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    <title>Research in Progress (RIP)</title>
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    <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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      <title>SmartPhone Travel Incentives Study</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2100891</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The study seeks to learn about traveler preferences and trade-offs, and potential approaches to use smartphone applications in ways to reduce congestion by varying communications protocols and user incentives.  The funds would be used to fully fund the option tasks that would expand the number of cities in which the application would be tested and made available.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 18 Jan 2023 11:17:34 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2100891</guid>
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      <title>Travel Behavior Analysis with Chittenden County Survey Data
</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1656357</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The greater Burlington region of Chittenden County, Vermont is the only small urban area in the state.  The Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission conducted travel behavior surveys in 2000, 2006, 2012, and 2018. These surveys are unique in the degree to which they collect information about traveler attitudes and priorities for regional transportation investments, as well as the degree of consistency in their survey instruments, enabling a unique opportunity to analyze changes over time. The surveys each contain disaggregate (individual-level) data, and 2006, 2012, and 2018 surveys each contain approximately 500 observations and were designed to be representative of the regional population. This project is an opportunity to conduct the first original travel behavior research using the data from these surveys.  The research team will conduct a literature review and background research, including the generation of several maps of the study area that provide a visual representation of the spatial layout of travel facilities, key transit routes, and demographics such as density and poverty.  Using the data from the four surveys, researchers will conduct regression modeling to assess the relationship between the outcomes of interest and the factors that influence them. The survey designs are particularly well-suited to the factor identification and cluster analysis techniques that aid in traveler segmentation, used to better understand characteristics of the subgroups within the population. This project may inform transportation policy and planning in small urban areas, as well as efforts to more effectively target subgroups in the population most willing and able to reduce their car reliance.
]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 09 Feb 2021 17:44:15 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1656357</guid>
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      <title>Improved Safety  for Winter Travel along Minimally Improved Routes</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1733249</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Weather conditions can severely restrict the transportation mobility and accessibility of rural Alaskan villages. Winter storms and blowing snow also pose several transportation safety issues and forces many residents to remain isolated in their communities during the winter months. A few residents per village may have the experience/wherewithal (colloquially referred to as “travelers”) to venture out on the road and winter route systems to engage in socially critical interactions with other communities/villages. This travel is facilitated by the existence of route markers along predefined and preferred overland routes.
This project has three goals
(1) Develop a reliable, low maintenance foundation for the route markers developed by Kawerak.
(2) Install and test a Remote Weather Information System (RWIS) to provide weather information along the route
(3) Count the number of users of the route system]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 25 Aug 2020 16:45:43 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1733249</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>The Socialization of Travel: The Effects of Traveler Social Networks on Resiliency in Traffic Networks</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1419893</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This working paper serves as a starting point for a broader long-term research program on the socialization of travel in an information era. The focus is on the role social networks play in motivating resiliency in transportation infrastructures and their interdependence with other infrastructures. The concept of behavioral resiliency in traffic networks is characterized and further investigated as an outcome of social networks, their connectivity, strength of relations and key members. Two infrastructures providing context are transportation and social infrastructures, which have witnessed rapid socialization, both increasingly intertwining with each other. One motivating factor for this interrelatedness is the market penetration of mobile technologies and apps, such as smart phones, allowing travelers to share information across wide spatial and temporal geographies. A second motivating factor is the emergence of demand-responsive mobility services, such as Uber and bike shares, that rely on advances in technology, changing demographics, and evolving residential and commuting patterns. Both factors provide backdrop for this paper, underscoring the importance of social infrastructures that facilitate social networks, which in turn govern travel decisions in infrastructures with these mobility services.

