Transportation Research Board Strategic Plan and Critical Issues

As the entity responsible for conducting strategic planning for TRB, the Executive Committee of the Transportation Research Board developed the current Strategic Plan, which was adopted on June 19, 2019. It includes an environmental scan, mission and goals, performance assessment, gap analysis, and objectives and action plan. The Executive Committee's Subcommittee on Planning and Policy Review has responsibility for updating and monitoring progress on the plan, which is viewed as a dynamic document. TRB Strategic Plans are developed about once every five years.

The Executive Committee also periodically compiles and updates a list of Critical Issues in Transportation—a document that has the broader purpose of identifying key areas and concerns of current interest to the transportation community. Critical Issues in Transportation was last updated in 2019 and, before that, in 2013. Previous editions of Critical Issues in Transportation have highlighted many of the issues that threaten the performance of the nation’s transportation system. In recent years, the Executive Committee has added the need to respond to natural disasters; highlighted how transportation has become ever more linked to broader issues in society and in the economy; and drawn attention to the role transportation plays in energy and environmental issues.

In January 2018, the Executive Committee approved the TRB Diversity, Equity, and Diversity (DE&I) Strategic Plan. The purpose of the DE&I Strategic Plan is to ensure that diversity, equity, and inclusion become part of TRB’s organizational culture by (1) formalizing and building on the practices that staff and volunteers were already doing, and (2) identifying other actions that staff and volunteers can take to ensure that TRB has the broadest possible array of perspectives and opinions on its committees and panels, contractors, staff, and programs and activities. Implementation of the Plan is overseen by the TRB Special Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. To accomplish the strategies outlined in the DE&I Strategic Plan, the Special Committee is developing and monitoring associated action items and ensuring that inclusion and diversity becomes a core value in all TRB activities and projects.