The Europe Program

Russia Program

The Russia Program was established to promote mutually beneficial U.S.-Russia partnerships among highway administrations and Technical Exchange Centers. The Office of International Programs (OIP) has had great success in the development of close working relationships between U.S. states and their Russian counterparts. There are currently four states involved in active Russian partnerships: Kentucky (with Perm), Maine (with Arkhangelsk), Minnesota (with Mariy El), and Tennessee (with Karelia). Exchange activities occur within each partnership each year so that partners may learn first-hand about the management structures and road technologies used by each counterpart.

Activities include joint technical seminars, high-level delegations to the U.S. and Russia, Russian internships in the U.S., and participation in U.S. technology transfer conferences. State departments of transportation share in the cost of hosting Russian delegations and interns, Russian travelers pay their international travel costs, and Russian highway administrations host U.S. visitors.

These partnerships provide Russia's regions with the technical and management information they need to carry out free-market reforms in the highway sector and to improve their highway networks. These partnerships also provide benefits to the U.S. by exposing the U.S. to transportation best practices used by their Russian partners and by opening Russian markets to products manufactured in the U.S.

Engineers from Russia's Perm Oblast recently presented innovative tunneling techniques in Kentucky.

The Program in Brief:

• Includes a broad range of activities such as joint seminars, targeted technical visits, internships, participation in technical exchange conferences, and ongoing communication between technical specialists.
• Reaches every level of road administration - from the governor level to maintenance managers and contractors.
• The Russian equivalent of AASHTO, the Russian Association of Regional Highway Administrators (RADOR), coordinates on behalf of the Russian partners.

Results and Benefits:

Delegations from partner states visit one another on an annual basis to learn first-hand about the management structures and road technologies used by their counterparts. These visits have uncovered a number of Russian technical developments that promise to improve the U.S. state of the practice, including:

• Vertical bridge welding methods
• Kama anti-icing salts
• Snow plows that reach behind guardrails
• Concrete testing procedures
• Maintenance management systems
• Roadside design to limit the accumulation of snow on roadways

Russia's regions have benefited from U.S. technical and management information to help carry out free-market reforms in the highway sector and improve highway networks, for example:

• Highway financing methods Bridge modeling
• Anti-corrosion bridge paint Highway safety
• Environmental mitigation Road construction; and
• Maintenance equipment, such as a zero-velocity salt spreader for winter maintenance.

Proposed activities between U.S. States and Russian partners:

1. Maine officials to visit Arkhangelsk - September 2- September 12, 2008

Success Stories

A delegation from Mariy El, Russia participated in the Con Expo/ Con Ag conference that took place in Las Vegas, Nevada from March 11-15, 2008. During the visit, the Russian officials held discussions with U.S. manufacturers for the purchase of construction equipment to be used as part of the overall construction and maintenance of roads the Mariy El roads network.

The Office of International Programs coordinated a high level visit for a delegation from Karelia, Russia to the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) from May 25 to May 30, 2008. TDOT hosted the Russian visitors in Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga. During their visit the delegation met with the Governor of Tennessee, Mr. Phil Bredesen, TDOT officials and participated in a series of talks designed to provide the basis for an ongoing technology exchange relationship between Tennessee and the Karelians

More on Karelia to Tennessee

Mulching

• American mulching techniques took Archangel by storm - read more in Research & Technology Transporter

Tunneling Techniques

• Public Roads report on Perm oblast's innovative tunneling techniques
• Kentucky and a Russian Community Share Transportation Information