Critical Issues in Transportation

Resource Set:

This resource set contains the report, Critical Issues in Transportation 2019, and the additional documents and webinars supporting it. Due to the unforeseen crisis of COVID-19, an additional addendum was added to the report which explores the new challenges and issues facing agencies.


Performance Areas:
Asset Management, Economy, Environment, Safety, System Performance
Management Processes:
Performance Based Planning & Programming, Strategic Direction
Agency Functions:
Plan
Agency Types:
State DOT
Resource Types:
Research Report

| Research Report

Safety

This research and policy guidance focuses attention on ten areas and safety recommendations which will save lives and improve transportation safety. These areas are: distractions, alcohol and drug impairment, shipment of hazardous materials, positive train control, speeding-related crashes, aircraft flight operations, collision avoidance systems, fatigue-related accidents, medical screening for sleep apnea, and strengthening occupant protection. Under each of these categories, the document presents recommendations for aviation, highway, marine, rail, intermodal, and pipeline modes.

Publication Date: April 2020

| Video

This webinar presented the topmost safety and security issues facing transportation in 2019 and the 10 to 20 years into the foreseeable future. Rapid changes to the transportation sector and redefined priorities for safety across all modes are pushing development in multimodal solutions and transportation policies. Specifically, this webinar covers the 2019-2020 NTSB Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements and the Critical Issues in Transportation 2019.

Publication Date: March 2019

Publisher: NTSB and TRB

| Research Report

Accessibility, System Performance

This report updates the Critical Issues in Transportation 2019, placing a renewed focus on correcting racial and social inequalities in the US transportation system and scrutinizing the systemic racism the transportation enterprise contains. While equity was mentioned in the 2018 report, the Black Lives Matter movement of 2020 and 2021 shed light on the breadth and depth of the social problems in the US. This report covers five areas of focus: access to transportation; institutional issues and decision-making; equity in planning and public participation; land use, affordable housing, and displacement; and Native American equity challenges.

Publication Date: July 2021

Publisher: TRB

| Research Report

Asset Management, Economy, Environment, Safety, System Performance

2020 saw the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and a social movement highlighting racial injustice. As individuals and agencies dealt with the many challenges and adjustments of this time, many of the issues central to transportation also changed. This addendum to the Critical Issues in Transportation 2019 explores the short- and long-term impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on transportation in each of the areas defined in the original report.

Publication Date: January 2021

Publisher: TRB

| Research Report

Asset Management, Economy, Environment, Safety, System Performance

This report synthesizes the responses to 63 challenging questions into 12 topic areas. Transportation agency members were asked to answer with the context of 10 to 20 years of the future in mind. In synthesizing these responses, this publication aims to bring together and update the transportation community on the fluid challenges transportation agencies may face in the future. The 12 synthesized topics are as follows: Transformational Technologies and Services, Serving a Growing and Shifting Population, Energy and Sustainability, Resilience and Security, Safety and Public Health, Equity, Governance, System Performance and Asset Management, Funding and Finance, Goods Movement, Institutional and Workforce Capacity, Research and Innovation.

Publication Date: July 2018

Publisher: TRB