Showing posts with label Transportation Research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Transportation Research. Show all posts
Planing Strategies Transportation Engineering
On the other
hand, in instances where proposals may be challenged or blocked by other
agencies or in the political arena or the courts, other strategies may be more
appropriate. Among these are those of coordinator or coordinator-catalyst . In this instance the function of the planner or planning team is to
provide technical and organizational support, to receive inputs on the needs
and goals of affected persons, groups, or agencies, and to incorporate them
into planning and decision making. The catalyst role requires that arrangements
be worked out under which an exchange of information on needs, goals, and alternative
solutions of those who are affected are presented, and then, if possible, to
aid the decision maker or group in reaching an acceptable solution. Among other
suggested strategies not diagramed here are (1) community advocacy whereby an
individual (ombudsman) represents all community interests or (2) arbitrative,
which calls for a. hearing officer who, after evaluating the approaches of the
planner on the one hand and the community on the other, makes the final
decision.
The
stances of planners or technical groups will be quite different under the various
strategies. It would be logical where the strategy of information is used to
take an authoritative, "I am the expert,” approach. On the other hand,
where planners are to be coordinators or catalysts or to work as ombudsmen or
community advocates, they can be neither partisan nor advocate a particular
solution. Their roles must be those of clarifiers, expeditors, conciliators,
and impartial negotiators. They must avoid what is called the "Myth of
rationality," which is to believe or cause others to believe that they
think that, as professionals, they are uniquely qualified to adjudge what is
best for society in their fields of competence. And they must recognize that
their personal value systems and goals are not those of some of the
participants
Research and Information Retrieval for Highways and Public Transportation
FHWA,
UMTA, and many other federal agencies, the individual state highway departments,
a number of universities, private or university-related research groups and
individuals, and many of the other organizations and associations mentioned
here conduct research on highway and transportation problems or provide
financing for it. Many other agencies also carry out projects with strong
transportation implications. The output from these efforts is large; one
estimate places it at 30.000 titles per year. It follows that to find what
research has been done or is under way is a difficult task.
Among the
ways to find research results are through TRB publications and other services
mentioned earlier or in such summaries as the annual Transactions
of
ASCE. Many other agencies, for example FHWA's Highway Institute, publish
bibliographies from time to time. The subject indexes in good university and
public libraries can be helpful. Unfortunately, many valuable research reports,
particularly those issued by federal agencies, are not available in libraries
unless they are depositories and even their collections may be incomplete.
Even after the titles and abstracts of
research reports have been located, gaining access to the report itself may be
difficult. Copies of some of the most significant can be purchased from the
National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Va. 22151. Often, however,
it may be necessary to contact the author or sponsoring agency. Because
information retrieval from the vast number of publications is so difficult,
those who wish to have their findings known should report them through TRB,
ASCE, or other commonly available sources.
Other Transportation and Highway Associations
Numerous
trade associations interested in promoting the use of the products of their
members are active in the transportation and highway fields. Two in this large
group are the Asphalt Institute and the Portland Cement Association. Many of
these associations publish technical bulletins and release other data. Some
have field engineers located strategically over the country. Much reliable and
useful information can be gained from these sources. Certain individual manufacturers
also are active in a similar manner.
Another group of
associations includes those having special areas of interest in transportation.
One is the American Public Transit Association. The National Safety Council,
concerned with accidents, has among its functions the collection,
classification, and disti ibution of accident data. The Highway Users Federal
for Safety and Mobility, supported by the automotive, oil, and trucking industries,
has fostered research and
education toward safe and efficient highway transportation. The federation's
interests also include highway administration and planning, and it has made
significant studies in both fields. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
has particularly emphasized vehicle design and crash resistance and occupant
protection. The Eno Foundation for Transportation, Westport, Connecticut,
among other activities, publishes the excellent periodical Traffic
Quarterly.
The International Road Federation promotes education, information interchange,
and understanding throughout the world.
There are also associations whose
concern is highway transportation as it fects their members. Representative of
these are the American Automobile As sociation and the American Trucking
Association. Most of these also publish magazines or bulletins
Foreign Research Organizations Transportation Department
The United States is
not alone in transportation and highway research. An outstanding example of
another nation's activities is the Transport and Road Research Laboratory,
located near Crowthorne, Berkshire, England. Its studies have covered a wide
range of subjects dealing not only with the problems of Great Britain, but also
with those of the developing nations. It also offers a variety of education
programs including lectures, seminars, and short courses. Lists of publications
and individual research reports are available to officials, researchers, and
educators on request. There are similar organizations, too numerous to mention,
in Canada, continental Europe, and other countries around the world.
Transportation Research Board (TRB)
The Transportation Research Board (TRB), organized in 1920 as the Highway Research Board (HRB), is a private, nonprofit organization. It operates within the Commission on Sociotechnical Systems of the National Research Council, which, in turn, is a part of the National Academy of Sciences National Academy of Engineering. TRB is supported financially by all the state transportation and highway departments, FHWA, UMTA, FAA, and FRA, numerous transportation and trade organizations, and many individuals.
The board's primary function is to encourage research in transportation and to provide a forum for the presentation, discussion, and publication of the results. This is done primarily through about 150 committees made up of roughly 1800 administrators, engineers, social scientists, and educators. Its annual meeting is by far the largest single gathering of specialists in transportation.
Another area of board activity is arranging workshops and conferences on special subjects of short-term or long-term importance. These provide a neutral forum where various viewpoints can be presented. The board has also, over the years, carried out a number of sponsored research projects, the most notable of which probably was the $27 million AASHO road test.
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Board publications total some 6000 pages per year. Included are the Record series (which in 1962 succeeded the HRB Bulletin series and the annual Proceedings), the Special Report series, a magazine Transportation Research News, which reports six times yearly on current happenings, and a series of Circulars on specific topics. There are also publications on railroad, water, and air transportation topics.
In 1962, the board was assigned direction of the National Cooperative High way Research Program under which the NCHRP staff administers contracts fof research on specific topics selected by AASHTO. Results are published in a ries of NCHRP Reports, NCHRP Syntheses, and NCHRP Research Results. A parallel effort for transit, called the National Cooperative Transit Ro. search and Development Program (NCTRP), was undertaken by TRB Beginning in 1978, with financial support from the Agency for International Development (AID) it produced a series of Compendiums and Syntheses under the title of Transportation Technology Support for Developing Countries.
TRB also operates a computer-based Highway Research Information Services (HRIS) and cooperates in an on-line, computer-based Transportation Research Information Service Network (TRISNET). Through them, abstracts of past research and of research in progress can be obtained quickly. Among other outputs from this system are summaries of reports of completed projects and research in progress.'0 Indexes of TRB publications, compiled at possibly four- year intervals, also come from this data base. These are reported by subject author, and title of each paper.
Without question, the publications of TRB are the most fruitful single source of advanced knowledge concerning highway and public transportation. References in this book are predominantly from its publications.
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