Located in the Department of Civil Engineering, at the University of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez, the Transportation Technology Transfer Center founded in 1986 celebrated its 15^th anniversary on the first of April, 2001.

For 15 years, under the direction of doctors Benjamín Colucci and Felipe Luyanda, who are professors at the university, the Center has offered technical assistance to all the Puerto Rican municipalities as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is financed, in great part by funds provided by the Puerto Rico Department of Transportation and Public Works, the Federal Highway Administration, and the Department of Transportation of the Virgin Islands. Its primary objectives are to offer training to administrators, laboratory analysts, maintenance brigades, engineers, and technicians from all of Puerto Rico’s municipalities and the Virgin Islands.

The Center also provides information about the design, construction, maintenance, and operation of transportation facilities.

The Center’s objectives are achieved through its seminars, special projects , and the publishing of the informative newsletter, “El Puente.”

 Some of the most important projects of the Center who have been: the development of guides for municipality proposal preparation; the collection of information about the municipalities’ needs; the translation of guides, important information related to public transportation, and the development of instructional videos about the utilization of asphalt and concrete. Now, the Center is working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on the professional development of the students in transit field and the “Tren Urbano” project.

According to Drs. Colucci and Luyanda, the primary achievement of the Center has been the training of more than 10,000 officials in the transportation field in Puerto Rico as well as the Virgin Islands.