Protecting critical infrastructure against terrorist events is a need imposed on us by the events of September 11, 2001.
Although the transportation community has always responded to natural hazards, and there are procedures in place to design for and handle these, managing for terrorist events presents a new challenge. Transportation is essential for mobility and commerce, and it plays a critical role in times of crisis. Our highways are essential for evacuation, and in the response and recovery effort. However, our highways are also vulnerable, and can be used by terrorists as a means to carry out an attack. Because the challenge is tremendous, the Federal Highway Administration has been proactive by reaching out to stakeholders to identify critical gaps and needs. This has been accomplished through several forums as presented in this report. The input provided by experts in the field of bridge engineering and others has been evaluated and a program proposed to design highway bridges and tunnels for security.
Development of a world-class transportation system means achieving our Nation?s mobility goals while ensuring that transportation decisions protect and enhance the natural environment and our communities. The transportation system is vital to our economy and quality of life, provides worldwide access to products and markets, and supports our Nation?s productivity. It also provides valued mobility for people, including access to jobs, services and recreational opportunities.
Yet transportation also creates unintended consequences on the natural environment and communities. Construction, maintenance, and operation of the transportation system affect air, water, soil, and biological resources, as well as neighborhoods and communities. This reality has imposed tremendous responsibilities on the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) that go far beyond its traditional role of enhancing mobility. Transportation agencies must comply with various federal environmental statutes and regulations as they
carry out transportation planning and project development.
However, compliance with the law is only part of FHWA?s obligation to the environment. FHWA is committed to environmental stewardship, striving to ensure that all of its programs and activities preserve and enhance the natural environment, the built environment, and the social environment of our Nation?s communities. This commitment requires a vigorous program of research, technology transfer, and training. FHWA?s Environmental Research Program is designed to meet this need.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) sponsored the development of a Pavement Management Roadmap to help identify the steps needed to address current gaps in pavement management and to establish research and development initiatives and priorities. This document presents an overview of the 10-year Pavement Management Roadmap, which can be used to guide new research, development, and technology transfer opportunities that will lead to improved approaches to pavement management.
The roadmap was intented from the beginning to be a collaborative process that would involve representatives from each of the various stakeholder groups that either use pavement management data, support the use of pavement management concepts, or provide technical assistance or training to current or future pavement management practitioners. The contents of this roadmap were derived from a series of stakeholder workshops in which representatives from state and local agencies, academia, private industry (including data collection and software vendors), FHWA, and others met to discuss and prioritize the needs of pavement management
professionals. The resulting needs were organized and grouped into one of the following four themes that emerged from the process: Theme 1: Use of Existing Tools and Technology; Theme 2: Institutional and Organizational Issues; Theme 3: The Broad Role of Pavement Management; and Theme 4: New Tools, Methodologies, and Technology.
The executive summary to this report is published as a stand alone document, entitled Pavement Management Roadmap ? Executive Summary (FHWA-HIF-11-014).
This 2011 Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Infrastructure Research and Technology (R&T) Strategic Plan (April 2012) describes the direction and outcomes that will be pursued through FHWA?s Infrastructure R&T program for the next 5 or more years. It is founded on and informed by input
provided by a broad array of highway stakeholders assembled through formal and informal mechanisms.
Additional details concerning the specific work that will be undertaken by the FHWA Offices of Infrastructure, Infrastructure Research and Development, and Technical Services will be provided in a supporting FHWA Infrastructure R&T program roadmap that will be reviewed and updated on an annual basis. Comments concerning this strategic plan and other input for consideration in the roadmap development can be submitted to FHWA Office of Infrastructure at NT@dot.gov. Other mechanisms for obtaining stakeholder input will also be used.
This report supersedes the earlier published version of the FHWA Infrastructure R&T Strategic Plan (FHWA-HRT-12-028); it contains editorial updates to both content and format.
See Subpart 52.2 for Text of Provisions and Clauses and specifically Section 52.227 for authorization and Consent.