Estimates indicate that more than 14 million jobs—about 11% of civilian jobs in the United States—are related to infrastructure. Transportation has the potential to be a major U.S. job creator with projections to add 417,000 net jobs from 2012 to 2022. An additional 4.2 million workers will need to be hired to fill vacancies created by people leaving the transportation workforce. Transportation workforce strategies are highly decentralized with no national standards for operations, planning, or programmi...

Measures that are effective at reducing speed, such as speed humps and mini traffic circles, are sometimes used in low-speed areas such as school zones. But they are often not recommended or allowed (via local policy) on the higher-speed streets typically associated with the highest injury severity for pedestrians. For those higher-speed streets, redesigning them to communicate lower speed, such as through a roadway-reconfiguration effort, can effectively accomplish the goal of lowering speed. In the abs...

Freight investment project prioritization, which is used to assist in planning and programming decisions, differs widely in importance across states. One of the reasons for the difference in importance is the fact that freight projects are costly, and state departments of transportation (DOTs) face limited resources to implement them. The National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Synthesis 542: Prioritization of Freight Investment Projects identifies the state of the practice of freight proje...

Public–private partnerships (P3s) can provide solutions to the project delivery challenges faced by state departments of transportation (DOTs) and local transportation agencies in delivering surface transportation infrastructure by aligning risks and rewards between public and private sectors, accelerating project delivery, improving operations and asset management, realizing construction and operational cost savings, and attracting private-sector equity investment. P3s are becoming an increasingly impor...

Current practices used by state departments of transporttion to design and manage the urban freeway roadsides (UFRs) environment is the focus of National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 539: Landscape Development and Management Practices for Urban Freeway Roadsides. The urban freeway roadsides (UFRs) for this synthesis are those roadsides associated with high visibility urban freeways with limited pedestrian access, such as wider medians, interchanges, and overpasses. The UFR is pa...

The uses and levels of maturity of five advanced technology areas visualization and modeling, interconnected technologies, safety technologies, instrumentation and sensors, and unmanned aircraft systems in transportation highway construction projects are documented in TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 534: Emerging Technologies for Construction Delivery. The synthesis also investigates the implementation barriers and success factors for these technology areas and discu...

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 531 documents agency practices, challenges, and successes in conducting automated pavement condition surveys. The report also includes three case examples that provide additional information on agency practices for conducting automated pavement surveys. Pavement condition data is a critical component for pavement management systems in state departments of transportation (DOTs). The data is used to establish budget needs, support asset ...

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 533 identifies the current state of practice among state departments of transportation (DOTs) regarding selection and setup of very short duration work zone (VSDWZ). The report presents case examples of four state DOTs along with an in-depth analysis of the VSDWZ policies of these states. The case example agencies have developed specific guidance on the topic for their jurisdictions. VSDWZ activities are those activities not defined in...

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 538: Practices for Online Public Involvement summarizes current practices regarding online public participation strategies being used by state departments of transportation (DOTs), as well as explores the effectiveness of using these strategies and tools. Online public participation methods offer agencies the potential for expanded participation and also present new challenges and demand new thinking about the appropriate mix of techni...

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 537: Impact of Asphalt Thickness on Pavement Quality documents transportation agency policy for lift thickness and minimum compaction requirements on resultant asphalt pavement quality. To achieve expected pavement performance, it is important that asphalt concrete (AC) have adequate density. A critical factor in achieving this density is the ratio of lift thickness to nominal maximum aggregate size (t/NMAS). The information in the rep...