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    <title>Transport Research International Documentation (TRID)</title>
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    <language>en-us</language>
    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
    <docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs>
    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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      <title>Transport Research International Documentation (TRID)</title>
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      <link>https://trid.trb.org/</link>
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    <item>
      <title>Tread Pattern Design Technology that Balances Functionality and Aesthetics Using Generative AI</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2684163</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The tread pattern must satisfy not only physical performance criteria, such as ride comfort and low fuel consumption, but also aesthetic design requirements. In this study, we propose a framework for optimizing tread pattern designs that simultaneously balance physical performance and aesthetics. We utilized CAE to evaluate physical properties and applied AI models for generating tread patterns and assessing aesthetic qualities.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 24 Jun 2026 13:28:09 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2684163</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Guidelines for Aesthetic Design of Medium Span Bridges</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2659866</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Bridges are significant public infrastructure projects funded by taxpayer money and serve as notable landmarks in our communities and landscapes. They are designed to last for generations, standing as testaments to their era of construction. Today's bridges offer advanced safety and functionality, often surpassing standards set in other civil engineering domains. While society values the safety and cost-effectiveness of these structures, there is also an expectation for them to be visually pleasing and blend seamlessly with their environment. Historically in India, bridge projects haven't emphasized aesthetics as a primary goal. Bridge design engineers often struggle to incorporate aesthetic features because of potential shortcomings in their education and experience in this area. This article offers guidance on enhancing the visual appeal of short to medium-span bridges and gives tangible suggestions for engineers to craft sophisticated and eye-catching bridge designs.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 08:38:25 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2659866</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Roadside Vegetation Maintenance Manual: Update</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2572968</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The need to update the Roadside Vegetation Management Manual, a publication of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), can be attributed to a better understanding of the roadside environment. This document is a total revision of TxDOT Manual Notice 96-1 (March 1, 1996), which itself was an update of the November 1993 edition. The 1996 document was a modified version of the 1993 publication with various pages and chapters removed and recycled and replaced with changes. This Roadside Vegetation Management Manual is divided into two components - functional components and aesthetic components. As in all TxDOT decisions, safety is the primary concern. The roadside must be maintained in a safe condition. When no safety concerns are present, the functional components of the roadside management system are high priority. When the functional components of the roadside management system are satisfied, the aesthetic components are considered. The users of the Texas highways want safe, functional and pleasing highway rights-of-way. This document aids TxDOT professionals and others in maintaining roadside vegetation.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 27 Sep 2025 13:02:22 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2572968</guid>
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      <title>Breaking the continuum: network aesthetics, infrastructural violence, and media responses to London Underground sexual harassment posters</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2578289</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This paper combines critiques of network thinking and feminist approaches to infrastructural violence to examine London Underground design aesthetics and media discourses surrounding Transport for London’s sexual harassment poster campaigns. The paper starts by addressing how London Underground’s plural design philosophies – emerging in the early-20th century and elaborated upon in contemporary standards – aspire to govern mobility and passenger conduct through a unified network aesthetic. Adapting Martin Coward’s critique of ‘network thinking’, multiple elements of design shape behaviour on the move by tying localised actions to networked vulnerability and risk. Drawing on Claudia Aradau’s reading of Barad’s mattering of matter, the paper then asks what is deprioritised through these aesthetic orderings. Focusing on growing issues of sexual harassment on the network and Transport for London’s attempts to manage them via recent poster campaigns, the paper argues that network thinking exacerbates a struggle to recognise the severity and infrastructural character of such violence. This is examined through news media responses to these campaigns, in particular the material-discursive enrolment of the ‘intrusive staring’ poster in discourses which break apart the continuum of harm, selectively (a-)politicising sexual violence and its policing.