Framing Surface Transportation Research for the Nation’s Future (2013) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
3 Current State of U.S. Surface Transportation Research
3 Current State of U.S. Surface Transportation Research
Pages 36-69
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U.S. SURFACE TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH ENTERPRISE Research on surface transportation in the United States today is diverse and decentralized, reflecting the nature of the overall transportation system itself.
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But the entity funding research is not necessarily, of course, the entity that conducts the research. Thus, when considering the desirable attributes of a national research framework, it is important to note that organizations engaged in the nation's surface transportation research may have differing perspectives, depending on whether they fund research, provide research, or both.
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. Academia Universities and affiliated entities are heavily engaged in trans portation research through contracts with transportation service providers, private industry, and federal and state govern ments (e.g., through RITA's University Transportation Centers program)
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. Of particular interest in the context of a national framework for surface transportation research, however, are the programs of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA)
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FHWA 291 30.7 Surface transportation 195 research Training and education 25 SHRP 2 48 FTA 60 6.3 National program 44 TCRP 10 FRA 42 4.4 Rail R&D 38 RITA 227 23.9 UTC 82 BTS 27 ITS 108 OST 18 1.9 NHTSA 110 11.6 Research and analysis 61 PHMSA 10 1.1 FMCSA 7 0.7 State DOTs 183 19.3 NCHRP 40 and SP&Rb Total 948 100.0 678 Note: FHWA = Federal Highway Administration; SHRP 2 = Strategic Highway Research Program 2; FTA = Federal Transit Administration; TCRP = Transit Cooperative Research Program; FRA = Federal Railroad Administration; R&D = research and development; RITA = Research and Innovative Technology Administration; UTC = University Transportation Centers; BTS = Bureau of Transportation Statistics; ITS = Intelligent Transportation Systems; OST = Office of the Secretary of Transportation; NHTSA = National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; PHMSA = Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration; FMCSA = Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration; NCHRP = National Cooperative Highway Research Program; SP&R = State Planning and Research program. a Percentages may not sum to 100.0 because of rounding errors.
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Other Federal Departments Federal agencies other than the U.S. DOT provide substantial funding for research in surface transportation.
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DOT contribute to the federal investment in surface transportation research, they do not identify transportation research explicitly in their programs and budgets. Rather, such research is subsumed by goals more directly linked to each agency's mission.
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Industry Companies throughout the transportation sector support research initiatives both individually and through partnership arrangements. Characterizing these private-sector research programs is challenging, however, because of the scope of the transportation domain, the often proprietary nature of the work, and the very limited disclosures of the financial and human capital being invested in the programs.
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SELECTED RESEARCH PROGRAMS In this section, brief descriptions of selected surface transportation– related research programs illustrate the range of research being conducted under various funding arrangements and with the involvement of diverse participants. The ongoing and completed major activities examined by the committee are presented below under the headings "Focused Research Programs of Limited Duration" and "Research Programs Funded on a Continuing Basis." Individual programs are listed in Box 3-2.
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Research Programs Related to Surface Transportation Focused Research Programs of Limited Duration • Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP) • National Automated Highway System Research Program (NAHSRP)
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, advanced transportation research lies at the interface between basic research and applied research, drawing on longer-term, higher risk basic research that may offer potential breakthroughs for transportation systems. For example, advanced transportation research uses basic research results from nanotechnology for coatings to prevent metal fatigue in rails or bridges, or from molecular chemistry to create self-healing asphalt pavement.
