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RNS EXPRESS
Research Needs Statements
Specific to Transportation and Pandemics
As all aspects of transportation deal with the unfolding effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are research needs, gaps and potential ways to leverage innovation revealing themselves across all modes, systems and disciplines in transportation. In keeping with the mission of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to provide trusted, timely, impartial and evidenced-based information exchange and research, we are issuing an urgent and directed call for Research Needs Statements specific to Transportation and Pandemics.
In order to expedite the capture of these more specific Research Needs Statements, we provided a survey to enable our volunteers to contribute to this body of knowledge rapidly and easily. Once these statements were quickly vetted by TRB staff, we made them publicly available for researchers, institutions, and funding agencies to view, build on, and consider as part of future projects.
Please note, there is no funding available through TRB associated with this call for research needs.
Research Needs Statements Listing
View by Topic Category:
Leadership and Administration |
POST COVID-19 Future System Implications |
Supply Chain
Technology Applications |
Tracking Data, Reporting Methods, and Evaluations
Transportation and Health |
Transportation System Resilience |
Workforce
| Aircraft Parking Communication and Management |
TRB has excellent publications on the importance of this (see last TRB webinar on COVID-19). Realized during the pandemic, guidance on effective internal communication from leadership to rank and file is needed. Also, guidance is needed for agency external communications with partners and businesses they mutually depend on. As agencies expend significant time and effort on issuing new directives on a daily basis to address new and changing data and leanings from the pandemic, more guidance and best practices on how to effectively and efficiently communicate while optimizing resources such as time of managers would be useful. What are the best practices for coordinated communications among political jurisdictions? Often it looks as if every crisis recreates this wheel. The objective of this research is provide guidance and best practices on how to effectively and efficiently communicate internally with rank and file, and externally with partners and businesses while optimizing resources such as time of managers. |
| Communications: Best Practices during a Pandemic |
During the COVID-19 pandemic, airlines scrambled to park aircraft as air traffic declined rapidly. Unlike regular flight operations requests, which may be communicated through IATA SSIM messages, no organized messaging system exists for aircraft parking requests across multiple airports. The research would focus on failings of the current system brought to light by COVID-19 and propose solutions. |
| Customer Facing Innovations: Implementing Changes Post-Pandemic
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Research is needed to support agencies as they seek to institutionalize the many changes to organizations, operations and service improvements post-pandemic. For example, rear door transit boarding, transit routes, providing DMV/RMV services (licenses, registrations, hearings) online, virtual public engagement, etc. We need a synthesis to document what agencies are doing to institutionalize these changes. The objective of this research is to support agencies as they seek to institutionalize the many changes to organizations, operations and service improvements post-pandemic. |
| Effects of Lease Agreements and Rates & Charges Polices on COVID-19 Responses |
U.S. airports operate under a myriad of different lease agreements, none of which were designed to accommodate an event on the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research would focus on how different airport-airline leases affected the efficiency with which airports and airlines could adapt to changing conditions, the financial stability or uncertainty experienced by each party, and the effects of lease and charging policies on airline recovery strategies. |
| Equitable public participation in the time of social distancing and Zoom. |
Public involvement and community outreach has been significantly altered due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Stay at home orders and social distancing guidelines prohibited traditional in-person events and quickly moved most public participation opportunities online. Though moving everything online can be an “easy” solution, it’s not an equitable one and has the potential to disenfranchise those in rural, low income, limited English proficiency, and Environmental Justice communities.
This research topic will gather data so transportation professional can better understand areas and communities that are disproportionately impacted by online public involvement. With 2020 Census data available in the coming year, this research will delve into data to inventory areas and communities with no or limited high-speed internet access, smartphone, tablet, and computer access, and households that have to share computers.
In addition to a national inventory research should also include public involvement tools that are more equitable than online participation and meet the needs of the various populations challenged by online access. The objective of this research topic is to inventory the country on areas where online participation is not possible or challenging, and provide public involvement tools that can serve as alternatives to online participation. The research and information will assist transportation professional in conducting more equitable public involvement. |
| Going Virtual : the New World Order |
Virtual meetings are here to stay. The new world order for engagement of the public will use some form of virtual meetings today and in the future. Virtual meetings have broken down barriers to engagement but may have failed to address lagging equity problems. Research is needed to identify and synthesize the best practices that engage and provide more accessible interaction with the public for required public involvement. COVID-19 required fundamental changes to public meetings and interactions in the future. This is a synthesis to gather best practices from states for modifying the required public participation processes as a result of the pandemic for highway, rail, transit and aviation. The silver lining of the pandemic is the realization that what virtual does for us is it eliminates 3 obstacles – time constraints, geographic constraints, and who we can access. Are we are getting more robust meetings since people can access meetings virtually more easily? The quality, quantity and type of engagement have greatly improved but we still have accessibility problems. The objective of this research is to identify and synthesize the best practices that engage and provide more accessible interaction with the public for public involvement.
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| Implement and Sustain Workforce-Facing Innovations Post-Pandemic |
The COVID-19 crisis has created an amazing body of experience and practice enabling flexibility in workforce location and capabilities implemented during COVID. Research is needed to identify and synthesize best practices to support policies and practices that encouraged innovation ensuring the beneficial changes used during the pandemic are institutionalized. These crisis-inspired legal, legislative and policy innovations now in place will enable lasting benefits. Some areas of research include changes to physical location and layout of offices, use of meeting space with requirements of social distancing, and remote working. Are we going back to private offices? Do we need to modify our bathrooms? Will more staff be able to work from home on a regular basis? A synthesis is needed of best practices to support workforce policies and practices that encouraged innovation ensuring the beneficial changes used during the pandemic are institutionalized.