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 26 Sep 2025 13:39:58 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2578289</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Human factors considerations for road tunnel aesthetics: improving driver experience and traffic flow</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2563103</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The inclusion of aesthetic features within road tunnelsmay contribute to driver distraction or cognitive overload in drivers, impacting safety outcomes and traffic throughput. However, implemented appropriately, aesthetic features can facilitate driver vigilance, awareness, and lead to improved driver outcomes. This paper discusses two recently completed projects that highlight the importance of incorporating Human Factors into the design of major road tunnel infrastructure projects. The four-part Austroads: Guide to Road Tunnels provides high level guidance to practitioners involved in the planning, design, operation, and maintenance of road tunnels in Australia and New Zealand. Human Factors components of the guide were reviewed and updated based on the outcomes of a literature and project review. Key updates and implications for future road tunnel projects are discussed, with a case study reference to the recently completed Burnley Tunnel Enhancement works.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 10 Jun 2025 14:50:53 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2563103</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>In-tunnel aesthetic features: defining best practice</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2563070</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Road tunnels are a familiar and at times integral feature of the road network, yet the existing infrastructure in Australia and New Zealand can have adverse impacts on driver behaviour and therefore traffic flow. As a dominant customer-facing interface, it is important to have a solid understanding of tunnel aesthetics, their influence on infrastructure performance and the transport challenges affecting them. Stress inducing tunnel design can produce hyper-vigilant and distracted drivers, such anxieties can impair their judgement and influence their route choices. Instead, in-tunnel aesthetics can be used to induce calmer and less preoccupied drivers, that are more receptive to perceive and focus on relevant road information.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 10 Jun 2025 14:50:33 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2563070</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Automation and aesthetic labour: the micro-mobilities of work in airport self-service</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2529598</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Recently, the concept of mobile labour has garnered increasing attention among mobilities scholars. Yet, the preponderance of research has emphasised workers’ movements that are fairly large-scale and routes-based. This paper proposes another kind of mobility that is of equal significance—that of micro-mobilities by labour, or more accurately by their bodies. Using original research conducted through semi-structured interviews with 40 customer service agents working in an international airport in Asia, the paper examines three kinds of aesthetic labour that these workers perform alongside passengers. Enacted through various bodily motions intended to speed up aeromobile processes and augment productivity, the author argues that these performances produce a (tenuous) aesthetics of assuring presence, orderly movement, and passing time. As more and more work tasks are redistributed across the airport between staff and passengers, ‘new’ automation presents an opportunity to reflect on the mobile practices being invented as self-service technologies infiltrate customer service and other work where human relations and decision-making skills are required. More broadly, it also uncovers the gendered politics of bodily comport, gaits, gestures and other micro-movements in labour (re)production in a wider age of technological change.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 05 Jun 2025 13:59:01 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2529598</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Transport quality and user perception: Effect of bus station hedonic quality on student trip behavior</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2534611</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This study examines the impact of bus station quality on users' travel choices, with a specific focus on the hedonic aspects related to architectural design and passenger services offered. It is widely shown that a safer, reliable, and comfortable transport service fosters greater trust in the transport system and leaves users with a positive perception of ease of movement within a geographical area. Moreover, the quality of public transport services has long been recognized as a crucial factor in shaping perception of accessibility to a place, potentially expanding the catchment area by attracting a larger number of users. In designing new terminals, many planners worldwide specifically focus on hedonic (aesthetic) aspects, also influencing the user's quality perception. Unlike rail stations, bus stations have had little attention with respect to aesthetic quality and passenger services, even if many studies have highlighted the significant impact that the design, services, and amenities of bus waiting areas have on user satisfaction. This study focuses on the hedonic value of a bus station and estimates users' willingness to pay (WTP) for enhanced station quality. The research targets are university students (aged 18–25) traveling on extra-urban routes, involving three major Italian cities: Milan, Rome, and Naples. Using a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) conducted through a Virtual Reality (VR) immersive experience, this study explores users' willingness to switch from a conventional bus station to a newly designed high-quality one, assessed in terms of both architectural standards (i.e. the “beauty”) and the functional quality (i.e. passenger's services offered, like restaurant, bar, free Wi-Fi, shops, comfortable waiting room, e-ticketing devices). Analyzing various cost and travel time SP scenarios, the model results shows that the average Italian student is willing to pay an additional €3.11 per trip (equivalent to 25 % of the actual average trip cost) or extend their travel time by up to 20.9 min per trip (26 % of the average actual travel time) to experience a superior bus station instead of a traditional one. The practical implications of this study are clear for urban planners, policymakers, and transport authorities: prioritizing investments in high-quality stations can significantly improve passenger satisfaction and promote greater use of public transport.