Disasters – whether natural or man-made – can cripple transportation systems. Sophisticated modeling can go a long way in minimizing disruptions and restoring routine conditions. 

Two years have passed since America’s last road and bridge report card, and we’ll wait another two years for the next one. An unofficial mid-term grade suggests that conditions are improving.

Texas owes its transportation primacy in large part to an elite group of visionary leaders whose contributions merit permanent and meaningful places in the Lone Star State’s history.

In recent years, roughly half of the motorcyclists involved in fatal crashes in Texas were unlicensed. Safety advocates are working to enlist more instructors who can help riders develop the safety skills they need.

Nearly 300 million vehicles are on American roads today. Nearly all of them run on gasoline or diesel, so a large-scale shift to electric power would be transformative. A new Texas A&M University System venture is working to figure out how that might work. 

As a transportation journalist, Bernie Wagenblast has been weaving narratives of a professional sort for more than 40 years. As it turns out, one of her most recent stories is more personal.

The value that small general aviation airports deliver far exceeds what their modest size might suggest. To many local government officials, those facilities represent “the most valuable mile of pavement in the county.”

As we’re about to observe National Work Zone Awareness Week and in light of a work zone crash last month in Maryland, in which 6 workers were killed, we're revisiting a discussion with TTI's Jerry Ullman, research engineer and highway work zone safety expert. The number of fatal crashes in America is up by about 7 percent over the past decade. But in roadway work zones, it’s up by more than 40 percent. Jerry discusses why those work zones are dangerous not only for those who work in them, but for those who navigate them as well. 

Major railroad disasters tend to produce major news headlines, but there are hundreds of derailments each year in America that we never hear about. Why is that?

It’s been said that journalists are responsible for writing the first draft of history. As the transportation writer for the Houston Chronicle, Dug Begley has been crafting that city’s mobility story for more than a decade.