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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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    <item>
      <title>Examining Transportation Infrastructure Investments at Large Employment Hubs for Improving Workers’ Travel: A Case Study of the Denver International Airport</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2557003</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The U.S. economy has evolved into specialized sectors where a variety of workers are needed. These sectors are as varied as logistics, information technology, health, recreation, education, and travel. Often specialized employment hubs are located outside urban centers due to cheaper land or other accessibility benefits for the movement of goods and services. Large employment hubs, located away from urban centers, are unique in their challenges for transportation for workers. Broadly, researchers have shown that the heterogeneous nature of employment agglomeration has varying impacts on commute distance, congestion, and travel mode choice. Most workers may decide to drive to and from work since transit is generally limited especially during off-peak travel times and active transportation is infeasible to/from such destinations due to greater travel distance. This pushes workers to rely on single-occupancy vehicle trips, with accompanying impacts on higher congestion in and around large employment centers.

Denver International Airport is a case study of such a large employment hub, located outside the urban center, serving 82.3 million passengers in 2024. The Airport employs about 40,000 people who experience traffic congestion, higher out-of-pocket costs, and other issues while traveling to and from work. In this research, the research team will build on previous work conducted with the Airport during the Fall 2023 semester, where Dr. Shirgaokar’s graduate transportation class had the Airport as a client and studied transportation investments to aid workers’ travel. Separately, the Airport conducted a large survey of employees (n=2700) and collected data through other techniques by engaging with both workers and on-site employers (e.g., concessioners). Denver International Airport will act as subject-matter experts and provide access to data assets and feedback for this research.

The main objective of this research is to identify consumer segments in the employee pool at the Airport through statistical analysis. The team asks: Based on stated travel preferences, what types of infrastructure investments can make travel for workers more efficient? The research team, in close collaboration with the Airport staff, will also engage directly with workers at the Airport using semi-structured interviews and/or focus groups to gather deeper insights regarding what workers value in terms of easing transportation to/from the Airport. Especially in cases such as airports, transportation investments are made with passengers in mind. The Denver International Airport’s focus on workers’ travel needs is timely and offers a unique opportunity to study policy changes in real time. The research team will help with evaluation of several strategies that the Airport will roll out during 2025-26. Working closely with the Airport Planning & Design team, this research is uniquely positioned to have a significant technology transfer component in terms of evaluation of infrastructure investment strategies and consumer segment identification.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 26 May 2025 13:04:27 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2557003</guid>
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    <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>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Utah Transit Authority, Suicide Prevention Research and Demonstration Project</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2096559</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This project proposes to demonstrate an innovative Radar/Camera Surveillance and Detection System that will give early warning so that an operational approach can be implemented to react to trespassers on its FrontRunner commuter and TRAX light rail systems. The system includes PTZ camera, radar, load speaker, and Red/Blue LED lights and connects to  the Rail Control Centers.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 13 Jan 2023 14:49:09 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2096559</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Listening to Passengers: Data-Driven Investigations of Public Perceptions at Transportation Hubs to Improve Equity and Accessibility of Underrepresented Populations</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2008000</link>
      <description><![CDATA[In the built environment, accessibility of people with disabilities has been improved by adopting ADA standards. For the project life cycle aspect, current efforts focused rather on the design and construction stages, but with a lack of consideration for the operation of transportation infrastructure. After the COVID 19 pandemic, citizens have been asked (or required) to change their behavior at
public transportation hubs (e.g., airports). Consequently, new challenges for passengers with disabilities have arisen, demanding operational changes to ensure maintenance of equal access for all visitors. In the proposed research, the study team will identify such challenges by using a novel data mining
technique on a large public perception data (64 hub airports). Then, the team will apply their research findings to current guidelines as well as operation strategies at Dallas / Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). Specifically, the study team has developed a four-phase research method. First, they will collect location-based social media data from the Google Maps platform, which is distinct from other social media, where users share their experiences about specific locations. Then, they will apply a topic modeling technique to systemically identify public opinions of airport operations with the guidance of the Open Doors Organization, which is a non-profit focused on helping traveler with disabilities. The last two tasks will involve both professional aviation architects from Corgan and the customer satisfaction team at DFW to transfer the study team's research findings toward practical implementation. The team's innovative data-driven approach will help both designers and facility managers to make transportation hubs more equitable and accessible for passengers with disabilities.
