ACRP IdeaHub Research Projects

Objective is to develop airport-specific design guidelines and best practices for airport terminals and passenger facilities to make them accessible to all persons.

Review the tools and practices currently being used to conduct airfield pavement conditions.

Further guidance on how to approach the design of airport infrastructure that is more resilient to climatic change is required. Efforts are underway both nationally and internationally to address identification of vulnerabilities and incorporating into planning documents; but there remains a gap in procedures to evaluate and determine design criteria for engineers and architects that may be more readily endorsed by funding... more »

Airports are increasingly interested in bringing multi-disciplines together in a common environment to improve collaborative decision making during regular and irregular operations. Guidance on how to plan and design for these centers is needed.

The proposed research will update and extend the estimated values of travel time savings determined in prior ACRP research and broaden the scope to include not only travel time savings but also other quantitative service attributes, such as walking distance, and the perceived values attributed by air passengers to qualitative levels of service, such as ride quality and comfort. The research will also explore the importance... more »

How can airports set up incubators unit to create a space for innovators to solve airport problems based on challenges placed on them from different departments? Then, using the resulting solution, partner (in terms of equity) with the innovators. Help them form companies that the airport can partner with. Then market to other airports.

Develop tools for evaluating the risk of runway incursions based on airport-specific factors such as airfield configuration, weather, aircraft operations, aircraft characteristics, and air traffic management practices. This project would involve data collection from historical runway incursion event data for storage in a relational database. These events would be classified by type following FAA and international taxonomy.... more »

Guidance on holisitic master planning that goes beyond just future

facility and infrastructure that includes the sub categories such as IT,

Operations, Security and Maintenance as examples. It would also provide guidance on how to develop a "plan" for the ancillary operating areas and how important components may be rolled into a true master plan

This Guidebook would detail what it takes to stand up a full IT Security

and Compliance program at an airport.

The proposed research project would evaluate carbon removal strategies that could be deployed at airports to help achieve "Net Zero Emissions" in order to align with global emission reduction targets and to address increasing public scrutiny. Carbon removal strategies include both natural (e.g., tree plantings and agricultural soil management) and technological approaches (e.g., carbon-absorbing concrete and direct air... more »

Develop industry recommendations to safely and efficiently move most types of passengers and their baggage with minimum wait times or queueing standards at all departure decision points at the airport.

Many airports have air traffic control tower (ATCT) facilities that were constructed more than 50 years ago and despite renovation and rehabilitation efforts, they are reaching the end of their useful life. Some do not meet updated FAA siting and design criteria, and other state-of-art practices. NATCA conducted a survey in 10 years ago (2007) that indicated over two-thirds of the ATCTs were rated as having fair to poor... more »

ACRP Report 157 (Improving the Airport Customer Experience)(2017) found that airport arts programs play an important role in improving the customer experience at airports and that airports with such arts programs are among the most highly rated airports in the world. ACRP Synthesis 11-03/Topic S01-21 (The Benefits of Airport Arts Programs) surveyed and synthesized the the state of practice of airport rotating visual art... more »

Develop a guide for architects, planners and airport operators on planning and designing new low cost carrier (LCC) terminal or converting existing ones to better serve low cost carriers. Supplement existing terminal planning resources and guidelines while identifying key differences between LCC and full service terminals.

Synthesize aspects of airport characteristics that can influence the planning, design, and construction of roads and highways and provide instructive considerations for each.