Thinking Transportation: Engaging Conversations about Transportation Innovations

Tracing its origins to the Air Commerce Act of 1926, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) was established in 1967 as an independent agency inside the U.S. DOT charged with investigating why transportation accidents happen. In 1974, it became an independent federal agency separate from the DOT. Although largely focused on aviation, the agency also investigates roadway, marine, pipeline, and railroad accidents, as well as those involving commercial space. Today, we talk with Robert L. Sumwalt—currently executive director of the Boeing Center for Aviation and Aerospace Safety at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and former chair of the NTSB—about that agency’s ongoing mission to investigate accidents and recommend improvements that make travel safer for everyone who uses our transportation network.

In 1950, the Texas A&M Board of Directors charged the Texas Transportation Institute (now the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, or TTI) to enlist the broad resources of the college across the spectrum of transportation research to benefit Texas, while also providing unique educational opportunities for students to study and work in the field. This agreement solidified the Cooperative Research Program between the then-Texas Highway Department (now the Texas Department of Transportation) and TTI. For 75 years, these agencies have partnered to conduct applied research that benefits Texans and travelers worldwide by innovating and improving the safety, mobility, and resilience of our transportation network. Our host, Allan Rutter, talks about this longstanding relationship with TxDOT Executive Director Marc Williams and TTI Agency Director Greg Winfree.

Folks are living longer thanks to medical breakthroughs and healthier lifestyles, and that means our overall U.S. population is skewing older. The Texas Demographic Center notes that the U.S. population aged 65 and older spiked between 2010 and 2020, the largest 10-year growth on record. That means more drivers on the road are older too, and statistics show that licensees over 70 jumped from 73 percent in 1997 to 87 percent in 2022. A year ago, Bernie Fette talked with TTI's Myunghoon Ko about the challenges and dangers facing older drivers, as well as how research like that performed at the Institute is producing more effective countermeasures to help keep these vulnerable drivers safer on our roadways. Today, we revisit that conversation.

Roundabouts and other innovative intersections offer a number of advantages over more traditional designs, including improved sustainability, reliability, and resilience--and astonishing benefits to traffic safety for drivers. Amanda Austin, the Texas Department of Transportation's (TxDOT's) lead in implementing these alternative designs, and TTI Research Engineer Marcus Brewer join us this episode to discuss them. For more information on TxDOT's work in this area, see the department's Innovative Intersections web page.

In June 2024, TTI's Roadside Safety and Physical Security Team crashed a Tesla Model 3 electric vehicle (EV) into a heavy-duty guardrail at 62 miles per hour. When the EV blew right through the barrier, researchers were stunned. TTI Senior Research Engineer Roger Bligh, whose 38 years of roadside safety barrier testing experience oversaw the test, joins guest host and TTI Agency Director Greg Winfree to discuss the results of the testing and the broader implications for standards governing the development and deployment of roadside safety devices. | View the Crash Test

Administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation, the University Transportation Centers Program provides grants to college and university consortia across America. With an emphasis on innovating transportation technologies, educating the next generation of transportation professionals, and transferring technology to share lessons learned, the program leverages the best academic talent at U.S. institutions of higher learning to solve mobility and safety problems that affect all Americans. Dr. Melissa Tooley, TTI assistant agency director for federal affairs and UTC operations, discusses TTI's history with the program and looks forward to future opportunities.

For more than two decades, TTI has championed young driver safety, preventing injury and saving lives through education, empowerment, and peer-led outreach. Supported by public- and private-sector sponsors, the Institute's Youth Transportation Safety (YTS) Program recently published Texas Trends, 2024, which captures data regarding young driver attitudes, codifies ongoing crash and injury trends, and helps us better understand the causes behind more than 900 young driver traffic deaths each year. TTI's Christine Yager discusses the report. | View the Texas Trends, 2024 report

