Transportation

Featured

  • Drone footage of the freight train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, February 6, 2023, photo by NTSBGov via Reuters

    Commentary

    Ohio's Train Derailment—Not Spy Balloons—Is the Real National Security Threat

    The slow degradation of infrastructure and disaster response is less a spectacle than an overflying balloon, but the train derailment and chemical spill in Ohio highlights just how bizarre such a focus on perceived external national security threats has become. The far greater threat may be from within.

    Feb 20, 2023

  • Sacks of lithium carbonate at Albemarle Lithium production facility in Silver Peak, Nevada, October 6, 2022, photo by Carlos Barria/Reuters

    Commentary

    Do Car Companies Know Where Their Critical Minerals Come From?

    The initial slate of electric vehicles qualifying for a new federal tax credit was announced in April. Key to eligibility is the source of critical minerals used in their batteries. While the list of acceptable nations of origin is still being worked out, there's an important practical question the IRS should ask: Do carmakers really know where their critical minerals come from?

    Apr 28, 2023

Explore Transportation

  • Report

    Report

    Manchester Motorway Box: Post-Survey Research of Induced Traffic Effects: Model Estimation

    This report describes the development of discrete choice models to support analysis of the induced traffic effects resulting from the completion of the M60 Manchester Motorway Box in the UK.

    Jul 22, 2013

  • Sydney harbor bridge and ferry

    Report

    Updating Models for Transport Demand in Sydney, Australia

    The Sydney Strategic Travel Model (STM) informs long-term transport planning, policy development and infrastructure assessment across the Greater Sydney area. Additional model estimation work has further improved the commute mode-destination model.

    Jul 22, 2013

  • Report

    Report

    Identifying and Managing Air Force Sustainment Supply Chain Risks

    Examines supply chain risk management, including evolving commercial and Air Force practices.

    Jul 2, 2013

  • Traffic Jam Stopped Cars Pennsylvania Turnpike Exit 358 Bristol Levittown

    Commentary

    Paying for Infrastructure, a Taxing Issue

    If the “user pays” idea is worth saving, the United States needs a different calculation, writes Liisa Ecola. Some states are looking at mileage fees. With mileage fees, you pay based on the number of miles you drive, rather than the number of gallons of gas used.

    May 16, 2013

  • Report

    Report

    Maximizing Throughput at Soft Airfields

    Shows that there is an optimum landing weight that allows for maximum cargo delivery on soft landing fields. This optimum weight is constant and independent of both aircraft ramp weight and the ability of the soil to resist compressive loads.

    Apr 23, 2013

  • Aerial photo of highway

    Commentary

    Consider Taxing Miles Traveled

    Mileage-fee rates could be structured to reduce congestion, harmful emissions and excessive road wear, and the enabling technology could support a range of value-added services offering greater convenience and safety for motorists, writes Keith Crane.

    Apr 19, 2013

  • Report

    Report

    Commercial Intratheater Airlift: Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Use in U.S. Central Command

    Intratheater airlift delivers critical and time-sensitive supplies to deployed forces, but is it cost effective to use commercial, rather than organic Air Force, aircraft to supply this airlift?

    Apr 8, 2013

  • man filling car gas tank

    Commentary

    Does U.S. Gas Tax Still Make Sense?

    It's time to consider changing the country's transportation funding scheme from one based on gallons purchased to one based on vehicle miles actually traveled, writes Liisa Ecola.

    Mar 8, 2013

  • Chinese Luhu Class Destroyer, HARIBING (DDG 112)

    Journal Article

    China Consolidates its Maritime Law Enforcement Agencies

    The announced plan to restructure China's maritime law enforcement agencies represents an important effort by Chinese authorities to streamline a poorly-managed maritime law enforcement bureaucracy increasingly involved in China's maritime territorial disputes.

    Mar 1, 2013

  • Cars go through Washington State toll booths

    Journal Article

    Emerging Strategies in Mileage-Based User Fees to Reduce Costs and Increase Acceptance

    This paper presents a review of promising mileage-fee design and implementation strategies intended to reduce system costs and foster greater public acceptance.

    Jan 1, 2013

  • Aerial photo of highway

    Journal Article

    Modelling Long-Distance Travel in Great Britain

    Trips longer than 50 mi account for less than one-fortieth of all trips but nearly one-third of all distance traveled within Great Britain. Because of the small proportion of all travel that they form, long-distance trips may not be adequately represented in national databases and models.

    Jan 1, 2013

  • Journal Article

    Journal Article

    The Value of Small Time Savings for Non-Business Travel

    The paper addresses the issue of how small time savings are handled in the appraisal of transport proposals.

    Jan 1, 2013

  • Journal Article

    Journal Article

    Expediting Future Technologies for Enhancing Transportation System Performance

    STREAM is a process that transportation agencies can use to identify, assess, shape, and adopt new and emerging technologies to help achieve long-term system performance objectives.

    Jan 1, 2013

  • Journal Article

    Journal Article

    Transport Surveys: Considerations for Decision Makers and Decision Making

    This book provides an international perspective on improving information to support transportation decision making.

    Jan 1, 2013

  • Traffic Jam Stopped Cars Pennsylvania Turnpike Exit 358 Bristol Levittown

    Tool

    Advantages of Mileage-Based User Fees for Transportation Funding

    An illustrated guide provides state and local decisionmakers with a high-level synopsis of mileage fee issues: policy motivations, technical options, key challenges, and emerging strategies to address those challenges.

    Dec 28, 2012

  • cars in a traffic jam under blue sky

    Multimedia

    Mileage-Based User Fees for Transportation Funding

    A RAND guide offers clear and practical strategies on mileage-based user fee systems currently being piloted in several states across the United States. Paul Sorensen, associate director of the RAND Transportation, Space, and Technology Program, discusses the guide.

    Dec 18, 2012

  • The Harbor Police K-9 Team explosive detection canine perform a search on luggage at San Diego International Airport

    Commentary

    More Secure or Less Free?

    It is not surprising that people report a willingness to trade convenience, money, and liberty for security. Legal precedent reinforces that decreased civil liberties may be accepted when confronting existential threats with demonstrably effective security—to a point, writes Henry H. Willis.

    Dec 17, 2012

  • Commentary

    Fake Boarding Pass Fears Inflated

    Instead of ratcheting back the PreCheck program because of manufactured fears about security lapses, TSA should be encouraged to expand this program to more airlines, more airports and more infrequent travelers, write Jack Riley and Lily Ablon.

    Dec 12, 2012

  • HS2 train in Britain

    Report

    Comparison of the Long-Distance Model and PLANET Long-Distance: Phase 2, Demand Model

    This report presents analysis that compares the PLANET long-distance model and the Department for Transport's long-distance model (LDM) and helps to inform which components of both models might be used to develop an improved HS2 Ltd model.

    Dec 10, 2012

  • Report

    Report

    Modernizing the Mobility Air Force for Tomorrow's Air Traffic Management System

    Building on RAND work examining the cost-effectiveness of modernizing the U.S. Air Force's KC-10 aerial refueling tanker to comply with airspace modernization mandates, this study extended the analysis to the C-5, C-17, C-130, and KC-135 fleets.

    Dec 6, 2012

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