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ALONG THE ROAD"Along the Road" is the place to look for information about current and upcoming activities, developments, trends, and items of general interest to the highway community. This information comes from Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) sources unless otherwise indicated. Your suggestions and input are welcome. Let's meet along the road. Management and Administration Gore Announces $60 Million More for California's Flood-Damaged
Roads The $60 million is in addition to $40 million in emergency relief funds that the state received earlier this year to repair roads damaged by heavy rains and flooding, bringing the total this year to $100 million. The money, which comes from FHWA, was provided in response to the state's request for help to repair federal-aid roads. FHWA money is awarded after a formal emergency proclamation has been issued and the state has filed a preliminary damage assessment for its highways and bridges on the federal-aid system. The funds reimburse the state for emergency work that is already completed and provides funding for other necessary repairs to correct major or unusual damage to federal-aid highways. Eligible repair work includes reconstructing damaged bridges and pavement surfaces; establishing detours; removing slides and debris; and replacing signs, lighting, and guardrails. Washington Receives $7.6 Million From FHWA Of the total, $625,000 will go for work necessary to repair damage to the Carbon River bridge on State Road 165 in Pierce County. The bridge was critically damaged and closed to traffic by a vehicle fire on March 3, 1998. The remaining $7 million will be used for work necessary to repair damage to roads in the counties of Ferry, Stevens, and Pend Oreille. Technical News FHWA Experiments With TMCs Operators of these TMCs will have to quickly select appropriate cameras and control their pointing angles, zoom ratio, and focus. Researchers evaluated four basic interface concepts in their experiments: joystick, keyboard, mouse, and touchscreen. They also compared tests involving cameras that moved between pre-programmed pointing angles and cameras in which the operators had full manual control of the cameras. Operators using a touchscreen interface made significantly more errors when selecting cameras than did those using the other interfaces. When manipulating cameras, operators using a keyboard and mouse were able to manipulate the cameras more effectively than those using a joystick or touchscreen. Cameras with preset pointing angles were found to be significantly more efficient than those with fully manual controllers. Operators using the preset cameras, however, needed a mechanism to fine-tune the pointing angles. Thus, a hybrid approach, in which the camera automatically moves to an approximate position and the operator manually centers the camera on the point of interest, was strongly preferred. New Superpave Guidance Available The Lead States Guidance on Superpave Issues, published by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), provides guidance on how to improve the use of the Superpave mix design provisional AASHTO specifications. It specifically addresses the issues of varying materials and climate conditions. Superpave Construction Guidelines, published by the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) under a cooperative agreement with FHWA, explains how to deal with mix production and construction issues involving coarse-graded Superpave-designed mixtures. Both publications are currently available Public Information and Information Exchange NLEV Program Is in Effect This "cleaner car" program, launched by Vice President Gore early this year, will dramatically improve air quality and protect public health by making cleaner-burning cars available to American consumers. Nine northeastern states — Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, and the District of Columbia — and 23 auto manufacturers have decided to participate in the voluntary program, which had been debated in the northeast during negotiations for the original Low-Emission Vehicle (LEV) for the Ozone Transport Commission (OTC). Now, with the program in effect, the production and marketing of cleaner vehicles can begin later this year to meet NLEV's stricter emissions requirements for 1999 light-duty cars and light-duty trucks. Seat-Belt Use Improves To promote seat-belt use on a national level, President Clinton committed the federal government to leading the way towards increased seat-belt use by signing Executive Order (EO) 13043, "Increasing Seat Belt Use in the United States." The EO requires federal employees on official business to use seat belts when using a motor vehicle. President Clinton has set the goal of 90-percent seat-belt use nationwide by the year 2005. DOT Secretary Rodney E. Slater's goal for DOT is to increase federal employee seat-belt use to 85 percent by 2000 and 90 percent by 2005. The plan, developed by the department's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), has four elements:
If all states maintained an 85-percent seat-belt use rate, annually, more than 4,000 deaths and 100,000 injuries would be prevented. Currently, the national buckle-up rate is 69 percent. N.J. Electronic Toll Collection Consortium Enters Partnership The system is intended to be integrated with similar systems in other states, enabling motorists to drive from Massachusetts to Washington, D.C., without stopping to pay a toll. E-Z Pass is scheduled to be up and running on the Atlantic City Expressway by Nov. 10, 1998, with the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway following the Atlantic City Expressway project within 14 months. CFLHD Awards Design-Build Contract The park suffered damage as a result of devastating floods that occurred in January 1997. The emergency repairs were completed in May 1997; the design work began in June; and the physical construction is planned to begin in early September after the heavy tourist season ends. The park received $180 million in flood-recovery money through special appropriations. That money is also paying for most of the design-build project. New Traffic Management Technologies Featured The new projects were introduced under the federal government's Model Deployment Initiative (MDI). This initiative was set up to demonstrate to decision-makers across the nation the value of full integration of an intelligent transportation infrastructure. Since TransGuide became operational on 42 kilometers of San Antonio highway, this system has reduced accidents by 15 percent and cut emergency response time by 20 percent. The system is expected to expand to 465 kilometers of highways and city streets all around San Antonio. The new MDI projects include the following:
FHWA Sponsors Winter Maintenance Scanning Tour The purpose of the tour was to examine state-of-the-art developments in winter maintenance technologies used abroad and apply those technologies to the United States. The scanning team studied the following topics:
Personnel Shibley Appointed FHWA Director of Communications From 1990-1996, Shibley was director of communications for the Bureau of Traffic Management in Portland, Ore. She has a bachelor's degree from the University of Oregon. ITS America Chooses New President Before accepting the position at ITS America, Collins was the principal of a consulting firm, Transportation Law and Strategy, and a consultant to the 35,000-member American Trucking Associations (ATA). Collins was also a senior manager at ATA for 10 years. In addition to his work at ATA, Collins served as assistant general counsel for legislation in DOT's Office of the Secretary. Collins holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Princeton Unversity and a doctor of jurisprudence from Temple University Law School. — ITS America New ITS America Chairman Elected As chairman, Shackelford is responsible for leading ITS America and its 1,300 member organizations toward deployment of intelligent transportation system technologies throughout the nation. Shackelford was elected chairman at the society's eighth annual meeting held this past May. — ITS America Seales Appointed Chief Counsel of NHTSA Student Wins Award The paper was evaluated among several others submitted from around the country on its originality, significance, validity, and applicability. Perrillo's work will be published in a future volume of the ITE Journal. ACI Hires New Chief Engineer He holds an engineering degrees from N.E.D. University, Pakistan; Kansas State University; and the University of Illinois, Chicago. He was a teaching and research assistant at the University of Illinois before becoming a professor at North Carolina State University, Raleigh. — ACI St. John Selected as Division Administrator Conferences Winter Road Maintenance Symposiums To Be Held This Fall On Sept. 29, 1998, the Western Winter Road Maintenance Symposium will be held in Estes Park, Colo., in conjunction with the American Public Works Association's (APWA) Western Snow and Ice Conference and Roadeo. Registration is free. To register for the Western Symposium, contact Linda Arson of APWA at (978) 586-5331.
Articles & Departments Building a Bridge to the Public: The Alaska Experience Bridging the Centuries: Moving Virginia's Bridge
Program Into the 21st Century TEA-21: "A Historic Piece of Legislation
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