U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000


Skip to content
Facebook iconYouTube iconTwitter iconFlickr iconLinkedInInstagram

Focus

Federal Highway Administration / Publications / Focus / November 2007

Accelerating Infrastructure Innovations

Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-08-008
Date: November 2007

Articles in this Issue

Asset Management Offers a New Approach to Highway Safety

With more than 40,000 individuals killed annually in motor vehicle crashes in the United States and 1.5 million injured, at a total economic impact of more than $230 billion a year, saving lives and increasing the safety of the Nation's roadways are vital goals of the 2005 Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). A new Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) brochure, Highway Safety and Asset Management (Pub. No. FHWA-IF-07-014), looks at how State transportation departments, local road agencies, and metropolitan planning organizations can use transportation asset management (TAM) to identify and prioritize critical safety needs and make strategic investment and program decisions.

COMPASS Software Points the Way to Improved Concrete Pavements

Are you using yesterday's tools to design today's concrete pavements? As advances in science and technology revolutionize the concrete industry and the traveling public demands better performing, longer lasting pavements and accelerated construction, optimizing your concrete pavement can be more challenging than ever. When designing a mixture, contractors and highway engineers must select from a wider array of ingredients, including a variety of aggregate sources, cement types, chemical admixtures, supplementary cementitious materials, and recycled materials. They must also consider how each ingredient works within the mixture and how a particular environment may affect construction and the overall life-span of the pavement. "What was needed was a mixture optimization tool that could simplify the approach to the mix design and proportioning process based on job-specific conditions," says Peter Kopac of the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Office of Infrastructure Research and Development. To meet this need, FHWA has developed the new Concrete Mixture Performance Analysis System software (COMPASS).

Alaska Maintenance Scanning Tour: Showcasing Innovation

Alaska's unique terrain provided a valuable learning experience for participants in an August 2007 maintenance technology scanning tour organized by the Western Maintenance Partnership pooled fund program. Sponsored by the Utah Department of Transportation, the 3-year pooled fund is designed to promote effective maintenance strategies and to share experiences, innovations, expertise, and solutions in managing highway assets. Pooled fund participants include Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Washington State, and Wyoming, as well as the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).

Pavement Preservation Training Now Online 24/7

Pavement preservation training online and at your convenience. The Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) National Highway Institute (NHI) is now offering a free Web-based training course on pavement preservation designed for State and local highway agency personnel and contractors. The 6.5-hour course, Pavement Preservation Treatment Construction (Course No. FHWA-NHI-131110), introduces pavement preservation concepts and techniques and provides a solid foundation of knowledge on preservation practices. "The Web training is available at any time, so it is flexible to learners' schedules," says Jim Sorenson of FHWA's Office of Asset Management. "It is part of our continuing goal of providing technical tools to support the increased implementation of pavement preservation nationwide."

Work Zone Rule Resource CD Available

Implementation guidance for the updated Work Zone Safety and Mobility Rule is now collected in a new CD released by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Published in the Federal Register in September 2004, the rule's overarching goal is to reduce crashes and congestion in and around work zones. "The resources on the CD are intended to continue to aid agencies as they fully implement the rule in the coming years," says Tracy Scriba of FHWA's Office of Safety. The CD contains four guides previously released by FHWA (see May 2007 Focus).

Highway Technology Calendar

Updated: 06/27/2017
Federal Highway Administration | 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE | Washington, DC 20590 | 202-366-4000