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| Improving Airline-Airport Communication During Crises |
In the U.S., airlines rarely communicate advance schedules to airports. In the absence of this information, airports must rely on third-party schedule aggregators like Official Airline Guide (OAG), which were not designed for rapid updates. The research would focus on the role of timely, structured schedule sharing in the efficient operation of airports and airlines during a crisis. |
| Adjusting to the “new normal’ to protect the traveling public and transportation professionals |
The traveling public may find it difficult to return to mass transportation options (public transit, aviation, marine, etc.). Their safety must be ensured and confidence must be instilled before we can get to any semblance of a ‘normal’ situation. Looking at what happened because of 9/11 where security protocols throughout the transportation industry, especially airports, were drastically changed to address concerns and protect the traveling public, some inference can be made that similar drastic changes will be needed to ensure the safety of public health (e.g. routine/required health screenings). We need to learn from procedures that already exist (primarily in Asia) and determine what works, implications for implementation on infrastructure/policies/procedures (particularly at major ports (air, marine, borders)). |
| Assessment of Advanced Vehicle Technology Solutions for Mobility Disadvantaged Populations During a Pandemic |
Connected and Automated Vehicles have the potential to offer tailor made solutions to individual user needs which is critical in case of the mobility disadvantaged populations. These groups were previously viewed as monolithic; however, each user group has specific and unique needs (medical, mobility, etc.) and typical solutions are not readily available. As a result, communities have come up with ad-hoc solutions to support this population during the pandemic - but a systematic assessment of technology solutions is needed for future preparedness. This research will support identification of these user groups against available technology solutions, identify potential feasible solutions, and support conducting a benefits assessment. |
| Better Understanding of Travel Demand and Behavior for Future Crises |
State DOTs have been collecting and assessing data on changes to travel behavior and demand since the COVID-19 crisis. The data are being used to inform community and department decision makers about changes in travel patterns including traffic volume, speed, and classification, modes vs. population classes and access. Respondents indicated that these data can assist with the measurement of government stay-at-home order compliance, adjustment of road construction times, forecasting revenue effects, and the allocation of first responders. A synthesis of practice might help ascertain patterns and expectations that could be repeated in future crises/pandemics and/or inform longer term public policy to mitigate the effects to transportation services, infrastructure and projects in the future. To what extent are these changes temporary versus permanent, and what does that imply for the needs for all forms of urban transportation during the coming decades? How much of the prior demand for commute travel will return, and over how long a period? How much of the prior demand for shopping and leisure activity travel will return, and over how long a period? How will public transit services and roadway infrastructure need to change in response to the demand-side changes? This study would need to include both surveys of traveler attitudes and hard data on trips actually made.
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| Changing behaviour of the rich because of COVID-19 and the impact on their air travel mode selection |
With COVID-19 there is something unfamiliar that may provide a downside for the airlines and upside for business aviation. There is an emerging theory that the wealthy and Fortune 500 companies will not want to expose their seniors to the risk of infection from the general population. Travelling on business aircraft feels safer and will enable mobility sooner. Wealth inequality is a reality and much of the air transportation business is reliant on rich people’s and global companies spending. The small proportion of passengers who sit in First and Business Class provide a disproportional profit contribution to the airlines. It could be argued that the price inelastic rich enable low cost flying for the masses. Separately, rich individuals and corporations support the business aircraft industry which employs over 250,000 people in the US and directly contributes $40 billion to the economy. Research task: Will price inelastic rich people and global corporations change their mode of air travel due to safety concerns from COVID-19 and future pandemics? Is this phenomenon structural or temporary? Is the impact enough to change the airline’s business model? |
| COVID-19: Mid-Range Scenario Planning |
While there is a wealth of information about what transit agencies are doing in the moment to respond to COVID-19 challenges, finding information about various mid-range scenario-based planning for COVID-19 recovery has been quite evasive. For the purposes of this study, mid-range can be defined as April 2020 to September 2020. The ideal research outcome would be a comprehensive set of scenario-based considerations and potential corresponding mitigation actions that transit agencies are taking to address mid-range recovery (the next 6 months) for challenges stemming from COVID-19.
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| Determining the Impact and Cost of Accelerated Education, Training and Workforce Development Programs for National and Global Logistics in a Post-Pandemic World |
Considering COVID-19 outcomes and a potential need for technological solutions related to automation and autonomy, a study for the workforce and education pipeline will be needed for the following emerging disciplines: next generation power and energy systems; health informatics; data science; enterprise, network and cloud systems; cybersecurity; risk management; and artificial intelligence/machine learning/robotic process automation. |
| Efficacy of Facility Closures Due to COVID-19 |
Due to a lack of demand, several airports are closing gates, concourses, and whole terminals. A study would determine the efficacy of these closures, accounting for reductions in staffing, operations, and maintenance costs and acceleration of construction projects, where appropriate. |
| Environmental impacts of COVID-19 |
A study could be proposed to fully understand the environmental impacts of the COVID-19. There will be many claims on air, water and climate impacts, and the causes (reduced vehicle miles traveled, retail and manufacturing shutdowns, etc.). This could be collated, peer-reviewed/verified and assembled into a national resource for researchers. |
| Future Supply Chains Post-Pandemic |
Possible change drivers include:
- More self-reliant US (and other nation) supply chains for some commodities, resources, products
- More distributed and non-transport consumption
- Entertainment online, more active experience-oriented consumption, etc.
- Urban and suburban changes in density, and personal mobility
- A shift (again) in demand for warehouse location, product prepositioning, etc.
- More localized manufacturing (3D printing, remote vertical management of manufacturing), and onshoring or reshoring
Modeling approaches:
- Infrastructure defines revision options for post-pandemic futures
- Current freight corridors are legacy corridors aligned with international supply chains
- Long term consequences include re-rationalization of supply and demand
- Multi-criteria measures of recovery, economic service, and environmental sustainability
Current tools MAY serve many research needs in the context of these new economic realities.
- Commodity Flow Survey, the quinquennial survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and its derivative products like the Freight Analysis Framework CAN be adapted for modeling potential futures.
- These tools can be coupled with new means of tracking and developing new freight data products are needed. Geofencing, real time observation by GIS units and satellites, etc.
- E-commerce techniques that afford greater network connectivity, remote management and transparency will be integrated into these operational, planning and decision policy tools
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| Impact of Social Distancing on Law Enforcement and Incident Management |
The impact of social distancing on direct contact transportation services like law enforcement, safety service patrol, towing and recovery, and tolling personnel. To assist responders and other workers who are required to interact with or assist road users, guidance that details more than personal protective equipment is needed. It is often required that people be in close proximity or even inside vehicles together during the course of assisting disabled motorists, persons involved in collisions, or those arrested for driving infractions. A better understanding of the problem and guidance is needed. |
| Impacts of Pandemics on the Future of Automated Vehicles |
The current global COVID-19 pandemic is causing significant impacts on travel and transportation systems. Policies such as social distancing, shelter-in-place, and restrictions on business and government services have brought to light how transportation modes exacerbate or mitigate the spread of infectious diseases. This project will analyze the possible actions (policy, planning, infrastructure, IT/data) that State and Local agencies might undertake to use driverless vehicles to mitigate future pandemics and synthesize the findings in a report. |
| Impacts on Public Transportation from the COVID-19 Pandemic |
For planning for possible future events, determine what the impacts on public transportation have been related to ridership and operator health and safety. Determine the role that public transit should play during future pandemics and its ability to serve the demand for public transportation and/or the adaptability for assisting in the movement of goods and services. |
| Implications of COVID-19 on Public Attitudes Toward Shared-Ride Services |
To what extent will the current attitudes toward "social distancing" carry over after the pandemic is past, and what does that portend for public attitudes toward use of conventional rail and bus mass transit services? How is that likely to affect usage of the shared-ride services offered by ride-hailing companies today? In the longer term, how is that likely to affect attitudes toward automated taxi services that would operate without a driver, for both individual and shared rides? Surveys of public attitudes toward these questions at several time intervals post-pandemic would be very useful to show how enduring the effects of the pandemic are going to be.
