An Update on Selected Items of Interest

Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology Federal Highway Administration July 2011 An Update on Selected Items of Interest—July 2011 Every Day Counts Initiative The FHWA is moving, aggressively, to implement Administrator Victor Mendez’ Every Day Counts (EDC) initiative, which seeks to:  Reduce highway project delivery times,  Accelerate the national deployment of innovation and technology,  Reduce the agency’s environmental footprint internally The EDC innovative technologies include: - Warm Mix Asphalt - Prefabricated Bridge Elements and Systems (PBES) - Geosynthetic Bridge Abutments - Safety Edge - Adaptive Signal Control Technology The FHWA continues work with our state counterparts to implement EDC initiatives Some early successes: Safety Edge • 21 DOTs have adopted specifications • 15 DOTs are currently drafting specifications • 109 projects have constructed using Safety Edge since October 1, 2010 Warm Mix Asphalt • By December 2011, 40 State DOTs and all Federal Lands Divisions will have a specification and/or contractual language that allows WMA on Federal-aid or Federal Lands projects Construction Manager/General Contractor (CM/GC) Utah has Implemented CM/GC contracting • 17 DOTS are Actively Deploying under EDC • States are Changing State Law/Policy to Implement (Contact: John Moulden, 202-4933470) • FHWA National Research and Technology Agenda FHWA is moving forward with our internal program to create a new FHWA Highway Research & Technology Agenda and supporting framework that will focus federal policy-makers and the research community on critical knowledge gaps, collaboration, and accelerated innovation to meet future highway transportation needs The program’s objectives are:  Initiate a process to create a FHWA Highway R&T Agenda that defines national-level R&T needs and priorities, and a transparent method for periodic revisions based upon national dialogue  Encourage state, university and other stakeholders to adopt highway R&T strategies in their own programs that address gaps in R&T, encourage collaboration, reduce unnecessary duplication of effort, and accelerate innovation delivery  Establish a process to evaluate FHWA Highway R&T Strategies The FHWA program entails a three phase process: • Develop FHWA Emphasis Areas - Post on Interactive Website - Distribute via traditional channels • • Solicit External Stakeholder Input Identify & Address Program and Systems Gaps An Interagency Agreement has been developed with the Volpe Transportation Center to support his FHWA initiative (Contact: John Moulden, 202-4933470) Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA) Guidance FFATA mandated full disclosure of Federal award information for all government grants and prime contract awards of more than $25,000 State DOT Research Programs must ensure that they report on their research grants and sub-grants in accordance with FFATA and OMB guidance for prime grant recipients given at https:///www.fsrs.gov/ New Federal, non-Recovery Act funded grant awards with an award date on or after October 1, 2010, are subject to the reporting requirements on the award and sub-awards under FFATA Both mandatory and discretionary grants, equal to or greater than $25,000 must be reported by the prime recipient Reporting may not be delegated to sub-awardees FFATA information is available on the FHWA website: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/transpare ncyact/qandas.htm (Contact: John Moulden, 202-4933470) Corporate Research, Technology & Innovation Management The Office has made some temporary assignments as it adapts to the sudden passing of State Partnership Program Manager Ivy Harris in May John Moulden will handle SP&R Part II issues, including Peer Reviews and SP&R waivers on an interim basis Jack Jernigan will cover remaining SP&R topics and international issues for the Office of RD&T at the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center We anticipate adding additional staff by December Contact: Jack Jernigan, 202-4933363 Long-Term Pavement Performance Program LTPP continues to collect pavement monitoring data for nearly 900 test sites in North America and provides this data annually to the public for pavement research, analysis, and product development FHWA's LTPP Team and the Transportation Research Board's Long-Term Pavement Performance Committee held a "LTPP Pavement Analysis Forum" with fifty pavement specialists from state highway agencies, universities, and consulting firms across the country to identify, define, and prioritize the analytical studies that will produce results that can be further developed and combined into products that state agencies as well as others can use to help design, build, and maintain, on a mechanistic/empirical basis, existing and future highway pavements The forum's output has been compiled and will be used by the LTPP Team in implementing FHWA's Strategic Plan for LTPP Data Analysis in 2011 and beyond In addition, LTPP recently completed the LTPP Computed Parameter: Dynamic Modulus study which developed estimates of the dynamic modulus