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In 1991, P.L. 102-240, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA)
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The goal was to have the first fully automated roadway or an automated test track in operation by 1997. To implement this mandate, a public–private research consortium called the National Automated Highway System Consortium was formed in 1994, under the leadership of General Motors, with the aim of pooling financial resources, technical expertise, and marketplace experience
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DOT subsequently withdrew its support of the consortium and discontinued the NAHSRP. These actions were endorsed by an expert committee tasked with reviewing the NAHSRP, which concluded that • The task of developing, evaluating, and selecting a specification for a preferred fully automated highway system in less than seven years was unrealistic because of daunting technological, social, and institutional issues; • The consortium had a built-in conflict of interest, given its dual respon sibilities to promote a shared vision of automated highways while also having to evaluate the prospects of implementing that vision; and • The required consensus-based management and decision-making struc ture of the National Automated Highway System Consortium made it very difficult to respond to changing funding and program priorities (TRB 1998)
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21CTP was initially led by DOD's U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research and Development Command, but in 2002 leadership was transferred to DOE's Office of FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies (now the Office of Vehicle Technologies)
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. Under the most recent surface transportation act, the 2012 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21)
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Thus eligible activities under MAP-21 include not only research activities relating to the construction and maintenance of highway, public transportation, and intermodal transportation systems but also studies of the economy, safety, convenience, regulation, and taxation of surface transportation systems (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/map21/ spr.cfm)
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Research topics are applied in nature; TCRP does not address longer-term basic and advanced research, including strategic research on future transit systems. TCRP has followed a similar model for program administration throughout its 20-year history, suggesting that stakeholders view this model as effective for short-term applied research.
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DOT to maintain and update the national ITS Program plan developed by ITS America and the U.S. DOT; subsequent reauthorizations of surface transportation legislation have specified similar actions.
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The leadership of visionary professionals who, seeing a trans formational opportunity, convened a planning workshop that included a broad range of public and private stakehold ers and produced a vision, goals, and funding estimates for a national program clearly linked to national transportation goals; 2. The establishment of an independent stakeholder advisory and advocacy group for intelligent vehicle–highway systems (IVHS America, subsequently ITS America)
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with a requirement for a 100 percent funding match from nonfederal sources; with few exceptions, this match was provided by state DOT funds. In subsequent surface transportation authorizations, additional centers were established by congressional earmarking (i.e., without competition or merit review)
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. In 2011, RITA, which administers the UTC program, conducted a preliminary survey of UTC performance indicators for the first four years of SAFETEA-LU.
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Writing shortly after the EAR program was established, an expert committee on highway safety research called the
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research framework for surface transportation, as discussed in the following sections. Strengths Two major strengths of the current framework are the robust portfolio of applied research and the role played by research in educating future transportation professionals.
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DOT has recognized the importance of educating future transportation professionals, and through its UTC program the department has expanded resources devoted to transportation education over the past 25 years. As a result, the number of universities offering training in surface transportation has increased substantially, as has the number of graduates from these programs.
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Recognizing the Importance of Basic and Advanced Research The robust portfolio of applied research outlined above contrasts sharply with the paucity of basic and advanced research activities devoted to surface transportation. Applied research projects have led to important improvements over the years but, in the committee's judgment, such efforts will not by themselves produce the transformations in transportation needed to meet emerging long-term global challenges, such as climate change and sustainability.
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Research investments by federal agencies outside of the U.S. DOT -- notably DOE, DOD, EPA, and NSF -- may offer opportunities to leverage ongoing basic and advanced research relevant to surface transportation.
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. In recent years, there have been no sustained and comprehensive efforts to coordinate national surface transportation research, although some coordination of government-funded research activities does occur.
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Linking to National Goals As discussed above in "Selected Research Programs," the United States lacks a cohesive national research framework for surface transportation that is clearly linked to overall societal goals. Rather, the current framework is ad hoc in nature and comprises a diverse assortment of research efforts, often modally focused, many of which are responsive to the specific needs of different groups but do not address the transportation system as a whole.
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OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT Surface transportation research is undertaken and funded by many groups, each with somewhat different perspectives. The initiation, continuity, and longevity of research programs are influenced by funding
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REFERENCES Abbreviations FHWA Federal Highway Administration NRC National Research Council NSB National Science Board RITA Research and Innovative Technology Administration TRB Transportation Research Board TTI Texas A&M Transportation Institute Barkan, C
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2011. University Transportation Centers Performance Indicators Years 1–4.
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1998. Special Report 253: National Automated Highway System Research Program: A Review.
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Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, D.C. http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/ sr/sr299.pdf.
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