]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 16 Aug 2022 18:07:12 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2008000</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>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Trespasser and Suicide Prevention Training for Rail Transportation Workers</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1881400</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The proposed project will address trespass and intentional death by suicide on railroads in select areas by evaluating the impact of conducting awareness and prevention training and outreach with key railroad staff, first responders, and community members proximate to the railroad right of way. Previous research has identified the need for more effective training and intervention for gatekeepers and other persons associated with or proximate to individuals considering intentional death by suicide using rail. The project will produce a checklist for railroad personnel and first responders for engaging trespassers at risk for intentional death by rail and increase public awareness and responsiveness in the community to intervene when trespassers and individuals are at risk for harming themselves using railroads. In addition, a checklist for railroad personnel that identifies steps in intervention with trespassers will also be developed. A pre-post measure of participants' and community members' attitudes and knowledge of suicide myths and intervention techniques will also be conducted. Evaluation of the project will also examine the number of trespassers, utilization of community resources, increases in knowledge skills, and self-efficacy among railroad staff, first responders, and members of the community.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 29 Sep 2021 20:40:18 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1881400</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Design of a Hub-based Intermodal Logistics System for Multi-regional Commodity Flow</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1232027</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Intermodal logistics networks offer a viable solution to geographically dispersed supply and demand points (Arnold et al. 2004, Gooley 1997). Intrmodal Logistics (IL) incorporates different transportation modes in order to deliver a more competitive service than traditional logistics systems. Nevertheless, the design and the management of such a logistics network are restricted by the existing transportation infrastructure, location of modal transfer points and logistics cost structure (Warsing et al. 2001). A hub-based logistics system, essentially, provides cost savings by creating economies of scale which is driven by consolidation of shipments. Since intermodal networks are combinations of their respective modal networks, it is natural that the hub network has emerged as the most suitable network structure for intermodal logistics (Bookbinder and Fox, 1998). Briefly, a hub network has a small number of hubs where smaller sized shipments are consolidated and shipped using intermodal containers (Ishfaq and Sox, 2010). There are a number of multi-regional companies which endeavor to build their own IL systems. For example large telecommunication companies, such as Alcatel-Lucent, provide different products and services in many different regions. Especially, service part management, which requires an efficient transportation logistics network, is one of the most serious problems for such companies. In service part management, the company, such as Alcatel-Lucent, has agreements with customers which guarantee that the company either delivers the service part in a certain amount of time or pay a significant amount of penalty cost. Evidently, an efficient transportation and logistics system is a crucial requirement for such companies in order to decrease cost and increase customer satisfaction. Unfortunately, designing such an IL system involves a number of short term and long term decisions which complicates the problem such as hub location decisions. Actually, design and management of hub based logistics networks are the primary issues for IL system. More specifically, the number of 3 hubs and correspondingly their locations, and the assignments of shipments that are served by each hub need to be identified (Ishfaq and Sox 2010). Furthermore, consolidation of flows and the transportation mode between hubs, demand points and supply points have to be determined. In modern supply chains, the performance of the logistics networks is evaluated based not only on the logistics costs but also on service times (Ishfaq and Sox 2010). Therefore, there are time limitations for delivery of products so that penalty costs are incurred in the case of late product delivery, as it is the case in Alcatel-Lucent example. Such a multi-product and multi-mode logistics network design problem requires sophisticated modeling techniques and intelligent solution algorithms that high computational complexity is inherited. The project will develop a mixed integer programming (MIP) model for building such IL systems. The model will determine the locations of hubs, assign shipments for each hub, identify the transportation mode for each assignment of shipments, and finally determine the consolidation of shipments. In order to solve that MIP model, the project will also develop a heuristic solution algorithm.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 03 Jan 2013 14:30:37 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1232027</guid>
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