Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-09-004

Communication Product Updates

Compiled by Zachary Ellis of FHWA's Office of Corporate Research, Technology, and Innovation Management

Below are brief descriptions of communications products recently developed by the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Office of Research, Development, and Technology. All of the reports are or will soon be available from the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). In some cases, limited copies of the communications products are available from FHWA's Research and Technology (R&T) Product Distribution Center.

When ordering from NTIS, include the NTIS publication number (PB number) and the publication title. You also may visit the NTIS Web site at www.ntis.gov to order publications online. Call NTIS for current prices. For customers outside the United States, Canada, and Mexico, the cost is usually double the listed price. Address requests to:

Address requests for items available from the R&T Product Distribution Center to:

For more information on R&T publications from FHWA, visit FHWA's Web site at www.fhwa.dot.gov, the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center's Web site at www.fhwa.dot.gov/research/tfhrc/, the National Transportation Library's Web site at http://ntl.bts.gov, or the OneDOT information network at http://dotlibrary.dot.gov.

Advancing knowledge and understanding of how motorists acquire and act on visual information while driving at night is the goal of a new project launched by FHWA in 2008. This program factsheet explains the Increased Understanding of Driver Visibility Requirements, a project under FHWA's Exploratory Advanced Research Program, which will develop a theoretical framework for determining the quantity and quality of visual information drivers need to navigate two-lane, rural roads safely.

Conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Texas Transportation Institute (TTI), and Science Applications International Corporation, the project will investigate how human drivers and autonomous robotic vehicles negotiate curves at night, with the goal of developing a software program that can predict how both will respond to different combinations of visual guidance. This guidance can range from centerlines and edgelines to delineators and raised pavement markers.

In summer 2008, TTI measured driver performance under varying levels of pavement marking luminance. Data from this initial study will help to refine cognitive task analysis of the autonomous vehicle, which will drive the test course at TTI in April 2009 under the same conditions as those experienced by the human participants. A final report on the project is due in late 2009.

Limited printed copies of this factsheet are available from FHWA's Office of Corporate Research, Technology, and Innovation Management.

FHWA conducted two experiments, one simulated and one on a test track, to validate the concept of a system designed to warn potential victims of a likely red-light violator. The warning system uses sensors to detect vehicles that are unlikely to stop at red traffic signals and uses signs and flashing lights to warn drivers who might collide with a violator.

Several human factor issues need to be addressed before such a system could be deployed. The experiments for this study addressed one of these issues — whether, if warned, a sufficient number of drivers would respond in a way that would enable them to avoid a right-angle collision. The results suggest that in a case where no other vehicles precede or follow, a majority of drivers who receive a conspicuous warning will act by braking sharply. Drivers responded similarly in both tests. The test track results support the continued use of driving simulators in system development. Researchers will conduct further examinations to assess responses to warnings given to drivers within a stream of traffic.

This report is available at www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/08070/index.cfm and from NTIS under order number PB2009102752. Printed copies also are available from FHWA's R&T Product Distribution Center.

This factsheet provides an overview of FHWA's Office of Infrastructure Research and Development (R&D), which conducts and administers infrastructure R&D programs and projects that address problems of national concern on the U.S. highway system. The Office focuses on R&D where there is an appropriate Federal role by virtue of national needs, scope, duration, or risk. This role is reflected in various overarching strategies involving long-term infrastructure performance, durable infrastructure systems, accelerated highway construction, environmentally sensitive highway infrastructure, performance-based specifications, and comprehensive and integrated infrastructure asset management.

The outcomes delivered through pursuit of these strategies will benefit the American public by enabling improvements in the safety, performance, and cost- effectiveness of the Nation's highway infrastructure, while minimizing the environmental impacts of highway construction, maintenance, and rehabilitation. The goals are to reduce highway congestion, improve safety, and enhance the overall driving experience for motorists.

Printed copies are available from FHWA's R&T Product Distribution Center.

This document provides information on the compliance of the Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) program with the guidelines issued in the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Information Dissemination Quality Guidelines. USDOT developed these guidelines in response to requirements of Section 515 of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2001.

The purpose of the guidelines is to maximize the quality, utility, objectivity, and integrity of information disseminated by the Federal Government. The document discusses the activities performed under the LTPP program and addresses the policies and procedures established by the guidelines.

This report is available from NTIS under order number PB2009103923. Printed copies also are available from FHWA's R&T Product Distribution Center.

As the pavement design process moves toward mechanistic- empirical techniques, knowledge of seasonal changes in pavement structural characteristics becomes critical. This report describes a methodology for determining frost penetration in unbound pavement layers and subgrade soil using temperature, electrical resistivity, and moisture data collected for instrumented LTPP seasonal monitoring program (SMP) sites.

The report also contains a summary of LTPP estimates of frost depth and a detailed description of the LTPP computed parameter tables containing information on frost penetration for 41 LTPP SMP sites. The analysis methodology and the accompanying E-FROST program use in situ soil temperature as a primary source of data to predict frost depth in unbound pavement layers. Researchers also used electrical resistivity and moisture data as supplemental data sources for the analysis when temperatures were close to the freezing isotherm. The Enhanced Integrated Climatic Model served to fill intermediate gaps in the measured soil temperature data.

Printed copies are available from FHWA's R&T Product Distribution Center.

This manual includes operational procedures for measuring longitudinal pavement profiles for the LTPP program using the International Cybernetics Corporation road profiler, Face Construction Technologies, Inc.'s Dipstick®, and the rod and level. The manual contains procedures for measuring transverse profiles of the pavement using Dipstick.

The document also describes procedures for equipment calibration, data collection, recordkeeping, equipment maintenance for each of the profiling devices, processing procedures for profile data collected in the field, and guidelines for performing inter-regional comparison tests among the LTPP profilers.

Printed copies are available from FHWA's R&T Product Distribution Center.