Our quality of life is a direct result of a marvelous transportation system. More than anywhere else on earth, the United States excels in efficiently and safely moving people, goods, and services from point to point. Our network of road, rail, waterway, and airway avenues provides the foundation for a sophisticated economy that could not exist without it. As good as this system is, there are always challenges.
Similar issues exist for the other modes of transportation.
We must make our highway, rail, airway, and waterway transport systems more efficient and correct the imperfections that still exist in them to remain competitive in the unfolding global market. Virginia Tech is a world leader in research and education on all fronts related to the transportation needs of the future. At the university, transportation studies cut across a host of disciplines, including engineering, public administration and policy, urban planning, industrial design, economics, agriculture, computer science, mathematics, construction technology, and business. Its Transportation Engineering Program transcends the boundaries that have traditionally separated highways, waterways, railways, and airways into unrelated compartments. Naturally, the program emphasizes the design and construction of the hardware of transportation, including a major effort in materials development.