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| Managing Traffic Control and Transportation Facilities |
The COVID-19 pandemic and the Social Distancing countermeasure have impacted the way to manage traffic control and transportation facilities. We need to reconsider and develop new strategies, approaches, and infrastructure usage when it comes to traffic signal, bus and transit operations, and the associated impacts.
To that end, we would need to research, study, and explore:
- Pedestrian related traffic signal retiming parameters (Walk, Flashing Don’t Walk, Don’t Walk, and associated parameters in the context of this pandemic that facilitate social distancing
- Design guidelines for pedestrian sidewalks (one way vs two way vs Barnes dances) to minimize person-to-person contact, maintenance social distance effectively
- Dynamic bus/transit seat arrangements based on the intended destinations while providing the best social distancing and minimizing person-2-person interactions
These will call for strategy/guideline development, and pedestrian-related simulation studies, and decision support tools for emergency management agencies and policy/decision makers. |
| Preliminary Implications for Freight Autonomous Vehicles |
The COVID-19 pandemic will likely lead planners, developers, operators, and the public to rethink the role and use of Freight Autonomous Vehicles. As of early 2020, there is of course, no literature or research on the subject. A NASEM study could set a research baseline in this topic area. Significant issues likely to emerge include: Potential surging demand for “no touch” transactions and deliveries to minimize human contact; Concern over access to needed supplies for those quarantined, self-quarantined, or sheltering in place; Concern over the sanitation of transit vehicles and delivered goods or meals; The long-term impacts of social isolation and dependence on delivered goods; Fragility of the “gig economy” and impacts on supply chain employment.
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| Shared Mobility in a Post-COVID World |
What are the potential short-term and long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on shared mobility? How will the willingness to use shared mobility services be impacted by fears of infection, availability of a vaccine, apprehensions of using public transit, telecommuting, and driverless vehicles? What changes can be expected to provide trusted networks, touchless travel, and rider protocols? What changes will be temporary, and which will be enduring?
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| Societal Benefits Resulting from the Required Social Distancing and Teleworking |
The mandated social distancing and travel restrictions has resulted in a magnitude increase in teleworking. In the short length of time this has been in effect, traffic congestion on our nation’s roadways has almost been eliminated. As a result, there may be significant societal benefits. These benefits include reduced traffic congestion leading to improve safety through crash reductions and improved air quality. It is important to identify and model these benefits so that the cost/benefit can be factored into future discussions and decisions on the viability of this transportation demand management technique for when we return to more a normal situation after the pandemic has ended. |
| Strategies to encourage safe ridership regrowth following COVID19 |
Ridership for public transit has plummeted in the immediate response to COVID19 as stay-at-home orders and restrictions on travel reduce demand for all transportation services. However, there is broad concern that people will continue to avoid public transit when they resume other travel for fear of the social mixing that occurs while waiting and onboard. Technical fixes will be one part of the solution (e.g., changing seating arrangements) but the marketing and public communications aspects will be just as important. What are strategies to encourage safe ridership regrowth as countries emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. How can more forms of contact-free payment and incentives be made available to riders? What kinds of incentives can agencies provide and are there policy changes or tools provided needed to support this? How can this be done in ways that are equitable across the ridership of each agency. |
| Study the Implications of COVID-19 on Public Attitudes Toward Shared-Ride Services |
To what extent will the current attitudes toward "social distancing" carry over after the pandemic is past, and what does that portend for public attitudes toward use of conventional rail and bus mass transit services? How is that likely to affect usage of the shared-ride services offered by ride-hailing companies today? In the longer term, how is that likely to affect attitudes toward automated taxi services that would operate without a driver, for both individual and shared rides? Surveys of public attitudes toward these questions at several time intervals post-pandemic would be very useful to show how enduring the effects of the pandemic are going to be. |
| Study the Implications of the COVID-19 Travel Disruptions for Longer-Term Changes in Long-Haul Passenger Travel Demand. |
COVID-10 has temporarily destroyed long-haul passenger travel demand, for both business and leisure travel. How much of the long-haul business travel demand loss will be permanent, as businesses become more accustomed to holding meetings online rather than in-person? What are the implications for the air travel, hotel and rental car industries as well as the convention centers and their associated impacts on transportation systems in their vicinity? This study would need to include both surveys of business attitudes and policies and hard data on business travel post-pandemic. |
| Study the Implications of the COVID-19 Travel Disruptions for Longer-Term Changes in Urban Trip-Making Behaviors |
The COVID-19 restrictions on travel have forced people into telecommuting and online shopping to an unprecedented extent and have severely disrupted public transit services in most cities. To what extent are these changes temporary versus permanent, and what does that imply for the needs for all forms of urban transportation during the coming decades. How much of the prior demand for commute travel will return, and over how long a period? How much of the prior demand for shopping and leisure activity travel will return, and over how long a period? How will public transit services and roadway infrastructure need to change in response to the demand-side changes? This study would need to include both surveys of traveler attitudes and hard data on trips actually made. |
| Transit after COVID-19 |
Transit will be different after COVID-19, funding will be different, demand likely different, and possible the types of services provided, in many cases, different To consider:
- What the demand for transit will be - both in terms of types of types and amounts of transit
- Through surveys and market research, how to find transit's market
- The changes in both funding and transit regulation to meet the new market demands and the changes in the economy which affect transit funding.
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| Cargo Fluidity as Non-essential Businesses Shut Down |
We are seeing a very real concern on the part of port authorities and intermodal terminals about where they are going to put incoming cargo. “Non-essential” warehouses are closed, so they are not taking delivery of the cargo, and retailers and manufacturers (who have faced a sudden drop in demand) are not anxious to take possession of the cargo. Furthermore, because less cargo is moving inland, exporters in the interior of the county who need chassis and containers to be able to ship their cargoes are not able to get the equipment they need. There also seems to be a disparity among the states and between the states and federal government concerning the definition of an essential business. This makes it very difficult to manage the supply chain. A study could address the following research questions: How can we assess what is essential or non-essential in terms of maintaining the fluidity of the supply chain? What can state and local governments do to enable ports to handle containers and other cargoes in excess of their handling and storage capacities? |
| Freight Planning for Service Corridors during a Pandemic |
How do local, state and federal agency laws and actions impact freight movement on critical corridors? For example, what is the impact of states closing highway rest areas on freight movement? How do truck drivers meet basic needs in those circumstances? Research is needed to identify the resources and methods for implementing innovative changes and findings related to these freight corridor actions arising from the COVID-19 experience. What operational practices should states consider when deciding how to manage and clean all types and sizes of rest areas and full service center facilities? How do you maintain rest area/service center facilities so that freight operators can get adequate services and rest during their work day? How do you implement, execute and oversee PPE services to ensure adequate PPE standards are maintained for the traveling public? The objective of this research is to identify the resources and methods for implementing innovative changes and findings related to these freight corridor actions arising from the COVID-19 experience.
