The Federal Role in Highway Research and Technology Special Report 261 (2001) / Chapter Skim
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Introduction
Introduction
Pages 13-30
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From page 13... ...
Moreover, it is increasingly apparent that a high-quality transportation system-including good highway transportation -- is essential to a growing economy. Indeed, studies of federal involvement in various infrastructure elements have documented the contribution of capital investment in highways to industry output and productivity (see Nadiri and Mamuneas 1996; Lewis 1991)
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From page 14... ...
The term "federal highway R&T program" is used throughout this report to refer to the combined responsibilities and actions of Congress, the administration, and the Federal Highway Administration in funding federal highway research, determining research needs, setting research program priorities, and executing the research program.
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From page 15... ...
CVISN would collect and exchange motor carrier safety information, automate interstate carrier registration and fuel tax payments, and screen commercial vehicles at fixed or mobile roadside sites. Moreover, the information would be accessible almost instantly to all authorized parties.
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in the time it takes for a truck safety inspection report to be made available to state motor carrier safety enforcement authorities. In a study of 40,000 commercial motor vehicle inspections, safety inspectors using the ad vanced safety information systems were able to remove an additional 4,000 (an increase from 8,000 to 12,000)
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From page 17... ...
not involve ownership of any part of the public road system outside of federal property, the federal government has a significant interest in providing for and maintaining a strong national highway system as part of the nations' overall transportation system. Furthermore, because providing highway infrastructure is essentially a public-sector domain, issues related to improving the system through innovation and new technology are addressed primarily by the public sector, though often in conjunction with private-sector members of the highway industry.
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From page 18... ...
When the SHRP research ended in 1993, some aspects of Superpave, such as software that would facilitate the design of pavement mixes and pre dict their performance, were incomplete. The SHRP sponsors -- FHWA, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and the Transportation Research Board -- decided to continue the inno vation effort and carry out an implementation program.
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From page 19... ...
Highway R&T likewise is a multifaceted and decentralized collection of components, not a single, centrally controlled or located program.2 Its components include the federal highway R&T program, state highway agency R&T programs, the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, and private-sector research funded by companies and associations. In addition, university research supports these programs.
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From page 20... ...
conducted many median barrier and roadside safety studies. One such study led to the devel opment of a concrete crash barrier designed to guide a striking vehicle back onto the roadway.
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In 1978 FHWA conducted crash tests on bridge rails designed in accordance with loading and geometric design criteria in the 1965 American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Bridge Specifications.
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The agency, in cooperation with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, has developed a pedestrian and bicycle safety crash analysis tool (PBCAT)
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From page 23... ...
coordination among these efforts.3 Such understanding will help highway users and others obtain greater benefit from the public investment in highway R&T. In this context, the present report was prepared by the Research and Technology Coordinating Committee, a special committee convened by the Transportation Research Board of the National Research Council and funded by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
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. The report of a recent study conducted for the National Cooperative Highway Research Program documents the benefits of the RWIS tech nology and describes current practice (Boselly 2001)
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A new geographic information systems (GIS) based computer model developed at the University of Maryland for the Maryland State Highway Administration (MSHA)
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From page 26... ...
These savings included material costs and savings obtained relative to alter native disposal of the tires by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composites for Strengthening of Bridges in Oregon Several historic reinforced concrete bridges in Oregon were found to be deficient for carrying current traffic loads.
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From page 27... ...
New Precast Bent Cap System Faced with the replacement of 113 bridge spans on an elevated section of Interstate highway in downtown Houston, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) decided to use the existing concrete columns, continued
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From page 28... ...
New Ramp-Metering Algorithm to Improve Systemwide Travel Times Ramp metering has the potential to improve freeway operations by re stricting and evenly spacing the traffic entering a freeway. Ramp metering a freeway system requires an algorithm that can be used to calculate and implement the meter control system at tens of locations under a wide vari ety of traffic demand conditions and in the face of random traffic inci dents and crashes.
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Department of Transportation FHWA Federal Highway Administration NCHRP National Cooperative Highway Research Program TRB Transportation Research Board ATA.
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From page 30... ...
1998. State Fiscal Implications of Intelligent Transportation Systems for Commercial Vehicle Operations Deployment.
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