Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 6: The Effects of Socio-Demographics on Future Travel Demand

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 750: Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 6: The Effects of Socio-Demographics on Future Travel Demand presents the results of research on how socio-demographic changes over the next 30 to 50 years may impact travel demand at the regional level. It is accompanied by a software tool, Impacts 2050, designed to support the long-term planning activities of transportation agencies.

The print version of the report contains a CD-ROM that includes Impacts 2050, the software user’s guide, a PowerPoint presentation about the research, and the research brief. The CD-ROM is also available for download from TRB’s website as an ISO image. Links to the ISO image and instructions for burning a CD-ROM from an ISO image are provided below. This is a large file and may take some time to download using a high-speed connection.

• Help on Burning an .ISO CD-ROM Image
• Download the .ISO CD-ROM Image*

NCHRP Report 750, Volume 6 is part of a series of reports being produced by NCHRP Project 20-83: Long-Range Strategic Issues Facing the Transportation Industry. Major trends affecting the future of the United States and the world will dramatically reshape transportation priorities and needs. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) established the NCHRP Project 20-83 research series to examine global and domestic long-range strategic issues and their implications for state departments of transportation (DOTs); AASHTO’s aim for the research series is to help prepare the DOTs for the challenges and benefits created by these trends.

Other volumes in this series currently available include:
• NCHRP Report 750: Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 1: Scenario Planning for Freight Transportation Infrastructure Investment
• NCHRP Report 750: Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 2: Climate Change, Extreme Weather Events, and the Highway System: Practitioner’s Guide and Research Report
• NCHRP Report 750: Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 3: Expediting Future Technologies for Enhancing Transportation System Performance
• NCHRP Report 750: Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 4: Sustainability as an Organizing Principle for Transportation Agencies
• NCHRP Report 750: Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 5: Preparing State Transportation Agencies for an Uncertain Energy Future

Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 5: Preparing State Transportation Agencies for an Uncertain Energy Future

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 750: Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 5: Preparing State Transportation Agencies for an Uncertain Energy Future examines how the mandate, role, funding, and operations of state departments of transportation (DOTs) will likely be affected by changes in energy supply and demand in the next 30 to 50 years.

The report also identifies potential strategies and actions that DOTs can employ to plan and prepare for these effects.

In addition, the report describes how robust decision-making techniques can be used to help navigate the potential risks and rewards of different policy and management responses under differing surface transportation energy supply-and-demand scenarios.

An extended summary of NCHRP Report 750, Volume 5 is available for download. A 4-page brochure and a 2-page brochure that further summarize the research results are also available for download.

NCHRP Report 750, Volume 5 is the fifth in a series of reports being produced by NCHRP Project 20-83: Long-Range Strategic Issues Facing the Transportation Industry. Major trends affecting the future of the United States and the world will dramatically reshape transportation priorities and needs. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) established the NCHRP Project 20-83 research series to examine global and domestic long-range strategic issues and their implications for state departments of transportation (DOTs); AASHTO’s aim for the research series is to help prepare the DOTs for the challenges and benefits created by these trends.

Other volumes in this series currently available include:
• NCHRP Report 750: Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 1: Scenario Planning for Freight Transportation Infrastructure Investment
• NCHRP Report 750: Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 2: Climate Change, Extreme Weather Events, and the Highway System: Practitioner’s Guide and Research Report
• NCHRP Report 750: Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 3: Expediting Future Technologies for Enhancing Transportation System Performance
• NCHRP Report 750: Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 4: Sustainability as an Organizing Principle for Transportation Agencies
• NCHRP Report 750: Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 6: The Effects of Socio-Demographics on Future Travel Demand

Freight Transportation Research Needs Statements, E-Circular 048

TRB Transportation Research Circular E-C048: Freight Transportation Research Needs Statements identifies critical issues in freight transportation as a resource for researchers in the freight area and serves as a seedbed for further discussion and analysis from a wider cross-section of freight practitioners.

