August 2007 |
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FHWA-HRT-07-016 |
A New Focus on PavementsWorking with States and other partners to deliver a national pavement network that is safe, long lasting, cost effective, environmentally sensitive, and effectively maintained remains the goal of the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) pavement and materials program. In order to deliver a more strategically effective program, all of the offices responsible for pavements across FHWA are coordinating their efforts within six focus areas. "These focus areas will drive our entire pavements and materials program," says Peter Stephanos, Director of FHWA's Office of Pavement Technology. The six focus areas are:
The focus areas will guide FHWA in developing and deploying the technologies that highway agencies need to build, preserve, and maintain better pavements and will maximize FHWA resources to achieve improvements in the Nation's pavement network. "States are having to do more with less. We want to work with them to introduce tools and technologies to make their job easier. We also need to strive to develop a more effective partnership with State and local agencies, industry, and academia," says Stephanos. In partnership with States, FHWA will assess the current state of practice nationally for each focus area, recognize best practices that can be advanced, identify gaps where improved technologies or methods can be developed, and define and evaluate existing risks that need to be mitigated. This assessment will be conducted to develop strategies that FHWA will deliver over the next 3 to 5 years to achieve performance objectives for the Nation's pavement network. These strategies will consider all areas of technology advancement and program management, including research, development, implementation, technology transfer, policy, and regulatory actions. FHWA will continue to work closely with State and local highway agencies to deliver the program. The six focus areas will guide FHWA's Research and Development efforts in conducting new and applied research, as well as FHWA's Technical Service Teams (TSTs). The TSTs work to deploy new technologies, including providing training and other assistance in using the technologies (see sidebars for Pavement and Materials TST, and Construction and Project Management TST). "The Research and Technology offices and the Technical Service Teams that operate through the FHWA Resource Center will continue to be great resources for States," says Stephanos.
FHWA will issue an annual performance report for the pavement and materials program, which will be shared with stakeholders outside of FHWA, including the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and the Transportation Research Board's new Committee for Pavement Technology Review and Evaluation. The report will assess the effectiveness of the program activities in achieving performance objectives and will provide an overview of the current state of each focus area. To learn more about FHWA's pavement initiatives, visit www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement/.
.................................................. Articles in this issue: A New Focus on Pavements Take a Look at Two-Lift Concrete Paving FHWA Releases Updated Petrographic Manual FHWA Course Offers Intensive Introduction to Highway Materials .................................................. |