The Office of Infrastructure R&D approaches its mission with 

emphasis on strong stakeholder involvement and an interdisciplinary approach founded on recognition of the following:

•	 Pavements and bridges are integral and interrelated 

components of a highway system and do not function as distinct 

elements. 

•	 Although the fundamental structure and components of 

pavements and bridges are quite distinct, some research and 

development needs are common to both. 

•	 Only by using all facilities and assets available within 

the FHWA’s Office of Infrastructure R&D and working 

collaboratively with counterparts in other FHWA offices and with 

stakeholders throughout the highway community, will highway 

needs and issues in the near and long term be effectively addressed.

Goals

The goals of the FHWA’s Office of Infrastructure R&D are as 

follows:

•	 Conduct research to develop knowledge, guidelines, analytical 

and physical tools, and test methods and procedures that:

•	 Enable the delivery of a safe, environmentally-friendly, 

long-lasting, disaster-resilient, and cost-effective highway 

infrastructure that provides a high level of service.

•	 Support end-user efforts to more effectively maintain and 

manage the Nation’s infrastructure based on the realities of 

funding needs versus funding constraints.

•	 Provide specialized technical assistance to address 

infrastructure issues of national importance requiring research 

capabilities and technical expertise uniquely available at the 

FHWA’s Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center.

Research and Development Strategies

The FHWA Office of Infrastructure R&D focuses on the needed 

research and development where there is an appropriate Federal 

role by virtue of national needs, scope, duration, or risk. This role 

is reflected in the following overarching strategies: 

Long-Term Infrastructure Performance 

This strategy is to conduct, build upon, and integrate the current 

Long-Term Pavement Performance and Long-Term Bridge 

Performance Programs to answer critical questions concerning the 

long-term performance of our Nation’s highway infrastructure. 

Activities included in this strategy include development of the 

following:

•	 A publicly available dataset documenting the performance 

of a well-characterized set of pavement test sections and bridges, 

including their design, materials, construction, preservation, and 

maintenance, that is representative of the majority of the Nation’s 

highways.

•	 Improved bridge and pavement monitoring sensors and 

systems (e.g., smart sensors, embedded sensors, and systems) that 

permit both periodic and continuous performance evaluation and 

accurate condition assessment.

•	 High-speed and high-resolution nondestructive evaluation 

(NDE) technologies for inspection, evaluation, and performance 

monitoring.

•	 Analysis and data-mining tools that can be applied across a 

range of infrastructure databases and datasets.

Durable Infrastructure Systems

Within this strategy, durable and resilient infrastructure systems 

and elements are developed to improve in-service performance, 

reduce maintenance needs and costs, reduce life-cycle costs, and 

significantly improve safety during normal service and extreme 

hazard events. This will require that infrastructure durability 

and deterioration-prevention be addressed in a more systematic 

manner by developing the following:

•	 High-performance, long-life, advanced materials that increase 

resiliency and reduce maintenance and reconstruction needs 

(e.g., self-monitoring or self-healing materials).

•	 Improved systems, preservation techniques, analysis methods, 

and technologies to prevent material degradation, corrosion, 

cracking, fatigue, and other serviceability problems in existing 

highway infrastructure.

•	 Advanced infrastructure performance prediction and design 

models for both service-level and extreme events.

•	 Effective tools to identify and manage critical lifeline routes.

•	 Designs and details that provide resiliency during extreme 

hazard events, systems that facilitate evacuation as well as support 

response and recovery operations, and highways that can be 

rapidly repaired and returned to service.

The Office of Infrastructure Research and 

Development (R&D) conducts and administers 

infrastructure R&D programs and projects for 

the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) that 

address problems of national priority within the 

U.S. highway system.

www.tfhrc.gov

Office of Infrastructure R&D

Federal Highway Administration  TURNER-FAIRBANK HIGHWAY RESEARCH CENTER
toward comprehensive performance-based 

specifications. Such specifications are 

needed to: (a) balance risk between agencies 

and industry (contractors), (b) encourage 

innovation, (c) provide greater consistency 

between design expectations and actual 

performance, and (d) support innovative 

contracting procedures and construction 

practices. This strategy is dependent on 

the ability to accurately predict future 

performance; it will build on outcomes 

from the Long-Term Infrastructure 

Performance and Durable Infrastructure 

Systems research. Specific examples of 

performance-based specifications follow:

•	 Extreme-event infrastructure design 

standards that provide specified levels of 

operation and service based on identified 

postevent needs but which prevent 

catastrophic failure.

•	 Service-level infrastructure design and 

material standards that allow more innovation than current prescriptive infrastructure 

design and material standards.

•	 Materials and construction standards 

that link design and construction and 

compel contractors to minimize constructed 

project life-cycle costs.

