What is OTC

The Oklahoma Transportation Center (OTC) is a multi-disciplinary coalition of the Oklahoma State University (OSU), the University of Oklahoma (OU), and Langston University (LU) to serve as a resource for solving critical transportation problems in the State and in the nation in a cooperative manner. Founded in 2001, the OTC has over 30 "founding partners" including Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT), Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA), and companies and associations representing all transportation modes.

In the highway reauthorization bill, SAFETEA-LU, OTC is designated as a National University Transportation Center.

In FY01 and FY02, the center received $400K each year from ODOT, and beginning FY03 it began receiving significant federal funding ($350K in FY03, $2 million in FY04 and $1.5 million in FY05) for surface transportation research. In addition, the center received $2 million in FY04 and $4 million in FY05 for transit research. These funds allowed the faculty, researchers, and students at each of the OTC institutions to work collaboratively on research projects covering a broad spectrum of topics including multimodal transportation and logistics, freight movement analysis and forecasting, bridge and roadway structural health and security, sensor deployment, intelligent transportation systems for traffic safety, and emerging materials and construction/maintenance technologies. The transit research, so far, has focused on information technology in demand response transit systems, transportation planning process web-based education, coordinated services and strategic planning. Some of these projects have been completed, while others are in progress. In the new highway bill, SAFETEA-LU, the OTC was designated as a National University Transportation Center (UTC).