Volpe unveils top priorities to optimize transportation in 2016

Volpe, the National Transportation Systems Center, recently unveiled its plans for 2016, including further implementation of NextGen air-traffic modernization technology with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

These initiatives are top priorities for the organization’s engineers, technical researchers, statisticians, economists, community planners, policy analysts and communications professionals. The goal is to increase the mobility of all U.S. transportation methods.

One of Volpe’s tools is its NextGen Systems Development Program Office, which provides support to the FAA as it modernizes air traffic control across the U.S.

The organization also intends to make major headway in safety through engineering, technology and human-factors research advances that will provide new insights about transportation and ways to decrease injuries and fatalities.

Further improvements involve visualization, analytics and real-time decision making. Staff at Volpe will unite the latest in hardware and tools to create a new framework that will improve transportation and its real-time decision making for future generations.

The remaining issues include sustainability and transportation energy (Volpe seeks to use analysis, research and strategic planning to address shifting fuel markets, climate change and similar environmental issues), transportation system resiliency (from issues such as natural disasters, technical failures and potential malicious attacks), and on-demand mobility, livable communities and smart cities.