•	 Bridge and pavement construction 

standards that hold contractors responsible 

for meeting structural and functional 

thresholds over the long term (15+ years).

Comprehensive and Integrated Infrastructure Asset Management

This strategy builds on and integrates the 

outcomes from the previous strategies: 

Long-Term Infrastructure Performance, 

Accelerated Highway Construction, 

Durable Infrastructure Systems, 

Environmentally-Sensitive Infrastructure, 

and Performance-Based Specification to 

deliver the tools and technologies needed 

to achieve fully integrated processes 

and systems for asset management, 

including infrastructure planning, design, 

contracting, construction, preservation, 

and maintenance. Activities included in this 

capstone strategy include development of 

the following:

•	 Improved performance and life-cycle 

cost models that consider the full life cycle 

of the infrastructure from planning through 

design, construction, maintenance/preservation, rehabilitation, and reconstruction in 

an integrated and comprehensive fashion 

and are applicable to any combination of 

materials.

•	 Needed information from the analysis 

of data collected under the Long-Term 

Infrastructure Performance strategy to 

support sound decisionmaking in the asset 

management process.

Collaboration

In pursuing the research and development 

program described herein, the FHWA 

Office of Infrastructure R&D works closely 

and collaboratively with other FHWA 

offices and with the broader community 

of highway stakeholders to ensure that the 

program:

•	 Addresses agency goals, missions, and 

requirements.

•	 Serves the FHWA appropriately, 

covering relevant issues.

•	 Is aware of the work of other agencies 

and organizations and coordinates its 

work accordingly to avoid inappropriate 

duplication of effort and maximize 

the overall value of the research and 

development investments.

•	 Delivers outcomes in the form of 

readily implementable products at the 

earliest appropriate time.

•	 Moves products into practice as 

quickly as possible to achieve maximum 

possible benefits.

Benefits

The outcomes delivered through pursuit of 

these strategies will benefit the American 

public by enabling improvements in the 

safety, performance, and cost effectiveness 

of the Nation’s highway infrastructure, 

while minimizing the environmental 

impacts of highway construction, maintenance, and rehabilitation. The results 

will make possible reductions in highway 

congestion, improvements in highway 

safety, and enhancement of the overall 

driving experience for the American public.

The FHWA is charged with ensuring 

minimum standards of safety for the public 

as it travels on the Nation’s roads and 

highways. While there are many other 

organizations and agencies that conduct 

highway infrastructure research, the FHWA 

Office of Infrastructure R&D is uniquely 

positioned to address the continuum of 

highway infrastructure research from high 

risk, exploratory, and advanced research, 

through the highly applied, problem-specific 

research that is necessary to address current 

issues and immediate problems. This broad 

range of research capability provides a high 

likelihood of success that is so critical for 

sustaining the Nation’s economy in the near 

and long terms.

1

 According to the FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 

the Nation’s bridges have an average age of 43 years, 

and the majority of pavements on the National Highway 

System have surpassed their original design life.

•	 Intelligent disaster-resilient infrastructure (e.g., smart bridge systems and 

countermeasures).

•	 Infrastructure designs and details that 

facilitate effective inspection, maintenance, 

and repair.

•	 Quality assurance and quality control 

standards and procedures that can be effectively applied during the fabrication process 

and in the field.

Accelerated Highway Construction 

This strategy aims to develop accelerated 

construction, rehabilitation, and 

reconstruction methodologies for highway 

systems and structures. This strategy 

directly addresses the Nation’s congestion 

and safety needs, as well as the impending 

crisis due to an aging infrastructure.1

 The 

research and development to be pursued as 

a part of this strategy includes:

•	 Prefabricated structures and systems, 

including bridge sub and superstructures 

and geotechnical constructions.

•	 Advanced fabrication, construction, 

and erection techniques and equipment.

•	 Structures (bridges and pavements) that 

are adaptable to changing conditions and 

system demands.

•	 Technologies that enable real-time 

quality control and assurance in an 

accelerated construction setting.

Environmentally-Sensitive Highway 

Infrastructure

This strategy addresses the need for 

technologies to enable an environmentallysensitive highway infrastructure. 

This strategy will reduce detrimental 

environmental impacts arising from 

construction and maintenance of highway 

infrastructure, as well as the physical, 

chemical, and aesthetic attributes of 

highway transportation. Elements of this 

strategy include the following:

•	 Quantification and characterization of 

the impacts of highway infrastructure on 

the environment.

•	 Technologies and knowledge to 

support context sensitive solutions (CSS) 

and initiatives.

•	 Technologies to enable expanded use 

of recycled or waste materials in highway 

construction.

•	 Pursuit of less damaging (more 

“green”) and renewable materials and 

construction technologies.

Performance-Based Specifications

With this strategy, researchers will work 

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