Studies and Special Programs Division
TRB's Studies and Special Programs Division is lead by Stephen Godwin.
The Studies and Special Programs Division conducts policy studies at the request of the U.S. Congress, the executive branch agencies, states, and other sponsors; operates a bibliographic database of completed research and provides library reference services; produces syntheses of current practices in highway, transit, airport operations, and commercial truck and bus safety; and manages Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) programs in highway, transit, rail and truck safety, and high-speed rail.
POLICY STUDIES
With the guidance of committees drawn from the nation’s leading experts, the Policy Studies group produces reports examining complex and controversial transportation issues. Studies cover all modes of transportation and a variety of safety, economic, environmental, and research policy issues. The U.S. Congress and the executive branch have adopted many recommendations from TRB policy reports, attesting to the substantive value of the findings. The Subcommittee on Planning and Policy Review provides oversight for TRB’s policy work, under the leadership of the former TRB Executive Committee Chair. Since 1998, all completed policy study reports are posted on the TRB website. Informing Transportation Policy Choices, a web document that provides an overview of all TRB policy studies from 1983 through 2006, is also posted on the Policy Studies page of the website.
INFORMATION SERVICES
Transportation Research Information Services
The Transportation Research Information Services (TRIS) database is the world’s most comprehensive online bibliographic database of transportation research information. TRIS contains more than 715,000 records of published and ongoing research in all modes and disciplines of transportation. Approximately 32,000 new records were added in 2008.
TRIS continued to expand this year, with thesis records from the Northwestern Transportation Library and the Transportation Library of the University of California, Berkeley. TRIS also is exchanging records with ARRB Group in Australia; ARRB publications are now available in TRIS. Plans are under way to exchange records with VTI in Sweden, adding Swedish transportation research publications. In addition, the Virginia Transportation Research Council is supplying TRIS with approximately 1,000 records from its collection of historic Virginia transportation research material.
Several enhancements were made to TRIS to help users access indexed documents. More than 45,000 records now have direct links to full-text documents. Other new links allow TRIS users to locate libraries that own a document of interest.
Most of the TRIS database is available on the Internet as TRIS Online through the Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ (BTS) National Transportation Library website.15 TRB produces and maintains TRIS, and BTS makes the database accessible on the web without charge.
TRIS is also available on the Internet for a fee through Dialog, Inc., and as part of the TRANSPORT database, a cooperative effort between TRB and the International Transport Research Documentation database of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). TRANSPORT is produced and distributed by Ovid-SilverPlatter.
The TRB Publications Index is a searchable database available on TRB’s website that contains all TRB, Highway Research Board (HRB), Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP), and Marine Board publications since 1923. The TRB Publications Index offers simple and advanced searching and allows users to view results, download the results in a variety of formats, and e-mail the results. The index provides direct web links to available full-text documents and to ordering information.
Research Needs Statements Database
The Research Needs Statements (RNS) Database debuted on the TRB website in late 2007. Developed at the request of the TRB Technical Activities Division, the database is part of the Research in Progress (RiP) Database. The RNS website allows users to search for research needs that have been identified, developed, and prioritized by TRB technical committees and other groups.
Research in Progress Database
RiP is a searchable database of more than 10,000 records of active or recently completed research projects. The university transportation centers use the RiP as the clearinghouse for research, fulfilling a requirement in SAFETEA-LU. RITA funded the software enhancements that have facilitated this application of the RiP.
Individuals from state DOTs and university transportation centers can add, modify, or delete records of research through a web-based data-entry system. A current awareness service notifies users automatically about new project records in specified subject areas. The RiP contains international project records from OECD’s International Transport Research Documentation’s Transport Research in Progress (TRIP) Database.
The search and data-entry capabilities of the RiP website gained enhancements in 2008. This year, the RiP website received more than 1 million visits from users worldwide.
TRB Library
The TRB Library is a small, specialized library that provides reference and information services to TRB sponsors, committee members, and staff. Many state DOTs regularly request the library’s services. The library subscribes to more than 370 serial titles and contains a complete collection of TRB, HRB, SHRP, and Marine Board publications.
The TRB Library is included in the Transportation Library Catalog through the National Transportation Library and the Online Computer Library Center’s WorldCat and participates in the Eastern Transportation Knowledge Network.
SYNTHESIS OF INFORMATION REPORTS
Cooperative Research Programs Syntheses
Under the sponsorship of the Cooperative Research Programs administered by TRB, the Synthesis unit prepares reports on current practice and knowledge for a range of key highway, transit, and airport topics. Practitioners and researchers make extensive use of the reports.
A highway committee, a transit committee, and an airport committee of the Cooperative Research Programs select the study topics each year. In 2008, the committees selected 12 new highway, 6 new transit, and 5 new airport studies. A consultant experienced in the topic area researches and writes each Synthesis report, with guidance from an expert panel.
Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program
The Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) is a cooperative research program sponsored by FMCSA and administered by TRB. The program was authorized in 2001 to support FMCSA’s safety research programs. In 2007, FMCSA reauthorized the program through a cooperative agreement providing $200,000 annually through 2012. This funding supports two new studies each year.
The studies summarize current practice in a specific technical area in commercial truck and bus safety, usually through a literature search and a survey of organizations such as state DOTs, enforcement agencies, commercial truck and bus companies, or other appropriate groups. The program is modeled on the synthesis programs of NCHRP and TCRP. The primary users of the Synthesis final reports are practitioners who are facing the issues or problems addressed, in a variety of settings.
A program oversight panel monitors CTBSSP and the program procedures; selects Synthesis topics annually, after periodic, industrywide solicitations; refines Synthesis scopes; selects researchers to prepare each Synthesis; reviews products; and makes publication recommendations.
INNOVATIONS DESERVING EXPLORATORY ANALYSIS PROGRAMS
Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) programs fund early-stage investigations of potential breakthroughs in transportation technology. Through small projects, researchers investigate the feasibility of innovative concepts that could advance transportation practice. IDEA programs sponsor high-risk research that is independent of the immediate mission concerns of public agencies and of the short-term financial imperatives of the private sector.
The state DOTs collectively fund highway-related research through the NCHRP IDEA program. Research on innovations applicable to transit practice is carried out under the Transit IDEA program, funded by FTA through TCRP. FRA sponsors the High-Speed Rail IDEA program to advance the safety and performance of the U.S. rail system and, with FMCSA, cosponsors the Safety IDEA program, which funds projects to improve the safety of truck, intercity bus, and rail operations.
Each IDEA program follows a similar administrative model, adapted for sponsorship arrangements and target audiences. Each program operates through a committee or panel of volunteer transportation experts who solicit, review, and select proposals that merit research contracts. Because IDEA projects are high-risk investigations of unproven concepts, funds awarded for any one project are usually less than $100,000. Frequently, however, IDEA funds are augmented through cost-share arrangements, nearly doubling the amount of research that can be supported through the IDEA programs.
At the 2008 TRB Annual Meeting, the highway, rail, and safety IDEA programs conducted a joint poster session, TRB’s IDEA Program: Sparking Innovation in Transportation. The Transit IDEA program held a similar session. The two sessions highlighted 18 of the most promising current projects and received a constant stream of interested visitors, who were able to interact directly with the inventors.
An annual summary of completed and current projects is published for each of the IDEA programs and distributed at the TRB Annual Meeting. These summaries also are available on the IDEA page of the TRB website, along with the IDEA Program Announcement, which contains forms and guidelines for submitting proposals. A less formal publication, Ignition, features interviews with IDEA investigators and transportation leaders, plus articles that highlight promising projects. Issues of Ignition are archived on the IDEA website.