Welcome

Welcome to the Southern Plains Transportation Center (SPTC) website. Consisting of eight consortium members, the Center's participants seek to engage in research that provides solutions for climate related transportation challenges including extreme temperatures, droughts, freeze-thaw cycles and flash floods.

Consortium members represent research universities in each state of the region. The State departments of transportation, private sector stakeholders and other partners have demonstrated expertise in addressing weather-related infrastructure issues. In addition, the SPTC enjoys access to unique resources such as the National Weather Center, NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory, and the Oklahoma Mesonet, the West Texas Mesonet and the Radar Innovations Laboratory. 

The SPTC is uniquely qualified to respond to mounting climate-related challenges, bringing together transportation and climate/weather researchers to create resilient, sustainable, and climate-adaptive infrastructure for the 21st Century and beyond.

About the Consortium

The SPTC is a U.S. Department of Transportation Region 6 Regional University Transportation Center. The Center was established in 2013 based on an award from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) to conduct a multidisciplinary program of transportation research, education, and technology transfer.

The eight consortium members include:

• The University of Oklahoma, Norman | Consortium Lead

• Oklahoma State University, Stillwater

• Langston University, Langston, OK.

• University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

• Louisiana Tech University, Ruston

• The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

• The University of Texas at El Paso

• Texas Tech University, Lubbock

The SPTC collaborates internationally with the Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay in Mumbai and Shandong University in Jinan, China. The SPTC partners with two other University Transportation Centers and four institution-level transportation centers.