Low-volume and rural roads make up the largest share of transportation infrastructure in nearly every country, including the United States, and they are often vulnerable to extreme weather events and sudden increases in heavy traffic. Technological advancements and engineering techniques offer practical solutions to improve the functionality, structural capacity, and resilience of these critical networks. TRB hosted a webinar on Thursday, April 16, 2026 from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM Eastern that highlighted graduate research focused on engineered and technology-driven solutions for low-volume and rural roads. Presenters provided findings from a road embankment case study in permafrost areas, discussed the use of digital twins to support safer and smarter low-volume road networks, and shared lessons learned from implementing an innovative engineered solution to enhance slope stability.
This webinar was the second part of a webinar series for graduate students to showcase their research work on low volume and rural roads. The first part, Advancing Unpaved Roads and Airfields Through Graduate Research, was held on September 29, 2025.
This webinar was sponsored by TRB’s Standing Technical Committee on Low Volume and Rural Roads.
The slides are available. 
 
Webinar agenda and presenters

• Mechanical response of road embankments built on permafrost located at Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway – Farshad Kamran, Universite Laval
• Digital twins for safer and smarter rural road networks – Nutvara Jantarathaneewat, University of Washington
• Nature-based slope repair technique using vetiver grass for low-volume roads – Fariha Rahman, Jackson State University
• Question and answer session moderated by Laura Fay, Western Transportation Institute

The first 60 minutes of the webinar were for presentations and the final 30 minutes were reserved for audience questions.
 
Learning Objectives
At the end of this webinar, participants can:

• Identify key embankment factors that influence low-volume road performance
• Apply new technology, such as digital twins, to ensure access to safe and smart low volume road networks
• Improve the performance of road slopes with nature-based repair technique

 
Credit Information
There were no continuing education credits associated with this webinar.