By Haley Schultheis
NADO staff members Carrie Kissel and Haley Schultheis participated in the 2026 Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) in Washington, DC, January 11-15. TRB is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine focused on applied research on transportation challenges. Kissel and Schultheis learned information and resources on rural mobility to share through NADO events and publications. In addition, Kissel chaired the meeting of the TRB Standing Technical Committee on Transportation in Rural Areas, leading a discussion on national rural transportation research needs.
Insights and Observations
TRB provides a platform for researchers and practitioners to learn about emerging trends and technologies in transportation design and implementation. Throughout the week, NADO staff gained a deeper understanding of how transportation agencies are thinking about mobility today—especially in multimodal, rural, and tribal contexts—by evaluating processes like measurement, data usage, and community engagement. The TRB conference hosts over 500 sessions and workshops, and an additional 100+ committee meetings. While NADO staff could not attend all workshops and sessions, they did come away with some major lessons:
Multimodal Measurement
Evaluating success on multimodal streets requires a mix of evaluation tools and metrics—including evaluations of safety, comfort, environmental impact, and access measures. Major gaps in data still limit proactive planning, especially in rural areas. Tools like Road Safety Audits, GTFS-based analyses, TIDES specification, and commercial data from providers like Streetlight and INRIX are increasingly central to local transportation analyses and help communities highlight challenges in safety, service, and transit frequency.
Transit Network Redesigns
Metro bus network redesigns stood out as a major area of innovation, showing how data-driven planning and strong engagement can lead to more efficient systems that better serve riders. Engaging riders, operators, and collaboration with neighboring systems all contributed to shaping network (re)designs and improving access. Transit providers talked about the importance of building relationships with riders and using innovative engagement methods such as curbside activations and kiosks at popular transit hubs to gain feedback.
Tribal Transportation
A significant number of sessions attended by NADO staff focused on Tribal transportation. Key topic areas included conversation around data sovereignty, workforce capacity, and the complexities of tribal jurisdictional relationships. Sessions introduced tools such as the Tribal Crash Reporting Toolkit and Pedestrian Safety Study, and other innovative uses of existing devices like LIDAR and horizonal curve safety screening that support Tribal safety analysis when crash data is incomplete or fragmented.
Rural Research Priorities
Each year, the TRB conference is a place where researchers and practitioners gather via Standing Technical Committees to identify and prioritize future research topics. 2025 was a year of restructuring for TRB committees in an effort to streamline and strengthen the existing configuration. NADO staff member Carrie Kissel is chairing the newly formed committee focused on rural research priorities. In its discussion, the Transportation in Rural Areas Committee highlighted research needs in technology, data, infrastructure, transit improvement, and safety analysis, though it formal research agenda is still being developed. Additional research needs can be found in this Research Roadmap produced by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP). Contact Kissel for more information here.
Across all sessions and committee meetings, a consistent theme emerged: better outcomes come from better partnerships, clearer data governance, intentional workforce development, and a shared understanding of how transportation and transit improvements help communities better meet their mobility and safety needs.
Disclaimer: This resource does not provide an exhaustive list of potential sources. Any mention of a specific company, product, service, or website in this publication does not constitute or imply an endorsement by NADO.