Our Accelerated R&D Agenda 

When planning this year, no one could have predicted we would now be amidst a global pandemic, economic downturn, and civil uprising all at once. And as we move forward, we are all rapidly adjusting, listening, and responding in pursuit of a safer and more equitable future together.

In April, we announced we were going to be shifting and accelerating our internal R&D efforts in response to COVID-19, and solicited questions worth examining in five topic areas: community engagement, transit and emerging modes, travel trends and demand management, freight and curb space, and active mode and complete street design. We remain committed to investing where the needs are greatest and have appreciated such a willingness to engage when there are demands and requests for your time coming from all angles. The contributions, perspectives, and partnerships we’re now carrying forward are invigorating.

We invite you to walk through our R&D landscape below to see how we are responding to what we have heard so far. Actions are organized to show whether they will contribute to an incremental change to existing tools, data, or research; or offer something new and transformative. We also identify whether actions respond to known industry issues directly caused by COVID-19, or unknown but anticipated outcomes.

As needs within communities and across the world continue to change, we invite you to connect with us, upvote actions below that you believe are most critical, or even add new R&D items. Thank you for helping us maximize our R&D efforts to help where communities are telling us it is needed most.