<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><channel><title>TRB Publications Index</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/</link><atom:link href="http://pubsindex.trb.org/common/TRIS Suite/feeds/rss.aspx?tc=NN%3AE" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /><description></description><language>en-us</language><copyright>Copyright © 2015. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright><docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs><managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor><webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster><image><title>TRB Publications Index</title><url>http://pubsindex.trb.org/Images/PageHeader-wTitle.png</url><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/</link></image><item><title>Optimal Design of a Hub-and-Spoke Transit Network with Autonomous Buses Considering Platooning</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/2613381</link><description><![CDATA[The ability of a hub-and-spoke network to aggregate passenger flows at hub nodes has made it an emerging trend in bus transit network design. Autonomous bus platoons with larger vehicle capacities are well suited for serving dense passenger demand, thereby enhancing economies of scale. However, the design of hub-and-spoke transit networks with autonomous bus platoons have not been fully explored. This paper focuses on a two-stage hybrid hub-and-spoke bus transit network design problem with autonomous bus platoons, where only the lead vehicle requires a driver, while following vehicles operate autonomously. The proposed network integrates inter-hub routes and regular routes. The solution framework consists of two main steps. First, a customized K-medoids clustering algorithm is proposed to identify hub stations in the network. Second, a bi-level optimization model is formulated to design the hybrid hub-and-spoke transit network with autonomous bus platoons and determine the route set as well as service frequencies, aiming to minimize costs for both passengers and operators. To solve large-scale problems in the real world, an efficient genetic algorithm-based framework is proposed with a route generation algorithm to produce the initial route set. Experiments conducted on the Mandl benchmark demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. A case study in Xiong’an, China shows that, compared with the existing network, the hybrid hub-and-spoke network with autonomous bus platoons achieves reductions in total cost and passenger travel time by 12.87% and 8.66%, respectively. Additionally, the contribution of autonomous bus platoons to enhancing economies of scale is observed especially under high-demand scenarios.]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 27 Oct 2025 16:42:54 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/2613381</guid></item><item><title>The Future's Already Here: High-Speed Rail Passenger Service: Technology and Application</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/2602701</link><description><![CDATA[This article discusses the development of high-speed rail passenger service. Trains such as the British Rail HST (High-Speed Train) and Amtrak Metroliners operate in the 55- to 120-mph sector while the Japanese Shinkansen (New Railway) and the French TGV [Tres Grande Vitesse (Very Great Speed)] run in the 100- to 165-mph sector. This grouping is determined by the rate of speed called for by the owner/operators and then is firmly established by engineering design. The article concludes that if high-speed passenger rail service is to be used in the United States, two things are clear. First, new tracks must be built since the problems of superelevation prevent freight and passenger service from operating in different speed regimes on the same track. Second, the construction of new track must be done as part of an integrally designed system, i.e., track, vehicles, controls, stations, and operating practices with all their interfaces designed as subsystems of the overall system.]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 06 Oct 2025 19:06:51 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/2602701</guid></item><item><title>Mind the Gender Gap: Case Studies of U.S. Transit Agency Policies and Design Guidelines for Gender-Inclusive Transit Planning</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/2559589</link><description><![CDATA[This research investigates current transit design practices and agency policies through the lens of gender-inclusivity, identifying the disparities between men and women. Women typically engage in shorter, more complex trips owing to caregiving and household responsibilities, and thus face additional challenges like unsafe transit settings and inadequate accommodations for strollers and belongings. This study employs a qualitative case study approach, including interviews with staff from nine transit agencies to learn about their present and future practices, and an analysis of five transit design and operations manuals to study their recommendations and standards. Key findings revealed progress in gender-sensitive data collection and design, but barriers like resource constraints and a lack of priority still remained. Agencies like Los Angeles Metro, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, and Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority have made notable advancements, with several others following suit. However, the explicit incorporation of gender-sensitive principles in widely used transit design manuals is often lacking. The study concludes that continued commitment coupled with innovative approaches could overcome existing barriers and enhance gender-inclusivity in transit systems.]