Research (about research)

This report gathers the results of an e-mail survey and follow-up interviews on research results implementation tracking at state transportation agencies. The majority of the 26 participants identified his or her agency as either focused entirely on funding research studies that lead to implementation, or as agencies that fund a variety of research project types and focus on implementation for select projects only. Half of the participants reported using an implementation tracking system, and of those participants, most reported his or her tracking system to be underused or outdated. Other notable findings included that most participants reported that only about 20 percent of the studies funded through his or her agency’s research division is policy-specific research; most participants reported that the best research results champions are from the management level and possess both technical and communication expertise; and motivation and time were the two largest roadblocks to successful research results implementation championship. Results are presented and discussed within the context of transportation research results implementation literature, and recommendations are provided for each core category of interview responses. Two implementation planning initiatives were undertaken at the Illinois Department of Transportation following the completion of the study and are detailed in this report.