CTE's IS program created this resource in response to the need identified at the November 1996 Environmental Research Needs in Transportation Conference. With the two subsequent updates in 1998 and the planned update in 1999 the scope of EnvRIP was expanded to include a broader range of sponsors, such as other government agencies, all university transportation centers, other academic research institutes, and non-profits. Through a proactive effort the IS staff has succeeded in generating a substantial database of active environmental research. This assured broad distribution of the information. In each subsequent update of EnvRIP, CTE identifies environmental research that has been completed since the last issue and provides a bibliographic citation to the final report.
Every effort is made to assure the reliability and accuracy of all information in the database.
On a regular basis, all new information is shared with the Transportation Research Board information service for possible inclusion in their TRIS database. From the EnvRIP records CTE also generates a special report for FHWA and TRB that documents those research projects that meet the criteria of research needs statements published in TRB Circular 469, Environmental Research Needs in Transportation. As a result of CTE's successful development of EnvRIP, FHWA approached the IS program in late 1998 about designing and hosting a similar database on CTE's Web server for FHWA's Environmental Research Program projects. Negotiations continue and an initial one-year contract is anticipated to begin during the second half of 1999. Host Web Sites for Additional TRB A1F Committees CTE has established a strong partnership with many of the TRB A1F environmental committees, most notably with the A1F02 Environmental Analysis in Transportation Committee, for which CTE has hosted and maintained a Web presence since 1997.