Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academies

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) provides transportation practitioners, researchers, public officials, and other professionals with credible, high-quality information and research results to address the transportation challenges of the 21st century.

TRB provides leadership in transportation innovation and progress through research and information exchange, conducted within a setting that is objective, interdisciplinary, and multimodal. TRB provides: 1) Opportunities for information exchange on current transportation research and practice, 2) Management of cooperative research and other research programs, 3) Analyses of national transportation policy issues and guidance on federal and other research programs, and 4) Publications and access to research information from around the world.

Within the TRB there are currently three Standing Committees addressing climate change implications on transportation:

1) Special Task Force on Climate Change and Energy - The Task Force makes recommendations to the TRB Technical Activities Council on TRB strategic directions and activities to address the issues of climate change and energy, and facilitates communication regarding climate change among the TRB standing committees.

2) Committee for Study on Transportation Research Programs to Address Energy and Climate Change - This project will develop research program proposals that address transportation strategies to mitigate energy consumption and GHG emissions, replace or supplement fuel taxes with an alternative user fee system, and adapt to expected climate changes.

3) NCHRP Project Panel on Climate Change and the Highway System: Impacts and Adaptation Approaches - The objectives of this research project are to (1) synthesize the probable range of impacts of climate change on highway systems by region of the United States for the period 2030-2050; (2) recommend institutional arrangements, tools, approaches, and strategies that state departments of transportation (DOTs) can use during system planning, design, construction, operations, and maintenance to adapt infrastructure and operations to these impacts and lessen their effects; and (3) identify future research and activities needed to close gaps in current knowledge and implement effective adaptive management.

Also on the TRB website are two highly valuable research clearinghouses which cover current and recently completed research:

1) The Research in Progress (RiP) database reflects approximately 8400 U.S. university and governmental transportation research projects. The RiP Database now serves as a clearinghouse of University Transportation Centers (UTCs) ongoing research. International research projects from the TRB file of the International Transport Research Documentation Database are now included in the RiP database. (Enter a keyword of "climate change" or "climate change adaptation" for relevant projects.)

2) TRID is a newly integrated database that combines the records from TRB's Transportation Research Information Services (TRIS) Database and the OECD's Joint Transport Research Centre’s International Transport Research Documentation (ITRD) Database. TRID provides access to over 900,000 records of transportation research worldwide. (Enter "climate change adaptation" as a keyword.)

Phone: (202) 334-2934

Sectors:

Transportation

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