Research and Technology Coordinating Committee Letter Report: January 2015 (2014) / Chapter Skim
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500 Fifth Street, NW Phone (202) 334-2934 Washington, DC 20001 Fax (202)
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FHWA's ESSENTIAL ROLES IN HIGHWAY RD&T FHWA faces the possibility of significant reductions in its RD&T budget when the surface transportation program is reauthorized in 2015, particularly if the bill approved in 2014 by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works becomes the basis of the legislation. Moreover, revenues from the Highway Trust Fund are insufficient to fund all the activities mandated by Congress, and political obstacles to increasing these revenues through increases in the fuel tax, together with multiple and competing demands on the General Fund, raise concerns about how and to what extent FHWA's current RD&T activities will continue to be funded.
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established in 2005, funds longer-term and higher-risk breakthrough research with the potential for transformational improvements to transportation systems (4)
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unnecessary congestion associated with accidents and incidents, and speed the provision of new capacity while preserving the environment (7)
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use of ultrahigh-performance concrete to create longer-lasting bridges and facilitate rapid infrastructure renewal through the use of new structural forms (11)
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RTCC recognizes that exploring such options is difficult and unpleasant but urges FHWA to prepare for the possibility of a worst-case budget scenario nonetheless. By doing so, the agency will be better positioned to make informed decisions about cuts in its activities should the need arise.
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of performance measures "is a broad one, and there are multiple appropriate levels on which to measure performance" (13, p.
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efforts involving different staff across various program offices appear to have become stymied by a failure to define and use terms consistently and by a lack of good examples to guide the process. The resulting uncertainty and confusion, exacerbated by the challenges of evaluating widely differing projects, appear to have led to some projects becoming bogged down in excessive details and to others that are inconsistent with the framework.
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These last two documents are directed primarily to congressional staff in the context of reauthorization of the surface transportation program. Other FHWA communication materials include periodic publications such as Public Roads, a bimonthly magazine covering federal highway policies, programs, and research and technology, and R&T Now, a newsletter containing information and updates about RD&T.
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specific examples likely to appeal to a nontechnical audience. Comparison of the description of FHWA's research on connected and automated vehicles in the two-pager on successes with President Obama's description of the same activities illustrates this point (Box 1)
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with its role as a technology leader. Engaging professional communications specialists would require expenditures from FHWA's RD&T budget, but RTCC sees the potential benefits as essential to countering the risk of losing RD&T funding.
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to share the TFHRC strategic plan with its customers and stakeholders and elicit their feedback to inform the critical next steps in plan development. These steps include making the current generic version of the plan more specific and aligning it with the center's RD&T budget.
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8. Special Report 296: Implementing the Results of the Second Strategic Highway Research Program: Saving Lives, Reducing Congestion, Improving Quality of Life.
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