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    <title>Research in Progress (RIP)</title>
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    <language>en-us</language>
    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. 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>
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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>Investigating Transit Characteristics and Road Safety Outcomes</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2643028</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Public transit systems influence roadway safety through changes in travel behavior, congestion levels, and modal distribution, yet the specific mechanisms linking transit characteristics to safety outcomes are not well quantified. While prior studies suggest that higher transit use is associated with improved safety, agencies lack clear guidance on which system features contribute most to these effects. This project addresses that gap through large-scale data integration and predictive modeling.

The research will combine crash data, transit system attributes, roadway network characteristics, and demographic indicators from national and regional data sources. Machine learning models will be developed to predict crash rates as a function of transit network size, service intensity, demand, and multimodal shares. Explainable modeling techniques will be used to identify the most influential predictors of safety outcomes at both metropolitan and town levels. Results will provide actionable evidence to support data-driven transit planning and roadway safety strategies.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 18 Dec 2025 14:54:04 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2643028</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Heat Straightening Repair in Connecticut</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2566904</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The proposed research aims to establish the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT)’s own heat straightening repair guidelines and protocols. Additionally, the establishment of a dedicated heat straightening training program to equip CTDOT's engineers and contractors with the necessary skills and knowledge is to be proposed. For this research, an evaluation of the current conditions of heat straightening repair in New England, with a primary focus on Connecticut is to be performed. Through visits, surveys of the Department of Transportations (DOTs), and analysis of repair sites and previous damage-repair databases, the research seeks to enhance understanding of the most frequently damaged steel bridge types and the extent of damage in the region.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 18 Jun 2025 13:59:44 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2566904</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Advancing the Motorcoach Seatbelt Promotional Campaign on Regularly Scheduled Routes and Charter Services in New England to Reduce Fatalities and Injury Severity</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2472697</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Despite federal mandates requiring seatbelt installation on new motorcoaches since 2016, passenger seatbelt usage remains critically low, with rates under 5% compared to 90% in automobiles. This study seeks to improve motorcoach safety by developing and testing a set of promotional actions, implemented onboard, at boarding platforms, and in terminals, to encourage seatbelt use. The project will measure the impact of these actions through pre- and post-intervention seatbelt usage counts across New England routes and explore opportunities for state and federal regulatory support. By disseminating an expanded promotional kit and engaging stakeholders, the research aims to establish industry-wide best practices for seatbelt promotion, supporting the intent of safety regulations and reducing fatalities and injuries in motorcoach travel.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 09 Dec 2024 10:12:35 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2472697</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>How Do Mode-Specific Network Metrics Impact Safety Outcomes?</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2472695</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Public transit and active transportation networks have been associated with improvements in multimodal traffic safety, yet their impacts in rural and peri-urban areas remain underexplored. This research evaluates the role of mode-specific network metrics—quantifying size, structure, and connectivity—on crash outcomes across New England using crash data and community characteristics. Predictive models incorporating regression and machine learning methods will identify which network features influence safety, providing actionable insights for planners and policymakers. Outputs include an open-access dataset of network metrics, a dashboard for visualizing results, and a decision-support tool for improving roadway safety across varied community contexts.
]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 09 Dec 2024 10:04:49 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2472695</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>New England Transportation Consortium VII</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2427635</link>
      <description><![CDATA[A transportation research program, where research projects are conducted primarily by the Land Grant Universities of the New England states. This study was preceded by TPF-5(222), TPF-5(201), TPF-5(168), SPR-3(089), SPR-3(029), and SPR-3(009). Other state departments of transportation (DOTs) may participate in individual research projects by providing funds and a project technical committee member to represent their agency. The New England Transportation Consortium (NETC) is a research cooperative between the state DOTs of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. The NETC is a valuable regional partnership for the identification, prosecution and dissemination of shared transportation research initiatives. The NETC represents: Financial leveraging opportunities and regional partnerships; Stronger partnerships between university faculty and state DOTs; User-defined, diverse research topics; Opportunities for research dissemination and training to practitioners in the field. Now in its third decade, the NETC was developed to help New England states meet their special research needs by pooling resources and expertise. The NETC is now a well-established successful multistate partnership. OBJECTIVES: To pool the financial, professional and academic resources of the region and to use them to research and develop improved methods of dealing with common problems in the planning, design, construction, maintenance, rehabilitation, reconstruction, and operation of transportation systems in the participating states. The program is intended to supplement, not to replace, ongoing state and federal research activities and other national programs such as the Cooperative Research Programs of the National Academies.