International commerce depends on trucks crossing national borders regularly, reliably, and securely. Ports of entry like the bridges connecting the United States and Mexico in El Paso, Texas, are vital to both nations' economic vitality. But what happens when a major conduit like The Bridge of the Americas is closed for updating? Where does that traffic go? How can we keep those goods flowing without negatively impacting the surrounding community? We interview experts from TTI's Center for International Intelligent Transportation Research in El Paso to find out. | Bridges Connecting El Paso to Mexico | Texas-Mexico Border Transportation Management Plan

Texas A&M University's Department of Multidisciplinary Engineering offers an online master of engineering in engineering degree designed for engineering professionals interested in management. Led by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), this program offers valuable real-world experience from qualified instructors in topics like working with city governments to help graduates become better managers or begin management careers. Two of the instructors, TTI's Brianne Glover and Jim Cline, sit down with Allan Rutter to discuss what an applicant can expect from the program, as well as how it can help graduates' professional lives after completion.

On September 17, 2024, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine released a report following a study of freight trains longer than 7,500 feet and their impacts on local communities. Requested by the U.S. Congress, the report recommends empowering regulatory agencies to address challenges such as safety concerns and traffic delays due to blocked crossings. Our host, TTI's Allan Rutter, served as one of twelve members on the consensus study panel that produced the report. He talks with David Willhauer, senior program officer with the Transportation Research Board, who was the project manager for the study. Listeners can find the report here.

The Washington Post recently reported that electric vehicles (EVs) now outnumber gas-powered cars in Norway, the first country to claim that distinction. The U.S. Joint Office of Energy and Transportation--a shared agency of the U.S. Departments of Energy and Transportation--was created in 2021 under the bipartisan infrastructure law to help facilitate the adoption of electric vehicles across the United States. Gabriel Klein, executive director of the Joint Office, and Joe Zietsman, deputy director of TTI, join us today to talk about the advantages, challenges, and long-term goals of implementing EVs nationwide.

With National Truck Driver Appreciation Week (Sept. 15-21) just around the corner, it seemed a good time to revisit our interview with Mark Willis from almost exactly one year ago. This is the week in which the trucking industry celebrates the contributions of roughly 3.5 million professional truck drivers nationwide, who deliver the essential goods our families rely on, from food to fuel to medicine to clothing. Mark is host of the afternoon show on Road Dog Trucking, channel 146 on SiriusXM, a lifeline to truckers nationwide to other truckers and the topics that interest them like roadway safety and adequate parking. Thousands of long-haul truck drivers in America share a common and constant challenge of remoteness, and they find insight and community through the vast reach of satellite radio.

This 89th episode of Thinking Transportation is a landmark event. Host Bernie Fette, who is retiring from service to the state of Texas after more than 30 years, is passing the podcast hosting baton to Allan Rutter, TTI's Freight Practice Leader. Included in his decades of transportation-related employment, Allan served as Federal Railroad Administrator under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2004. Allan interviews Bernie about his many years of experience as a journalist, media expert, podcaster, and innovative storyteller for the Texas A&M Transportation Institute regarding all things transportation.

Factors that determine speed limits on a given roadway have a lot to do with physical conditions along the route, but how fast drivers want to go figures into the equation, too.

When special events set new records for attendance, they tend to do the same for roadway gridlock. To ensure success, experts rely on the right mix of traffic planning and outreach.

Building a new highway involves a complex and painstaking process, one that begins years before the folks in hard hats and orange vests arrive on the scene.

We rely upon waterborne shipping for most of the products we buy and use every day. We hardly give that reliance any thought at all – until something goes wrong.

It’s not enough to know that traffic is bad and getting worse. We also need to know where, when, and why. TTI Senior Research Scientist and urban mobility expert David Schrank joins us to discuss the "how" of answering those questions.

As the 2024 hurricane season approaches again, climate experts across the United States are predicting an especially active season, driven largely by higher-than-average sea surface temperatures. This makes ever more important the research and planning that begins long before extreme weather strikes, and continues long after the storm has passed.

As car makers focus on protecting drivers and passengers, do their computer-based innovations really make us safer, or might they in some cases compromise our safety?