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 01 Jun 2025 18:15:43 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/2559589</guid></item><item><title>Airfield Vehicle Service Road Design and Operations</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/2491090</link><description><![CDATA[Industry guidance on the planning, operation, and design of airfield vehicle service roads (VSRs) is limited and dispersed across multiple documents. For that reason, VSR systems vary across the industry and are usually influenced by an airport’s unique operational demands, vehicle types, airfield and facility configurations, and other airport-specific characteristics. The objective of this synthesis is to describe planning, design, and operations for airfield VSR systems, including operations on apron, non-movement, and movement areas. The synthesis considers VSR issues such as maintaining the road, driver’s training, safety concerns, and operational challenges of VSR layouts. Information used in this study was attained through a literature review and interviews with 10 airport operators representing 22 airports of varying airfield sizes, activity levels, and geographic locations.]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 20 Jan 2025 16:45:43 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/2491090</guid></item><item><title>State of the Art Transportation Noise Barriers</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/2431656</link><description><![CDATA[This article contains a state of the art study of transportation noise barriers by the assistant program director of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program. He reviews these areas of interest: recent reports on noise and noise barrier research; planning for noise control; noise control measures; when and where barriers are needed; kinds of barriers; criteria for planning and design; paying for noise barriers; objections to barriers; noise barrier theory; design procedures; barrier costs; and noise barrier construction examples.]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 30 Sep 2024 11:43:44 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/2431656</guid></item><item><title>Airside Planning, Design, Construction, Operations, and Maintenance</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/2224702</link><description><![CDATA[The TRB Airport Cooperative Research Program's ACRP WebResource 13: Airside Planning, Design, Construction, Operations, and Maintenance is designed to provide aviation professionals with a convenient location to find airside-related resources.  ACRP WebResource 13 is an electronic library, which contains more than 600 resources cataloged and tagged, all of which can be searched and filtered. The resources are mostly reports in PDF format, but there are additional resources in other formats such as webpages/websites, webinar videos, slide presentations, documents, and spreadsheets. Most resources are free to access and publicly available. The resources that require payment or membership access are clearly marked as Paid/Restricted. Each resource page contains the authoring organization’s information.]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 03 Aug 2023 16:48:52 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/2224702</guid></item><item><title>Level of Pedestrian Stress in Urban Streetscapes</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1909726</link><description><![CDATA[Several service and performance indicators (SPIs) have recently been developed to evaluate pedestrian infrastructures, such as different walkability indexes and pedestrian level of service (P-LOS). Given that stress has become a popular SPI for bicyclists (level of traffic stress [LTS]), this study addressed stress for pedestrians as an SPI by relating measurable attributes of different urban street segment environments with pedestrian perceived stress. A stress-based pedestrian SPI was proposed to classify street segments into four levels of pedestrian stress. A total of 1,043 pedestrians across 30 segments in Bogotá were surveyed about their perceived stress. Multimodal traffic counts, location audits, and layout dimensions were collected in each segment to estimate an ordered probit model that explained four stress categories. Physical infrastructure attributes and traffic operational conditions were found to affect perceived stress at given locations. The similarities between the proposed stress index with the LTS and P-LOS are discussed, and the proposed SPI is applied to pedestrian infrastructure planning and design in light of sustainable transportation goals.]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 08 Feb 2022 11:15:14 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1909726</guid></item><item><title>Planning and Design of Airport Terminal Restrooms and Ancillary Spaces</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1765642</link><description><![CDATA[This report provides a thoughtful, step-by-step process to help airport industry practitioners plan, design, and implement terminal restroom and other ancillary amenity projects. It is an updated and expanded version of ACRP Report 130 and reflects the latest thinking in this quickly evolving topic. The guidebook effectively uses graphics, icons, and callouts to help readers quickly find the information they need to develop facilities that balance cost, aesthetics, space limitations, and day-to-day maintenance requirements. It will be of interest to anyone whose goal is to meet customer expectations for airport restrooms and related facilities.]