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Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology: Coordinating, Developing, and Delivering Highway Transportation Innovations

 

Policies / Guidelines / Legislation

 

 

Basic principles

 

The basic principles governing Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA’s) Research and Technology (R&T) investments are outlined in Title 23 of the U.S. Code, Chapter 5: Research, Technology, and Education, and reinforced in Title V of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act – A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), the latest multiyear surface transportation authorization bill.

These guiding principles state that the Federal Government has the responsibility to fund and conduct surface transportation research, and technology transfer activities when the work is of national significance and in research areas where there is a clear public benefit and private investment is not optimal. FHWA’s role is to assure that State and local governments use national resources efficiently, and to present the best means to support Federal policy goals compared with other policy alternatives.

 

The role of the FHWA is to conduct research; to support and facilitate research and technology transfer activities by State highway agencies; to share the results of completed research; and to support and facilitate technology and innovation deployment.

 

The R&T program includes fundamental, long-term highway research, research aimed at significant highway research gaps and emerging issues with national implications, and research related to policy and planning. FHWA also is responsible for addressing the needs of stakeholders, and facilitating a competitive approach to grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements for research and development projects and programs.

 

 

SAFETEA-LU

 

SAFETEA-LU and subsequent extensions provide in Title V the authorization for FHWA to use funds from the Highway Trust Fund to conduct R&T activities, which include the Surface Transportation Research, Development, and Deployment program (STRDD). From 2005 through 2011, the annual authorization for the STRDD program was $196.4 million. This includes $14 million for the Exploratory Advanced Research (EAR) program, which is comprised of long-term, high-risk research with the potential for dramatic breakthroughs in surface transportation.

SAFETEA-LU Title V also authorizes the Future Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2). SHRP 2 is a multiyear program of research designed to advance highway performance and safety. It was initiated through a cooperative agreement with the Transportation Research Board (TRB) and the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO). SHRP 2 focuses applied research on four crucial areas: highway safety, renewal of America’s aging highway system, restoring highway travel-time reliability, and integrating mobility, economic, environmental, and community needs into the design of additional highway capacity. Funding for SHRP 2, which amounts to approximately $52 million a year, is taken as a percentage of seven federal aid formula programs stated in Title I of SAFETEA-LU.

Additionally, States are mandated to set aside funds for the State Planning and Research Program (SP&R). Out of seven federal aid formula program allocations from Title I of SAFETEA-LU, the States must set aside two percent for planning and research purposes. At least 25 percent of these funds must be used for research purposes. States use these funds to conduct research aimed at solving specific transportation issues that arise at the State level, or States may leverage these funds by applying them toward Transportation Pooled Fund projects.