]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 12 Sep 2024 16:23:49 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2427635</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Learning a Spatial Crash Typology Representation for Analyzing and Improving Multimodal Road Safety in New England</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2325389</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The research project titled "Learning a Spatial Crash Typology Representation for Analyzing and Improving Multimodal Road Safety in New England" aims to address the persistent issue of roadway crashes and fatalities by developing a comprehensive understanding of crash patterns and drivers. Leveraging data-driven spatial crash typology, this study seeks to analyze key patterns influencing roadway crashes, considering an array of factors including geography, topology, mode of transit, vehicle type, and driver behavior. The project will collect and integrate crash data from various New England states, applying machine learning and geospatial methods to develop a typology of census tracts based on crash characteristics. The research comprises six tasks, including data collection, dimensionality reduction, clustering, typology pattern analysis, model estimation for crash type prediction, and dissemination of findings. The analysis will utilize supervised learning methods to predict crash type classification of a given census tract, considering network topology, socioeconomic data, and travel behavior. The outcomes of the research will be shared through a published dataset, a dashboard for exploring typology, and model results, enhancing the usability and relevance for state agencies in crash monitoring and mitigation.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 19 Jan 2024 10:33:35 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2325389</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Prediction and Prevention of Bridge Performance Degradation due to Corrosion, Material Loss, and Microstructural Changes (C21.2022)</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1994587</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The proposed research merges a materials science and engineering approach to corrosion science with structural engineering approaches to bridge inspection and assessment to generate and implement a corrosion prediction model for bridge inspection and asset management systems. We build on prior work identifying the progression of corrosion as a function of local chloride ion concentration ([Cl-]). The proposed work includes lab-based objectives that establish thresholds of local [Cl-] for corrosion formation and impacts of galvanic coupling, sandblast cleaning, and Znbased
coating systems on corrosion rates. Through accelerated corrosion testing, polarization
testing, and characterization of samples, a corrosion prediction model will be built for field-use. Field-based objectives include comparison of lab-based data to field collected samples and the validation of the prediction model with data gathered through bridge inspections. By working closely with two CTDOT technical contacts, we will refine and implement the prediction model on a selection of pilot bridges in the field. Regular meetings with DOT contacts as well as the creation of an education and implementation program for the use of the refined model are key aspects of the technology transfer of the proposed research. This approach is modeled after a successful project with CTDOT in which a novel 3D scanning inspection methodology was researched, piloted, and ultimately adopted by CTDOT. The proposed work is highly relevant to New England bridges where chlorine exposure from water and de-icing salts are common.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 15 Jul 2022 15:34:46 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1994587</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Detection and Monitoring of Material Aging and Structural Deterioration using Electromagnetic and Mechanical Sensors with Virtual Reality and Machine Learning Modeling (3.19)</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1994582</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The problem we are trying to solve is the detection and monitoring of aging civil infrastructure components and systems in New England by using visual information and subsurface images in a virtual reality (VR) environment for data visualization and machine learning (ML) for data interpretation. Material aging and structural deterioration of selected candidate structures (e.g., highway bridges) will be frequently (from twice a day to once a week) inspected to develop large amount of sensor data for condition assessment using machine learning. The problem is important because, with frequent inspection of civil infrastructure systems, processing and visualization of large amount of multiple-format sensor data have become a challenging task at the system’s level for bridge engineers. Registration of 2D photographs and sensor images in a 3D environment aided with VR equipment (e.g., headsets, handles, controllers) can help bridge engineers to better register inspection and monitoring data in multiple formats (e.g., photographs, images, texts, sketches) to actual structures. Frequent inspection of structures can produce large amount of data required by machine learning, as well as capturing the weekly, monthly, and seasonal changes of background/baseline information. In this base funded project, we propose to 1) collect electromagnetic (EM) (e.g., optical, radar, and laser sensors) and mechanical (e.g., impact-echo, ultrasonic testing, pulse tomography sensors) sensor data on a frequent basis (from twice a day to
