FHWA R&T Now

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GENERAL/ADMINISTRATIVE 

FHWA Discusses RT&E Budget with House Subcommittee Staff 

FHWA recently discussed its 2016 Research, Technology, and Education (RT&E) budget with 

minority staff from the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space & Technology 

Subcommittee on Research & Technology (including Staff Director Dahlia Sokolov and Professional 

Staff Member Brystol English). Of particular interest to the staff was FHWA’s Exploratory Advanced 

Research (EAR) program and the Technology and Innovation Deployment program activities of 

Every Day Counts (EDC), the State Transportation Innovation Councils, and other research and 

technology activities. Some of the conversation from Subcommittee staff sprung from a visit they 

had to Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC) last summer. 

For more information, contact Jack Jernigan, 202-493-3363, jack.jernigan@dot.gov, or Lucia 

Olivera, 202-493-3320, lucia.olivera@dot.gov. 

ADVANCED RESEARCH 

Summary Report: National Multimodal Freight Analysis Framework Research Workshop 

This report summarizes the workshop, “National Multimodal Freight Analysis Framework 

Research,” held on December 11, 2013 at the National Academies of Sciences’ Keck Center in

Washington, D.C. The workshop outlined a vision for the next generation of freight analysis, 

recognized primary gaps in current capabilities, and created a game plan to address these gaps. 

The summary report is available at www.fhwa.dot.gov/advancedresearch/pubs/14054/index.cfm. 

For more information about the Freight Analysis Framework, contact Ed Strocko, 202-366-2997, 

ed.strocko@dot.gov. For more information about the EAR Program, contact David Kuehn, 202-493-

3414, david.kuehn@dot.gov. 

Catalog: EAR Program Research Results—Updated through 2014 

This catalog covers the EAR Program’s research results for 2014. The catalog documents a critical 

link in the chain of research, development, and deployment of new technology and practices 

necessary for the United States to have the best transportation system in the world for decades to 

come. The results of EAR Program-funded projects may include new fundamental insights and how 

they can be applied in highway transportation; new research methods, models, or data that can

A news update of research, technology, and development from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), 

Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)

March/April 2015

FHWA R&T Now
 FHWA R&T Now

accelerate applied research; or new system 

concepts or prototypes, including laboratory 

testing and possibly limited field testing. FHWA 

is committed to transitioning the results of EAR 

Program-funded projects and takes an active 

role in demonstrating results to audiences 

critical to continuing the research and 

development cycle. 

 

The catalog is available at 

www.fhwa.dot.gov/advancedresearch/pubs/15

024/index.cfm. For more information about the 

EAR Program, contact David Kuehn, 202-493-

3414, david.kuehn@dot.gov. 

INFRASTRUCTURE

RABIT Inspects Arlington Memorial Bridge 

On March 9, 2015, FHWA deployed its RABIT 

Bridge Deck Assessment Tool to assess and 

document the condition of all six lanes of the 

National Park Service’s (NPS) Arlington 

Memorial Bridge. FHWA, in collaboration with 

Rutgers University, developed the RABIT bridge 

deck assessment tool to rapidly detect and 

document in near real-time three of the most 

common deterioration types in concrete bridge 

decks: rebar corrosion, delamination, and 

concrete degradation. The tool can collect highquality research data on the condition of 

concrete bridge decks. 

The information collected by RABIT may help 

bridge owners like NPS make data-driven 

decisions to maintain, preserve, and manage 

their bridge infrastructure assets more 

effectively. Upon completion of the Arlington 

Memorial Bridge deck study, RABIT will be 

deployed to assess NPS’s Windy Run Bridge, 

which is expected to take 2 days to complete. 

For more information, contact Hamid Ghasemi, 

202-493-3042, hamid.ghasemi@dot.gov. 

AASHTO Subcommittee Develops Vision for 

Concrete Bridges 

The American Association of State Highway and 

Transportation Officials (AASHTO) 

Subcommittee on Bridges and Structures 

Technical Committee #10 (SCOBS T-10) recently 

conducted an exercise aimed at reflecting on 

past accomplishments and refining a collective 

vision for the future. The committee and select 

partners arrived at a 25-year vision that would 

encourage such advancements as performancebased specifications, maintenance-free bridges, 

and risk-based design. Participants from FHWA 

included Ben Graybeal, who heads the 

Structural Concrete Research Program, and 

Reggie Holt from the Office of Bridges and 

Structures. 

The development of a vision comes at a time 

when there is a growing recognition that the 

highway and bridge sectors are so stretched 

that thought leaders rarely have an opportunity 

to think beyond tactical, day-to-day 

considerations. Graybeal’s white paper, “A 

Vision for Structural Concrete Research,”

TFHRC’s Highway Driving Simulator

RABIT Bridge Deck Assessment Tool
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published in ASPIRE magazine last summer, 

helped jump-start this effort—prompting the T10 chairman to create a task group, call for this 

meeting, and instruct the group to continue 

through further strategic planning efforts. 

