Members of The Texas House Committee on Transportation on March 2 heard invited testimony on the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s (TTI’s) background and current research priorities.
“Transportation covers a growing range of issues, encompassing much more than just constructing roads and bridges — technology and policy have become central considerations,” TTI Agency Director Greg Winfree told the Committee members. “Our research is almost entirely applied, with the result being that research quickly moves into implementation throughout the state.”
Winfree also noted that even in times of uncertain federal funding and many competing interests, TTI’s research program has continued to grow, maintaining its distinction as the largest university-based research agency of its kind in the United States.
Committee members also heard from Ginger Goodin, director of TTI’s Transportation Policy Research Center (PRC), who described how TTI has been called upon increasingly in recent years to provide transportation research information to state leaders.
“For more than a decade,” Goodin said, “TTI has been called upon to answer questions about transportation for the Legislature, especially as transportation has become more complex and multimodal.”
Goodin also highlighted the PRC’s research in areas of finance, freight, congestion, and transportation network companies — all of which are issues central to policy discussions in the current Legislative Session.