Transportation Research Board 2016 Annual Report (2016)

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12 | TRB 2016 Annual Report to mAnAge its reseArch, convening, and advisory activities TRB relies on five administrative units: Technical Activities, Stud- ies and Special Programs, Cooperative Research Programs, the Executive Office, and Adminis- tration and Finance. Highlights of accomplish- ments for each division in 2016 appear below; for more details about the activities of each division, see pages 16–48. technicAl Activities The Technical Activities division supports stand- ing committees and task forces, organizes the TRB Annual Meeting and other conferences and workshops, and conducts field visits to trans- portation agencies, organizations, and research institutions. TRB’s 95th Annual Meeting, held for the second time at the Walter E. Washing- ton Convention Center and Marriott Marquis Hotel in January, set another attendance record of 12,500. More than 2,160 attendees came from outside the United States—also a new record— and 30 percent were young professionals age 35 or younger. A highlight was the Chairman’s Luncheon speech by then-director of the Google Self-Driving Car Program, Chris Urmson, who described Google’s work, including a study com- paring crash rates for the self-driving car and human-driven cars; some of the data came from the SHRP 2 Naturalistic Driving Study adminis- tered by TRB. In 2016, the division organized several work- shops and conferences to advance information and communication on TRB’s strategic topics of transformational technologies, transportation system resilience, and transportation and public health. The division’s more than 200 standing technical committees and task forces, which are organized into groups and sections, sponsored the development of 865 sessions and workshops at the 2016 Annual Meeting; sponsored or co- sponsored more than 45 specialty conferences throughout the year; and produced more than 50 webinars on a variety of important topics. Stand- ing technical committees sponsored more than 15 reports, which include interim research find- ings and research problem statements, on topics such as senior mobility, the future locomotive, shared-mobility, asphalt mixture design, and freight fluidity performance measures. With the sunsetting of TRB’s second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) in 2015, the Technical Activities division became home to the SHRP 2 Safety Data Program, which oversees the Naturalistic Driving Study data for use by re- Becky McDaniel, chair of the Asphalt Materials Section, discusses TRB research and volunteer activities with new Annual Meeting attendees. (Photo: Risdon Photography) divisionAl highlights

TRB 2016 Annual Report | 13 study will advise Congress and the nation on the future role of the Interstate Highway System and on the options for funding the system. Issues addressed in 2016 by the division’s syn- thesis unit included emergency communications planning for airports, helicopter noise informa- tion for airports and communities, public per- ception of mileage-based user fees, life-cycle cost analysis for the management of highway assets, and onboard camera applications for buses. In total, more than 30,000 copies of highway, tran- sit, and airport synthesis reports were download- ed in 2016. At the 2016 TRB Annual Meeting, the high- way, transit, and safety IDEA programs conducted searchers around the world. In 2016, the Safety Data Program kicked off an effort to foster a user community for the sharing of tools and lessons learned and launched a strategic business plan- ning process to find a sustainable operational model for the database beyond 2019. studies And speciAl progrAms The Studies and Special Programs division con- venes specially appointed expert committees to conduct policy studies and program reviews, prepares synthesis reports on behalf of the Co- operative Research Programs, and manages the Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) programs. Major studies released in 2016 examined the demand for and supply of interregional trans- portation in the United States; provided advice on the use of remote real-time monitoring to improve the safety and reduce the environmen- tal risks of offshore oil and gas operations; de- veloped recommendations to strengthen and sustain the safety culture of the offshore oil and gas industry; and assessed whether the U.S. Coast Guard’s regulatory process impedes the ability of U.S. flag–registered vessels to compete effectively in international commerce. The division started several other studies, including one on the Future Interstates, requested by Congress and funded by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration. The A record 12,500 attendees convened on Washington, D.C., in January 2016 for TRB’s 95th Annual Meeting. (Photo: Risdon Photography) The Technical Activities division houses and manages data from the large-scale Naturalistic Driving Study, conducted with Virginia Tech Trans- portation Institute and other research partners, in its Safety Data Program. (Photo: Virginia Tech Transportation Institute) The Studies and Special Programs division is conducting a congressionally requested, federally funded study on the future of the U.S. Interstate Highway System.

