Strategic Highway Research Saving Lives, Reducing Congestion, Improving Quality of Life -- Special Report 260 (2001) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Executive Summary
Executive Summary
Pages 1-12
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 1... ...
Americans use the highway system to make more than 90 percent of passenger trips and move 69 percent of total freight value; highways also accommodate buses, bicycles, and pedestrians. In addition, highways provide vital links among all modes of transportation; thus the influence of their physical and operational condition extends well beyond the impacts experienced directly by highway users.
|
From page 2... ...
In keeping with the overarching theme of providing outstanding customer service for the 21st century, the committee decided to conduct an extensive outreach process to identify highway needs and research opportunities. Stakeholders representing user groups, the private sector, various interest groups, and universities, as well as federal and local agencies and all state departments of transportation, received letters soliciting their input.
|
From page 3... ...
F-SHRP Strategic Focus Areas and Research Programs Through the iterative process described above, the committee concluded that F-SHRP should comprise research programs addressing the four strategic focus areas described below. Renewal: Accelerating the Renewal of America's Highways Overall research program goal: To develop a consistent, systematic approach to performing highway renewal that is rapid, causes minimum disruption, and produces long-lived facilities.
|
From page 4... ...
Popu lation growth, economic expansion, and changing demographics (the aging population, the baby "boomlet," immigration) characterize the cus tomer base well into the future and necessitate new approaches to the planning, design, and operation of the highway system.
|
From page 5... ...
Research may be performed in such areas as construction methods, materials, and equipment; innovative management and contracting techniques; work zone safety and traffic analysis and techniques; performance measures; and advanced information technologies. Potential impact:1 The results of this research would translate into user savings in several ways: smoother pavements would lead to reduced vehicle wear and tear and fuel usage; faster rehabilitation would mean less restriction of access to commercial and residential areas; and rapid, less-disruptive renewal techniques would reduce delay due to work zones.
|
From page 6... ...
Reliability: Providing a Highway System with Reliable Travel Times Overall research program goal: To provide highway users with reliable travel times by preventing and reducing the impact of nonrecurring incidents. Background: As noted above, dependence on the highway system to help Americans achieve a wide variety of business, personal, and professional goals has led to a significant increase in vehicle-miles traveled, while capacity
|
From page 7... ...
Moreover, such a heavily used highway system is more susceptible to unforeseen variations in travel time due to nonrecurring incidents such as crashes, disabled vehicles, construction work zones, hazardous materials spills, and special events. At the same time, users have become more sensitive to such unforeseen variations in travel time, making highway system reliability a paramount customer need.
|
From page 8... ...
it should possess essential quality control mechanisms (including open solicitation and merit based selection of research proposals, appropriate review proce dures during the conduct of research, and mechanisms for redirecting research as needed on the basis of results)
|
From page 9... ...
On the basis of the federal-aid highway funding levels of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century and an assumed reauthorization period of 6 years, this recommended funding mechanism can be expected to produce approximately $450 million to $500 million. Given the relative scope and complexity of the required activities, the distribution of funding among the four research areas should be approximately 25 percent for the infrastructure renewal research; 40 percent for the safety research; 20 percent for the travel time reliability research; and 15 percent for the research on tools for providing new capacity in an environmentally, economically, and socially responsive manner.
|
From page 10... ...
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and the Federal Highway Administration should consider funding and overseeing the devel opment of detailed research work plans during the period imme diately preceding initiation of the research program proper (which is assumed to take place at the beginning of the next surface trans portation authorization period)
|
From page 11... ...
Executive Summary 11 Characteristics of a Future Strategic Highway Research Program The committee has identified various criteria and characteristics to help define different aspects of F-SHRP: the four strategic focus areas, specific research programs, and the overall program's administrative structure. Taken together, the following characteristics describe what F-SHRP should look like and provide a guide for further development of the program: · Focused on a few topics of national significance for which a research program of critical mass and continuity is expected to achieve breakthrough impacts in highway practice · Time-constrained · Driven by stakeholders at the highest management and technical levels · Complementary to and interdependent with other highway research and technology programs · Customer serviceoriented · Systems-oriented · Open to research in nontraditional highway-related areas · Implementation-oriented from the research planning stages through adoption of research results
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.