TRB Hazardous Materials Cooperative Research Program (HMCRP) Research Results Digest 2: Hazardous Materials Cooperative Research Program: A Status Report provides an update on the industry driven, applied research program that develops near term, practical solutions to improve the information used in managing risk associated with the transportation of hazardous materials.

In 1920, state highway engineers, federal officials, and experts from academia were among a small group convened by the National Academy of Sciences to confront the problems of the highway. The public was entrusting them with billions of dollars for good roads, and World War I had proved the feasibility of moving freight long distances by truck. But even new highways were crumbling. They turned to research for solutions. The founders of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) and the generations that followed took on problems such as safety, social equity, and environmental issues. They embraced "total transportation," adapting their highway research model to urban transportation and then applying it to rail, marine, and aviation modes. Today TRB convenes thousands of researchers, practitioners, and administrators every year to advise the government, solve practical problems, foster innovation, and stimulate new research. In The Transportation Research Board, 1920â€"2020: Everyone Interested Is Invited, Sarah Jo Peterson tells the story of how people and institutions created and have continued to shape TRB. In a compelling narrative accompanied by more than 150 images exploring the history of transportation and research, she argues that TRB can be best understood as an infrastructureâ€"one that people purposely designed and devotedly maintained. Despite TRB's institutional complexity, its unique mission, the vast collection of acronyms in its orbit, and the significant changes to the organization in its first 100 years, Dr. Peterson provides a view from 30,000 feet, deftly describing the social, political, and economic context in which transportation (and TRB) functioned. At the same time, she attends to details of the key events, individuals, and human motivations that shaped TRB's evolution. The author's skills as a historian, her experience in the transportation field, and her manifest ability to tell a good story have produced a book that transportation professionals of all stripesâ€"and, for that matter, anyone interested in the history of transportation in the United Statesâ€"should find both engaging and informative and an essential addition to their library.

"TRB's Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Report 163: Strategy Guide to Enable and Promote the Use of Fixed-Route Transit by People with Disabilities is designed to help transit agencies fulfill the primary goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) by making mainstream fixed-route bus and rail systems accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities. The focus of the Strategy Guide is to offer guidance on providing public services in the most integrated setting possible." -- Publisher's note.

Ch. 1. Introduction. Background. Project objectives. Technical approach to project. Report organization -- ch. 2. Literature summary. Transit security. Workplace violence. Bus operator training and selection. Video surveillance. Self-defense. Bus operator perspective. International studies -- ch. 3. Survey results. Characteristics of survey respondents. Security provider. Fare and rules enforcement. Standard operating procedures. Definition of "assault". Assault characteristics. Training. Employee assistance. Data collection and reporting. Methods to address operator assaults. Bus operator selection methods. Impact of violence against operators. Effective measures -- ch. 4. Operator protection measures : technology and information management. Barriers. Information management and crime analysis. Video surveillance. Audio surveillance. Automatic vehicle location system. Transit operations decision support system. Emergency communications. DNA kits.

TRB’s Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Report 66: Considering and Evaluating Airport Privatization addresses the potential advantages and disadvantages of implementing various approaches to airport privatization.

"TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 740: A Transportation Guide for All-Hazards Emergency Evacuation focuses on the transportation aspects of evacuation, particularly large-scale, multijurisdictional evacuation. The guidance, strategies, and tools in NCHRP Report 740 are based on an all-hazards approach that has applicability to a wide range of "notice" and "no-notice" emergency events. The report follows the basic planning steps of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Comprehensive Preparedness Guide (CPG) 101. Each chapter parallels one of the six main CPG steps. Each chapter is further subdivided into smaller, discrete tasks, with cross-references to tools--such as templates or checklists--that are shown at the end of each chapter and are on a CD-ROM included with the print version of the report."--Publisher's description.