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| Impacts of International Supply Chain Sourcing Changes in the Post Pandemic Environment |
The COVID-19 pandemic showed vulnerability of the domestic industry due to high dependence of Asian sources of intermediate and final products. Most likely, the national industry will realign current sourcing patterns, bringing changes freight flows and transportation infrastructure requirements. Research question: How can the national transportation system prepare for changes in international trade flows due to adjustments to current supply chain operations? |
| New Freight Corridors Arising from Recovery/Stimulus/Emphasis on Domestic Supply Chain Sources |
Would new freight corridors be generated as a result of a combination of economic stimulus packages developed in response to COVID-19 and simultaneously renewed emphasis on developing enhanced domestic supply chains? Any new corridors that would be generated because of these policies would require some investments in order to meet enhanced freight demands in a recovering economic environment. This research would identify the new corridors, freight flows under previous economic conditions and expected freight flows in the new economic/supply chain environment, as well as related potential infrastructure requirements. |
| Short and Intermediate Term Impact on Freight Transportation and Ports of Policy Moves (in reaction to COVID-19 related issues) to Bring the Supply Chain for Specified Commodities Back into the Country |
What could happen to the freight and marine transportation systems if the supply chain disruptions the nation is currently confronting are affected in some manner by policy moves designed to reduce reliance on foreign sources for several commodities. These policy proposals could change the freight flows coming into specified ports, and at the same time (at the extreme) reduce export activity for “critical materials” as well. What would these policy initiatives do to domestic freight flow movements and possibly infrastructure requirements? |
| Supply Chain Impacts Related to COVID-19 |
A NASEM study could collect valid data and provide a comprehensive understanding of the supply chain interruptions, adaptations, successes and failures, and their extended economic and societal impacts. This would be particularly beneficial if it included how local, state and federal laws and agency actions assisted or interfered with response, adaptation and recovery, and learnings for future improvements. The quick increase in use of electronic systems and documentation may have enabled smoother flow and adaptation. Should the move to electronic documentation be a national objective, and if so, what cybersecurity would be needs? What changes in training for agency personnel and practices would be required to enable this? Cargo flow disruptions and the resulting impact on the origin and destination country activities and economies should also be included. (e.g., retail shutdowns in the US and resulting cargo congestion). How might this influence national policies (e.g., should there be an emphasis on US manufacturing of some goods?) Will so many businesses in the supply chain shut down permanently that it will not be possible to handle the post COVID demand for goods and services? Will enough employees who were furloughed or laid off decide not to return to their former employment that it will not be possible for businesses to conduct operations at a “normal” level? |
| The Implications of the Post Pandemic Economy on US Supply Chains |
Recent prognostications of the post-pandemic economy suggest that only 80 percent of previous businesses/industries will recover, some like airlines and cruise liners are predicted to see significant headwinds even in a post COVID-19 recovery. As transportation agencies plan for a different future, a post-pandemic economy, they will be doing so with pre-pandemic freight flow and commodity data. The Commodity Flow Survey, the quinquennial survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and its derivative products like the Freight Analysis Framework do not serve the just in time needs of new economic realities. Research on new means of tracking and developing new freight data products are needed. |
| Transportation and Supply Chains in a Millions of Markets Future |
Several years ago, the National Cooperative Highway Research Program “Foresight Series” published a report of what freight transportation might look like under a number of plausible futures. One of those futures; Millions of Markets, presumes that the U.S. becomes highly self-reliant in terms of energy, agriculture and manufacturing through technology adoption. The population begins to migrate toward smaller urban areas that are supported by regional innovation hubs that can manufacture population needs on a localized scale via 3D printing and agile manufacturing. COVID-19 has unexpectedly navigated U.S. manufacturing of PPE in this direction. Will this trend continue post pandemic, and what are the implications for transportation networks, supply chains and funding? |
| Assessment of Advanced Vehicle Technology Solutions for Mobility Disadvantaged Populations During a Pandemic |
Connected and Automated Vehicles have the potential to offer tailor made solutions to individual user needs which is critical in case of the mobility disadvantaged populations. These groups were previously viewed as monolithic; however, each user group has specific and unique needs (medical, mobility, etc.) and typical solutions are not readily available. As a result, communities have come up with ad-hoc solutions to support this population during the pandemic - but a systematic assessment of technology solutions is needed for future preparedness. This research will support identification of these user groups against available technology solutions, identify potential feasible solutions, and support conducting a benefits assessment.
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| Automated Contactless Refueling/Recharging of Vehicles |
Refueling traditional vehicles and recharging of electric vehicles (and paying for such supplies) is a manual task typically done by the driver or a passenger. In days past, it was more common that an attendant would provide such services. While careful use of PPE (gloves, sanitizer) can largely address such situations during pandemics, not all users may comply. This research would explore robotic methods by which vehicles can be refueled without the need for a human to exit the vehicle. The research is also germane to a future of driverless vehicles, which will need refueling but may not be in proximity to a refueling station with an attendant. |
| Contactless Actuation of Pedestrian Phases |
Pedestrians in suburban environments frequently have to push a button to request the walk indication. During this pandemic, several public agencies have considered supplying ‘single use wipes’ at the push buttons to disinfect the button or user. Other agencies have considered deactivating the push buttons so that the pedestrian crossing phase always occurred during the traffic signal cycle. Pedestrian detection systems are available (cameras, thermal, etc.) but have limited ability to understand which direction the pedestrian wishes to cross. While careful use of PPE (gloves, sanitizer) can largely address such situations during pandemics, not all users may comply. Push buttons are also prone to malfunction and malfunction detection methods are limited. This research would explore methods for detection of pedestrians, including their intent, to improve traffic signal operations and pedestrian service. |
| Coordinated Swarm Operations of Ultra-Small Automated Surface Vehicle for Public Works Purposes. |
Research to develop swam operations which such small vehicle platforms can be used to enable other missions on the public right-of-way, Such as:
- Smart swarm work zone delineation
- Smart swarm asset management
- Smart swarm street cleaning/sanitation
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| COVID-19: Preliminary Implications for Freight Autonomous Vehicles |
The COVID-19 pandemic will likely lead planners, developers, operators, and the public to rethink the role and use of Freight Autonomous Vehicles. As of early 2020, there is of course, no literature or research on the subject. A NASEM study could set a research baseline in this topic area.
Significant issues likely to emerge include:
- Potential surging demand for “no touch” transactions and deliveries to minimize human contact.
- Concern over access to needed supplies for those quarantined, self-quarantined, or sheltering in place.
- Concern over the sanitation of transit vehicles and delivered goods or meals.
- The long-term impacts of social isolation and dependence on delivered goods.
- Fragility of the “gig economy” and impacts on supply chain employment.
