Research, Technology, and Education (RT&E) Program Management

The Research and Technology Program (R&T) is one component of the Research, Technology, and Education (RT&E) Program.

The Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA’s) Research, Technology, and Education (RT&E) Program strives to generate new solutions, build more effective partnerships, and provide better information and tools for decision making, which will enable the Nation to enhance and make the best investments in the U.S. transportation system. The Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA’s) role in the RT&E Program is to provide leadership to address current and emerging needs facing the Nation’s transportation system. The leadership role of the FHWA signifies a commitment to working collaboratively with its partners to define the direction of and develop the roadmaps needed to achieve results, especially because these partners may at times implement these technologies and innovations.

In 2003, FHWA leadership accepted the challenge to "raise the bar" on research and technology (R&T) and adopted the Corporate Master Plan for Research and Deployment of Technology & Innovation (FHWA-RD-03-077), a strategic management framework to ensure an effective and efficient FHWA Research and Technology (R&T) Program. The Corporate Master Plan was developed with input from stakeholders and consists of 7 guiding principles and 26 Agency commitments. The commitments include involving stakeholders throughout the process, employing merit reviews, and evaluating research and deployment on an ongoing basis.

The FHWA Research and Technology Leadership Team is accountable for implementing the Agency’s RT&E program. FHWA leadership strives continually to improve the RT&E program to ensure the appropriate Federal role and strategies for investing in and conducting research and development on behalf of and in support of our partners and stakeholders in both exploratory advanced research (focused specifically on longer term and higher risk breakthrough research with the potential for transformational improvements) and applied research (focused on developing products that can be delivered to practitioners within 1 or 2 years).

The Research and Technology Leadership Team consists of selected FHWA division administrators, the directors of Technical Services and Innovative Program Delivery, and the associate administrators for Research, Development, and Technology; Safety; Infrastructure; Operations; Planning, Environment, and Realty; Policy; and Federal Lands.