of HMA layers on LTPP test sections following the models used in the MEPDG The complete finding from this study is documented in FHWA-HRT-10-035, a summary is in FHWA-HRT-11018, and the software developed to facilitate dynamic modulus computations were made available during the Transportation Research Board (TRB) 90th Annual Meeting A copy of the software can be requested at ltppinfo@dot.gov LTPP re-initiated state visits this past year to provide information to its closest partners on the activities of the program Thus far 20 states have been visited and more are scheduled in the coming months along with LTPP webinars that will be held throughout the year (Contact: Aramis López, Jr., 202-493-3145) Exploratory Advanced Research EAR Program New Broad Agency Announcement The FHWA EAR Program is requesting research proposals for the following topics: (1) Modeling Cement Hydration Kinetics; (2) Video Decoding and Feature Extraction Automation for Highway Research; and (3) New Technology Solutions for Wayfinding and Navigation Guidance for People with Vision Impairment and Other Disabilities Proposals are due September 15, 2011 For more information, please see http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/advancedr esearch/ EAR Program New Awards The FHWA Exploratory Advanced Research (EAR) Program awarded two research projects on the use of agent-based modeling and simulation The University of Maryland is leading one project, and the University of Arizona is leading the other EAR Program Stakeholder Involvement To take advantage of a broad variety of scientific and engineering discovery, the EAR Program involves traditional (State DOT researchers, University Transportation Center researchers, and TRB committee and panel members) and nontraditional stakeholders throughout the research process The program involves stakeholders in topic identification and scoping through meetings and scanning trips and proposal selection and project evaluation through the use of expert reviewers With a full portfolio of 36 projects underway, the EAR Program is seeking stakeholders to assist with evaluation of ongoing research projects (Contact: David Kuehn, 202-4933414) Surface Transportation Reauthorization The Administration released its’ FY 2012 budget request in March of this year The budget request was structured after the Administration’s reauthorization principles, including consolidation of programs and performance management The Research, Technology, and Education (RT&E) program is presented as one of five core federal-aid highway programs, and the requested funding level, $641 million (including FHWA and RITA research programs), represents a substantial increase over SAFETEA-LU funding levels FHWA’s RT&E program would be composed of three main subprograms: Highway Research and Development, Technology and Innovation Deployment (including SHRP implementation), and Training and Education Although the President chose not to submit a reauthorization bill, FHWA staff provided several technical assistance files to Congress that laid out principles for authorization legislation The RT&E provisions in both, the FY2012 budget, and the Technical Assistance files line up structurally Senator Boxer (D-CA), chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, announced that she will be pursuing two alternatives to introduce a reauthorization bill: a six-year bill, and a two-year bill The two-year bill would keep highway funding at existing levels; however, level spending for two years would still require an infusion of $12 billion into the Highway Trust Fund The text of this bill had not been made public as of July of 2011 Republican members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee have unveiled a sixyear reauthorization proposal that would cut transportation investment by over 30% The bill summary has been made public, but it does not make references to a Research program (Contact: Lucia Olivera, 202-4933320; Jack Jernigan, 202-4933363) Work Begins to Establish the Transportation Operations Laboratory A contract was awarded to assist in the design, construction, and initial operations of the new Transportation Operations Laboratory (TOL) at TFHRC The TOL facilities will enable FHWA, and research partners, to conduct innovative testing of technologies such as vehicle-vehicle and vehicle-infrastructure communication systems and to develop prototype applications that could take advantage of these technologies to improve transportation operations The new TOL facility will include working space, specialized work stations that can access data resources and models, control equipment needed to conduct experiments, specialized test vehicles, and visualization equipment to allow research progress to be shared The TOL will consist of three test beds that will support the operations research mission, namely the Data Resources Test bed, the Concepts and Analysis Test bed, and the Cooperative Vehicle-Highway Test bed The TOL will also incorporate workspace and facilities so that invehicle systems can be installed and maintained and where experimental data can be transferred