Serving as an exploratory analysis, this paper will conduct a series of agent-based simulation experiments that explore the resiliency of travelers as a function of travelers’ social networks with varying attributes (i.e. size, connectivity, etc.) and communication mechanisms among members. The decision context will be departure time and route choices in a traffic network, similar to those conducted in past studies (Chen and Mahmassani 2004, 2006; Mahmassani et al. 1982). This paper will make two main contributions to the academic literature. First this paper will examine resiliency from an individual travel decision standpoint, broadening its characterization in the existing literature which has been largely dominated by a systems or network perspective on resiliency. More specifically, given that users face a network perturbation, in this paper resiliency refers to the recover in their decisions to pre-perturbation experiences. More resilient travelers will select alternatives or options that minimize the effects from the perturbation. The specific context here is traffic where travelers make decisions on departure time, route and travel mode. The second contribution of this work is to characterize the relationships between social network and resiliency in transportation infrastructures. A central hypothesis is that social networks matter for ensuring resiliency. From an individual user standpoint, the resiliency of decisions in the aftermath of a perturbation likely depends on the social networks present, which facilitate the sharing of experiences, observations and possible courses of action. While, broadly speaking, the impact of social networks on resiliency from a systems and individual user perspective is expected, the exact mechanisms, such as the interactions between social network members are unknown.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 12 Aug 2016 16:55:58 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1419893</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Travel Importance and Strategic Investment in Vermont's Transportation Assets</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1357363</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Studies of the stated preferences of travelers indicate that different travelers value trips differently and suggest that non-discretionary trips should be treated differently from discretionary trips. The current Network Robustness Index (NRI) calculation treats all trips as equally valuable and equally important. While treating all trips as equally important can be considered a socially-equitable approach and it is the approach that is most common in practice, this project argues that the inclusion of trip-importance with respect to the reason for a trip is needed to move toward a more efficient modeling approach which provides information that is useful for strategic re-investment and strategic disinvestment. This project proposes to include consideration of the reason for travel, and the monetary value of different trip purposes, into the NRI methodology. Including trip values in the modeling approach will allow decision-makers to examine the impacts of travel-time delays to both discretionary and non-discretionary passenger trips on the entire network. In addition, consideration will be given to how delays to freight may affect the network. The types of decisions that are affected include prioritization of maintenance and improvement projects, influencing of route-choices and emergency-routes, and the need for development of communications infrastructure.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 12 Jun 2015 01:01:12 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1357363</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Distracted Highway Users at Highway-rail Grade Crossings</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1251926</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The objective of this research is to assess the incidences of distracted drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists at highway-rail grade crossings, using data collected in the field and provide guidance on countermeasure strategies. Distractions for highway users have increased over the past decade, due to the widespread availability of electronic gadgets that allow owners to listen to music, talk, text, and use the Internet while on the road. Significant research emphasis has been on distracted drivers; however, pedestrians and bicyclists are also susceptible, especially at highway-rail grade crossings where mistakes could easily result in fatalities. A total of 2,397 highway-rail grade crossing collisions were reported in 2008, resulting in 286 deaths and more than 900 injuries. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) statistics show that in 78 of these vehicle-train collisions, the cause was listed as "highway user inattentiveness," resulting in 14 deaths and 117 injuries. Other FRA statistics show that in 488 grade crossing crashes, vehicles ran into trains already present at the crossings. Of those crashes, more than 60% were at crossings equipped with either gates or flashing lights, while just over 33% occurred at crossings with either stop or crossbuck signs. Although these crashes may have multiple causes, distracted driving appears to be a contributing factor. A highway-rail crossing located in Fremont, NE will be studied for distracted drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists by using observers in the field and a video recording system. Additional data will be gathered by surveying a sample of the grade crossing users. This location already has the needed electric power, while a new camera and digital video recorder will be installed. Collected data will be analyzed for instances of distracted usage of the crossing by drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists. The results will provide information for the development of an informed strategy on reducing distracted usage of grade crossings.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 05 Jun 2013 01:01:50 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1251926</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>A-One Plus</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1232164</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The primary functions of the Highways Agency (HA) is to manage traffic, tackle congestion, provide information to road users and improve safety and journey time reliability, whilst respecting and minimizing the adverse impact on the environment. As part of this program the Highways Agency are undertaking a major scheme to make the M61 quieter and safer. This will involve the replacement of the steel barrier in the central reserve with a new continuous concrete barrier to help prevent cross-over accidents. In order to improve journey time reliability, TRL are providing Dynamic Roadspace Utilisation Manager (DRUM) technologies. This system delivers a new traffic management system for roadworks that's based on the ebb and flow of traffic, rather than rigid timetables allowing lane closures to begin earlier and finish later when the conditions are right. It responds quickly to upcoming variations in capacity demand and helps minimise disruption to journey time reliability without compromising safety. This in turn helps ensure traffic jams are reduced and enables the job to be completed more efficiently and cost-effectively. The client are undertaking this project as a trial for the AOne+ consortium to explore the potential benefits of the DRUM solution.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 03 Jan 2013 14:33:09 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1232164</guid>
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