"The test reported herein corresponds to American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) test 3-10. This is primarily a severity test that assesses risk of injury to the vehicle occupants."

"Rural and small urban transit systems in Texas will become even more important with predicted changes in population trends. Rural demographic trends indicate growth in the number of persons age 65 and over coupled with a decrease in population density. Small urban area trends indicate substantial population growth and broadened geographic boundaries, yet resources to provide rural and small urban transit are limited. Therefore, transit managers find it is increasingly important to maximize service efficiency and effectiveness. The purpose of this research was to identify peer groups, performance benchmarks, and strategies used by successful transit providers to achieve high performance. The research project identifies peer groups based on the transit environment within which each agency operates, so that agencies can be compared to other operators who face similar environments. Peer group effectiveness and efficiency performance are examined within and between rural and urban peer groups, and high performers are identified for case studies. Through the case studies, key attributes are identified for achieving high operating efficiency and/or effectiveness. Performance strategies are categorized to provide transit providers with transferrable information to improve performance and increase the return on transit investment."

This project evaluates Vehicle Mileage (VM) fees as a possible funding mechanism for meeting the State of Texas' long-term transportation needs. Researchers conducted listening sessions with the general public and stakeholders to gather input on the concept. Researchers also prepared a decision matrix that can aid policy makers in evaluating the various trade-offs in policy that will be encountered in vehicle mileage fee system development. This study identified both challenges and opportunities for implementation of VM fees.

Report on a study examining the impact performance of T101 bridge rails with pickup trucks. The study determined the T101 bridge rail did not meet Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware evaluation criteria for test 3-11 and the vehicle overturned after losing contact with the barrier.

Report discussing the development of a transition roadway rail that is suitable on lower-speed roadways and that is suitable for implementation.

Report regarding a median barrier gate designed to both offer protection to motorists and easier cross-median access for emergency and maintenance vehicles.

Report discussing the findings of a study exploring issues related to roadside safety devices. It includes background information, system details, test requirements and evaluation criteria, crash test procedures, crash test results, and conclusions.

"This report summarizes the delivery and outcome of a series of workshops conducted at 23 Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) districts across the state on corridor management and preservation in Texas. The workshops served as follow-up implementation work for research project 0-5606, "Creating Partnerships with Local Communities to Manage and Preserve Corridors." The report provides an overview of the project and documents the dates, locations, and attendance of workshops implemented during the three-year project period."

Report describing a spreadsheet tool for estimating trip generation for mixed-use developments, single developments that include different types of land use.

Report on a series of workshops provided by the Texas Department of Transportation on the topic, "Incorporating Safety into the Highway Design Process." The report focuses on workshop content, attendance, and participation evaluation.

"This report summarized the series of "Traffic around Schools"" workshops conducted throughout the state of Texas to familiarize TxDOT employees and partner agencies with two key products from previous research projects (0-4286 and 0-5470) and other tools and guidance that are available for dealing with problems around schools."

Report on research performed on the application of instruments including accelerometers and tiltmeters to monitor bridge scour. The instrumentation on the two bridges does not show great hope of application of accelerometers to monitor bridge scour because of a lack of sufficient excitation from traffic. Tiltmeters can provide the integral behavior of the bridge, and therefore are very useful devices for scour monitoring. Guidelines and protocols for scour monitoring based on the US59 over Guadalupe River Bridge and the SH80 over San Antonio River Bridge are provided in the study.

This report describes a project to develop a global approach that would reduce the level of uncertainty associated with unknown foundations.

This report describes the current state of practice of microsurfacing in Texas and compares it to best practices extracted from existing literature. A survey of DOT personnel, contractors and emulsion suppliers in Texas provides insight into the most crucial factors contributing to the success or failure of a microsurfacing. From the results of the survey, literature reviews, case studies and site visits, the research team analyzed material selection and mix design methods, construction practices, equipment practices and performance measures for microsurfacings.

"An instrumented, simulated bridge pier was constructed, and two full-scale collisions with an 80,000-lb van-type tractor-trailer were performed on it. The trailer was ballasted with bags of sand on pallets. The simulated pier was 36 inches in diameter and was supported in the longitudinal direction by two load cells. Force-versus-time data were obtained from the load cells."

"This report evaluated Texas Department of Transportation's (TxDOT) current sign retroreflectivity maintenance practices, assessed their effectiveness, and recommended statewide sign retroreflectivity maintenance practices that could be easily and effectively implemented to ensure that TxDOT would be in compliance with the new Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) language related to minimum sign retroreflectivity."

"This report focused on the evaluation of traffic sign sheeting performance in terms of meeting the nighttime driver needs. Using the luminance requirements derived from the study and market-weighted headlamp flux matrices, the researchers developed an approach to sigh sheeting specification that is based on nighttime driver needs."

Report summarizing the research activities that were conducted between September 2010 and August 2011. The five primary activities were evaluating nighttime visibility along rural highways with bright signs, continuing the evaluation of lead-free thermoplastic pavement markings, evaluating contrast pavement marking layouts, continuing the evaluation of accelerated pavement marking test decks, and providing district support for hurricane evacuation routing.

Report regarding efforts to develop a benefit-cost analysis methodology for safety rest areas in Texas and to demonstrate its application in select corridors throughout the state. This project also considers approaches to developing rest areas that could reduce costs to the public.

Report regarding the development of geometric and signal design guidelines for triple left-turn lanes and dual right-turn lanes and then evaluatues the safety of such sites in Texas.

Report on research develop information to communicate the safety and economic impacts of converting frontage roads from two-way to one-way. Researchers studied five locations in Texas where frontage roads were converted from two-way operation to one-way operation and developed accident modification factors related to frontage road conversion segments that roadway designers can use to guide frontage road conversion project planning.

Report that recaps the continued development of the Texas Revenue Estimator and Needs Determination System model.

Changes in the population and land area of urbanized areas in Texas will play a significant role in determining the allocation of public transportation funds to service providers in Texas after Census 2010. The purpose of this research report is to review the impacts of the changes in urbanized area population and non-urbanized (rural) population and land area for 2010 on the current Texas Transit Funding Formula for allocation of Federal Section 5311 and state rural and urban funds. This collaborative effort between the Texas Transportation Institute and the Institute for Demographic and Socioeconomic Research at the University of Texas at San Antonio draws upon the complementary expertise of public Transportation planners, demographers, and geographic information systems professionals of the two research organizations. The research project identifies areas with the potential to exceed 200,000 in population and those non-urbanized areas that have potential to become urbanized (over 50,000 people) in 2010. The implications of these changes will be examined relative to the current public transportation funding allocations. The research staff provides a comprehensive assessment of these changes for the state as a whole and for individual transit service providers.

An objective of this study was to monitor the performance of more than 10 warm mix asphalt (WMA) projects in the state. Several WMA technologies were included in the study (foaming, Advera, Evotherm, Rediset, Sasobit) and it was determined that performance of the warm mix was comparable to hot mix. In addition, mix from two warm mix projects were subjected to different curing times and temperatures and then evaluated for mixture volumetrics and performance properties. Results from this study lend support to the current procedures the Texas Department of Transportation has adopted.