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| Deploying Autonomous Vehicles in Neighborhoods and in Urban and Campus Environments. |
Public transit's lack of agility in responding to this virus indicates that the era of fixed-route, fixed-schedule transit service may be over. We simply do not have the funds to continue business as usual. Investing in high-capacity transit from major nodes while providing low-cost local access using on-demand autonomous shuttles on low-speed streets will connect people in suburbs to transit. There is the need to study last-mile services and the possible elimination of underperforming routes. This has been accomplished in other parts of the world, such as, Doha, Dubai, and Singapore, where driverless high-capacity trains operate and many community areas already feature internal on-demand links to transit, shortening trip times while increasing reliability.
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| Developing Real-Time Predictive Analytics and Actionable Decision Support at Scale - Identifying and Addressing Vulnerabilities and Opportunities in the Systems of Systems that Comprise Global Logistics, Commercial Shipping and Supply Chains |
A study could explore how best to leverage significant advances in affordable, powerful and compatible large-scale distributed computing, distributed networks, intelligent and reasoning systems providing massively parallel analytics in real time in the context of supply chain optimization. |
| Improved Physical Designs of Transportation and Related Infrastructure: Best Practices for Design of Drive-Through Pandemic Test and Evaluation Facilities |
Transportation management agencies and major event centers are experienced in the processing of large volumes of vehicles. During a pandemic, by recipients remaining in their personal vehicles, social distancing of potential carriers can be effectively. However, this can create extensive queues or confusion/anxiety among test recipients if wayfinding and ingress/egress facilities are poorly designed. This research will identify best practices for configuration of temporary pandemic test facilities to assist health care providers in providing efficient and safe testing of potential carriers. |
| Overcoming Barriers to Providing Deliveries of Critical Goods |
The dependability of existing delivery services has been strained and still endangers the delivery staff and customers to exposure to the virus. Current R&D is developing of autonomous delivery vehicles and drones, but research could be conducted to expedite this vehicle development. Include coordination that prioritizes personal travel that could potentially save lives with “x2x” technology and leveraging big data so essential services and supplies can be routed/re-routed in real time to respond to real-time needs. |
| Potential Benefits in Light of COVID-19: Autonomous and Automated Technologies, AI and Machine Learning Applications for Global Logistics |
Determine the impacts and vulnerabilities of, and opportunities for, improved autonomy, embedded intelligence/machine learning and robotic process automation in global logistics, commercial shipping, government transportation and worldwide supply chains.
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| Remote Inspections and Audits |
Determine the effectiveness of the various forms of remote compliance methods and tools used during the pandemic. The marine industry generally continued operating throughout the period, but normal oversight was significantly curtailed. Workarounds included extensions of inspection and audit due dates as well as using remote inspection tools and analytics to verify compliance. The need for traditional human presence compliance checks should be validated or public policy should formally allow for remote compliance methodologies. |
| Shared Mobility in a Post-COVID World |
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the landscape for shared mobility services and companies. The willingness to use shared mobility services in the future can expected to be impacted by fears of infection, availability of a vaccine, apprehensions of using public transit, and other factors. Transportation agencies need to know what to expect from these services in a post COVID-19 world, and how this might affect the future of transportation systems and services. What are the potential short-term and long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on shared mobility? How will the willingness to use shared mobility services be impacted by fears of infection, availability of a vaccine, apprehensions of using public transit, telecommuting, and driverless vehicles? What changes can be expected to provide trusted networks, touchless travel, and rider protocols? What changes will be temporary, and which will be enduring?
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| Supervised Automated Public Transit Vehicles |
It is important to keep the public transit system running for critical service personnel who may be transit dependent to get to/from home and work. However, we need to reduce the risk to the human operator in the pandemic environment. A solution is to have centralized supervision of the automated transit vehicles to allow rapid adaption to operational changes, such as, changing route to service emergency medical facilities.
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| Swarm Operations of Ultra-Small Automated Delivery Vehicle on Existing Right Of Way. |
Examine ways to operate small automated delivery vehicles on existing right of ways to efficiency move 1/5 or 1/4 sized vehicles in mixed traffic to safely enable automated delivery of goods.
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| The Role of Surface Collaborative Decision Making in Crisis Management |
Over the next few years, FAA will roll out surface collaborative decision-making (S-CDM) tools to select airports in the National Airspace System. In Europe, a similar CDM process, “Airports CDM,” has existed for several years. This research would focus on the role of S-CDM in managing airports and airlines during a crisis. |
| Using AVs to Mitigate the Impacts of Pandemics |
The global COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant impacts on travel and transportation systems. Policies such as social distancing, shelter-in-place, and restrictions on business and government services have brought to light how transportation modes exacerbate or mitigate the spread of infectious diseases. This project will analyze the possible services that automated vehicles could provide (e.g., freight deliveries, transportation for essential workers) and state and local actions (policy, planning, infrastructure, IT/data) that could be undertaken to use driverless vehicles to mitigate the impacts of future pandemics.
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| Virtualization of Traffic and Incident Management During Pandemics |
The Transportation Management Center (TMC) is a key asset in infrastructure owner-operators toolkit for traffic and incident management. In a pandemic with stay-at-home and social distancing mandates, traffic may be lighter and require less management, but crashes and incidents will still occur. While most agencies provide virtual private network (VPN) access to critical software systems, TMC staff working from home may be challenged to be as effective as they could be while in the TMC. This research will explore mitigations and advanced information technology solutions that can support TMC staff in unusual operating conditions. |
| What Are Best Practices for Ensuring Quick Recovery for Airlines |
Hypothesis: grounding fleets – at this magnitude – has rippling effects on airline operations. From retraining pilots, to ensuring gas in engines does not go moldy to getting customers comfortable with flying again. The COVID-19 provides a unique opportunity to compile and synthesize best practices for ensuring quick return to operations. SIDE NOTE: AGIFORS, the airline professional organization, is attempting to host an online conference in June to address this issue / this could be a potential co-sponsored event with NAE for expanding scope. Hypothesis: some of the practices currently being implemented, like deep cleaning/fogging aircraft or minimizing contact with passengers may continue after COVID-19. It would be good to get a sense of what the costs/benefits are of continuing some of these practices (such as deep cleaning)." |
| Accounting gender dimensions in commuting and activity patterns |
Our mobility has been disrupted by Stay-At-Home order during the COVID-19 pandemic response. Those able to work remotely have been obliged to do so. Although, our working behaviours have changed our normal home behaviours. For instance, in-home activites such as childcare, errands, and family care have replaces the time normally spent on commuting to the office or other in-office work functions. This change in working at home behaviour have added extra pressure on (working at home) women. As a result, they are facing time and space constraints to organise their in-home and out-of-home activities (unpaid trips). Hence it is very important to explore how the intra-household attributes affect the out-of-home activities in the context of working from home. To analyse the intra-household attributes: socio-economic, demographic, household attributes, partner attributes, gender roles and responsibilities and preferences To explore the association between working from home (or absence of commuting) and intra-household attributes To provide sustainable and suitable strategies within gender-transport nexus during response phases to a pandemic that benefits gender groups. |
| Correlation of Early 2020 Pandemic Transmission Patterns to Regional Travel Model Outputs Based on Live, Work, Shop, and School Patterns |
What can we learn about the dispersal patterns of Covid infections from existing regional travel demand models? MPOs develop and maintain macro travel models to understand flows of people and goods at the regional level. These models are based on well-documented patterns of where people live, work, shop, and go to school, as well as core household and socio-economic characteristics of the population. They are the foundation of the MPO toolkit, and their analyses cover most of the urban areas of the United States. What can be learned by mapping the January-April pandemic outbreaks across the country on the base year travel pattern outputs of the nation's regional travel demand models? Are there any patterns that can be useful in anticipating how future outbreaks might spread spatially within a region based on where the eruption occurred? There are 408 MPOs across the US and the vast majority maintain a travel demand model calibrated to a relatively contemporary base year. Highly functioning MPOs, especially in major metropolitan areas, collect their own data and so have finely tuned models that reflect their regions' land use patterns integrated with detailed socio-economic household characteristics. Many also model multiple modes of travel and a wider range of trip purposes. 1 A relatively quick assessment will help determine whether or not outbreaks correspond to any discernible travel patterns generated by regional travel demand models. If there is a correlation in patterns, evaluate how these regional models can be used to better anticipate the trajectory of future outbreaks to help better predict, isolate, and target flare-ups. The objective is to determine whether the observed patterns of dispersal of Covid-19 between Jan-Apr 2020 corresponds to base year travel patterns generated by regional travel demand models. If there are correlations, what can be deduced about the value of these models in understanding the spread of future outbreaks? The products are likely to be data fusions bringing together public health data records and regional model outputs for a select number of regions around the country with documentation of the analyses and a brief on the findings.
