Author: New From NAP

TRB\’s Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 24: Distracted Driving Countermeasures for Commercial Vehicles examines driving distractions, as well as any protective (safety-enhancing) effects of particular devices. Distracted driving for commercial drivers is defined as attending to tasks not directly related to operating the vehicle.

TRB\’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Research Results Digest 366: Local and State Partnerships with Taxicab Companies discusses how states and local governments might promote partnerships with taxicab companies for provision of public transportation.

In the context of the report, a “partnership” typically involves some form of contract for service, but also includes less formal arrangements as well as regulatory involvement intended to expand or create service for the public.

TRB\’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Synthesis 96: Off-Board Fare Payment Using Proof-of-Payment Verification examines the application of proof-of-payment (PoP) on transit systems in North America and internationally.

TCRP Synthesis 96 updates TCRP Report 80: A Toolkit for Self-Service, Barrier-Free Fare Collection.

Issues address by TCRP Synthesis 96 include evasion rates, inspection rates, enforcement techniques, duties of fare inspection personnel, adjudication processes, and the kinds of penalties involved for evasion.

TRB\’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Research Results Digest 370: Guidelines for Project Selection and Materials Sampling, Conditioning, and Testing in WMA Research Studies summarizes a May 2011 workshop designed to help foster cooperation and coordination among warm-mix asphalt (WMA) research studies.

The goals of the workshop were to help identify the laboratory and field-test methods and sample preparation, curing, and conditioning procedures in use in Federal Highway Administration-, National Cooperative Highway Research Program-, state departments of transportation-, and industry-sponsored research projects and to agree on a core set of methods and procedures that would be commonly used, insofar as possible, in all present and future WMA studies.

TRB\’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Research Results Digest 103: Sustainable Public Transportation: Environmentally Friendly Mobility is an overview of an international study mission that explored how public transportation systems in several cities in India and China have implemented plans, policies, technologies, and strategies for creating more livable communities through bus, metro, bus rapid transit, rail, and light rail systems.

The Indian and Chinese systems visited were designed to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, lower operating costs, and provide safe and accessible transportation services.

TRB\’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 716: Travel Demand Forecasting: Parameters and Techniques provides guidelines on travel demand forecasting procedures and their application for helping to solve common transportation problems.

The report presents a range of approaches that are designed to allow users to determine the level of detail and sophistication in selecting modeling and analysis techniques based on their situations. The report addresses techniques, optional use of default parameters, and includes references to other more sophisticated techniques.

NCHRP Report 716 is an update to NCHRP Report 365: Travel Estimation Techniques for Urban Planning.

TRB\’s Conference Proceedings 48: Financing Surface Transportation in the United States: Forging a Sustainable Future—Now summarizes a May, 2010 conference that focused on developments in innovative funding techniques and options for securing continued revenue to support national infrastructure and mobility needs.

Views presented in Conference Proceedings 48 reflect the opinions of the individual participants and are not necessarily the views of all conference participants, the planning committee, TRB, or the National Research Council.

TRB\’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 431: Practices to Manage Traffic Sign Retroreflectivity includes examples of practices that illustrate how different types of transportation agencies might meet federal retroreflectivity requirements for traffic signs.

TRB\’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Synthesis 99: Uses of Social Media in Public Transportation explores the use of social media among transit agencies and documents successful practices in the United States and Canada.

For the purposes of the report, social media are defined as a group of web-based applications that encourage users to interact with one another, such as blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Foursquare, and MySpace.

TRB\’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 428: Practices and Procedures for Site-Specific Evaluations of Earthquake Ground Motions identifies and describes current practice and available methods for evaluating the influence of local ground conditions on earthquake design ground motions on a site-specific basis.

The report focuses on evaluating the response of soil deposits to strong ground shaking.

TRB\’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Synthesis 95: Practices for Wayside Rail Transit Worker Protection is designed to highlight knowledge, practice, lessons learned, and gaps in information related to wayside rail transit worker protection programs.

TRB\’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 432: Recent Roadway Geometric Design Research for Improved Safety and Operations reviews and summarizes roadway geometric design literature completed and published from 2001 through early 2011, particularly research that identified impacts on safety and operations.

The report is structured to correspond to chapters in the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials\’ A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets, more commonly referred to as the Green Book.

NCHRP Synthesis 432 is an update of NCHRP Synthesis 299 on the same topic published in 2001.

TRB\’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Synthesis 98: Ridesharing as a Complement to Transit explores current practices in using ridesharing to complement public transit and highlights ways to potentially enhance ridesharing and public transit.

TRB\’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 425: Waterproofing Membranes for Concrete Bridge Decks documents information on materials, specification requirements, design details, application methods, system performance, and costs of waterproofing membranes used on new and existing bridge decks since 1995.

