Since its inception in 2005, the Illinois Center for Transportation (ICT) has grown to become one of the leading transportation centers in the nation. ICT’s varied research includes timely topics such as developing better designs for pavements that use recycled materials, improving work zone safety, and implementing technologies to improve bridge safety and earthquake resistance.
Although headquartered at the Urbana-Champaign campus, ICT funds transportation research on all three UI campuses. The center also outsources funds and research projects to other universities and private researchers depending on where it believes the research outcome can be best achieved.
ICT currently has 84 participating investigators; this number includes 24 researchers from UIUC Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) as well as faculty from three other departments within the College of Engineering and two other UIUC colleges. ICT’s research of the past five years has helped support more than 100 young, talented graduate students, and this number rises every year.
ICT Director Imad L. Al-Qadi, UIUC Founder Professor of Engineering, compares the center in 2005 to today, “In 2005, ICT started with 12 projects; nine of these were pavement projects, and all of the investigators were from the CEE transportation group. Today, our center has a total of 122 projects, and less than 30 percent of these focus on pavements and transportation materials. The tremendous growth and success of the center has given us the opportunity to create relationships with more than ten other universities through outsourcing to match new research needs with the most specialized investigators. We collaborate on our research projects with other UIUC departments, UI campuses, Illinois universities, governmental agencies, and consultants, depending on who is the best person to perform the specific research task that best serves IDOT needs.”
To date, the center has completed 61 research projects. Another 53 projects are ongoing. And on April 29, the ICT Executive Committee met and approved eight new projects, including research on snow and ice plow performance, pedestrian/bicyclist warning devices, flashing yellow arrows for protected left turns, concrete cylinder match curing, and tack coat implementation. ICT will request proposals for some of these projects this summer; Click here to sign up for the ICT RFP notification list.
ICT keeps interested parties informed through this RFP notification list, its website, a quarterly newsletter, and through outreach activities such as online classes, webinars, short courses, and certification training.
Al-Qadi predicts, “Through groundbreaking research, ICT will maintain its status as a leading national and international transportation center and will continue to serve the state of Illinois and the nation.”
ICT is a partnership between the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT).
Photo: Executive committee meets on April 29.