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| Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Small, Medium, and Large Hub Airports |
This research would study the effects of the pandemic on groups of airports by size to determine whether hardships were distributed evenly or unevenly. |
| Evaluate Ways to Better Connect Transportation Infrastructure to Hospitals And Medical Facilities to Better Track Movement of Supplies, and Movement of Those Infected |
Using x2x technology and leveraging big data, essential services and supplies can be routed/re-routed in real time to respond to real-time needs. This could also include the use of automated vehicles for delivery of supplies and equipment to minimize the risk of infection to human delivery agents. |
| Expediting Data and Science to Inform Crisis Management Decisions and Risk Models |
Transportation organizations are not well versed in epidemiology. The guidance from the governments is issued in the context of broad scenarios. Industries (like offshore oil and gas) require more finely tuned analyses of specific risks, applied to specific scenarios (ex: cannot socially distance on helicopters). What risk framework should be used in deciding minimum manning requirements and distancing? How should organizations balance increasing the frequency of high-risk activities to provide social distancing against the risk of increased infection? A study that examines what competencies are needed going forward in high-risk industries, like offshore energy, in order to make organizational decisions during crisis given the lessons learned from COVID-19? |
| How did schedule reductions evolve among the carriers, and were their differential impacts on profitability across different carrier types |
Hypothesis: There will likely be structural changes to the airline industry post COVID-19, with a loss in ultra-LCC, small airline carriers, and potentially even large airline carriers. What are the consequences on future airline competition given these forecasted restructurings? What distinctions exist between the impacts for passenger aviation and air cargo? |
| How Travel Behavior Changed as Shifting Priorities Changed Throughout the Pandemic. |
Did certain modes prove to be more essential and by which population classes? Were certain travel characteristics valued for certain activities, such as managed lanes offering reliability and transit providing lifeline transportation to those who needed it? How much of an impact did the shutdown/slowdown of public transit, micro-transit, TNC, etc. have on populations that do not own vehicles or have easy access to them?
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| Predicting future airline demand |
Predicting when customers will return to airline service after the COVID-19 event is difficult, yet important to understand for getting a perspective on the sustainability of airline operations. There will likely be structural changes in demand that occur – for example, will businesses reduce overall travel? Will leisure customers delay trips? Through customer surveys conducted over time, we can build a model of how customer and business sentiment is influencing demand for air travel and get a better picture of recovery. |
| Carpooling During a Respiratory Pandemic |
Should carpooling be encouraged during the COVID-19 pandemic response and recovery? If yes, what are the safest ways to carpool? What precautions should carpoolers take? Who would communicate precautions and good practices to carpool companies and drivers? Would the practices needed be manditory or voluntary? If no, how should we best meet the travel needs of carpool users? Although little data is available on the common practice in normal times of giving relatives, friends, neighbors, and community members rides to services, events, and appointments, in 2018 9 percent of Americans commuted to work via carpool or vanpool, as compared to only 4.5 percent via mass transit. (Note: The CDC releases and updates advice for drivers for-hire, but as of 5/6/2020 had not addressed carpooling or giving rides within a community.) In the short-term, the research should produce a best practices brief that can inform decision-makers in public health, community development, transportation demand management, etc. In the long-term, research on the impacts of carpooling and ride-giving should inform pandemic response and recovery planning. |
| COVID-19 Locality Vulnerability Assessment |
As COVID-19 restrictions are lifted - and before they are reimposed with a second wave, we need a statistical assessment of local population vulnerability to COVID-19. We know which health conditions leave people especially vulnerable, and we know from CDC and USRDS datasets by locality where these people live. We need an index using predictive analytics determining which of these statistics correlate with clusters of hospitalization and death due to COVID-19. This index would be used by elected officials to assess risk in each County, City and Township/Parish. An index to be used by elected officials in imposing or lifting restrictions necessitated by COVID-19.