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 31 Jan 2021 15:47:32 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1765642</guid></item><item><title>Leading Practices in the Use of the Highway Safety Manual for Planning, Design, and Operations</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1604424</link><description><![CDATA[The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Highway Safety Manual (HSM) provides safety knowledge and tools in a useful form to facilitate improved decision making based on safety performance. While other HSM initiatives have focused on examples of HSM implementation and results of analyses, AASHTO and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) sponsored a domestic scan to identify leading practices in the use of the HSM for planning, design, and operations. The objectives of the scan were to: (1) Evaluate the processes, job aids/tools, workforce training, and manner in which state transportation agencies have implemented and integrated the HSM into performance-based processes in planning, design, and operations; (2) Learn the practices of state transportation agencies that have most comprehensively implemented the HSM since its publication in 2010; and (3) Disseminate information about leading practices in use of the HSM in planning, design, and operations to other state and local transportation agencies to help them reduce traffic fatalities and serious injuries on all public roads and make informed decisions to reduce project and operating costs. The scope of this scan extends beyond simply focusing on the implementation of analysis procedures described in the HSM and addresses, more broadly, the implementation of performance-based, advanced safety analyses to facilitate improved decision making. The scan focused on the practices of state transportation agencies that have most comprehensively implemented and integrated the HSM and performance-based, advanced safety analyses in planning, design, and operations in seven areas of interest: Status/Policy; Training; Technical Functions; Data; Cultural; Information Dissemination; and Achieving Performance. This report is intended to help state transportation agencies that have not yet begun to implement the HSM, are beginning to implement the HSM, or are looking to further enhance the implementation of the HSM within their agencies. Most of the recommended actions are also applicable to local transportation agencies and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) in similar situations regarding HSM implementation.]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 26 May 2019 16:06:32 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1604424</guid></item><item><title>A Field Survey Study for Planning Highway Wildlife Crossing Structures in A Regional Case of National Highway in China</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1572284</link><description><![CDATA[Determining the appropriate locations of the Wildlife Crossing Structures (WCS) is always a vital problem in road ecology studies.  It is particularly tricky when no monitoring data or limited information are available beforehand. This paper reports on a series of field investigations for designing WCS in a section of one Chinese National Highway project (Beijing-Urumqi G7 national highway) before construction and showcases useful pro-active actions to design crossing structures for biodiversity protection in infrastructure development. The authors applied four methods, including expert consultant, Line- and Belt-Transect methods, surface waters survey, and animal sign-tracking technique, to study the target species that would most likely use the crossing structures and possible locations where high crossing demand might occur.  The survey results show that the goitered gazelle, Gazella subgutturosa, is the most widely distributed large ungulate species in this study area. Also, the authors identified 22 possible crossing points along the designed highway alignment based on the survey results.  The study provides a practical case for practitioners and policymakers and acts as a cornerstone for implementation and monitoring of WCS in the future.]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 01 Mar 2019 15:50:52 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1572284</guid></item><item><title>Minimizing Work Zone Mobility Impacts using Project Coordination</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1576969</link><description><![CDATA[Under the Every Day Counts program, the Federal Highway Administration has been promoting technologies and practices that can shorten the project delivery process, enhance durability and safety, reduce congestion, and improve environmental sustainability. The focus is on providing efficiency through technology and collaboration. This includes strategies for Project Coordination (PC) which can be applied to a single project, or more commonly, among multiple projects within a corridor, network, or region, and possibly across agency jurisdictions, to minimize work zone impacts and produce time and cost savings. The purpose of this document is to provide guidance on implementing PC in the planning, design, and delivery phases of projects. It summarizes key steps for successfully implementing PC, using a systematic approach to meet a specific set of clearly defined objectives. The steps include: establishing the PC vision; developing details of how PC will occur; educating and informing personnel and stakeholders; implementing the PC process; and refining the process. A case study of PC in Texas is included to demonstrate successful application of the approach.]