Research

NCTSPM supports research projects at each of our consortium universities.

For a full listing of our research projects, click here.

Our research focuses on safety, transportation infrastructure and services, and economic competiveness. Not only do our research projects fit within these categories, but they are selected based on their ability to illuminate the interactions between these three topics. There are interactions and interrelationships among the many factors that lead to a successful transportation system. NCTSPM has chosen to focus on the key interactions among:
 

SAFETY
Research on transportation safety focuses not only on efficient and safe design and operations but also the impact of urban form and on travel behavior. Our research in this area includes such topics as minimizing driver distraction, utilization of traffic management systems, and improving the efficiency of emergency medical systems.
 

STATE-OF-GOOD-REPAIR 
Keeping infrastructure in a state of good repair is a critical matter in the field of transportation. NCTSPM researchers are studying this topic from a variety of angles, including: wireless bridge weigh-in-motion systems; volatile prices of transportation construction materials; and the effect of meeting increasing freight demands.

ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS
NCTSPM supports research that evaluates the effective and efficient allocation of scarce resources. Research in this area ranges from developing a planning tool for asset management, to analyzing the regional economic impact of port expansion, to understanding the micro-dynamics of business location and growth and its effects on the transportation network.