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| Reducing the Risk to Passengers and Operators by Designing Easily Disinfected Transit Interiors |
Research the transit vehicle interior design to simplify frequent (end of each run or more?) cleaning/sanitization of interior. The choice of material that can balance between cost, maintenance, and effectiveness. |
| Understanding pollution’s role in the spread of COVID-19 |
There have been studies (limited) to show the potential linkage between air pollution level (e.g., PM2.5) and the spread of virus. Specifically, virus may become aerosolized with particulate matter particles in the air and transport longer distance as aerosols in the air. In other words, higher air pollution may contribute to wider spread of COVID-19. Virtually none has looked at this linkage in the indoor environment, e.g., in aircraft cabin, cruise ship, subway station, transit vehicle, nursing home, or even our residential homes. On a daily basis average, people spend about 80% of their time indoors. There is a great need to fill that void and has tremendous public health implications. |
| Evaluation of How Travel Behavior Changed as Shifting Priorities Changed Throughout the Pandemic. |
For example, did certain modes prove to be more essential and by which population classes? Were certain travel characteristics valued for certain activities, such as managed lanes offering reliability and transit providing lifeline transportation to those who needed it? How much of an impact did the shutdown/slowdown of public transit, micro-transit, TNC, etc. have on populations that do not own vehicles or have easy access to them? |
| All Hazards Resilience and the Marine Transportation System |
In looking at the system through a resiliency lens, one can assess the interconnectivity of systems (landside, waterside, and the intermodal relationships as well as the supporting infrastructure, including rivers, dams, levees, dredging, etc.). What is inhibiting the system? Do we have adequate asset resilience AND system resilience, are we sacrificing one for the other creating a “lumpy”, unreliable system especially in times of acute shocks (natural disaster, COVID, etc.) and chronic stressors (aging infrastructure, funding priorities, cyber threat, etc.) It is how our system does or does not perform, that bares itself in times of crisis. A truly resilient marine transportation system should mitigate issues to a manageable level, not exacerbate them. A study should consider the redundancy (exploring more shipping and intermodal partnerships, mutual aid compacts); robustness (analysis of supply chain alternatives and choke points); adaptability (ability to reconfigure port facilities, adapt vessel for different cargo or usage, or re-route); resistance (health and human safety, financial and economic preparations); and recovery (how quickly commerce can rebound and importance of maritime industry to support it). |
| Americans with Disabilities and Travel Navigating in a Pandemic Environment Requiring Social Distancing |
Many retail establishments have placed tape on the ground to indicate a distance of six feet, especially when waiting in line. However, tape, rope, or plastic chain strung between devices are not detectable by those with visual impairments and do not comply with the design standards in the "Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities (ADAAG)" (see Section 1A.11), and should not be used as a control for pedestrian movements. How do we mitigate potential harm to vulnerable populations and provide equitable accessibility options during a pandemic? |
| Determining the Impacts of Global Disruptions and Vulnerability Threats on Transportation Infrastructure Elements, Nodes and Modes |
Elements of a broad study could include:
- Physical infrastructure and connective nodes (roads, bridges, ports, waterways, airports, railroads, space and their connective space/connecting nodes)
- Commercial infrastructure (global supply chains, logistics, maritime shipping, last mile connectivity, customer relationship management)
- Communications and networking infrastructure (legacy, cloud, local vs. remote technology support, bandwidth and last mile challenges)
- Human infrastructure including education, work force development and training programs for national and global needs in commercial and government transportation, and for anticipated labor and economic shifts due to changes in on shoring, off shoring, buy/ship/build local efforts
- Biological infrastructure (predictive analytics for population health, testing/diagnostics, remediation and mitigation for human capital, their families and workforce continuity)
- Intellectual infrastructure (cybersecurity, intellectual property, innovation and discovery)
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| Evaluate the Benefits of Keeping Ongoing, Large, Infrastructure Projects Under Construction Moving During Pandemic or Similar Events. |
This would have twofold benefits, providing necessary economic stimulus by keeping large numbers of workers employed and realizing the cost-saving benefits of utilizing construction methods by taking advantage of reduced traffic demands in corridors resulting in lower work zone traffic management costs. IN addition, construction time may be reduced to this reduced traffic. |
| Evaluate the Need and Benefits of Coordinating Essential Transportation Services During A National, Statewide, or Regional Emergency, Including Public and Private Transportation Services. |
A coordinated response that prioritizes essential travel when and where needed could potentially save lives. This could also include services such as package and food delivery. |
| Optimizing Operational Performance: Sharing Best Practices |
Develop a synthesis of best practices on key operations that were implemented by transportation agencies including strategies like guidelines on cost-effective redundant operations ,e.g., Operations Centers (OCs); controlling corridor access; closure (or not) of rest areas and provisions for truckers; use of VMS boards for communication to the travelling public; designating corridors for emergency operations or transit for health care workers; rear door boarding on transit; PPE practices and economically sanitizing facilities – from stations to fuel pumps, etc. A synthesis is needed of best practices of key operational initiatives, practices and guidelines that were implemented by transportation agencies to improve operational performance during the COVID crisis.
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| Organizational resiliency planning for airports |
A study should identify which functions or services are critical and essential to continue. It also should determine what systems are needed to support those critical or essential functions; what suppliers we rely on to support or provide those services; if the suppliers would be available to assist during a crisis; who is needed to support those essential functions and systems; where they can do this from; how to communicate, coordinate, and collaborate with stakeholders; and if we have financial resources to survive without pax/air service, etc. |
| Prepare a National Aviation Pandemic Preparedness Plan |
Have airports prepare plans that supplement that approach for local/state level implementation. This could be integrated into climate change/resilience preparedness and adaptation into airport development and operations. |
| Provide Immediate Grants and Matches to Local Agencies and State DOTs for Maintenance of Roadways |
These projects are sorely needed and can be delivered quickly using workers with minimal training. Examples include pavement resurfacing, bridge patching, drainage and slope improvements, and a variety of other projects that typically employ workers with family-wage jobs. This will get people working *outside* where the risk of virus transmission is lower while at the same time allowing public agencies to catch up on a huge backlog of deferred investment in roads. |
| Provide Immediate Grants for Programs Deploying Autonomous Vehicles in Neighborhoods and in Urban and Campus Environments. |
Public transit's lack of agility in responding to this virus indicates that the era of fixed-route, fixed-schedule transit service may be over. We simply do not have the funds to continue business as usual. Investing in high-capacity transit from major nodes while providing low-cost local access using on-demand autonomous shuttles on low-speed streets will connect people in suburbs to transit. There is the need to study last-mile services and the possible elimination of underperforming routes. This has been accomplished in other parts of the world, such as, Doha, Dubai, and Singapore, where driverless high-capacity trains operate and many community areas already feature internal on-demand links to transit, shortening trip times while increasing reliability. |
| Rethinking Emergency Corridors: All Modes and User Focused |
Transportation corridors must be evaluated not just for cars evacuating out of an area but for all modes to access areas of critical services and suppliers in and out of an area. This evaluation must include redesign and modification of operations to effectively address new needs revealed during the pandemic, as well as strong consideration and integration of transit and freight into corridor designations and planning. Research is needed to support identification of key corridors to transport essential employees to and from work using multiple modes, i.e. transit, rail, cars, bike/pedestrians. We have well developed transportation systems to evacuate people out of business centers, but the new challenge is returning people to work and school whether it be medical, financial, etc. Bus schedules are not designed for dynamic scheduling or communications. Research is needed to support the effort to plan, model and operate emergency corridors to service critical facilities during the emergency and in the recovery phase. In the past, corridor scenario planning did not consider access to serve the community needs during a pandemic. Evacuation corridors were originally planned to get residents out of areas when natural disasters were about to happen. In the past, typical planning didn’t consider transit and rail, how to get people serving the sick and dying to get to work and the sick to get to the hospital using transit, or how we get PPE/goods to hospitals. Emergency corridors that can be used during a pandemic should consider two-way traffic and need to be transit accessible. We need to plan corridors to serve hospitals and essential businesses. Are we serving those basic needs properly with our current evacuation corridors? How do we learn from our COVID experience in the design of corridors, use of transit, flexibility in fares and services to actually prioritize corridor access for those who need it during a pandemic? Should we consider a reclassification of a one-way evacuation corridor as a two-way emergency corridor? Should we include transit (rubber tire) in this modified emergency corridor planning? The objective of this research is to identify how we can learn from our COVID experience in the design of two-way emergency corridors, use of transit and rail, and flexibility in fares and services to actually prioritize corridor access for those who need it to provide critical services or essential supplies during a pandemic.
