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Researchers Participate in Transportation MeetingPosted: Feb 13, 2008
The TRB Annual Meeting brings together more than 10,000 policy makers, administrators, practitioners, researchers, and representatives of government, industry, and academic institutions for a comprehensive look at all modes of transportation. The meeting offered more than 3,000 presentations in nearly 600 sessions. The TRB is a part of the National Academies of Science. Kimberly Vachal, UGPTI advanced research fellow, presided over a panel discussion addressing concerns about transportation and energy. Specifically, the panel discussed the implications of bio-energy in transportation and the demand for ethanol as a critical factor in transportation system's adaptability as essential to the U.S. economy. Vachal also chaired a meeting of the Agricultural Transportation Committee. The meeting featured a presentation on the importance of a reliable waterway system to agriculture and committee members worked through logistics of the Food Aid Workshop, participated in a roundtable discussion, and generated research topics among other items on the agenda. Jill Hough, UGPTI advanced research fellow, gave a presentation on exploring travel behavior of elderly women in rural and small urban North Dakota using an ecological modeling approach. Her presentation was part of a panel discussion on the reality of travel behavior implications for an aging population. Dave Ripplinger, UGPTI associate research fellow, facilitated a panel discussion titled "New Approaches to Improving Paratransit Services." Panel topics addressed transit schedules, demand-response and fixed-route transit, agency-dedicated vehicle transportation, and coordinated transportation. Subhro Mitra, UGPTI transportation engineer, presented a paper, "Development of Statewide Freight Transportation Model to Assess Impact of Highway Spring Load Restrictions." The paper details his development of a model to estimate freight transportation cost savings that would be realized by removing spring load restrictions from North Dakota roads. Published in NDSU's staff newsletter |
Several researchers from the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute (UGPTI) participated in the Transportation Research Board's (TRB) 87th Annual Meeting Jan. 13-17 in Washington, D.C.