TTI: The Early Years

The Texas A&M Transportation Institute was created in 1950, but perhaps its most important milestone occurred in 1962 when Texas A&M College annexed the site of the former Bryan Air Force Base east of the Brazos River.

The site's wide open spaces and more than five miles of concrete runways and taxiways made for an ideal proving ground for the transportation research done by the agency.

Dr. Gene Buth, who would ultimately become associate director of the agency, began his TTI career in 1963.

Dr. Gene Buth is a retired senior research engineer and Regents Fellow at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. He retired with more than 50 years of experience in design, testing, and evaluation of bridge railings, guardrails, transitions, impact attenuators, sign supports, and other highway safety features. Dr. Buth served as principal investigator of numerous research studies for Federal Highway Administration, National Cooperative Highway Research Program, Texas Department of Transportation, other state transportation agencies, and private industries.