Strategic Plan for The Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center

Strategic Plan for the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center

INTRODUCTION

This Strategic Plan focuses on the activities, resources, and capabilities of the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC), both internally and as FHWA's core facility for research, development, and technology within the broader transportation research community. Accordingly, this document describes TFHRC's plans for providing national leadership in highway research by advancing its own endeavors and by coordinating those endeavors with activities managed by other offices within FHWA and the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), other cooperative research programs, the States, other levels of government, the private sector, academic institutions, and international organizations. By conducting and catalyzing the right research, the center will better enable highway transportation–in concert with other modes of transportation–to fulfill its potential for improved safety, efficiency, economy, mobility, and quality of life.

FHWA'S TFHRC

FHWA's Office of Research, Development, and Technology (RD&T) is located at TFHRC, a federally owned and operated national research facility in McLean, VA. ⁽¹⁾

TFHRC provides the world highway community with research and development (R&D) related to new and existing highway technologies, leading to a safer, longer lasting, more reliable, and more cost–efficient highway transportation system. Housing multiple laboratories, data centers, and support facilities, the center conducts applied and exploratory advanced research in such vital areas as vehicle-highway interaction, nanotechnology, safety, pavements, highway bridges and structures, human–centered systems, operations and intelligent transportation systems, and materials. The center reviews, tests, studies, researches, and finds solutions to complex technical problems through the development of more economical and environmentally sensitive designs; more efficient, quality–controlled construction, operational, and safety practices; and more durable materials.

TFHRC engages in long-term planning of highway research, and assembles and actively participates in partnerships with other national laboratories, governmental agencies at all levels, and with the private sector, to address the transportation needs of our Nation.

Researchers at TFHRC are dedicated scientists and engineers. Their expertise encompasses more than 100 transportation-related disciplines, including civil, structural, and pavement engineering; chemistry; safety; mathematics; computational development; modeling and simulation; information technology; hydraulics; geotechnology; aerodynamics; imaging; geometric design; photometry; visibility; human factors; and many more.

A team of professionals devoted to technology transfer, marketing, and communications; program development; and national and international partnerships also supports the center.

STRUCTURE OF HIGHWAY RESEARCH

Highway research in the United States is highly decentralized, as described in the July 9, 2013, letter and report from the Transportation Research Board's (TRB) Research and Technology Coordinating Committee.⁽²⁾ Accordingly, TFHRC's activities and resources function within and support larger structures of highway research within FHWA, in the United States, and internationally.

The existing highway R&T environment comprises multiple programs, including FHWA's R&T Program, State highway agency R&T programs, the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP), TRB research programs, congressionally mandated studies under the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21), University Transportation Center (UTC) programs, the Intelligent Transportation Systems Program, and nonprofit and private sector programs. In addition, other federally sponsored programs, such as those of the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, fund and conduct highway– and bridge–related research. These programs involve ongoing collaboration with international organizations, such as the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development and the Forum of European Highway Research Laboratories.

Within this decentralized, complex structure, FHWA is in a unique leadership position to identify and address issues of national significance that require long–term or high-risk research, planning, and investment. In this role–and in partnership with many stakeholder organizations–FHWA shapes and executes an innovative national R&T program that:

• Produces and delivers the solutions needed to meet current challenges, including deployment and training as integral components.

• Assesses future needs.

• Responds to those needs proactively and effectively

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For FHWA, success in R&T requires systematic collaboration with its public– and private–sector partners. In today's customer-driven atmosphere, there is an even greater responsibility to work with partners to define the direction of R&T and to develop the plans needed to achieve results, especially because many partners will implement the technologies and innovations. FHWA's leadership role includes conducting, sponsoring, sustaining, and guiding highway research; working with partners and stakeholders in the highway community to develop longer–term or higher–risk innovative technologies that address issues of national significance; and coordinating with partners and stakeholders to ensure that substantial research findings are placed into practice nationally.

To ensure a corporate approach to R&T, the FHWA R&T Leadership Team oversees FHWA's R&T Program and sets the R&T agenda for FHWA. The Corporate Master Plan for Research and Deployment of Technology & Innovation describes the structure of the FHWA R&T Leadership Team, which consists of selected FHWA Division Administrators and senior staff at FHWA Headquarters, including the Associate Administrators responsible for achieving the agency's programmatic goals.⁽³⁾ The Associate Administrator for Research, Development, and Technology is chair of the R&T Leadership Team and is responsible for integrating the individual components into a coherent R&T program. At every level and stage of the R&T program, priorities and agendas are set in accordance with FHWA's vision, mission, and strategic goals, the results of stakeholder engagement, and the Department's RD&T Strategic Plan.^(4,5) Although based on a solid structure and methodical procedures, FHWA's R&T Program strives always to keep multiple pathways open for innovation, which can originate– and is welcomed– at every level of the hierarchy both within and outside FHWA.

PURPOSE AND PRINCIPLES OF THE TFHRC STRATEGIC PLAN

The center aims to provide consistently high–quality, objective, and relevant leadership, technical expertise, and results to its stakeholders and partners, thus advancing its long-term pertinence, effectiveness, and success. To fulfill this aim requires a clear vision of TFHRC's future state and a well–defined trajectory to get there. That vision and its enabling trajectory must incorporate flexibility and encourage creativity, so that the center can anticipate future challenges, seize opportunities for innovation, and foster productive partnerships. Building on these purposes and principles, this Strategic Plan aims to guide the continued development–and capitalize on the substantive accomplishments– of TFHRC as the Nation's focal point for, and catalyst of partnerships in, highway research and innovation.

SOURCES AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TFHRC STRATEGIC PLAN

Initial input for developing the Strategic Plan came from the TFHRC research staff through a survey of future trends and issues and a staff workshop that addressed strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges for the center. Initial external stakeholder input consisted of an informal discussion with leaders from State highway agencies, academia, and industry, who emphasized TFHRC's long–term perspective and leadership role as key strengths and identified partnerships as essential to the center’s success. TFHRC leadership, which includes the Associate Administrator for RD&T, the Chief Scientist, the office directors, and selected assistant directors and key senior staff at TFHRC, evaluated the information provided internally and externally, as well as the results of broader strategic planning efforts within USDOT and FHWA, and developed six strategic challenges, with accompanying goals and objectives, to frame the Strategic Plan. After reviewing the framework, the FHWA's Federal Advisory Committee on R&T– the Research and Technology Coordinating Committee (RTCC), which operates under the auspices of the TRB–provided valuable feedback that has been incorporated. Further reviews and comments by FHWA leadership and additional external stakeholder groups informed the final version of the Strategic Plan.

This Strategic Plan sets forth broad principles and long-term goals and objectives for programs that must ordinarily be planned and executed on a multiyear basis. Accordingly, updates would occur if underlying principles, goals, and objectives should need to be amended; for example, to reflect major settled redirections of USDOT or FHWA strategic plans. The most recent version of the FHWA Strategic Plan, for instance, last underwent revision in July 2012 to reflect changes and updates since the original document’s release in December 2008. ⁽⁶⁾

TFHRC's Federal staff and management are identifying, prioritizing, and undertaking the specific activities that will achieve the Strategic Plan's objectives. In accordance with the Plan's purpose and principles, this implementation process will be iterative, incorporating consultation (within TFHRC, with other units in FHWA, and with appropriate partners and stakeholders) and reflecting real– world developments and needs over time.