once a week) to develop large amount of data for machine learning interpretation, 2) study the effect of material aging on structural deterioration of highway bridges, and 3) develop a VR platform for rendering sensor data (including bridge rating and inspection reports) of inspected bridges in a 3D environment for the convenient interpretation of sensor data.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 15 Jul 2022 15:24:54 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1994582</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Investigating the Effectiveness of Enzymatic Stabilizers for Reclaimed Stabilized Base Projects (3.13)</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1875949</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Rehabilitation of existing pavement structures is a primary objective in many roadway constructions projects in New England (NE) region. Reclaimed stabilized base (RSB) with an appropriate stabilizing agent is an appealing option for many rehabilitation projects. Depending on the type of base layer, various traditional stabilizing agents (e.g. cement, lime, calcium chloride, asphalt emulsion) are used in RSB projects to rehabilitate roadways by reclaiming the base material. Despite their advantages, traditional stabilizers entail some disadvantages (e.g. chemical reactions that might lead to disintegration of bonds). An alternative to the traditional stabilizers is using enzymatic stabilizers (e.g. lingosulphonate, terrazyme, bio-grouting) or a combination of an enzyme with traditional stabilizers in RSB leading to an improved stabilization outcome. The overarching goal of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness of enzymatic stabilizers in RSB projects in Vermont and the NE region. The outcomes of this project will provide the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) and other NE Departments of Transportation (DOTs) with the right tools (e.g. guidelines and recommendation) that will assist engineers in (i) determining the appropriate enzymatic agent for the type of base/subbase material, (ii) improving the success rate of the RSB projects while using sustainable techniques, (iii) increasing pavement durability and service life and consequently savings in maintenance costs, and (iv) increasing roadway safety.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 14 Jul 2022 12:01:22 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1875949</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Performance Structural Concrete Optimized for Cost, Durability, and Manufacturability (2.13)</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1875948</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The primary goal is to develop concrete mix designs that meet modern high-performance durability requirements while being practical to manufacture with New England-sourced materials and suppliers. These new Performance Concrete or High Performance Concrete (HPC) mix designs use graded aggregates, silica fumes, slags, fly ash, fibers, and other admixtures to increase strength and durability. This study spans three years and combines laboratory and production facility tests. The university investigators will work in close cooperation with partners in the concrete industry and state transportation agencies. The overall deliverable is a prescription for a concrete mix that suppliers can use with New England sourced materials for performance concrete. The objectives are as follows: (1) Develop cost optimized mixes in the laboratory using New England sourced materials, (2) Interact with concrete suppliers, (3) Participate in pilot tests at concrete supplier(s), (4) Evaluate performance on large scaled structural elements, and (5) Reporting and technology transfer. A key feature is the complexity of the mixes and the sensitivity to variations in proportions and composition. This project will use machine learning methods to sort through the complexity to predict the performance of new mix compositions, along with conventional statistical analysis and curve-fitting techniques.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 14 Jul 2022 11:52:59 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1875948</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Concrete Systems for a 100-Year Design Life (2.2)</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1875940</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The overall objective is to develop a suite of highly durable concrete systems suitable
for a range of transportation infrastructure applications, given the range of constituent
availability (e.g. appropriate aggregates, supplementary cementitious materials),
conventions for structural details, and typical New England exposure conditions
ranging from coastal to mountains, that are suitable for 100-year design life
structures.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 14 Jul 2022 11:28:40 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1875940</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Enhancing the Durability of Bridge Decks by Incorporating Microencapsulated 
Phase Change Materials (PCMs) in Concrete (2.16)</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1875140</link>
