Latest Issue of TR News Highlights the Changing Needs of Transportation Systems

“The face of the United States is undergoing change.” What does it mean for our country’s transportation networks when American demographics and travel patterns keep changing? How do we respond to mobility expectations of increasing numbers of older persons and people with disabilities?

To answer these and similar questions, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Transportation Research Board (TRB) held a special conference on the Impact of Changing Demographics on the Transportation System. The highlights and findings of this conference have been released in The September-October 2009 issue of TR News, Demographic Changes Driving Change: Ensuring Mobility for All -- Safely, Efficiently, Equitably. The issue includes the following articles:

• Changing Demographics Change the Transportation System
• Travel Demand in the Context of Growing Diversity: Considerations for Policy, Planning, and Forecasting
• Changes in Travel Characteristics by Gender: U.S. Commuting Trends from a National Sample, 1985–2005
• Key Issues in Transportation and Aging: Ensuring Safe Mobility for Older Adults
• The Safety and Mobility Patterns of Older Women in 2030: Defining and Meeting the Challenges
• Communicating Transportation, Energy, and Climate Change Concepts to the Public: TRB Contest Identifies Exemplary Efforts
• Research Pays Off: Service Life Modeling: Selecting Repair and Rehabilitation Options for Bridge Structures

The introduction to the issue sets the stage for the changing demographics and how specific changes will require new and innovative responses by transportation professionals: “The sociodemographic and economic characteristics of the population influence transportation demand for different modes.” The rest of the articles focus on specific demographic factors that correlate with the use of different travel methods—factors such as race, age and gender. One article focuses on comparing the number of zero-vehicle households among minority populations, while another compares these same populations’ commuting times across all modes.

In a special feature section, Executive Associate Director of the Texas Transportation Institute Katherine F. Turnbull discusses how transportation systems will have to change in the coming years to address these demographic shifts. “Changes in Travel Characteristics by Gender” explores the reasons for, and ways in which, women’s travel is changing more than men’s. Another feature describes how TRB’s research agenda will tackle these issues.

TR News is the Transportation Research Board's bimonthly magazine, which features timely articles on innovative and state-of-the-art research and practice in all modes of transportation. Also published are brief news items of interest to the transportation community, research pays off articles, profiles of transportation professionals, workshop and conference announcements, new book notices, news of TRB activities, and the TRB Annual Report. Submissions of manuscripts for possible publication are accepted at any time. Copies of the TR News may be purchased individually or ordered on an annual subscription basis.