About the Exploratory Advanced Research Program

General Information

The Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act–A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) establishes an Exploratory Advanced Research (EAR) Program that addresses the need to conduct research on longer term and higher risk breakthrough research with the potential for transformational improvements to plan, build, renew, and operate safe, congestion free, and environmentally sound transportation systems.

Focus Areas

Focus areas provide direction on the research objectives of the EAR Program. A focus area is a defined topic area where breakthroughs are most needed, or where there is high potential for long-term, higher-risk research to lead to dramatic improvements.

FHWA has and continues to work with partners in the research community to develop and modify focus areas for the EAR Program. Current areas of interest include.

Integrated Highway System Concepts — This focus area emphasizes the longer-term needs to reach critical departmental safety and mobility goals by developing the theory and assessing feasibility for systems that leapfrog current technological approaches for linking infrastructure with future vehicle and personal mobile technology

Nano-Scale Research — This focus area cuts across all functional areas and takes advantages of higher magnitudes of investment from other agencies to support of greater highway system resilience, improved safety and operations, and reduced environmental impacts. It encompasses modeling and measuring phenomena to increase an understanding of properties as well as the application of scientific advances from other fields critical to improving the safety, reliability and resilience of the highway system.

Human Behavior and Travel Choices — This focus area leverages research concepts from the social sciences including psychology and economics along with more traditional research for improving safety, reducing congestion, and improving the livability of the nation's communities

New Technology and Advanced Policies for Energy and Resource Conservation — This focus area cuts across infrastructure, operations and societal and complex natural systems to support innovative methods for reducing highway industry costs and move towards sustainability

Information Sciences — This focus area takes advantage of paradigm shifting breakthroughs found across academia, government and the private sector in the computer and information technology fields including automation, data processing and management, computing, cyber (or virtual) systems, communication, and visualization

Breakthrough Concepts in Material Science — This focus area leverages new approaches in materials science to produce innovative new highway materials with characteristics that enable enhanced functionality (including multi-functionality), constructability, sustainability, cost effectiveness or operating characteristics of highway infrastructure and system monitoring sensors to enhance highway safety, reliability, and resilience.

Technology for Assessing Performance — This focus area seeks novel approaches and breakthrough technology that will revolutionize the use of performance management in the highway sector

History

1991 - The Office of Advanced Research is established. The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) of 1991 (ISTEA Sec. 6001) establishes a long-term research project category specifying that 15 percent of research funds expended under the R&T [research and technology] program must be expended on long-term projects that are not likely to be completed within 10 years. The new program is to serve as FHWA's eyes and ears for new technology development from within government and industry sources.

1993 – With a budget of $3.7 million, twelve (12) research grants were awarded for the first time under this program.

1994 – With a budget of $5.6 million, eight additional grants were awarded.

1995 – Under Agency-wide restructuring, the Office of Advanced Research was incorporated as part of the Office of Safety and Traffic Operations Research and Development and worked with a budget of $2.8 million.

1998 to 2004 – New highway legislation did not include designed funding provisions for an advanced research program; however, FHWA continued to channel discretionary funding to support ongoing work. This amounted to less than $1 million per year.

2005 – The passage of SAFETEA-LU resurrected funding for FHWA's EAR Program, dedicating $14 million per year for exploratory advanced research.