      <description><![CDATA[In Rhode Island and other New England states, combined effects of freeze-thaw-induced damage and chloride ingress (from deicing salts) make it very challenging to maintain the quality of concrete on bridges and road surfaces. This project will develop, evaluate, and assess the feasibility of incorporating microencapsulated phase change materials (PCMs) into the concrete to reduce freeze-thaw/chloride ingress-induced degradation. Under freezing ambient conditions, when PCMs freeze, they release a large amount of heat that helps keep the deck/pavement warmer. As a result, PCMs can reduce the number of freeze-thaw cycles in bridge decks which can lead to a significant reduction in damage/ingress of salt and an increase in life expectancy. In this project, a series of comprehensive experiments will be performed to evaluate the influence of PCM-incorporated concrete overlays on the freeze-thaw damage response and durability of concrete against chloride ingress. Moreover, the experimental results will be synergistically integrated with a robust performance prediction tool to enable efficient design of PCM concrete overlays specifically targeted for winter weather conditions in Rhode Island and other northeastern states.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 28 Aug 2021 18:39:09 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1875140</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Incorporation of Pollinator Plantings to Enhance Ecosystem Functions and  Durability of Transportation Right-of-Way Infrastructure (2.15)</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1875139</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Highway right-of-ways (ROWs) provide numerous ecosystem services beyond erosion control. Incorporation of native grasses and flowering plants into ROW plantings can further increase the services by providing habitat for endangered native pollinators while improving aesthetics, erosion control, and stormwater filtration. However, highway ROWs are not natural habitats. The roadway itself alters the micro-climate of the roadside, and safety considerations require much of the ROW to be maintained as grassland or scrubland. In New England these are early succession ecosystems and must be regularly mowed or otherwise disturbed. Many New England wildflowers are not adapted to the roadside environment, while wildflowers used on roadsides in other regions are not native in New England and may not be adapted to the soils or climate. This project will use vegetation surveys and adaptation trials to identify native and naturalized flowering plants adapted to the highway ROW environment, and will create trial plantings in the highway ROW to identify best practices for establishing native grasses and forbs from seed on the roadside. Roadsides have been successfully maintained as habitat for native plants, pollinators, small animals and birds in other regions but very little management of roadside for habitat has occurred in New England. Best practices from other regions need to be tested to determine whether they are appropriate in New England since soils, climate, and native species differ. Trial plantings will be established in partnership with RIDOT Maintenance to ensure that the establishment methods used are possible with the equipment and employee skills available.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 28 Aug 2021 18:31:56 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1875139</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Implementation of UHPC Technology into the New England 
Construction Industry (2.14)</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1875138</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The proposed research aims at the development and implementation of cost effective non-proprietary high and ultrahigh performance concrete (UHPC) mix designs. Research emphasis is being placed on testing and analysis of durability properties of promising UHPC mixtures, as well as testing large scale mixing in collaboration with industry partners in the field. Knowledge transfer, educating personnel and quality control will be vital parts in this project to make this challenging task a success. Upon success, this project will provide a great opportunity to enhance the sustainability and longevity of our bridge infrastructure.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 28 Aug 2021 18:28:32 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1875138</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Wireless Joint Monitoring System (w-JMS) for Safety of Highway Bridges (1.16)
</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1875096</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Maintaining the safety and stability of a bridge is a series concern of our nation. ASCE report cards repeatedly give low grades for our bridges indicating the immediate needs for repair and maintenance. The bridges’ expansion joints of our regions are especially vulnerable because of continuous thermal expansions and shrinkage under the severe weather situation in New England. Although major bridges were visually inspected every 2 years to check their conditions which are time consuming, costly, that method often times fails to provide the necessary information if not inspected in the time frame. To assist timely maintenance and increase structures’ life span, a low-cost continuous monitoring system is desired. The objectives of this research project are to develop a wireless monitoring system for bridges’ expansion joints and to deploy the sensors on a field bridge under changes in temperature, humidity, and other live loads. The proposed project will provide comprehensive structural health monitoring framework using commercial wireless sensors networks that can be readily deployed in the field structures for real-time damage alert to the bridge owners. The eventual vision of the project is to increase the service life of our bridges by timely maintenance by real-time continuous monitoring.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 28 Aug 2021 18:13:33 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1875096</guid>
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