Welcome to the Rhode Island Transportation Research Center (RITRC)

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The 35th RI Transportation Forum

The 35th RI Transportation Forum was held at URI Memorial Union on Friday, October 28th, 2022. The Plenary Speaker was Prof. Amit Bhasin, Director of Center for Transportation Research (CTR) at the University of Texas at Austin. The Keynote Speaker were Mr. Derek Nener-Plante, MS., PE, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Dr. Geoffrey M. Rowe, PE, Former President of Association of Asphalt Paving Technology (AAPT).

Left to Right: Outstanding Contribution Awardee, Mr. Todd Brayton, MS, PE, Keynote Speaker and Abatech President Dr. Geoffrey Rowe, Keynote Speaker and FHWA Engineer Mr. Derek Nener-Plante MS, PE, Plenary Speaker and Director of CTR Prof. Amit Bhasin, Ph.D, URI Faculty Senate VP Prof. Bahram Nassersharif, FHWA Div. Administrator Mr. Carlos Machado, and RITRC Director Prof. K. Wayne Lee, Ph.D, PE
  • Peter Alviti
    Director (RIDOT)
  • Iftikar Ahmad
    CEO (RIAC)
  • Lori Caron Silveria
    Executive Director (RITBA)
  • Scott Avedisian
    CEO (RIPTA)
  • L-R: Prof. K. Wayne Lee, Mrs. Amy Brayton, Mr. Todd Brayton, and Mr. George F. Monaghan
  • L-R: Mr. Carlos C. Machado, Prof. Christopher Hunter, Congressman James Langevine, and Prof. K. Wayne Lee

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About the RITRC

The Rhode Island Transportation Research Center (RITRC) was established in 1992 and conducts interdisciplinary studies in the areas of intelligent transportation infrastructure and systems (ITIS). Research efforts cover all modes of transportation land, sea and air. We also undertake several intermodal transportation projects.

Research teams have a special interest in developing next-generation transportation materials such as high-performing asphalts, concretes, composites, steel, soils, and pavement marking materials, etc. Our facility contains a complete set of equipment for mixing and testing bituminous materials including Marshall, Hveem and Superpave mix design sets, and soil characterization as well as aggregate testing. There is also equipment for mixing and testing Portland cement concrete and evaluating corrosion of reinforced steel and paint adhesion. Specifically, our lab has the soil resilient modulus tester, binder test setup for performance grading (PG), Asphalt Binder Cracking Device (ABCD), Asphalt Mixture Performance Tester (AMPT), Automatic Asphalt Pavement Analyzer (APA), portable Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) and a 25 kip servohydraulic testing system that can be used for various static and dynamic loading modes, such as resilient modulus, dynamic modulus, fatigue, flexure and creep.

The RITRC received a $12 million University Transportation Center (UTC) grant under the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA21) in 1998. The Center has been conducting various research programs sponsored by the R.I. Department of Transportation, USDOT University Transportation Center (UTC), New England Transportation Consortium (NETC), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Currently, RITRC is working with Univ. of Maine for the Region One UTC grant. RITRC also works with international agencies such as Korean Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT), Korea Expressway Corporation (KEC), German Technical University of Braunsweigh, etc.