U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
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Washington, DC 20590
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Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology
Coordinating, Developing, and Delivering Highway Transportation Innovations
This report is an archived publication and may contain dated technical, contact, and link information |
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Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-08-068
Date: July 2008 |
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Highways of the Future—A Strategic Plan for Highway Infrastructure Research and DevelopmentFHWA Contact: Cheryl Allen Richter, Office of Infrastructure R&D Research Program Manager, PDF Version (94 KB)
PDF files can be viewed with the Acrobat® Reader® PrologueThis Highways of the Future—A Strategic Plan for Highway Infrastructure Research and Development was developed in response to a need expressed by the staff of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Office of Infrastructure Research and Development (R&D) for a coordinated plan that provides direction for future infrastructure research and a framework to support the reauthorization efforts in advance of the expiration of authority under Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). This plan supports not only the mission of FHWA, but also serves as a reminder of the value added by addressing the Agency’s strategic plan. This plan also demonstrates how the focus on highway infrastructure research, development, and technology deployment benefits the economy of the Nation. IntroductionHighways are the backbone of the American transportation system, moving the vast majority of the Nation’s products and goods, and providing the vital link between all modes of transportation. As the foundation of the Nation’s economy, highways have made it possible for the American people to enjoy, benefit from, and essentially take for granted, the ability to safely and efficiently travel wherever and whenever they wish. As the Nation moves into the heart of the 21st century, the highway system is largely a victim of its own success. The economic growth made possible by the highway system has fueled tremendous increases in the demands placed on it. At the same time, the Nation’s investment in highway infrastructure has not kept pace with these growing demands. These circumstances present highway agencies with many critical challenges, including:
Effectively addressing these challenges will require a multifaceted, multidisciplinary, and collaborative approach. Success will require active involvement on the part of highway stakeholders from all levels of government; the highway design, materials, and construction communities; and academia. Success also will require work spanning the full technology continuum—from fundamental sciences and advanced research to create new knowledge, materials, and systems; through applied R&D; to effective technology transfer and deployment—as well as policy and program management initiatives. This strategic plan addresses one facet of the required approach—the work that needs to be pursued by the FHWA Office of Infrastructure R&D. In addition to guiding FHWA’s infrastructure R&D, it will serve as a foundation for collaboration with other FHWA units and offices, and stakeholders throughout the highway community. The approach articulated in this plan is founded on the ideal that FHWA’s emphasis should be on a collaborative, interdisciplinary, and crosscutting approach to highway infrastructure research. This approach recognizes the following principles.
GoalsListed below are FHWA’s Office of Infrastructure R&D goals.
To achieve these goals, the FHWA Office of Infrastructure R&D will deliver research products, which are ready for adoption and implementation by highway agencies responsible for infrastructure design, construction, and management. As we do so, we will effectively promote these research products and provide support to facilitate the implementation of new technology products and services. Research OutcomesThe ultimate outcomes of this proposed program of strategic initiatives and research will be:
In the near term (within 5 years), the FHWA Office of Infrastructure R&D will deliver research products that move current technological knowledge and the state of the art into practice. This research will be accomplished by improving existing engineering tools for analysis and design; developing more durable materials; and providing construction, maintenance, and rehabilitation guidelines that enable infrastructure reliability and durability. At the same time, the research needed to lay the foundation for products to be delivered in the longer term will be aggressively pursued to enable delivery of fully integrated approaches to infrastructure asset management, such as consideration of a full corridor, including pavements, bridges, and appurtenances. To achieve this long-term outcome will require the results of FHWA’s near- and mid-term R&D products, and other yet-to-be-developed technologies. R&D StrategiesIn order for the FHWA to be “innovators for a better future,” as expressed by Agency leadership, the FHWA Office of Infrastructure R&D will focus on the needed R&D in which there is an appropriate Federal Role by virtue of national needs, scope, duration, or risk. This role will require pursuit of the following overarching strategies, with key initiatives within these strategies. Details concerning individual projects and programs that comprise these initiatives will be provided in a separate document. I. Long-Term Infrastructure PerformanceFacilitate the development of a long-term highway infrastructure performance program, and databases and other tools and technologies (that is, combining bridge andpavement information, using both current FHWA systems and newly created programs) to collect meaningful data to support development of integrated asset management systems and processes that consider the full life cycle of highway infrastructure from planning through design, construction, and preservation. This strategy will build on and integrate the current Long-Term Pavement Performance and Long-Term Bridge Performance Programs, and provide the foundation for other strategies. The strategy includes development of the following activities:
