have been introduced individually and incrementally - not as part of a system. By integrating some of these technology-based options and providing a supportive policy context, synergies might result that would lead to a healthier, more efficient, and more equitable transportation system.
Transportation is changing throughout the nation. More people need to reach multiple destinations and achieve multiple objectives in one trip. Many of these trips cross jurisdictional and modal boundaries. In major urban areas, existing and new users are making increasingly complex trips that put higher demands on the transportation infrastructure and services. For example, travel to jobs, shopping, medical facilities, educational institutions, entertainment, and other neighborhoods requires seamless transitioning from one mode of travel to another. These demands require a major new transportation strategy that responds to the issues facing each state and the nation for the next 20 to 30 years and well into the new millennium. Transportation leaders understand that this new strategy must include all aspects of the nation’s vital infrastructure ─air, water, housing, education, and more. The strategy must include an intergovernmental approach for accommodating growth in already heavily populated urban areas. This would involve a partnership with private entities and officials who make land-use decisions. Finally, the strategy must address the needs of an aging but active population. Accurate, reliable, and readily available data is the essential tool for making this new transportation strategy a reality. Transportation professionals must find better ways to meet
During the past 15 years, the number of deaths and injuries related to impaired driving has declined significantly in the United States, as well as in other industrialized countries. What accounts for these changes, which have occurred in different countries with different cultural, legal, economic, and social environments? This question is addressed in this paper. It is pointed out that the answer may lie in the area of global economic or demographic shifts, but that there is sufficient evidence indicating that a significant portion of the progress made in reducing impaired driving has resulted from changes in laws, policies, and practices, some of which are described in this paper.
The implementation of vehicle-highway automation early in the 21st century will provide an enhanced level of surface transportation accessibility and mobility. Vehicle-highway automation technologies and systems can be described in four categories: warning systems that sense and then advise drivers of potential hazards, control assistance systems that augment the driver's ability to control the vehicle, control override systems that intervene in some aspect of the control of the vehicle during unsafe conditions, and automated control systems that control all motions of the vehicle. Automation has the ability to generate fundamental changes in transportation, including improvements in safety, spurred economic development, reduced traffic congestion, and extended mobility for many, especially the elderly and disabled. This paper describes some probable directions, recognizing that the actual future depends mostly on how transportation automation opportunities evolve and integrate with the future needs of individuals and society.
This paper's focus is on the water quantity and quality impact-response phenomenon associated with modern transportation modes and transportation infrastructure. The discussion centers on an integrated theme that addresses the interrelated issues of rainfall-runoff processes, waterway and infrastructure hydraulics, scour and sediment transportation, and runoff water quality and treatment. Also discussed are the significant research and technology transfer contributions that will provide guidance to help achieve an ecologically sustainable transportation infrastructure.
The Committee on Contract Law (A4005) studies and reports on issues in the field of contract law, including procurement, award, contract administration, dispute resolution, and litigation of construction claims. State and federal highway agencies are now exploring ways to accelerate project delivery, modernize standard construction contracts, implement innovative contracting and procurement practices, participate in partnering, and improve the contract dispute resolution process to reduce claims and litigation. Today's transportation lawyers are an integral part of the modern transportation agency. Transportation lawyers draft contract provisions and legislation, provide legal counsel, administer or assist in the administration of construction contracts and the resolution of disputes, and, if necessary, litigate construction matters. This paper discusses some of the innovative practices and issues that transportation lawyers will face in the field of contract law in the new millennium.
This paper recognizes three critical issues confronting global transportation and energy system: oil dependence, air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. The paper points to the need for new policies that must be developed to guide technological and institutional changes that provide mobility along with resource security and environmental sustainability.
The pavement joint- and crack-sealing industry faces several challenges as the new millennium approaches. Chese challenges cover a broad spectrum of issues, from materials to construction practices. It has been demonstrated and documented and is generally accepted that sealing the cracks in flexible pavements is a sound preventive maintenance procedure for extending pavement life. However, the fundamental question of whether sealing joints in rigid highway pavements is cost-effective was recently raised. The issues that face the joint- and crack-sealing industry can generally be divided into four categories: value added (return on investment from joint and crack sealing), materials and specifications, application procedures and equipment, and training.
This paper considers key issues in operational effects of geometrics at the turn of the millennium and emerging issues that will become increasingly important. History tells us that at some times and in some modes of transportation less than 100 years is needed for a revolution to occur. It was only about 65 years from the Wright brothers' first flight to the landing on the moon. Looking back, the changes in the highway system in the past 100 years have been revolutionary, whereas the changes in the highway system in the past 50 years have been more evolutionary. The members of the Committee on Operational Effects of Geometrics consider it likely that such evolutionary changes in highway transportation will continue. In this paper, the Committee will look at some key anticipated changes and trends and their relation to the traffic operational and safety effects of highway geometrics.
