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    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
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    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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      <title>Research in Progress (RIP)</title>
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      <link>https://rip.trb.org/</link>
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    <item>
      <title>Transportation and Mental Health in Central Texas Using 211 Call Center Data – An Exploratory Analysis</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2652177</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Mental health is an important part of an individual’s well-being and has been included as a key topic by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Lack of access to affordable and efficient transportation can isolate individuals, limiting their ability to maintain employment, attend healthcare appointments, or engage in social and recreational activities—all of which are vital for mental well-being.  Long commutes, traffic congestion, and unreliable transit can contribute to chronic stress, anxiety, and fatigue, especially in urban environments. Active transportation options like walking and cycling not only reduce stress but also promote physical activity, which can reduce symptoms of depression.  
The research project aims to understand the multifaceted relationships between transportation and mental health by conducting a literature review using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) in topic modeling to identify prevailing themes and research trends in transportation and mental health. Also, through collaboration with United Way for Greater Austin, this project will incorporate insights from 211 Call Center staff and volunteers to better understand transportation-related mental health concerns, from a frontline service perspective. The project will then analyze 211 Call Center data provided by the United Way for Greater Austin. This analysis will explore spatial and temporal variations in mental health-related issues and examine how transportation correlates with mental health concerns. Caller comments, when available, will complement the quantitative data by providing personal context and deepening the understanding of lived experiences. Ultimately, the findings will inform policy recommendations aimed at addressing transportation barriers as a means to improve mental health outcomes in communities.    
]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 13 Jan 2026 15:19:02 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2652177</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Supporting Workforce Mental Health and Work Zone Safety

</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2558376</link>
      <description><![CDATA[State departments of transportation (DOTs) have long prioritized minimizing disruption to the traveling public during transportation projects, often resulting in accelerated schedules and work zones positioned adjacent to live traffic. While traffic operations in the work zones continue, workers have experienced the consequences of working in these work zones. These consequences may include long working hours, high-pressure deadlines, staffing challenges, adverse environmental conditions, and exposure to dangerous work environments that may compound and affect workers' mental health.

While mental health efforts—such as awareness initiatives, training programs, employee assistance programs, and other resources—are helpful, they remain insufficient without practical tools and strategies to support workforce mental health on the job site. Mental health impacts are rarely considered in project design, scheduling, delivery, or maintenance processes. Incorporating mental health considerations into all project phases—from planning to delivery—could not only enhance workers’ safety and satisfaction but also help state DOTs and their construction partners attract and retain talent by fostering safer work environments. To support long-term improvements, research is needed to develop strategies and decision-making tools that balance transportation workforce well-being with public mobility, tight deadlines, and cost constraints.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this research is to develop a guide that includes strategies and decision-making tools that state DOTs and their partners can use to integrate mental health considerations into project phases while balancing mobility, deadlines, and cost constraints.

]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 29 May 2025 12:53:33 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2558376</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Mental States &amp; Machine: Enhancing Driver Engagement in Automated Vehicles for Safer Transitions</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2431167</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Automated vehicles still need human drivers to take over when the system reaches limitations. This proposed research aims to conduct three phases of studies to understand the impact of various mental states on takeover performance, develop machine learning models for predicting these interactions, and design an advanced Human-Machine Interface (HMI) tool. Together, these phases seek to enhance traffic operations, bolster infrastructure resilience, and fortify transportation cybersecurity, ensuring a safer and more efficient future for automated driving.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 19 Sep 2024 14:32:10 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2431167</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Synthesis of Information Related to Transit Practices. Topic SA-63. Strengthening the Transit Workforce Through Operator Health and Wellbeing</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2410394</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Public transit agencies are facing significant operator workforce shortages that was only exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The lower-than-normal hiring and retention rates, coupled with an aging workforce and stressors affecting operators’ physical and mental health are the leading factors contributing the workforce shortage conundrum. Research finds that transit operators are experiencing adverse impacts on health and wellbeing given the demands and stressors of the occupation. According to an article published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, exposure to work‐related psychosocial hazards is projected to become a major occupational health and safety threat.[1] There is an urgent call to address work‐related psychosocial hazards and improve worker well‐being.

Increased probabilities of poor health outcomes for transit operators may be tied to the larger health disparities. These factors are contributing to the operator recruitment and retention phenomenon, in which transit agencies are starting to pilot innovative approaches aimed at reducing the stresses associated with role. A few examples include alternative scheduling approaches, new classifications of leave time that allow for recovery following trauma exposure, and material benefits such as childcare supports. While these approaches are in a novel stage, there is minimal research exploring the relationship between operator health, the health risks associated with being a transit operator, and how actual or proposed workforce solutions consider these issues. 

Objective: The purpose of this synthesis is to better understand how exposure to psychosocial hazards impact operators’ health and wellbeing. This synthesis shall identify strategies transit agencies are employing to reduce the risk of adverse impacts on operator health and well-being.

Information to be Gathered: At a minimum, the contractor shall gather the following information: (1) human resource data about operator tenure, employee classification, and leave data that can be linked to demographic data; (2) prevalence of psychosocial hazards; (3) initiatives used to mitigate the psychosocial hazards; (4) partnerships and/or programs that involve transit agencies and unions that address operator health and workforce strength.