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| Short Term Infrastructure Requirements Related to Surges in Economic Activity |
The COVID-19 shutdown is expected to lead to a significant recession in 2020. However, most forecasts show a dramatic recovery in 2021, with GDP growth expected to exceed 6 percent, possibly followed by growth of 4 percent or more in 2022. With the surge in economic activity, and a substantial bounce-back in related freight flows, are there some short-term infrastructure investments that need to be undertaken in order to avoid some serious bottlenecks/disruptions that under other circumstances could be deferred under normal growth conditions. Would these potential disruptions lead to possible shortages, even with the economy recovering? Needed research would estimate the surge in selected routes and the impact on freight transportation systems. |
| Supervised Automated Public Transit Vehicles |
It is important to keep the public transit system running for critical service personnel who may be transit dependent to get to/from home and work. However, we need to reduce the risk to the human operator in the pandemic environment. A solution is to have centralized supervision of the automated transit vehicles to allow rapid adaption to operational changes, such as, changing route to service emergency medical facilities. |
| 3 Day Work Week: An Alternative Solution for Reopening the Economy |
The initial idea was developed to solve travel congestion problems: most transportation facilities are overwhelmed during peak periods, AM and/or PM, when people go to work and come home around the same time. If only half of the commuters go to work on the earlier part of the week and the other half go to work during the later half of the week, the travel demand during peak period will decrease by 50%, which will solve the traffic congestion problem for most locations. The 3 day work week (3DWW) will shorten the working time for most workers but may not decrease the productivity as supported by many studies. The increased free time not only provides opportunities to rest, have recreation and pursuit of leisure, community and innovative activities, but also redistribute the spatial and temporal patterns of activities by most urban dwellers, which is made urgently necessary by the social distancing, no-gathering, and lower capacity for even essential businesses during the unprecedented COVID-19 Pandemic. |
| Addressing Aging Marine Transportation Infrastructure within Post Pandemic Infrastructure-Jobs-Stimulus-Recovery Bill |
Addressing aging infrastructure will be one of the key factors in putting America back to work. Ports, inland waterways infrastructure, and coastal waterways are often not included in the "Aging Infrastructure" discussion/planning at the Federal level despite the economic benefits they provide. Inclusion of this vital infrastructure specifically in related recovery legislation would be of great benefit to the Nation. |
| Crew Safety Risk Management Framework |
The current safety framework gives organizations a process and decision support tools to systematically analyze their ships and offshore assets and their associated work areas to determine their workforce’s risks so controls can be implemented to mitigate the risks to an acceptable level. This may or may not have been used successfully or optimally within the marine industry for the COVID 19 event. A study could be proposed to determine the applicability of existing risk management concepts to deal with contagious infections. |
| Impact on Businesses from Increased Telework |
This pandemic is providing a unique opportunity for evaluating various businesses/industries to determine the impact of this increased telecommuting. Many businesses in the past have opposed telework because they worry about the productivity of their staff working remotely vs. their typical working pattern. Thus, an extensive survey of various types of businesses/industries analyzing if their fears are unfounded or confirm they are right for their particular business/industry.
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| Impact of Pandemics on Mariners |
Some countries’ travel restrictions have prevented crew changes, resulting in tours onboard international commercial vessels being extended 30-60 days or more, at a time when crews’ families are in lockdown or at risk of infection at home. How did this impact our mariners mentally and in performance? Does this vary by vessel type or by command/management structure or approach? How could this be handled more effectively, and how can it be coordinated internationally in the future? A NASEM study could explore how the current international governance structures facilitate or impede movement of the mariners and goods. What protective practices and policies were most effective in preventing crew infection, and what helped support crew morale and mental health? How might education and training, for officer and crew, be improved to address future health emergencies? |
| IT/Virtual Meetings and Engagement: Best Practices on Virtual Meetings |
As social distancing has significantly increased teleworking, there are more virtual meetings. Research is needed for security safeguards as well as internet and bandwidth constraints to conduct large volumes of work remotely. Some agencies have modified their policies regarding remote VPN and use of personal equipment in very short time periods. There was very little guidance on this Pre-COVID-19. A synthesis is needed of IT/virtual meetings and engagement best practices during COVID-19 so agencies can benchmark against their peers. |
| Managing Workforces Safely |
What are the best practices for keeping people working regardless of ""essential and non-essential"" categories while protecting and communicating safety requirements timely and effectively. Many needs have arisen during the crisis that can use the skills of those deemed ""non-essential."" What is the learned guidance on protocols and training to engage and/or reassign staff and to redeploy them with sufficient resources to minimize financial impacts and maximize operating efficiencies? The objective of this research is to summarize the learned guidance on protocols and training to engage and/or reassign staff and to redeploy them with sufficient resources to minimize financial impacts and maximize operating efficiencies. |
| The Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Defense Readiness |
On vessels and in close quarters, COVID-19 is spreading rapidly on Navy and Coast Guard ships. There is a need for developing further protocols where social distancing is largely not feasible. In addition, vendor closures in the DOD supply chain are continuing to degrade military readiness. Production line employees are choosing paid leave and voluntary layoffs rather than risk exposure to COVID-19. Armed services are limiting transfers and recruit training, which will affect workforce levels and readiness into the future. DOD civilian leadership were not prepared or manned appropriately to handle the current crisis. A study related to COVID-19’s effect on defense readiness could be executed by NASEM. |
| The Linchpin of U.S. Logistics: Truck Drivers –– How Vulnerable Are They? |
As the saying goes: “If you bought it, a truck brought it.” It is estimated that trucks in the U.S. carry 67% of the nation’s freight by weight, and 73% by value. As the nation responds to an unprecedented pandemic supply chains have become even more dependent upon the flexibility and reliability of trucking. By the nature of their jobs – (considered essential in the current environment) drivers maybe at higher risk in a pandemic due to customer contacts and reliance on public facilities. Drivers also rely on restaurants and rest areas for basic nutrition and hygiene, yet many states have responded to the pandemic by closing rest areas and dine-in restaurants. This research could examine post pandemic, the COVID-19 infection among truck drivers as compared to the general population. The research could also examine actions that state and local agencies could take to support driver rest and wellness needs. |
| Effects of Labor Agreements on Airline Responses to COVID-19 |
This research would study the effects of various airline-employee labor agreements on their reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the roles of unions, scope clauses, and offers of paid and unpaid leave. |
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