Airport Research Needs Cooperative Solutions -- Special Report 272 (2003) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
3 Overview of the Highway and Transit Cooperative Research Programs
3 Overview of the Highway and Transit Cooperative Research Programs
Pages 55-72
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From page 55... ...
The means chosen will fundamentally influence the kinds of problems researched, the quality and credibility of the research, and the probability of the results being applied in the field. The legislative request for this study calls for an examination of the structure and effectiveness of two existing cooperative research programs in transportation: the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP)
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From page 56... ...
National Cooperative Highway Research Program Program Inception One reason highway agencies conduct their own research is to find efficient solutions to pressing problems. However, the results of research in one state can have application elsewhere, since most highway problems are not unique.
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From page 57... ...
,1 state highway agencies had long worked together and with other relevant organizations (such as the Bureau of Public Roads, the National Association of County Officials, and the American Society of Civil Engineers) to set uniform guidelines for all aspects of highway design, construction, and operations.
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From page 58... ...
The National Research Council was charged with administering the program by convening expert panels for each project. The panels drew from specialists in universities, industry, and predominantly the state highway agencies themselves.
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From page 59... ...
Although it does not have a vote in the programming of funds, it appoints liaison representatives to SCOR and other AASHTO committees, and FHWA experts serve on all NCHRP project panels and can submit problems for consideration. The NCHRP annual budget, which is based on a percentage of federal appropriations for highways, has grown with the increase in federal aid over time.
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From page 60... ...
; Measurement; Scour Factor Corrosion Departments Urban Major User on Sight Decks; Levels-of-Service Emissions to and of Load Control document) ; Design; Salt-Contaminated Nearby Multi-modal Profile Culverts; Reinforcement of and Highway on Highway Reducing Bridge Highway Source (Web available Control Stopping Stability Areas; for on of for Response Improvements State Guardrail (also Pavement Moisture; Maintenance Barrier Applications; for Access Mobile Quick Large-Span of Frost Stream Safety for Rehabilitation Methods Development for Pavements for digest)
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From page 61... ...
This arrangement ensures that the research program addresses problems shared by highway agencies. Parochial problems that are best addressed locally seldom find support, and emerging problems in the field can be identified quickly and investigated.
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From page 62... ...
Partly as a result of this orientation, the federal government viewed transit systems, and thus transit-related research, as local and state prerogatives. Not until the late 1960s did the Federal Transit Administration (FTA, then known as the Urban Mass Transportation Administration)
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From page 63... ...
The committee called for a cooperative research program that would be financed from a mandatory 1/2 percent set-aside of federal transit funding; would emphasize applied, problem-solving research; and would fill the gaps in FTA's technologyoriented R&D program. With the collective support of the transit industry reached through the American Public Transportation Association (APTA)
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From page 64... ...
TOPS allowed submissions of problem statements from all interested parties, including FTA, universities, and transit suppliers and consultants. This was a departure from the practice of NCHRP, which solicits problem statements only from state highway agencies, AASHTO committees, and FHWA.
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From page 65... ...
Concerned about the relatively small share of problems capable of being funded by the program, the APTA Board of Directors is urging Congress to increase funding for TCRP in the next 6-year reauthorization of the federal government's surface transportation program to $27.93 million in FY 2009 (TEA-21 Reauthorization
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From page 66... ...
Products (synthesis Transportation; practice) ; (synthesis Large Transit Absorber Contact on Scheduling -- Basic into Advertising to of Buses -- Status, Design Handbook Direct-Fixation Cooperative Example Transit Procedures Transit Terrorism A Transit thesis Passenger Practices Access Understanding Low-Floor Transit Vibration Track Overhead of (available Transit Digests, the a of Published 50 36 24 11 of Reports, Syntheses Products Number Project and and bus facil fare security Areas opera and specialized Covered perfor- cars, stations, systems, vehicles, vehicle rail operating safety Areas service rail planning, marketing vans, components Research control passenger of Problem Scheduling, tions, collection, System services, mance, Buses, people-mover vehicle Buildings, ities, stops Summary fixed of Field 3-2 configuration engineering Table Research Operations Service Vehicle Engineering facilities
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From page 67... ...
; Car Transit Testing -- A A of Transportation Toolkit results Measures Maintenance for Rail Development Evaluation, Manual Part-Time Improving to Alcohol Assessment Quality -- A Public digest) ; Transit and (research (synthesis Service and for Hazard of Management Intelligence Workforce practice)
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From page 68... ...
Key Program Characteristics As the program has matured, certain characteristics of TCRP have proved crucial in meeting the research needs of the transit industry -- while some others have presented challenges. Governance The program is governed by a diverse oversight and project selection board consisting of transit operators, suppliers, consultants, university profes sors, transit labor representatives, and the FTA administrator.
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From page 69... ...
In the case of TCRP, the federal government provides the funding for the research program, while transit operators and other stakeholders in the transit industry cooperate in identifying research needs and participating in research projects. The two programs are guided by practitioners, who identify shared research needs, ensure that the research agenda is focused on meeting these needs and producing useful results, and assist with the conduct of the research and dissemination of results.
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From page 70... ...
· Evaluating overall program effectiveness; developing strategic plan Features That Enable the Program to Do the "Right" Things Well 3. Credibility: quality control through research competition and guidance by panels of experts and practitioners · Competition to obtain best proposals from researchers · Merit review of proposals (involving stakeholders or their technical representatives)
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From page 71... ...
TCRP, by comparison, serves a much more dispersed transit industry, consisting of thousands of operators, hundreds of which receive federal funds in any given year. While NCHRP funding has risen to enable the program to fund research to address more than one-third of problem statements submitted by sponsoring highway agencies each year, TCRP's budget, which is determined at the federal level, has remained static and capable of funding only about 10 percent of problem statements submitted by the transit industry each year.
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From page 72... ...
1960. Special Report 55: Highway Research in the United States: Needs, Expenditures and Applications: 1959.
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Key Terms
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