Changes to TRB Committees

[Stephanie Dock]

Hello city transportation research friends,

Last week, TRB announced that they are completely redoing their committee structure. All existing committees, councils, groups, section, and subcommittees have been sunset and TRB is in the processes of standing up a new committee structure. The City Transportation Issues Coordinating Council has not survived in this redesign.

I am disappointed at the lack of recognition for the need, even as I can recognize the pressures TRB is responding to. They are short of staff at a moment when they need their staff to be more able than ever to keep track of what is going on and able to provide timely guidance to chairs, committee members, and volunteers about what can and cannot be done. While one might disagree with their response to political pressures and realities (they are heavily dependent on federal funding and Congressional appropriations won't spare you, as the US Institute of Peace can attest), I can also see this in some ways as a culmination of the prior reorganization - they did a lot 5-6 years ago but did not completely rewrite the entire structure. This time they more or less have.  And finally, I can freely acknowledge that the "coordinating councils" were an idea that just didn't quite work. 

But the response we assembled during the last major reorg - see the working document linked from this email thread - still stands true. Cities are different. Cities are the epicenter of many of the transformational forces in transportation today and remain the drivers of our economy. Plain and simple, cities matter. 

So where do we go from here? 

1. Express interest in one of the new committees by June 20th - we lose the city voice in TRB if we don't engage. So, please fine the closest home (or 3) and get the city side represented!

2. While you're at it in myTRB, also go check out the NCHRP projects looking for panel members by June 30th. I spotted several of interest, like:

• Effects of Turn Lanes on Speed Management and on Pedestrian and Bicyclist Fatal and Serious Injury Crashes in Urban Areas
• Identifying and Addressing the Needs of Pedestrians with Vision Impairment at Protected Intersections with Separated Bicycle Lanes
• Tort Liability, Professional Responsibility, and the Safe System Approach: A Comparative Analysis
• Understanding the Benefits and Barriers of Permitting Utility Infrastructure in Transportation Rights of Way. 

3. We still have our Google group! As you'll perhaps have noticed, I have renamed the group to remove the TRB reference and former name. (I'm open to better titles than the "City Transportation Issues Research Forum.") We also have our website still - I pay for that, so while we should remove the TRB linkages, that has never been under direct TRB control. If folks are interested, happy to set up a time to strategize and discuss - ping me on the side to let me know if you'd like that.

Thank you for all the support as your somewhat haphazard Coordinating Council chair. It was an honor. And I hope it is not the end - let's keep the coordination going and figure out how to drive the research we want and need, with or without TRB.

-Stephanie

[Buck, Darren (FHWA)]

I just wanted to thank our “somewhat haphazard” Coordinating Council chair (and take issue with that quoted part). I greatly appreciated participating in this body, and it would have been diminished without your hard work and obvious passion, Stephanie.

 

--darren

 

From: trb-major-cit...@googlegroups.com <trb-major-cit...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Stephanie Dock
Sent: Friday, June 13, 2025 1:04 PM
To: City Transportation Issues Research Forum <trb-major-cit...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [TRB City Transportation Issues] Changes to TRB Committees

 

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