College of EngineeringCivil & Coastal Engineering University of Florida

About the TRC

The Florida Board of Regents established the University of Florida Transportation Research Center (TRC) in October 1972 to provide a central point through which transportation research may be developed, performed and reported. Located in the College of Engineering, the TRC works with a number of other academic units throughout the college and the university.

Since its inception, the center has involved more than 50 faculty members in hundreds of sponsored research projects at a value of over $40 million. Research results have been implemented by the sponsors and by practitioners throughout the nation to advance the states of the art and practice in transportation.

The TRC is an interdisciplinary center drawing on expertise from departments such as Computer Science, Operations Research, Psychology, and Occupational Therapy.

Vision and Mission

The TRC vision is to be the leading center for transportation research and education in the State of Florida and to be a nationally and internationally recognized resource for transportation expertise throughout the highway transportation industry.

The mission of the TRC is to conduct research relevant to our society’s transportation needs, to translate the results of that research so that it may be applied in a realistic and workable fashion, to provide the tools to apply the knowledge and processes, and to educate qualified engineers to meet today’s demands and tomorrow’s challenges.

Transportation Research

The research carried out within the center is focused in the transportation planning and operations areas, including ITS. Examples of recent research include traffic model development for coordinated signalized intersections; level of service planning software applications and level of service for heavy trucks; roundabout design and analysis; assessing red light running and countermeasures, software development and validation.

For details on the TRC research program, click here.

Supporting the Transportation Academic Program

Academic-research is at the heart of the university’s mission. The TRC research activities provide direct support to the academic programs in several important ways:

  • Research projects provide experiential opportunities for students to learn how to solve real world problems, as well as financial support.
  • Research itself is a learning experience–applying theory learned in the classroom to actual practice.
  • Faculty and students working side by side affords the student a special opportunity to learn from the faculty in ways that do not exist in the classroom, and give the student researcher to opportunity to be creative and broaden the faculty member’s insights as well.

For details on the transportation academic program, click here.