How the Information will be Gathered: Literature Review, Survey of transit public transit agencies, and Case examples.

[1] Psychosocial hazards are factors in the work environment that can cause stress, strain, or interpersonal problems for the worker. Factors such as organizational culture, interpersonal relationships at work, and working conditions can have adverse effects on the mental and physical wellbeing of operators.
]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 29 Jul 2024 15:58:55 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2410394</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Practices. Topic 56-04. Practices on Mental Health, Suicide Prevention, and Addiction Mitigation in Construction and Maintenance
</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2384704</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The National Cooperative Highway Research program (NCHRP) Synthesis 658: Mental Health, Suicide Prevention, and Addiction Mitigation in Construction and Maintenance presents the state of practice of state departments of transportation (DOTs) on addressing mental health issues, suicide, and substance misuse in construction and maintenance workforces. The synthesis includes information on trends in these workplace issues and initiatives in use by state DOTs and industry partners to address them.

Under NCHRP Synthesis Project 20-05/Topic 56-04, “Practices on Mental Health, Suicide Prevention, and Addiction Mitigation in Construction and Maintenance,” Colorado State University was asked to synthesize information to document state DOT practices on education and promotion of mental health, suicide prevention, and addiction mitigation for highway workers. Information used in this study was obtained through a literature review, a survey of state DOTs, and interviews to develop in-depth case examples. Chapter 4 provides five case examples that highlight policies, workforce awareness of programs, deployed mental health programs, performance measures, and organizational dynamics.

This synthesis is an immediately useful document that records the practices that were acceptable within the limitations of the knowledge available at the time of its preparation. As progress in research and practice continues, new knowledge will be added to that now at hand. The audience for this synthesis is state DOT human resource employees, construction and maintenance workforce supervisors, and employee safety officials.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 31 May 2024 20:22:03 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2384704</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Impact of Rail Trespasser Fatalities &amp; Suicide on Mental Health and Safety Culture of Rail Transportation Workers</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1982054</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Trespasser fatalities and railroad suicide are significant concerns of the rail industry and the Federal Railroad Administration. Approximately 289 individuals commit suicide each year on the U.S. rail system accounting for almost one third of the fatalities related to railroad operations in the U.S. Railroad carriers alone cannot solve this tragic loss of life. The proposed project will assess the impact of exposure to trespasser fatalities and suicide on the mental health, safety and perceived safety culture of railroad workers and related first responders, law enforcement, and others. Several measures designed to assess compassion fatigue, secondary trauma, awareness of common myths associated with suicide and corporate safety culture will be administered to a sample of railroad workers and other key first line responders who will be attending railroad safety briefings and a rail suicide awareness program. The proposed research is expected to benefit railroad employees and related personnel by documenting the impact of railroad trespasser suicide and fatalities on perceived safety culture and lead to creating a checklist for identifying the effects associated with these events. The project will also promote awareness of effects and possible prevention techniques for responding to these events.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 15 Jun 2022 15:42:01 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1982054</guid>
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      <title>Mental Health, Wellness, and Resilience for Transit System Workers</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1753478</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Transit system workers have traditionally been subject to chronic and acute stressors that can contribute to mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, burnout, and post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD).  In turn, these issues can lead to increased risk of injuries and chronic diseases, workplace dysfunction, safety issues, presenteeism, absenteeism, turnover, and cost impacts.   The emergence of a novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and the ongoing pandemic add another layer of stressors on essential workers including transit system workers. There have been media reports about transit workers exposed to the virus and falling ill, and several hundred have died. The mental health implications of the pandemic with its risk of exposure, illness, and potential death has not been widely examined, nor has the relationship between employee mental health and the effect of these issues on recruitment and retention.

 

The pandemic compounds the chronic stressors with a unique set of acute stressors that are amplified by the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous nature of the pandemic. These include potential personal exposure to the virus, as well as the potential to expose family members; the shortage or delay of engineering controls; lack of personal protective equipment (PPE); and the problems associated with social distancing, job uncertainty, layoffs, physical and verbal assaults, extended or shortened hours, and disruption of work schedules and tasks. The most effective and efficient way to provide relevant and actionable information to transit systems on these topics would be to study the mental health, wellness, and resilience of transit workers, as well as programs, policies and practices of transit systems in addressing these issues. This will require examining the chronic stressors and outcomes in pre-pandemic times and then exploring the acute stressors of trying to survive in highly exposed occupations, amid a pandemic. It will also require exploring transit systems’ workplace culture, including labor-management relations and work organization, and assessing whether the culture contributes to the mental health of employees.

The objective of this project is to develop a comprehensive guidebook and interactive products that would assist transit agencies and other stakeholders in exploring or implementing approaches to identify and mitigate the factors that cause negative impacts on mental health, wellness, and resilience for transit system workers. Some examples of products may include fact sheets, toolkits, checklists, a resource guide, training curricula, and/or interactive products or other methods for sharing and disseminating the information. A sustainability plan for the ongoing use of the products should be included. ]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 23 Nov 2020 16:26:17 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1753478</guid>
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