Photo: NTSB. Preliminary estimates from the National Safety Council indicate the recent upward trend in motor vehicle deaths is leveling off, with the number of fatalities in the first six months of 2018 dipping slightly – less than 0.5 percent – compared to the first six months of 2017 even as vehicle miles traveled continues to increase. The […]

Caption: Satellite picture of Hurricane Lane. Photo: U.S. Navy. The Hawaii Department of Transportation engaged in a series of preparatory activities to pre-position personnel and equipment for storm-recovery work this week as the Trump administration issued a disaster declaration for the Hawaiian Islands on Aug. 22 ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Lane. Parts of […]

Photo: Caltrans. Two photographs and three videos won the top prizes in the 13th annual Faces of Transportation competition, sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Sixteen transportation department employees from 24 states and five private citizens submitted 88 photographs and 16 videos for judging in this competition. An AASHTO team […]

Photo: Idaho DOT With the unemployment rate hitting an 18-year low of 4 percent this July and “Baby Boom” generation workers now retiring at roughly 10,000 per day, industries across the United States are finding it harder to recruit and retain workers. A study released by consulting firm Korn Ferry in May predicts that a […]

Photo: General Motors A new 41-page report on connected-autonomous vehicles or CAVs by the Governors Highway Safety Association and funded by insurance company State Farm discerned several “human-interaction” issues with the technology in the near future. Authored by Dr. Jim Hedlund, a former senior official with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the report examined […]

Photo: Waymo As the population of active autonomous vehicles is expected to rise sharply over the next eight years – a recent white paper by Juniper predicts that by the end of 2026, there will be more than 10 million autonomous vehicles on U.S. roads, with more than 50 million on the road worldwide – some infrastructure […]

Photo: Colorado DOT Political leadership at the local level should be encouraged to view infrastructure projects ranging from water treatment plants, power plants, seaports, airports, to transit networks in both large cities and rural areas alike as “key economic anchors,” according to recent blog post published by the Brookings Institution. Joseph Kane, senior research associate […]

Above: Members of the 163d Security Forces Squadron of the California Air National Guard working a traffic control point in support of civil authorities during the Mendocino Complex Fire in Lake County, California. Photo: U.S. Air National Guard Master Sgt. Ronald Brovetto The Trump administration declared on Aug. 5 that “a major disaster exists” in California […]

Photo: Missouri DOT In a blog post on Aug. 6, USDOT Secretary Elaine Chao highlighted the ongoing “multi-modal” efforts being made at the Federal level to fight human trafficking and increase awareness about the problem. “For decent people, it is unbelievable to learn that in this day and age something so horrible as slavery still […]

The U.S. Senate voted to approve a more than $154 billion “minibus” funding bill – H.R. 6147 – on Aug. 1 by a vote of 92 to 6; a bill that wrapped together four separate spending bills into a single package, including the fiscal year 2019 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development or THUD bill approved […]