Bituminous pavement surfaces must meet special requirements for riding comfort, frictional characteristics, permeability, tire and pavement wear, segregation, raveling, appearance, light reflectance, and noise. The focus of this paper is on the progress the asphalt industry has made to date in addressing these special requirements and the challenges it faces in the future. Various technologies and methods are described, including the growing use of the Superpave system for material selection and design of asphalt mixtures.
The fact that airport development has not kept pace with the substantial increases in aviation activity in the United States has become an acute problem. Essential to timely development of new airport facilities is innovative planning, and a key component in the planning process is environmental documentation. This paper describes operational issues most likely to affect environmental assessments, pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the implementing guidelines of the Council on Environmental Quality.
The evaluation and application of all remote sensing, surface and subsurface methods of exploration are areas of concern with engineering geologists as well as geotechnical engineers. Also of interest is the application, evaluation, and correlation of all existing and proposed earth material classifications, surveys, and associated survey techniques. The paper provides a brief review of the dramatic evolvement of conventional methods of exploring and classifying materials as well as some of the promising new technologies that have been developed but have not yet been adopted as conventional; methods.
This paper attempts to predict the future role of bus transit. An examination of current and expected settlement and street patterns suggests that, as long as there is a need for automobiles and roadways, there will be a need for transit buses. The key issue is not whether bus transit will survive, but rather how it will function. Will it continue the decline that has occurred since World War II, or will trends and policies evolve in the 21st century that are more favorable to its use? In the early part of the new millennium, many of the trends that began after World War II, such as the decline of central cities, the growth of suburbs, the dispersion of employment, and the increase in automobile ownership, will continue. As a result, bus transit ridership may continue to decline. However, a climate more favorable to bus transit will progressively emerge. There will be an increased desire to avoid congestion and suburban sprawl and to revitalize cities and alleviate air pollution. Although this revival is not likely to match the heyday of bus transit, bus transit ridership in the 21st century is likely to increase significantly.
The transit fleet maintenance community is positioned to make some significant advances in the new millennium. Changes in technology offer much potential for supporting both traditional management activities and some equipment capabilities that have recently become available. However, benefits will be realized only after successfully navigating some significant challenges. The tendency is to view the technology itself as a key challenge, but how fleet maintenance managers align their organizations in adapting to technology will probably determine the extent of any advances. One key conclusion of a recent study was that the success of a maintenance organization would depend on its ability to adapt to change. This paper discusses challenges to the fleet maintenance community, which include narrowing longstanding information gaps, managing maintenance costs, adapting the organization to changes in technology, and modifying preventive maintenance programs.
The paper identifies the key issues and challenges that will affect freight planning and logistics to include the following: the demands for freight transportation and logistics services, and the ability of the physical and information infrastructure to meet these demands; the role of road pricing in urban freight transportation; the impact of information technology on goods movement; and, new development in logistics management.
Bituminous paving mixtures (BPMs) are used as surface or base layers in a pavement structure to distribute stresses caused by loading and to protect the underlying unbound layers from the effects of water. Many factors affect the ability of a BPM to meet these structural requirements. This paper, authored by members of the Transportation Research Board Committee on Characteristics of Bituminous Paving Mixtures to Meet Structural Requirements, provides a summary of some of the principal issues and challenges associated with the design and production of BPMs that can meet the ever-increasing structural needs of modern pavements.
State and local transportation agencies are experiencing a dramatic increase in tort litigation involving claims for personal injury and property damage. The single greatest reason for the explosion of claims against state and local transportation agencies over the last 50 years has been the abolition of the doctrine of sovereign immunity by most states. Public entities' exposure to tort liability has increased as the practical science of transportation engineering has improved, resulting in greater public expectations from government. The most significant effect on the practice of transportation tort law in the 21st century is expected to come from technology and innovations in the use of technology. They will present new issues and challenges for the transportation lawyer. Some of those issues will arise when new technology is implemented, and others will arise when the innovation or technology fails and a loss results. The transportation tort lawyer must develop new methods of practice to address these issues and new ways to use existing and emerging technology in the accessibility of information, experts, and legal authority, as well as new and emerging technology in the organization and presentation of the facts and information needed to represent the transportation agency.
This white paper, authored by members of the Transportation Research Board Committee on Public Involvement, provides an overview of developments in the evolution of the process of 2-way communication between citizens and government by which transportation agencies and other officials give notice and information to the public and use public input as a factor in decision making. In the past decade, a radical transformation has occurred in the way transportation decisions are made. A new decision model has emerged and continues to be refined. The model assumes that public input into the assessment of transportation needs and solutions is a key factor in most transportation decision making. This paradigm shift, and several factors that have contributed to it, are discussed including the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991.
This paper is authored by a member of the Transportation Research Board Committee on Signing and Marking Materials and provides an overview of developments and future aims in this area of the transportation industry. Quantifiable material performance requirements, new marking and signing materials to improve roadway delineation, and current research efforts are discussed. Improving the safety of the motoring public will be accomplished through the use of new technologies, industry standardization, and ongoing research studies.