The synthesis focuses on North American practices with some information provided about systems used in Europe and Asia.

NCHRP Synthesis 425 is an update to NCHRP Synthesis 220: Waterproofing Membranes for Concrete Bridge Decks that was published in 1995.

TRB\’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Legal Research Digest 57: Tort Liability Defense Practices for Design Flexibility focuses on tort liability defense practices and cases involving the exercise of discretion in design. The report is designed to help provide a framework for determining potentially successful strategies to employ when defending design decisions made following the principles of context sensitive solutions.

TRB\’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Synthesis 97: Improving Bus Transit Safety Through Rewards and Discipline addresses the practices and experiences of public transit agencies in applying both corrective actions and rewards to recognize, motivate, and reinforce a safety culture within their organizations.

TRB\’s National Cooperative Freight Research Program (NCFRP) Report 16: Preserving and Protecting Freight Infrastructure and Routes provides guidance to decision makers involved in freight facility operations, freight transportation planning, and land use on how to avoid conflicting land uses or mitigate existing uses.

The report provides information about freight transportation and its importance to people\’s everyday lives; illustrates the types of conflicts between freight and other land uses and their consequences; and provides tools and resources designed to help preserve facilities and corridors, including prevention or resolution of conflicts.

In addition to the report, EnvisionFreight.com was developed as part of this project. The website is designed to complement the report by including more detailed materials then could be included in the report.

A CD-ROM packaged with the print version of the report includes the appendices to the report.

The CD-ROM is also available for download from TRB\’s website as an ISO image. Links to the ISO image and instructions for burning a CD-ROM from an ISO image are provided below.

Help on Burning an .ISO CD-ROM Image

Download the .ISO CD-ROM Image

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CD-ROM Disclaimer – This software is offered as is, without warranty or promise of support of any kind either expressed or implied. Under no circumstance will the National Academy of Sciences or the Transportation Research Board (collectively “TRB”) be liable for any loss or damage caused by the installation or operation of this product. TRB makes no representation or warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, in fact or in law, including without limitation, the warranty of merchantability or the warranty of fitness for a particular purpose, and shall not in any case be liable for any consequential or special damages.

TRB\’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Research Results Digest 368: State DOT Financial Auditing Requirements for Public Transportation Assistance Programs identifies various financial policies and procedures used by states for conducting grantee financial audits.

The report documents policies, procedures, and practices used by some state departments of transportation designed to enhance and streamline their current financial auditing requirements.

TRB\’s Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Research Results Digest 15: Use of Towbarless Tractors at Airports—Best Practices includes broad guidance designed to help enhance the safe operation of towbarless tractors (TBLTs) at airports.

The report is designed to assist airports and aircraft operators in gaining a basic understanding of the training and operational issues associated with TBLT operations.

TBLTs, also known as towbarless tow vehicles (TLTVs), are used to tow aircraft on the airport. TBLTs, as the name implies, do not use a towbar but instead use a pick-up device located in the center of the vehicle to cradle the nose gear tires in order to provide direct maneuvering of the aircraft.

TRB\’s National Cooperative Freight Research Program (NCFRP) Report 14: Guidebook for Understanding Urban Goods Movement is designed to help facilitate decisions that accommodate and expedite urban goods movement while minimizing the environmental impact and community consequences of goods movement.

The guidebook and cases studies are designed to help decision makers better understand the potential impacts of their urban goods movement decisions on transportation infrastructure and operations; land use and site design; and laws, regulations, and ordinances applicable to urban areas.

The guidebook includes case studies that explore how urban supply chains connect to the urban economy, infrastructure, and land use patterns; their impacts on land use codes and regulations governing metropolitan goods movement of private-sector freight providers; and planning strategies for potentially improving mobility and access for goods movements in urban areas.

The print version of the NCFRP Report 14 includes a CD-ROM that includes a report and appendices on the process that developed the guidebook, and two PowerPoint presentations with speaker notes that transportation planners may use to help explain how local decision makers might enhance mobility and access for goods movement in their area.

The CD-ROM is also available for download as an ISO image. Links to the ISO image and instructions for burning a CD-ROM from an ISO image are provided below.

Help on Burning an .ISO CD-ROM Image

Download the .ISO CD-ROM Image

(Warning: This is a large file and may take some time to download using a high-speed connection.)

CD-ROM Disclaimer – This software is offered as is, without warranty or promise of support of any kind either expressed or implied. Under no circumstance will the National Academy of Sciences or the Transportation Research Board (collectively “TRB”) be liable for any loss or damage caused by the installation or operation of this product. TRB makes no representation or warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, in fact or in law, including without limitation, the warranty of merchantability or the warranty of fitness for a particular purpose, and shall not in any case be liable for any consequential or special damages.