Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center.

Office of Program Development & Evaluation

The Office of Program Development and Evaluation (HRPD) champions the research and technology (R&T) program and those it serves. This involves developing and executing policy, budget, program management, and administrative mechanisms to enable a nationwide Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) R&T program to be performed in cooperation with our partners. HRPD contributes to the development of the U.S. Department of Transportation's (USDOT) Research, Development, and Technology Plan. This means communicating how FHWA's R&T activities support the USDOT's strategic goals of safety, mobility, productivity, global connectivity, national homeland security, and organizational excellence. HRPD also serves as a coordinator for a number of crosscutting programs, ensuring that these programs complement the work being done at Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC) and support a national highway R&T agenda.

TFHRC recognizes the important link between organization and results, and the management team strives to improve processes to better achieve FHWA's mission and strategic goals. HRPD staff use the Federal Highway Corporate Management Strategies-based on the Baldrige National Quality Program--to guide this improvement effort.

Lab Assessment Process. HRPD oversees TFHRC's laboratory assessment program. Lab assessments are unbiased, independent expert reviews of the technical and scientific merit of research conducted at TFHRC. The lab assessment process was modeled partly on the National Academies' review process for National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Army Research Laboratory, and on the State department of transportation (DOT) peer exchange program. The review process is continuous, with each lab being assessed every 3 to 4 years. View the Lab assessment schedule.

Highway Research and Technology (R&T)

Highway R&T is a multimillion-dollar endeavor in the United States. In fiscal year 2006, Congress appropriated $196.4 million for FHWA surface transportation research, development, and deployment; $110 million for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) research; and $76.7 million to support University Transportation Centers (UTCs). States will spend approximately $150 million this year, with $33 million of that spent in multistate cooperative research through the National Cooperative Highway Research Program. Private industry will spend upwards of $110 million. HRPD serves as Secretariat to the FHWA Leadership Team as it allocates the R&T budget between the FHWA program offices and corporate activities.

HRPD establishes and maintains communication links with FHWA's customers and partners for research, technology, and evaluation (RT&E) activities. HRPD works closely with the Transportation Research Board (TRB), which administers the second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP II), authorized in the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) legislation, Section 5210. SHRP II is a targeted, short-term, results-oriented research program that will complement FHWA's and other highway R&T programs; by concentrating additional resources on safety, renewal, reliability, and capacity to accelerate solutions to critical problems. Focus areas are to:

Prevent or reduce the severity of highway crashes by understanding driver behavior (Safety)
Address the aging infrastructure through rapid design and construction methods that cause minimal disruption and produce long-lived facilities (Renewal)
Reduce congestion through incident reduction, management, response, and mitigation (Reliability)
Integrate mobility, economic, environmental, and community needs in the planning and designing of new transportation capacity (Capacity)

HRPD also works closely with the TRB Research and Technology Coordinating Committee (RTCC), an advisory group formed to provide policy-level recommendations on the overall direction of the FHWA RT&E program. Members of RTCC include top-level administrators, researchers, and practitioners from the State DOTs, academic institutions, and private sector organizations. The RTCC's publication, TRB Special Report 261: The Federal Role in Highway Research and Technology, examines the need for highway research and technology, the importance of a national highway research program, and the appropriate Federal role in that program. The FHWA Corporate Master Plan for Research and Deployment of Technology & Innovation was developed in response to the RTCC report, and FHWA's internal restructuring assessment.

HRPD establishes and maintains contacts with State DOT R&T programs, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Standing Committee on Research (SCOR), and the AASHTO Research Advisory Committee (RAC). SAFETEA-LU requires that States set aside 2 percent of the apportionments they receive from the Surface Transportation, National Highway System, Bridge Replacement and Rehabilitation, Interstate Maintenance, Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality, and Minimum Guarantee Funds programs for State planning and research (SP&R) activities. Of this amount, States must allocate at least 25 percent for research, development, and technology. State R&T activities include researching new areas of knowledge; adapting findings to practical applications by developing new technologies; and transferring these technologies to users- including the processes of dissemination, demonstration, training, and adoption of innovations.

Under 23 CFR, Section 420.207(b), State R&T programs are required to use peer exchange-a practical and effective tool to foster excellence in R&T program management. Peer exchange provides an opportunity for participants to share best practices and management innovations through an open exchange of ideas, knowledge, and brainstorming. During a 2 to 4 day process, staff and management from a specific State R&T program work with a group of invited top-level State and Federal managers to exchange information particularly relevant to that R&T program. For additional information on conducting peer reviews, read FHWA's Guidelines for Conducting Peer Exchanges of State DOT Research Programs(PDF). The Frequently Asked Questions page contains helpful answers. Other useful documents include the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) reports, Documenting Peer Exchange Administrative Experiences (July 1998) and Peer Exchange: A Value-Added Program Management Tool ,

Administered by TRB, the NCHRP is a means to conduct research in acute national problem areas that affect highway planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance. Funds for NCHRP are drawn from State Federal-aid highway funds. HRPD solicits problem statements from within FHWA for possible NCHRP projects, obtains expert comments on project statements, arranges for FHWA experts to participate on NCHRP review panels, and as research liaisons, accepts final reports, and authorizes release of highway funds for these cooperative research efforts.

The Transportation Pooled Fund Program allows FHWA; State, regional, and, local transportation agencies; academic institutions; foundations; and private firms to conduct R&T projects of mutual interest. Funds from participants are consolidated into a "pooled fund," and the resultant project is managed such that the perspectives and desires of participating agencies are addressed. (See "Synergy in Action: FHWA's Transportation Pooled-Fund Program" in the March/April 2002 Public Roads.)

HRPD also identifies FHWA proposals for funding under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, a research and development program mandated by Congress in 1982, and reauthorized in 1992, with the purpose of developing technological innovations using the high level of expertise in the small business community throughout the United States. The aims of the program are to stimulate technological innovation; meet the U.S. Federal Government's needs for research and development by providing opportunities to small businesses; increase private sector commercialization of innovations derived from Federal research and development; and provide opportunities for minority and disadvantaged participation in technological innovation.

HRPD manages cooperative efforts with foreign governments to leverage resources and further the goals of the R&T program. This includes promoting U.S. R&T objectives through participation in international organizations, such as the World Road Association (PIARC), and the Joint Transportation Research Center of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the European Council of Ministers of Transport (OECD/ECMT JCMT). HRPD also fosters cooperation on international R&T activities with our U.S. partners, including AASHTO and NCHRP. For example, the International Technology Scanning Program accesses and evaluates foreign technologies and innovations, which could significantly benefit U.S. highway transportation systems. This program enables advanced technology to be adapted and put into practice much more efficiently without spending scarce research funds to recreate advances already developed by other countries.