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U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration

MEMORANDUM

This is to announce the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 solicitation of grant applications for demonstration construction projects under the Highways for LIFE (HfL) Pilot Program. I am attaching the application form. The solicitation will close on August 31.

To date, 21 States have been selected for participation in the pilot demonstration project program. Because Section 1502(b)(6) of Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) requires the Secretary to approve (to the maximum extent possible) at least one project in each State, those States that have not been selected as an HfL recipient will receive first consideration for available funds. If your State has not had an HfL project, I encourage you to work with State officials to find and submit a candidate.

We can approve incentive grants under the HfL Pilot Program, or waive the matching requirement to allow 100-percent Federal-aid funding for projects. The purpose of these incentives is to encourage the States to build projects that use proven innovations that are infrequently used to accelerate the deployment and implementation process of innovation.

The selection panel will be ranking the candidate projects using the following criteria:

• Serve as shining examples of what is possible with respect to improving safety and user satisfaction, minimizing construction-related congestion, and achieving high-quality, long-lasting highway infrastructure;
• Demonstrate a broad array of technologies, techniques, and approaches to achieving safe, high quality, and long-lasting infrastructure, while minimizing construction-related congestion and achieving a higher user satisfaction rating;
• Be geographically dispersed (ideally with at least one project in each State);
• Serve as a platform for promoting innovation and new technology (i.e., showcases, workshops, training, peer-to-peer exchange); and

• Demonstrate that the innovations will be put into standard practice by the State.

The State must submit all applications to their FHWA Division Office. The division office is to forward the State’s application and provide a recommendation memorandum to the HfL office with information that:

• Identifies the features in the application that are truly innovative in their State (not a standard practice);
• Determines if the project meets the minimum requirements of HfL;
• Identifies the measurable HfL goals that will be met by the innovations;
• Determines if the innovations will make a significant improvement in the State’s construction program;
• Provides a recommendation if this project should be selected as a HfL project; and
• Determines if the State is willing to consider making a standard practice of the innovation after a successful demonstration.

Since enactment of SAFETEA-LU, HfL projects have clearly demonstrated that we can build highways and bridges in weeks rather than years, with minimal impact to motorists, with significantly better safety results, of higher quality, and sometimes at a lower cost. This new solicitation for FY 2010 is a great opportunity to encourage your State to use the appropriate innovations promoted in the Every Day Counts Accelerating Innovation and Technology Deployment and Shortening Project Delivery initiatives.

If you have any question, please contact Ms. Mary Huie at mary.huie@dot.gov or
202-366-3039 or Mr. Byron Lord at byron.lord@dot.gov or 202-366-1325.

Attachment
Highways for LIFE Project Application Packet