Accelerating Implementation of Transportation Research Results (2014)

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92+ pages; Perfect Bind with SPINE COPY = 14 pts Accelerating Implementation of Transportation Research Results NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM NCHRP SYNTHESIS 461 N CH R P SYN TH ESIS 461 Accelerating Im plem entation of Transportation Research Results NEED SPINE WIDTH Job No. XXXX Pantone 202 C TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD 500 F ifth S treet, N .W . W ashing to n, D .C . 20001 A D D R ESS SER VICE R EQ UESTED TRB A Synthesis of Highway Practice

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TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD WASHINGTON, D.C. 2014 www.TRB.org NAT IONAL COOPERAT IVE H IGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM NCHRP SYNTHESIS 461 Research Sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials in Cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration SubScriber categorieS Highways • Research Accelerating Implementation of Transportation Research Results A Synthesis of Highway Practice conSultant Barbara T. Harder B.T. Harder Inc. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM Systematic, well-designed research provides the most effective approach to the solution of many problems facing highway administra- tors and engineers. Often, highway problems are of local interest and can best be studied by highway departments individually or in coop- eration with their state universities and others. However, the accelerat- ing growth of highway transportation develops increasingly complex problems of wide interest to highway authorities. These problems are best studied through a coordinated program of cooperative research. In recognition of these needs, the highway administrators of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials initiated in 1962 an objective national highway research program employing modern scientific techniques. This program is supported on a continuing basis by funds from participating member states of the Association and it receives the full cooperation and support of the Federal Highway Administration, United States Department of Trans- portation. The Transportation Research Board of the National Research Coun- cil was requested by the Association to administer the research pro- gram because of the Board’s recognized objectivity and understanding of modern research practices. The Board is uniquely suited for this purpose as it maintains an extensive committee structure from which authorities on any highway transportation subject may be drawn; it possesses avenues of communication and cooperation with federal, state, and local governmental agencies, universities, and industry; its relationship to the National Research Council is an insurance of objec- tivity; it maintains a full-time research correlation staff of specialists in highway transportation matters to bring the findings of research directly to those who are in a position to use them. The program is developed on the basis of research needs identified by chief administrators of the highway and transportation departments and by committees of AASHTO. Each year, specific areas of research needs to be included in the program are proposed to the National Research Council and the Board by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Research projects to fulfill these needs are defined by the Board, and qualified research agencies are selected from those that have submitted proposals. Administration and surveillance of research contracts are the responsibilities of the National Research Council and the Transportation Research Board. The needs for highway research are many, and the National Coop- erative Highway Research Program can make significant contributions to the solution of highway transportation problems of mutual concern to many responsible groups. The program, however, is intended to complement rather than to substitute for or duplicate other highway research programs. NOTE: The Transportation Research Board of the National Acad- emies, the National Research Council, the Federal Highway Adminis- tration, the American Association of State Highway and Transporta- tion Officials, and the individual states participating in the National Cooperative Highway Research Program do not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers’ names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the object of this report. NCHRP SYNTHESIS 461 Project 20-05 (Topic 41-06) ISSN 0547-5570 ISBN 978-0-309-27138-7 Library of Congress Control No. 2014935464 © 2014 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION Authors herein are responsible for the authenticity of their manuscripts and for obtaining written permissions from publishers or persons who own the copyright to any previously published or copyrighted material used herein. Cooperative Research Programs (CRP) grants permission to repro- duce material in this publication for classroom and not-for-profit pur- poses. Permission is given with the understanding that none of the material will be used to imply TRB, AASHTO, FAA, FHWA, FMSCA, FTA, or Transit development Corporation endorsement of a particular product, method, or practice. It is expected that those reproducing the material in this document for educational and not-for-profit uses will give appropriate acknowledgment of the source of any development or reproduced material. For other uses of the material, request permission from CRP. NOTICE The project that is the subject of this report was a part of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program conducted by the Transpor- tation Research Board with the approval of the Governing Board of the National Research Council. Such approval reflects the Governing Board’s judgment that the program concerned is of national importance and appropriate with respect to both the purposes and resources of the National Research Council. The members of the technical committee selected to monitor this project and to review this report were chosen for recognized scholarly competence and with due consideration for the balance of disciplines appropriate to the project. The opinions and conclusions expressed or implied are those of the research agency that performed the research, and, while they have been accepted as appropriate by the technical com- mittee, they are not necessarily those of the Transportation Research Board, the National Research Council, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, or the Federal Highway Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Each report is reviewed and accepted for publication by the technical committee according to procedures established and monitored by the Transportation Research Board Executive Committee and the Govern- ing Board of the National Research Council. Published reports of the NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM are available from: Transportation Research Board Business Office 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 and can be ordered through the Internet at: http://www.national-academies.org/trb/bookstore Printed in the United States of America

