The Transportation Research Board (TRB) and the Division on Earth and Life Studies (DELS) have released the pre-publication version of TRB Special Report 290, The Potential Impacts of Climate Change on U.S. Transportation, which explores the consequences of climate change for U.S. transportation infrastructure and operations. The report provides an overview of the scientific consensus on the current and future climate changes of particular relevance to U.S. transportation, including the limits of present scientific understanding as to their precise timing, magnitude, and geographic location; identifies potential impacts on U.S. transportation and adaptation options; and offers recommendations for both research and actions that can be taken to prepare for climate change. The book also summarizes previous work on strategies for reducing transportation-related emissions of carbon dioxide--the primary greenhouse gas--that contribute to climate change. Five commissioned papers used by the committee to help develop the report, a summary of the report, and a National Academies press release associated with the report are available online. DELS, like TRB, is a division of the National Academies, which include the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council.

TRB Special Report 238 - Landside Access to U.S. Ports examines the nature of port access problems and appropriate strategies for responding to them. The report covers four broad subject areas that influence landside transportation access to ports: physical impediments, land use policies, regulatory constraints, and institutional issues.

TRB Special Report 207: Transportation Professionals: Future Needs and Opportunities Aware assesses future professional needs in highway and mass transit agencies in federal, state, and local government. This study also examines the role of consulting firms in satisfying the future professional requirements of highway and transit agencies. A large number of professionals who entered highway and mass transit organizations during the past 30 years are expected to retire soon, particularly those who helped build the nation's Interstate system. Unless there is careful planning, this loss of professional capability could impair the ability of these agencies to maintain the nations's transportation system effectively.

A guide to using the Public Record Office (PRO) in England for English or Welsh genealogical research, providing an introduction to PRO record classes of interest to North American researchers and identifying PRO records available in North American institutions. Includes advice for finding sources of emigration and immigration records, with appendices on local record offices in England and Wales and useful addresses. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

TRB Special Report 213: Research for Public Transit: New Directions reviews transit research programs and recommends improvements. The report calls for an operator-sponsored, problem-solving research program focused on priority topics of common interest to transit providers. The committee urges Congress to allow the agencies to pool their funds to organize and conduct such research. With strong support from the transit industry, Congress subsequently endorsed these recommendations and in 1991 created the Transit Cooperative Research Program.