14 | TRB 2016 Annual Report poster sessions highlighting 22 of the most prom- ising current projects. Each session received a stream of interested visitors, who interacted di- rectly with the inventors. cooperAtive reseArch progrAms The Cooperative Research Programs manage the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP), the Transit Cooperative Re- search Program (TCRP), the Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP), the National Cooper- ative Freight Research Program, the Hazardous Materials Cooperative Research Program, and the National Cooperative Rail Research Program. During 2016, these programs produced more than 100 publications and products on a range of topics valuable to practitioners. In 2016, more than 2,100 volunteers provided their time to help oversee more than 200 NCHRP projects in various stages of completion. With the rapid development and deployment of con- nected and automated vehicle technologies, the impacts of connected vehicles and automated vehicles on state and local transportation agen- cies became a focus. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ Standing Committee on Research, which selects NCHRP projects, requested the development of research roadmaps for the three critical strate- gic topics of freight transportation, transporta- tion and public health, and transformational technologies. TCRP products included transit-supportive roadway strategies; bus operator workstation design; the linking of transit agencies and land use decision making; ways to measure the eco- nomic impacts of transit projects; and opportu- nities and challenges for public transportation in relation to technology-enabled mobility services. ACRP examined the ongoing transformation of the aviation system by the next generation of technologies in the five-volume ACRP Report 150, NextGen for Airports. ACRP also released five products addressing sustainable airport opera- tions, another hot topic within the airport com- munity. The program budgeted $1 million for research on the integration of unmanned aerial systems into airports. With the conclusion of funding authorization, the National Cooperative Freight Research Pro- gram and the National Cooperative Rail Research Program completed their final projects. Funding received in 2016 for the Hazardous Materials Co- operative Research Program will allow for a yet- to-be-determined number of projects in 2017. executive office The TRB Executive Office provides policy and operational guidance on TRB programs, as well as on issues related to human resources, diver- sity, information technology, communications, library services, publication production, and stra- tegic planning. In 2016, the Executive Office oversaw the implementation of TRB’s strategic plan on di- versity, as well as the strategic plan on market- ing and communication—efforts to enhance the value of TRB to its volunteers and constituen- cies, improve TRB products, and increase public awareness of TRB. In the area of information technology, the Executive Office oversaw chang- es to the MyTRB online portal and participated in a National Academies effort to develop a more uniform web presence for the organization’s var- A Transit Cooperative Research Program synthesis report on onboard camera applications for buses examines the bus camera security systems installed on more than 1,700 of New York City’s buses. (Photo: Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New York) Integration between unmanned aerial systems and airports was a topic of research addressed by the Airport Cooperative Research Program. (Photo: Gilles Ollivier, Flickr) The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Standing Committee on Research charts the course of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program.

TRB 2016 Annual Report | 15 between TRB and the National Academies Press to collect data for identifying and tracking the impact of TRB products. AdministrAtion And finAnce The Administration and Finance Division pro- vides financial, information technology, and other administrative support, including financial oversight of the contracts and grants for the work of TRB, administration of publications sales and distribution, and maintenance of benefits and services for sponsor and affiliate organizations. A statement of income and expenditures for cal- endar year 2016 appears on pages 8–9. In 2016, the Administration and Finance Di- vision began a strategic review to enhance the value of TRB’s programs for sponsors and affili- ates and to expand the programs’ appeal. Spon- sors are the major source of financial support for TRB’s core programs. Federal, state, and local government agencies and professional societies and organizations that represent industry groups are eligible to participate as TRB sponsors. Pri- vate-sector organizations and individuals can support TRB as affiliates. Fees and services are negotiated to fit the needs of each sponsor and affiliate and to ensure fundamental support for the Board’s programs and activities of interest to the entire transportation community. ious units. More than 25,000 unique volunteers have accessed the MyTRB portal since its open- ing in April 2014, to provide contact information, participate in the Annual Meeting paper submis- sion and review, become a friend of a TRB stand- ing committee, and more. Implementation of a plan to speed the release of the Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board is under way. The goal of the transitional effort, to be com- pleted with the 2018 journal series, is to have all papers available in electronic format five to eight months faster than the current process allows. The Executive Office oversees actions to ad- dress TRB’s strategic plan adopted in June 2014. The task forces on resiliency and on transportation and public health completed the development and approval of action plans. Implementation of the transformational technologies action plan began in 2016 with the Automated Vehicles Symposium in July and the Partners in Research Symposium on transformational technologies in transportation in October. Other activities con- ducted in response to the strategic plan in 2016 included a review of TRB’s programs for sponsors and affiliates, measures by the Cooperative Re- search Programs to speed the release of research results, and the implementation of a partnership Mark L. Rosenberg, Task Force for Global Health, Inc., leads a group discussion on transportation and public health, a topic explored in depth by a TRB task force, research projects, conferences, and Annual Meeting sessions. (Photo: Risdon Photography) Annual Meeting attendees browse a display of TRB publications. (Photo: Risdon Photography)