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 13 May 2025 09:54:15 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2534611</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Estimating aesthetic services of road landscapes through predicting people's attention: A computer vision approach</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2514202</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The aesthetic services of road landscapes provide recreational opportunities for the road environment, thereby supporting the designation, planning and design of scenic roads. Computer vision presents a methodology to investigate landscape aesthetic services by offering pixel-level tools to identify and analyse people's aesthetic attention. These tools can help overcome some of the limitations of examining attention through eye-tracking experiments. In this study, the authors constructed a dataset by collecting image data of road landscapes in Southwest China and creating aesthetic labels through public ratings. The authors employed a two-step deep transfer learning to train an aesthetic prediction model. The resultant model presented an accuracy of 0.88 in identifying landscapes with notable aesthetic features. Then the authors leveraged a class activation mapping to elucidate the model's aesthetic attention in the image samples. To interpret the visual features of aesthetic attention, the authors adopted image segmentation, colour extraction, depth estimation and edge detection to analyse the elements, colours, deepness and complexity of the attention areas in landscapes. The authors' results demonstrated the different patterns between positive and negative aesthetic attention. Negative attention is focused on unattractive objects, gravitating towards nearby artificial objects with dull colours and basic outlines. In contrast, positive attention displays a preference for distant, brightly coloured natural objects with complex shapes. Its pattern involves more than just the search for attractive objects, as it also includes a general focus on the landscapes around the road end and roadsides. The proposed approach can be used to estimate the aesthetic services of road landscapes, and the empirical findings offer implications for the planning and design of scenic roads.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 24 Apr 2025 09:29:18 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2514202</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Design Guide for Highway Noise Barriers</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2536057</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The current Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) design process for highway noise barriers is reviewed. Design requirements for highway noise barriers are then presented. These include acoustical requirements, structural requirements, safety requirements, aesthetic requirements, and cost considerations. Examples are given of different highway noise barriers used in Texas. Sample plans and specifications are presented. Design requirements are broadly grouped into acoustical requirements, environmental requirements, traffic safety requirements, and structural requirements; those requirements are again presented, drawing on the material presented in the preceding chapters.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 20 Apr 2025 18:22:13 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2536057</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Deep learning meets urban design: Assessing streetscape aesthetic and design quality through AI and cluster analysis</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2530391</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Urban streetscapes possess unique aesthetic qualities, yet the link between street design and aesthetic quality, particularly across different streetscape types, remains underexplored due to evaluation limitations. This study bridges the gap by integrating deep learning and cluster analysis. The authors constructed a dataset through manual aesthetic ratings of 500 sampled street images by 150 participants, then fin-tuned a ResNet-50 to automatically predict the aesthetic of 16,455 streetscape images from Wuhan. Street design quality was assessed using visual landscape elements derived from semantic segmentation, while the HDBSCAN algorithm was employed to cluster streetscape types. Multiple linear regression and grouped regression analysis were employed to examine design-aesthetic relationships across six streetscape types. Key findings include: (1) the model's high accuracy in assessing aesthetics, with vegetation and water as key factors; (2) streetscapes were categorized into six clusters, with highways and bridges rated as having the highest aesthetic quality, and overpasses rated the lowest. (3) greenness, openness, and walkability strongly correlated with aesthetics, especially in residential streets; (4) The impact of street design quality on aesthetic perception varies significantly across different types of streets, suggesting that street function may influence aesthetic standards. This study introduces a novel framework for evaluating urban streetscape aesthetics and design, providing actionable insights for creating sustainable, aesthetically pleasing environments.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 18 Apr 2025 09:17:11 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2530391</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Public transit of the future: Enhancing well-being through designing human-centered public transportation spaces</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2519422</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Studies show that psychological effects are one of the top concerns for public transportation users. While many Americans spend a significant portion of their time in public transportation spaces, the impact of the design and maintenance of these spaces on user well-being has not been fully studied. In this study, the authors conducted a survey to better understand the effect of implementing different designs on people’s well-being and perceptual metrics (N = 304). Participants were presented with six images depicting different cabin configurations, including (1) the current version of the cabin space, (2) a low-maintenance version, (3) an aesthetically enhanced version, (4) a bike rack-enabled version, (5) a version with an added workspace, and (6) an improved version with biophilic design. After viewing each image, participants’ well-being metrics (e.g., stress, and emotion) and their public transportation perception metrics (e.g., perceptions of safety, and reasonable cost) were evaluated. The results from linear mixed-effect modeling indicated that adding functional amenities and biophilic design elements led to an overall enhancement in well-being and perceptual metrics. Conversely, low maintenance worsened all measured well-being metrics. This research lays the ground for developing human-centered public transportation spaces that can lead to an increase in public transportation adoption.