Literature Searches and Literature Reviews for Transportation Research Projects: How to Search, Where to Search, and How to Put it all Together: Current Practices

Research projects sponsored by state departments of transportation (DOTs) routinely require a literature review as part of the research effort. The literature review is a critical portion of the research process in any field of inquiry and an important component of the final research report. For the researcher, a literature review helps to clarify the scope of the research project by creating a narrative of what is and is not known in the field and where there are areas of dispute. For the customer of the research and other readers, the review also provides valuable context, establishes the researcher?s expertise, and relates the findings of the project to what is already known.

However, investigators tasked with developing literature reviews for transportation research projects may not always be aware of the importance of the literature review or have an
adequate understanding of the necessary steps for producing a high-quality review. This may lead to the submission of literature reviews that are incomplete, unfocused, poorly explained, or otherwise inadequate. This E-circular is the result of a 2-year collaborative effort by more than 50 individuals.
The publication is aimed at all transportation researchers, including university investigators, graduate students, consultants, and practitioners at state and federal transportation agencies. The e-circular also will be useful to sponsors of research when conducting initial literature searches
and evaluating literature reviews to determine the quality of the products received.

Research Need to Research Result-Explanation

Explains the diagram of the research process from research need to research results, with links to entities referenced and a cross-link to the diagram.

This document was developed in a joint effort by the RAC Coordination and Collaboration Task Force and the TRB Conduct of Research Committee.

Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 3: Expediting Future Technologies for Enhancing Transportation System Performance

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 750: Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 3: Expediting Future Technologies for Enhancing Transportation System Performance presents the systematic technology reconnaissance, evaluation, and adoption methodology (STREAM).

STREAM is a process that transportation agencies can use to identify, assess, shape, and adopt new and emerging technologies to help achieve long-term system performance objectives. The process reflects relevant trends in technologies and their applications and is designed to help transportation agencies anticipate, adapt to, and shape the future.

NCHRP Report 750, Volume 3 is the third in a series of reports being produced by NCHRP Project 20-83: Long-Range Strategic Issues Facing the Transportation Industry. Major trends affecting the future of the United States and the world will dramatically reshape transportation priorities and needs. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) established the NCHRP Project 20-83 research series to examine global and domestic long-range strategic issues and their implications for state departments of transportation (DOTs); AASHTO’s aim for the research series is to help prepare the DOTs for the challenges and benefits created by these trends.

Other volumes in this series currently available include:
• NCHRP Report 750: Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 1: Scenario Planning for Freight Transportation Infrastructure Investment
• NCHRP Report 750: Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 2: Climate Change, Extreme Weather Events, and the Highway System: Practitioner’s Guide and Research Report>
• NCHRP Report 750: Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 4: Sustainability as an Organizing Principle for Transportation Agencies
• NCHRP Report 750: Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 5: Preparing State Transportation Agencies for an Uncertain Energy Future
• NCHRP Report 750: Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 6: The Effects of Socio-Demographics on Future Travel Demand

How To Write an Effective Research Statement

Writing an effective research statement is not a simple matter, even to transportation practitioners who face serious problems and challenges on a daily basis. The research needed might be obvious to them but difficult to describe to non-specialists. They may not have thought about how to quantify it or how to justify the needed research with respect to other agency or national priorities. A serious problem to them might not even be on a decision maker?s radar screen.

This document was written to provide some guidance on developing research statements for funding consideration. The categories below are based on those of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, but they should be adaptable to any research funding program.

Research Funding Guidebook

Transportation research needs are broad, cutting across modes, geographic levels, and types of research. The organizations conducting transportation research and the research programs themselves are diverse. While there is considerable strength in this diversity, it can be difficult to navigate through these programs. Where can I find funding? Who is conducting research in my area of interest? Where do I find the cutting-edge research products?

To help the transportation community access research programs more efficiently, the TRB Conduct of Research Committee, the AASHTO Research Advisory Committee, TRB Staff, and transportation professionals from across the country worked together to produce Funding Sources for Transportation Research: Competitive Programs. The first version of this web resource was posted in December 2008. It will be updated regularly with additional research programs, information and updates for the existing programs, and tips and advice.