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The 1984 TRB report Special Report 202: America’s Highways: Accelerating the Search for Innovation, articulated the need for a focused, time-constrained, high-cost R&D effort to develop a short list of priority products for state highway agencies. The report sparked renewed interest in state and federal investments in highway research and led to congressional authorization of a 5-year, $150 million effort known as the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP). SHRP was managed through a special unit of the National Research Council (NRC), whose purposes were to support a high-level executive committee to guide the program, create expert panels to select and manage individual contracts, and implement processes to ensure the highest quality in merit review and competitive award of contracts. SHRP produced many valuable products for the highway industry and is widely viewed as a successful program. After completion of the research, implementation of SHRP products was transferred to FHWA and the states, and the NRC program was disbanded.

As requested in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, a TRB committee examined the goals, research agenda, administrative structure, and administrative needs for a new strategic highway research program. After extensive outreach to the highway community, the committee recommended the establishment of a future Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP II) (Special Report 260: Strategic Highway Research: Saving Lives, Reducing Congestion; Improving Quality of Life; TRB 2001). SHRP II would comprise four research program areas: accelerating the renewal of America’s highways, making a significant improvement in highway safety, providing a highway system with reliable travel times, and providing highway capacity in support of the nation’s economic, environmental, and social goals. The committee recommended that F-SHRP be administered by a credible, independent organization capable of managing a large-scale contract research program in a manner that would ensure the highest-quality research. The initial SHRP program was managed by The National Academies for just these reasons. The committee recommended that F-SHRP be funded at $75 million per year. In the reauthorization of surface transportation legislation in 2005, Congress agreed with the recommended goals of the research program and authorized funding of about $50 million per year for 2006–2009.