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 08 Apr 2025 17:03:46 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2519422</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Two-Coat Inorganic Coating System for Steel Bridges</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2522029</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Design considerations for steel bridge coatings include exposure environment, aesthetics, application, and cost. Steel bridge coatings must offer protection against corrosion. Current techniques include the traditional three-coat zinc, epoxy, urethane systems, galvanizing, and thermal spray metallization. Another pathway for steel protection includes the use of decades-old inorganic zinc spray-applied coatings. This approach offers the performance of a metallized coating while using a conventional spray application. What is new is the use of an inorganic topcoat that maintains performance and fab shop throughput while adding color and aesthetics. This study compared a two-coat inorganic coating system alongside a galvanized, thermal spray metallizing, and a sealed thermal spray metallizing system in corrosion resistance lab testing. A discussion of applied costs and throughput is presented along with a review of the chemistry of this approach and the sustainability benefits it offers.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 16 Mar 2025 17:48:58 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2522029</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Exploring perceptions of route environments in relation to walking</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2491215</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Every walk takes place in a route environment, which can play an important role in deterring or facilitating walking. The focus of this thesis is on the perceptions of environmental variables, and how they relate to appraisals of route environments as hindering - stimulating for walking and unsafe - safe for reasons of traffic, in two metropolitan environments. Another focus is to expand the state of knowledge concerning the criterion-related validity of the Active Commuting Route Environment Scale (ACRES). Commuting pedestrians in Greater Stockholm, Sweden, were recruited via advertisements. From the inner urban area there were 294 participants (77% women), aged 49.5 years, and from the suburban areas there were 233 participants (82% women), aged 50.0 years. 77 individuals walked in both areas. The participants evaluated their commuting route environments using the ACRES. Correlation, multiple regression, and mediation analyses were used to explore the relationships between the variables. Comparisons of environmental ratings between groups and settings were performed with t-tests. Studies 1 and 2 focused on the inner urban area and studies 3 and 4 on the suburban areas. Studies 1 and 3 focused exclusively on the relations between the four motorized traffic variables (vehicle speed, vehicle flow, noise, and exhaust fumes), and their relations to the outcome variables (hinders - stimulates walking and unsafe - safe traffic). Studies 2 and 4 utilised proxies from studies 1 and 3 and combined them with other environmental variables to further the understanding of route environmental variables in relation to walking.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 17 Jan 2025 15:16:34 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2491215</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Does road environment aesthetics influence risky driving behavior of autonomous vehicles? An evaluation on road readiness using explainable machine learning and random parameters multinomial logit with heterogeneity</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2476360</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Aesthetics has always been an advanced requirement in road environment design, because it can provide a pleasant driving experience and guide better driving behavior for human drivers. However, it remains unknown whether aesthetics-based road environment design also has an impact on autonomous vehicles (AVs), resulting in that current evaluation models on road readiness for AVs (RRAV) do not consider road environment aesthetics. Therefore, this study aims to explore the relationship between road environment aesthetics and risky driving behavior of AVs (RDBAV) and propose an RRAV evaluation model from the new perspective of road environment aesthetics. Using real autonomous driving data, 1,491 longitudinal RDBAV events and 225 lateral RDBAV events are acquired together with corresponding road environment images. A novel quantitative model of road environment aesthetics is developed and 38 relevant feature variables are extracted from four aspects, including Naturalness, Vividness, Variety, and Unity. Then, an explainable machine learning that combines XGBoost (eXtreme Gradient Boosting) with SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanation) is employed to establish an evaluation model of RRAV, by treating the occurrence of RDBAV as the dependent variable and feature variables of road environment aesthetics as independent variables. The results show that this XGBoost-based RRAV evaluation model performs better than other commonly-used methods, with accuracies of 96.9% and 91.8% for longitudinal and lateral RDBAV prediction, respectively. Due to the advantages of SHAP, the influence degrees of aesthetic features of road environments on RDBAV are calculated and explained based on global and individual feature contributions. In addition, a random parameters multinomial logit model with heterogeneity in means and variances reveals that the indicator of left visual curve length in the “middle scene” and the indicator of dominant color have significant heterogeneity for the analyses of longitudinal RDBAV. The findings of this study might contribute to the accurate evaluation of RRAV from the new viewpoint of aesthetics, the development of human-like visual perception systems of AVs, and the optimization of aesthetics-based road environment design.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 30 Dec 2024 09:57:33 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2476360</guid>
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