T2 Center - A Year in Review

In 2022, the T2 Center continued to expand its reach. In each of our theme areas – training, safety, and technical services - the productivity and quality of our services have been recognized with new opportunities, new clients, and new contracts. T2 is proud of this ongoing record of achievement, built on the almost 40 years during which T2 established its reputation for excellence in technology transfer.The T2 Center was honored to be recognized by the American Public Works Association, Florida Chapter, at its annual meeting in November. T2 was presented with a chapter certificate recognizing our 30 years of service and participation with APWA Florida.

T2 Training Program - The T2 Training Program drew 1,745 students from 39 states and Canada with 134 classes. T2 established training partnerships with several statewide programs as well as with LTAP centers in Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Out new courses in transportation equity align with the goals of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to enable practitioners to deliver a more equitable transportation future. All T2 training programs focus on improving safety and efficiency and expanding decision makers’ knowledge and awareness.

Safety Resource Centers - For over a decade, the T2 Center has operated the Safety Resource Centers for PedBike and Occupant Protection, two of the emphasis areas for the FDOT Safety Office. Last grant year, the resource centers distributed over 150,000 safety materials, 1,004 car seats and 33,243 bicycle helmets to community safety partners throughout Florida. The resource centers also supported Florida’s child passenger safety technicians and instructors, awarding over 270 scholarships to help certify new technicians and 20 stipends to instructors to teach these courses. Working closely with the Safety Office, T2 developed the Florida Traffic Safety Resource Center (FTSRC), a centralized online store for ordering and distributing FDOT print and digital safety materials and equipment for all 17 emphasis areas. Our goal is to help fulfill FDOT’s “Target Zero” goal of zero fatalities and injuries resulting from traffic crashes on Florida’s roadways.

Transportation Safety Center (TSC) - We have recently completed safety audits for Wakulla and Jefferson counties, the seventh and eighth Florida counties in this ongoing project to identify and mitigate high risk rural roadway locations. We are continuing to develop online training for Safe Routes to School as well as to develop a framework for SRTS’s future to bring this lifesaving program to more Florida communities. This work suffered a setback with the untimely loss of our coworker Lucy Barr, who had worked as an SRTS trainer for 15 years and was instrumental in creating the online training. Our work on SRTS continues in her honor. TSC has taken first steps toward bringing leading-edge safety technologies to Florida roadways: first, exploring the use of tele-operated and autonomous vehicles for roadway incident response and, second, potential application of FHWA’s CARMA in ISTREET. CARMA is a program aimed at accelerating the use of a wide range of advanced technologies in transportation.

Other Projects - An important aspect of technology transfer these days is training the next generation of transportation workers. To this end, T2 is planning to work through a STRIDE grant to host a summit for southeastern states on workforce development in summer 2023. We are also working with the Federal Transit Administration on a research-to-practice (R2P) project to improve transit service and safety.

To all of these of these ventures, we welcome our newest staff members, Shraddha Sagar and Isabela Picoli. Shradda is an engineer who will be working primarily with TSC, and Isabela will be working in T2 administration.

Sincerely,

Dr. Nithin Agarwal, Director