Strategic Plan for The Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Located in McLean, VA, the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC), is the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) core facility for research, development, and technology within the broader transportation research community. This document describes TFHRC's plans for providing national leadership in highway research, both 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, and by other public, private, academic, and international entities. By conducting and catalyzing the right research in keeping with this Strategic Plan, TFHRC will better enable highway transportation to fulfill its potential for improved safety, efficiency, economy, mobility, and quality of life.

FHWA AND TFHRC IN THE STRUCTURE OF HIGHWAY RESEARCH

The existing highway research and technology (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), Transportation Research Board (TRB) research programs, University Transportation Center (UTC) programs, the Intelligent Transportation Systems Program, and many others. Some of these programs involve ongoing collaboration with international organizations.

Within this 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 comprising eight research components: infrastructure; operations; safety; planning, environment, and realty; policy; innovative program delivery; Federal lands; and exploratory advanced research.

VISION, MISSION, AND CORE VALUES

TFHRC Vision

To shape the future of transportation as the Nation's premier center for highway research and innovation.

TFHRC Mission

We conduct and coordinate research and advance innovation for a mobile society. We provide objective, high-quality technical expertise, leadership, and results.

TFHRC Core Values

TFHRC shares FHWA's core values of public service, integrity, respect, personal development, collaboration, and family.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

TFHRC strives toward the following six goals, with accompanying objectives, to realize its vision and guide its mission.

Goal 1: FHWA conducts and sponsors the right research and technology development to improve performance of our Nation's highways. The right research and development focuses on problems of national significance, has the potential to provide significant benefit over the long term, and/or advances the state of the art or practice through higher-risk, higher-payoff research that FHWA is well suited to undertake.

Goal 2: FHWA engages in strategic partnerships to enhance and leverage research, development, and implementation. Coordination of research programs, built upon TFHRC's advanced science and technology expertise, objectivity, and resources, enables FHWA and others to jointly achieve national transportation goals.

Goal 3: FHWA and TFHRC maintain a flexible organization and agile research workforce to meet evolving transportation challenges. By engaging in farsighted planning for its human resources and internal structure, TFHRC positions itself to conduct the right research in the long term while maintaining the flexibility to seize on fast-developing opportunities.

Goal 4: First-rate research infrastructure is developed and sustained through long-range planning and adequate capital investment. Strategic investment in research infrastructure—including engagement in partnerships as appropriate—ensures that resources are optimized and that current and future research needs are met.

Goal 5: Research activities and outcomes are appropriately advanced through effective alignment of resources, dissemination of knowledge, and technology transition. Emphasizing effective communication, TFHRC plans and conducts research and technology development, while engaging transition partners early in the research process to facilitate knowledge transfer and technology transition.

Goal 6: TFHRC provides national leadership to highway and intermodal transportation research.TFHRC strengthens its national leadership role by chairing the FHWA R&T Leadership Team, by actively engaging in an array of partnerships, by strategically managing its research capabilities, and by implementing strategic planning that provides a research vision for the Nation's highways.