II. Durable Infrastructure SystemsDevelop durable and resilient infrastructure systems and elements to improve inservice performance, reduce maintenance needs and costs, reduce life-cycle costs, and significantly improve safety during normal service and during extreme hazard events. This strategy will require that infrastructure durability and deterioration-prevention be addressed in a more systematic manner by developing:
III. Accelerated Highway ConstructionDevelop accelerated construction, rehabilitation, and reconstruction methodologies for highway systems and structures. This strategy directly addresses the Nation’s congestion and safety needs, and the impending crisis due to aging infrastructure.1 The R&D to be pursued as a part of this strategy include:
IV. Environmentally Sensitive Highway InfrastructureDevelop technologies to enable environmentally sensitive highway infrastructure. This strategy will to reduce detrimental environmental impacts arising from construction and maintenance of highway infrastructure, as well as the physical, chemical, and aesthetic attributes of highway transportation. Elements of this strategy include:
V. Performance-Based SpecificationsDevelop comprehensive performance-based specifications. Such specifications are needed to: (a) balance risk between agencies and industry (contractors), (b) encourage innovation, (c) provide greater consistency between design expectations and actual performance, and (d) support innovative contracting procedures and construction practices. This strategy is dependent on the ability to predict future performance accurately. The strategy also will build on outcomes from the Long-Term Infrastructure Performance Strategy and Durable Infrastructure Systems Strategy research. Specific examples of performance-based specifications include:
VI. Comprehensive and Integrated Infrastructure Asset ManagementBuild on and integrate the outcomes from the Long-Term Infrastructure Performance Strategy, Accelerated Highway Construction Technologies, Durable Infrastructure Systems, Environmentally Sensitive Infrastructure and Performance-Based Specification strategies to deliver the tools and technologies needed to achieve fully integrated processes and systems for asset management, including infrastructure planning, design, contracting, construction, preservation, and maintenance. Activities included in this capstone strategy include development of:
VII. Core Infrastructure R&D Facilities, Capabilities, and FunctionsMaintain and improve the infrastructure that supports FHWA’s ability to meet our goals effectively for both R&D and specialized technical assistance, including:
ResourcesAchieving the outcomes described in this plan will require significant investment. The required resources may be classified in three broad categories: (1) human, (2) program funding, and (3) facilities and systems. I. Human Resource RequirementsThe staff of the Office of Infrastructure R&D is the foundation on which this plan was developed and is critical to successful pursuit of the goals that it defines. As a minimum, a well- and appropriately trained cadre of 40 to 50 Federal staff and a similar number of onsite support staff will be required.2 This research staff must be supported by strong contracting, financial management, and publications/communications capabilities in other offices. Staff development and training resources must be available to provide the advanced technical, leadership, and administrative training required to develop and maintain the skills required to support program activities. Equally as important, adequate funding and physical resources must be available to support active and ongoing stakeholder involvement during the life cycle of the R&D programs to ensure that the research products are responsive to stakeholder requirements and delivered in forms that can be implemented. II. Program FundingThe strategies and activities articulated in this plan rely on a combination of research conducted “in-house” by the Federal and onsite contractor staff working at the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, and research conducted by other institutions under contracts, grants, and cooperative agreements managed by the FHWA Office of Infrastructure R&D staff. Timely pursuit of these strategies is dependent on: (a) the availability of adequate financial resources for Federal and contract staff to conduct the annual R&D program, and (b) adequate funding and staffing to support dissemination of products and new knowledge, and to provide end users with technical support. III. Facilities and SystemsEffective and efficient pursuit of the goals defined in this plan will require continued investment in systems and facilities for the conduct and management of the research. The cost of meeting these facility and system requirements is included in the overall program-funding requirement. This strategic plan articulates the requirements here to emphasize their vital importance. BenefitsThe outcomes envisioned and described in this plan 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 results of this strategic plan will make reductions in highway congestion possible, and enhance safety characteristics and improvements of the overall driving experience for the American public. The FHWA is charged with ensuring minimum standards of safety for the public as it travels on the Nation’s roads and highways. While many other organizations and agencies conduct highway infrastructure research, the FHWA is positioned uniquely to address the continuum of highway research from high-risk, exploratory, and advanced research, through the highly applied, problem-specific research that is necessary to address current issues and immediate problems. This broad range of research capability provides a high likelihood of success that is critical for sustaining the Nation’s economy in the near and long terms. CollaborationIn pursuing the R&D program described in this plan, the FHWA Office of Infrastructure R&D will work closely and collaboratively with other FHWA offices and with the broader community of highway stakeholders to ensure that the program:
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