Adaptive Signal Control Technology
Adaptive signal control technology adjusts traffic lights across a road network in real time to accommodate changing traffic conditions. This improves travel time reliability, eases traffic congestion and reduces fuel consumption.
Clarifying the Scope of Preliminary Design
This strategy identifies the amount of design work allowable under law before completion of the National Environmental Policy Act review process for highway projects. It allows better decision making, saves time, promotes cost-effectiveness and fosters environmental responsibility on projects.
Construction Manager/General Contractor (CM/GC)
In the construction manager/general contractor project delivery process, the project owner hires a contractor to provide feedback during the design phase on issues such as innovation use, cost and time savings, and constructability. This helps the project owner make better decisions and manage projects with accelerated construction schedules and greater cost certainty.
Design-Build
The design-build project delivery method combines a project’s design and construction phases in one contract, allowing the contractor flexibility to choose design, materials and construction methods while assuming the risk and responsibility for both design and construction. This can accelerate project delivery, lower costs and improve quality.
Enhanced Technical Assistance with Ongoing Environmental Impact Statements
Enhanced technical assistance targets transportation agencies addressing major challenges with environmental impact statements on highway projects and helps resolve those challenges. FHWA facilitates interagency collaboration to identify and find solutions and get stalled projects moving.
Flexibilities in Right-of-Way
The flexibilities in right-of-way strategy encourages transportation agencies to take advantage of the many areas of flexibility allowed under FHWA regulations and statutes when developing highway projects. Using these flexibilities can help agencies save time and money on the right-of-way acquisition process while meeting legal requirements.
Flexibilities in Utility Accommodation and Relocation
The flexibilities in utility accommodation and relocation strategy spotlights flexibilities in place under federal law and regulations that foster timely completion of transportation projects. It encourages widespread use of techniques that help transportation departments and utilities collaborate effectively when highway projects require moving or accommodating utilities.
Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil-Integrated Bridge System (GRS-IBS)
Geosynthetic reinforced soil-integrated bridge system technology can help meet the country’s demand for small, single-span bridges by delivering low-cost, durable structures that can be built with readily available equipment and materials. A GRS-IBS project can be built in weeks instead of months, saving time and cutting work zone congestion.
Planning and Environmental Linkages
Planning and environmental linkages incorporate information developed during project planning in the National Environmental Policy Act review process. This reduces duplicative work and costs and leads to more informed and faster project decisions, more transparent planning practices and better coordination among stakeholders.
Prefabricated Bridge Elements and Systems
Prefabricated bridge elements and systems are bridge components that are constructed off-site under controlled conditions and moved to the work zone for rapid installation. The result is more durable bridges that can be built faster, more safely and with less traffic disruption.
Programmatic Agreements
Programmatic agreements establish streamlined approaches for handling routine environmental requirements on highway projects, reducing review times and accelerating project delivery. The agreements usually set procedures for complying with federal laws, but they can also address tribal, state or local laws.
Safety EdgeSM
The Safety EdgeSM paving technique minimizes vertical drop-off at the pavement edge to make it easier for vehicles that drift off the road to return safely. This safety countermeasure, installed with a shoe that attaches to existing paving equipment, involves minimal time and cost to implement.
Use of In-Lieu Fee and Mitigation Banking
Using in-lieu fees and mitigation banking can expedite project delivery while maintaining the environment. In-lieu fees cover environmental enhancement activities throughout an area rather than at a particular site. Mitigation banking refers to restoring or enhancing streams and wetlands to offset impacts related to highway projects in other areas.
Warm Mix Asphalt
Warm mix asphalt technologies enable crews to produce and place asphalt paving materials at lower temperatures than those used for conventional hot-mix asphalt. This reduces fuel consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and paving costs while extending the paving season and improving compaction.