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine

TOPIC PANEL 41-06 ARTHUR M. DINITZ, Transpo Industries, Inc., New Rochelle, NY DARRYLL DOCKSTADER, Florida Department of Transportation, Tallahassee RICHARD C. HANLEY, Connecticut Department of Transportation, Newington PAUL E. KRUGLER, Texas A&M University, College Station RUKHSANA LINDSEY, Utah Department of Transportation, Salt Lake City LAURA MELENDY, University of California–Berkeley MARK R. NORMAN, Transportation Research Board BILL STONE, Missouri Department of Transportation, Jefferson City JOSEPH CONWAY, Federal Highway Administration (Liaison) THOMAS HARMAN, Federal Highway Administration (Liaison) SYNTHESIS STUDIES STAFF STEPHEN R. GODWIN, Director for Studies and Special Programs JON M. WILLIAMS, Program Director, IDEA and Synthesis Studies JO ALLEN GAUSE, Senior Program Officer GAIL R. STABA, Senior Program Officer DONNA L. VLASAK, Senior Program Officer TANYA M. ZWAHLEN, Consultant DON TIPPMAN, Senior Editor CHERYL KEITH, Senior Program Assistant DEMISHA WILLIAMS, Senior Program Assistant DEBBIE IRVIN, Program Associate COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAMS STAFF CHRISTOPHER W. JENKS, Director, Cooperative Research Programs CHRISTOPHER HEDGES, Manager, National Cooperative Highway Research Program EILEEN P. DELANEY, Director of Publications NCHRP COMMITTEE FOR PROJECT 20-05 CHAIR CATHERINE NELSON, Salem, Oregon MEMBERS KATHLEEN S. AMES, Springfield, Illinois STUART D. ANDERSON, Texas A&M University BRIAN A. BLANCHARD, Florida DOT CYNTHIA J. BURBANK, FHWA (retired) LISA FREESE, Scott County (MN) Community Services Division MALCOLM T. KERLEY, Virginia DOT (retired) RICHARD D. LAND, California DOT JOHN M. MASON, JR., Auburn University ROGER C. OLSON, Minnesota DOT ROBERT L. SACK, New York State DOT FRANCINE SHAW WHITSON, Federal Highway Administration LARRY VELASQUEZ, JAVEL Engineering, LLC FHWA LIAISON JACK JERNIGAN MARY LYNN TISCHER TRB LIAISON STEPHEN F. MAHER

Highway administrators, engineers, and researchers often face problems for which information already exists, either in documented form or as undocumented experience and practice. This information may be fragmented, scattered, and unevaluated. As a con- sequence, full knowledge of what has been learned about a problem may not be brought to bear on its solution. Costly research findings may go unused, valuable experience may be overlooked, and due consideration may not be given to recommended practices for solving or alleviating the problem. There is information on nearly every subject of concern to highway administrators and engineers. Much of it derives from research or from the work of practitioners faced with problems in their day-to-day work. To provide a systematic means for assembling and evaluating such useful information and to make it available to the entire highway commu- nity, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials—through the mechanism of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program—authorized the Transportation Research Board to undertake a continuing study. This study, NCHRP Proj- ect 20-5, “Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Problems,” searches out and syn- thesizes useful knowledge from all available sources and prepares concise, documented reports on specific topics. Reports from this endeavor constitute an NCHRP report series, Synthesis of Highway Practice. This synthesis series reports on current knowledge and practice, in a compact format, without the detailed directions usually found in handbooks or design manuals. Each report in the series provides a compendium of the best knowledge available on those measures found to be the most successful in resolving specific problems. This synthesis examines implementation practices used by public-sector nontranspor- tation agencies, nonprofits, and academia to accelerate practical application of research results. The emphasis is on practices that might be useful for transportation agencies to create more responsive research programs. A series of implementation case examples and practices are presented. Information for this study was gathered through a comprehensive literature review of U.S. and selected international sources. Agency websites were searched and interviews were conducted with key individuals at case example agencies. Barbara Harder, B.T. Harder Inc., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, collected and synthesized the information and wrote the report. The members of the topic panel are acknowledged on the preceding page. This synthesis is an immediately useful document that records the practices that were acceptable with the limitations of the knowledge available at the time of its preparation. As progress in research and practice continues, new knowledge will be added to that now at hand. FOREWORD PREFACE By Jon M. Williams Program Director Transportation Research Board