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 19 Feb 2019 15:15:56 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1576969</guid></item><item><title>A Design Model of Express Rail Line to Enhance Mobility and Relieve Congestion</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1496164</link><description><![CDATA[Transportation congestion is worse in metropolitan areas where the population is concentrated and urban sprawl is taking place. It is necessary to improve mobility and relieve congestion, and the purpose of this study is to develop a design model of an express rail line to improve the existing urban rail transit network. The model has a bi-level structure in which the upper level of the model is formulated to determine the line configuration and capacity to maximize the net benefit of the entire rail network, whereas the lower level of the model is formulated as the transit equilibrium assignment to grasp the effect of in-vehicle congestion on the absolute travel time. The inconvenience of passengers due to in-vehicle congestion is converted into time units as a monotonically increasing function. The cost of congestion and the actual total travel time are considered together to improve the mobility and reduce the congestion of the urban rail network. A genetic algorithm is employed to solve the combinatorial optimization problem in a reasonable time. The results show that the developed model can find the optimal express rail line by reflecting the relation of the trade-off between accessibility and mobility of system. The model and algorithm developed in this study contribute to the establishment of the long-term plan of public transportation networks in metropolitan areas.]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 20 Feb 2018 09:28:28 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1496164</guid></item><item><title>Safety of Roundabout: The Details Matter</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1494618</link><description><![CDATA[Louisiana currently has 30 roundabouts in operation and hundreds of roundabouts in the planning and designing stage. The state Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) is very interested to know the safety performance of existing roundabouts in the state. As revealed in this paper, the safety effectiveness of a roundabout depends on its prior traffic control type, conformity to the geometric design guidelines, changes in intersection’s layout, and night-time lighting conditions. All 19 roundabouts investigated by this study demonstrated significant reduction in injury crashes because of lower operating speed, reduced right-angle collisions, and elimination of head-on and left-turn crashes. Based on the changes in the number of conflicting points and traffic control method, it is understandable why the biggest and most consistent safety improvement were associated with the roundabouts previously controlled by stop-sign on minor street. The Crash Modification Factor (CMF), as estimated by the Empirical Bayes (EB) method, for this group of roundabouts, is 0.28 with a standard deviation of 0.054. The roundabout is economically justified for the safety benefit alone based on the benefit-cost ratio analysis for this group of roundabouts. Although the other roundabouts, grouped by prior traffic control type and layout change, did not show consistent crash reduction, the study did identify a few compounding factors at the individual intersections, such as the questionable geometric design elements, increased number of conflicting points, human behavior and lack of lighting at night.]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 29 Jan 2018 10:24:21 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1494618</guid></item><item><title>Crossing Solutions at Roundabouts and Channelized Turn Lanes for Pedestrians with Vision Disabilities: A Guidebook</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1473905</link><description><![CDATA[This report presents guidance for the application of crossing solutions at roundabouts and channelized turn lanes (CTLs) at signalized intersections for pedestrians with vision disabilities, including individuals with total blindness. The guidebook provides an accessibility assessment framework and a methodology for evaluating treatment alternatives for a proposed crossing, as well as wayfinding accommodations. Guidance is provided based on the feasible range of geometric and traffic operational conditions under which similar treatments have been demonstrated to enhance accessibility. The guidebook and final report are targeted to an audience of practicing professionals who in some cases may have little or no background in design for accessibility. The guidelines are therefore written in a way that is consistent with other engineering guidebooks, and they are consistent with existing guidance on accessible design of pedestrian facilities and public rights of way. The audience for these products extends well beyond the engineer tasked with designing a particular site, including planners and decision makers at the municipal and state government levels; FHWA; and the U.S. Access Board, which is tasked with writing technical specifications for implementing the American with Disabilities Act, and which has published proposed guidelines in the form of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Accessible Pedestrian Facilities in the Public Right-of-Way. This project also has a broad public interest component, including professionals and researchers in the field of orientation and mobility, as well as private citizens with and without vision impairments.]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 10 Jul 2017 16:49:48 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1473905</guid></item><item><title>Decision-Making Toolbox to Plan and Manage Park-and-Ride Facilities for Public Transportation: Guidebook on Planning and Managing Park-and-Ride</title><link>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1473898</link><description><![CDATA[This report is a comprehensive resource for public transportation agencies, local and regional governments, and others interested in better planning and management of park-and-ride facilities for public transportation. It builds on relevant completed research to address both of these important concerns and presents improved strategies and best practices. It will be of immediate use to practitioners engaged in planning, designing, financing, operating, and maintaining park-and-ride facilities for public transportation.]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 10 Jul 2017 16:49:48 GMT</pubDate><guid>http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/1473898</guid></item></channel></rss>