As the Norman W. McLeod Chair in Sustainable Pavement Engineering and Former Director of the Centre for Pavement and Transportation Technology, Dr. Tighe's key research areas can be summarized as follows:
- Sustainable Pavement engineering and management
- Evaluation of climate change of roads
- Long-life infrastructure
- Application of asset management to highway and airport operations
- Designing and building safer roads and airfields
- Life cycle economic analysis as a tool for infrastructure management and evaluating materials
- Development and evaluation of infrastructure management system components
- Solar technology in roads and pavement infrastructure - Researchers at the University of Waterloo, within the faculty of engineering are collaborating to develop a solar technology that could be used in a solar road
| 2019-2021 | PSI Technologies (PI) | Comparison of Various Pavement Design Methodologies |
| 2019-2021 | Sidewalk Labs (PI) | Developing an Urban Interlocking Concrete Pavement |
| 2019-2021 | Porous Pave, Inc. (PI) | Developing a New Porous Pavement |
| 2019-2020 | NTAI (PI) | Impact of Surface Material Type on Thermal Conductivity of Roads in Permafrost Regions |
| 2019-2020 | OCE (PI) | Development of Alternate Runway Material Test Program |
| 2018- | MTO (PI) | Evaluation of Testing Variability of Semi-Circular Bend (SCB) and Disc-shaped Compact Tension (DCT) Fracture Tests |
| 2018- | MTO (PI) | Greenhouse Gas Mitigation in Highway Design, Construction, and Maintenance - Jurisdictional Scan |
| 2018-2020 | NSERC CRD (PI) | Exploring A Premium Asphalt Patching Mixes by Using 100% RAP Recycler |
| 2018-2021 | NSERC CRD (PI) | Evaluation of Asphalt Properties in Plant Produced Asphalt Mixes |
| 2018-2019 | NSERC Engage (PI) | Unpaved Runway Strength Correlation |
| 2017-2020 | NSERC CRD (PI) | Evaluating Pavement Structural Benefits of Lightweight Cellular Concrete |
| 2017-2022 | NSERC CRD (PI) | Resilient and Durable Concrete Pavements |
| 2017- | MTO (PI) | Impact of Additives on the Performance of In-place Recycled Pavements |
| 2017- | MTO (PI) | Performance Evaluation of Pre-cast Concrete Panels Over Asphalt |
| 2016-2019 | MTO (Co-PI) | Examining Work Zone Throughput to Improve Safety, Workzone Efficiency, and Cost Effectiveness |
| 2015-2017 | MTO (PI) | Performance Evaluation of Pre-cast Concrete Panels over Asphalt |
| 2015-2017 | MTO (Co-PI) | Local Calibration of the MEPDG Prediction Models |
| 2015-2017 | MTO (Co-PI) | Development of High Modulus Asphalt Mix Design Technology in Ontario |
| 2015-2020 | NSERC Discovery Grant (PI) | Sustainable Long Life Pavements |