The new TOL will open in September (Contact Bob Ferlis, 202-4933268) 90+ research projects are finished or nearing completion With the extension of SAFETEA-LU through September 31, 2011, total SHRP funding stands at $283 million The Transportation Research Board (TRB) will continue to manage the research program until 2015, governed by its Cooperative Agreement with FHWA In December 2010, Section 510 of Title 23 was amended to allow the Secretary of Transportation to use SHRP funds for implementation of research products related to SHRP This new flexibility has mobilized FHWA’s involvement by bringing staff members up to speed on the program’s progress and engaging them in SHRP development, demonstration, evaluation, and technology transfer activities This spring, Executive Director Jeffrey Paniati charged the Associate Administrators of the relevant program offices to assess all emerging SHRP products for their readiness and relevance to Agency programs and to develop implementations plans for the appropriate products The preliminary assessment showed considerable linkage between SHRP and FHWA program goals, and FHWA is expected to lead the deployment of a majority of the SHRP products Further assessment is taking place, in cooperation with TRB, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration to SHRP implementation (Contact: Ken Jacoby, 202-4933186) FHWA Prepares to Implement SHRP2 The second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) has been underway since 2007, and approximately 20 percent of the Transportation Pooled Fund Program TPF Web-Based Training - Webbased training is being developed as a complimentary piece to the TPF Program Procedures Manual The main objective of the training is to increase our program partner’s understanding of the TPF Program; enhance overall confidence in the Program; and for the Program to be seen as a viable funding source for potential program partners across the Nation Additional information regarding this pooled fund solicitation is available at: www.pooledfund.org or http://www.pooledfund.org/projectd etails.asp?id=1308&status=1, under solicitation # 1308 New Standardized Quarterly Reporting Form – As of July 1, 2011, a new quarterly reporting form will be used within the TPF Program This form should be used when submitting the 3rd quarter reports (period of performance: July – September), which will be due on October 31, 2011 The form was distributed to the participants of the July 2011 webinar, as well to the AASHTO RAC via e-mail, and is available on the homepage of the TPF website (www.pooledfund.org) for download, if needed Quarterly TPF Webinars – We are approaching the 2-year mark for presenting quarterly webinars As always, we’re looking for specific topics of concern you would like discussed in detail during these sessions Additionally, we are seeking presenters to highlight project-specific activities and success stories This is your opportunity to promote your project!!! As a reminder, the webinars are held on a quarterly basis, and the next session is scheduled for Wednesday, October 12, 2011 from – 2:30 (Eastern) (Contact Lisa Williams, 202-4933375) In October 2009, FHWA became an Associate Member of the Forum of European Highway Research Laboratories (FEHRL) The FEHRL is engaged in road engineering research topics including safety, infrastructure, operations, and environmental issues, telemetric and economic evaluation The purpose of the formal partnership was to capitalize on the highway research capabilities of more than 30 different countries in FEHRL which have similar goals and objectives as FHWA On July 13, 2011, a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) was established between FHWA and FEHRL to create a business protocol to achieve that collaboration The MoC will allow quicker development and implementation of innovations and highway through increased cooperation and collaboration It will support technologies, such as the prefabricated bridge element systems mobile transporters, which were first identified in Europe to be brought to the U.S more quickly It will allow development of methods and materials first identified in the U.S to have greater markets The MoC will also provide the framework for allowing States that may want to participate on research with member countries of FEHRL to so through the Transportation Pooled Fund (TPF) Program Likewise, FEHRL members would be able to participate in existing or proposed TPF projects in the U.S through the MoC framework (Contact: Debra Elston 202-4933181) FHWA Partners with Forum of European Highway Laboratories ... with TRB, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration to SHRP implementation (Contact: Ken Jacoby,... Administration’s reauthorization principles, including consolidation of programs and performance management The Research, Technology, and Education (RT&E) program is presented as one of five core... and all Federal Lands Divisions will have a specification and/or contractual language that allows WMA on Federal-aid or Federal Lands projects Construction Manager/General Contractor (CM/GC)