The Transportation Policy Group

About TPG

The Transportation Policy Group deals with local, regional, state, national and international transportation initiatives. Policy research and outreach is carried out through independent staff efforts and collaboration with other research groups within VTTI, the Virginia Tech community and private transportation consulting firms.

To date, TPG has teamed with the Office of Economic Development, the Department of Wood Science and Forest Products, the Center for Public Administration and Policy, the Institute for Policy Outreach, the Department of Urban Affairs and Planning, the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, the Department of Applied Mathematics, the Office of Economic Development, the Center for Gerontology and the Department of Continuing Education. Areas of expertise include community transportation, citizen involvement, transportation finance and organization, intermodalism - both passenger and freight - and strategic institutional issues. The group is staffed by full-time research associates, collaborating faculty and graduate students as project funding dictates.

About the Director

Ray Pethtel is the University Transportation Fellow and directs the Transportation Policy Group at VTTI. He served for eight years as the Transportation Commissioner for the Commonwealth of Virginia, four years as Chairman of the Commonwealth Transportation Board, and four years as Vice Chairman. In 1974 he was appointed as the founding director of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC), where he served two 6-year terms. His areas of expertise include citizen involvement, transportation vision planning, community impact analysis, multimodal transportation policy, transportation finance, institutional issues in transportation technology and facilitation of construction partnering conferences.

Current Work

Analysis of the Transportation Needs of the Wood Products Industry in Distressed Appalachian Regions

This study was intended to enable wood products from distressed areas in Appalachia to be more competitive in the world market. The increased business will create jobs, stabilize population loss, and bring new money into the communities where there are wood product firms.

Improving the International Competitiveness of the Forest Products Industry through Improved Transportation Methods

This follow-on project will implement the findings of the "Analysis of the Transportation Needs of the Wood Products Industry in Distressed Appalachian Regions" and expand the research to include specific transportation issues in Mexico and the Caribbean basin.

Previous Work

New River and Roanoke Valley Public Mobility Program

This project was funded by a statewide planning grant to inventory, record, and assess the human service transportation in the Roanoke and New River Planning Districts. The goal of the project was to find ways to improve access and service to the aged, disabled, and indigent populations. Copies of the final report and resource manual are available on request.

Flexible Low-Cost Automated Scaled Highway (FLASH)

This project developed a museum exhibit using infrared, magnetic, and vision technology to demonstrate automated steering and collision avoidance. The technology is installed in scale model autonomous cars. The museum exhibit will be operational in 2007 at the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond and the Virginia Transportation Museum in Roanoke.

Statewide Multimodal-Transportation Vision Project

This project resulted in three publications used by the Commonwealth in its statewide long-range transportation plan--Vtrans2025. Three issue-framing and thirteen citizen dialogue sessions were held across the Commonwealth with transportation stakeholders and citizens resulting in a Virginia citizens perspective and vision for multimodal transportation.

Wythe County Community Vision and Action Agenda

This project involved developing a community vision and action agenda for Wytheville, VA and Wythe County, VA. In partnership with the Town of Wytheville and its citizens, the project sought to promote a process allowing citizens the option of participation in future-focused group discussion. The project was begun to explore community issues associated with elimination of the I-77/I-81 overlap.

The Impact of Eliminating the I-77/I-81 Overlap at Wytheville

This project was a multidisciplinary, collaborative effort aimed to improve citizen involvement in the I-77/I-81 decision-making process by fostering a well-informed, active citizen body.

I-81 Public/Private Partnership Proposal

This partnership led a public/private partnership proposal for an alternative, low-cost approach to the reconstruction of I-81.