As a transportation journalist, Bernie Wagenblast has been weaving narratives of a professional sort for more than 40 years. As it turns out, one of her most recent stories is more personal.

The value that small general aviation airports deliver far exceeds what their modest size might suggest. To many local government officials, those facilities represent “the most valuable mile of pavement in the county.”

As we’re about to observe National Work Zone Awareness Week and in light of a work zone crash last month in Maryland, in which 6 workers were killed, we're revisiting a discussion with TTI's Jerry Ullman, research engineer and highway work zone safety expert. The number of fatal crashes in America is up by about 7 percent over the past decade. But in roadway work zones, it’s up by more than 40 percent. Jerry discusses why those work zones are dangerous not only for those who work in them, but...

Major railroad disasters tend to produce major news headlines, but there are hundreds of derailments each year in America that we never hear about. Why is that?

It’s been said that journalists are responsible for writing the first draft of history. As the transportation writer for the Houston Chronicle, Dug Begley has been crafting that city’s mobility story for more than a decade. 

Even after wrapping up a 46-year stretch at TTI, Tim Lomax still enjoys the adrenaline rush that comes from finding new traffic challenges, and fixing them. 

America’s roads were built to last, but they weren’t built to last forever. New research is taking a forensic approach to maintaining and repairing our surface transportation infrastructure.

Most of what we buy and use every day comes to us on cargo ships, which represent essential links in worldwide distribution systems. A global public health crisis reminded us of how important they really are.

Big-time athletic events can create big-time roadway gridlock. Experts game out the possibilities to navigate chaos – from the first car in, to the last one out. 

Wrong-way crashes on high-speed roadways are uncommon, but they’re almost always fatal. Ongoing research is supporting countermeasures to help drivers avoid – or escape -- a rare but perilous roadway hazard.

Rail industry employees and management were at odds for months and on the verge of a nationwide shutdown, until Congress and the White House invoked an arcane 1926 law to settle the dispute in only a few days. 

The Institute of Transportation Engineers is wrapping up a pivotal year in its history. Jeff Paniati, the organization’s CEO, and TTI's Beverly Kuhn, its outgoing president, talk about lessons learned from the past 12 months and how the transportation profession is evolving -- along with society. 

Along America’s 2,000-mile border with Mexico, there’s plenty of room for things to go awry when it comes to the secure, efficient movement of people and goods. Myriad public and private partnerships and the latest research are helping ensure that they don’t.

Big trucks cause more damage to transportation infrastructure, but they pay less to use roads and bridges than passenger vehicles do. New research findings – with input from the freight industry – can inform how policy makers might change that. 

Despite some Texas-sized mobility challenges and worldwide supply-chain obstacles, the guy in charge of the Texas Department of Transportation wants you to know he’s never been more optimistic about our transportation future.

Large vehicle collisions in and around the giant West Texas oil patch in recent years have been alarmingly frequent and serious. Through a partnership approach, local transportation agencies and industry leaders are turning the tide. 

Young drivers face greater risks on the road than any other group. Some of the reasons for that are unlikely to change, but one thing that’s clearly open to revision is the manner in which we approach the problem.

The COVID-19 pandemic helped to expose a chronic shortage of truck drivers in America – and a scarcity of places for those truckers to park, too. That has big implications for how we get the products we need, and how much we pay for them. 

From self-driving tech to safety culture and power grids. When a transportation research leader and an auto industry journalist cross paths, the conversation can go in many directions.

Along with the growing popularity of bicycling comes an increased need for safety. But while the number of bicycle crash injuries dropped during 2020, that was not the case for bicycle crash fatalities. TTI researchers Bahar Dadashova and Joan Hudson take a close look at that pattern, and what can be done about it.

Numbering nearly 300, Texas has more community airports than counties. Largely out of view and out of mind for most of us, they are nonetheless central to the state’s prosperity and security.

Predictions for an especially active hurricane season place added importance on the research and planning that begins long before extreme weather strikes, and continues long after the storm has passed.

Some statistics like population growth and the price of crude oil are directly linked to transportation planning in Texas. But others—like commercial airline boardings and home sales—play a role, too. Collectively, the numbers paint a picture that informs how we fund our transportation system.

Close to half of all workplace deaths result from transportation incidents, including crashes that involve large trucks. Drivers of those trucks are at higher risk than workers in other jobs. And to the degree that we share road space with truckers, the risk extends to the rest of us, too. Evolving policies resulting from new research could help to change that.

The newest cars on the road today generate huge amounts of data, telling us much about our driving habits and helping us build and operate our roadways. How safely and efficiently we travel in the future will depend in part on how wisely stakeholders use that data.