For more information, contact Ben Graybeal, 

202-493-3122, benjamin.graybeal@dot.gov. 

Turner-Fairbank Welcomes New Flume System 

A new multifunctional flume system is being 

installed at FHWA’s J. Sterling Jones Hydraulics 

Research Laboratory located at TFHRC. Boasting a 

90-foot-long and 13-foot-wide tiltable working 

platform for setting up experiments, the flume 

system is expected to advance the lab’s ability to 

predict flooding and scour-related damages and 

improve design guidance for mitigating impacts 

on bridges and other hydraulic structures. The 

flume system (which will replace a 30-year old 

tilting flume) also features a 27-foot-long flow 

inlet headworks, an outlet section, and a 

sediment recirculating capability that is nationally 

unique. The recirculating capability allows for a 

much more realistic river flow modeling. 

The flume system will support the hydraulics 

research program’s strategic vision. Future 

experimental work will require a large degree of 

flexibility for setting up and dismantling 

experiments, as well as highly detailed and 

automated flow and sediment transport 

measurements to calibrate numerical models. 

For more information, contact Kornel Kerenyi, 

202-493-3142, kornel.kerenyi@dot.gov. 

Researchers to Evaluate Electroslag Welds 

Justin Ocel, a member of FHWA’s Bridge and 

Foundation Engineering Team, recently observed 

a fabricator in Bristol, VA make a full-scale 

electroslag weld test specimen using HPS70W 

bridge steel. The resulting electroslag welds will 

be mechanically evaluated at TFHRC. Through its 

research and development activities in the 1980s 

and 1990s, FHWA invested significantly in 

redeveloping the electroslag welding (ESW) 

process, which is now approved for use in 

AASHTO’s and the American Welding Society’s 

D1.5 Bridge Welding Code. There are limitations 

imposed within D1.5 when using ESW because it 

was outside the bounds of FHWA’s research and 

development. For example, HPS steels did not 

exist when the electroslag research was 

underway and therefore HPS70W steel cannot be 

electroslag welded together. Ocel’s site visit was 

part of a research project aimed at testing the 

efficacy of ESW with HPS70W steel. Evaluation of 

the completed welds is expected to determine 

whether the restriction should be removed from 

D1.5 or whether further process development 

must be pursued for ESW use with a broader 

range of bridge steels. 

For more information, contact Justin Ocel, 202-

493-3080, justin.ocel@dot.gov. 

Researchers Instruct GMU Students at TurnerFairbank 

For the eleventh consecutive year, FHWA’s Office 

of Infrastructure Research and Development is 

teaching “Introduction to Experimental Design 

Engineering” to civil engineering students from 

George Mason University (GMU). During the 15-

week semester, GMU students will receive 

lectures from representatives of TFHRC’s 

Structures, Hydraulics, Asphalt Pavements, 

Concrete Pavements and Geotechnical 

Laboratories and perform experiments in each of 

these labs. The class provides GMU students with 

a survey of common testing and laboratory 

experimental methods that civil engineers might 

Future Layout of Hydraulics Lab
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encounter in their professional practice. The 

senior-level elective is one of a number of 

collaborative activities detailed in a 

Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2004 

between GMU and FHWA. 

For more information, contact Jorge Pagan-Ortiz, 

202-493-3022, jorge.pagan@dot.gov. 

SAFETY

FHWA Releases Version 10.1.0 of Interactive 

Highway Safety Design Model 

FHWA recently released version 10.1.0 of the 

Interactive Highway Safety Design Model 

(IHSDM), a suite of software analysis tools for 

evaluating safety and operational effects of 

geometric design decisions. 

The new version includes the following 

enhancements: 

• Interchange-level evaluations: All ramps, C-D 

roads, and ramp terminals associated with an 

interchange can now be evaluated with a single 

evaluation. 

• Empirical-Bayes analysis is now functional for 

freeway ramp terminals, for both station-based 

and site-based analyses. 

• Breakdowns of expected crashes by severity 

level and crash type were added to “site-based” 

analysis evaluation reports. 

IHSDM supports the Data-Driven Safety Analysis 

initiative as part of FHWA’s EDC 3 efforts. The 

IHSDM Crash Prediction Module serves as a 

faithful implementation of Highway Safety 

Manual Predictive Methods (Part C) for two-lane 

rural highways, multilane rural highways, urban 

and suburban arterials, freeways, and 

ramps/interchanges. 

The software is available for free download at 

www.ihsdm.org. For more information, visit 

www.fhwa.dot.gov/research/tfhrc/projects/safet

y/comprehensive/ihsdm/index.cfm, or contact 

Clayton Chen, 202-493-3054, 

clayton.chen@dot.gov. 

Report: Evaluation of Dynamic Speed Feedback 

Signs on Curves: A National Demonstration 

Project 

Lane departure crashes are a significant safety 

concern. The majority of lane departure crashes 

occur on rural two-lane roadways, with a 

disproportionate number of these crashes on 

horizontal curves. A primary driver factor in 

curve-related crashes is speeding. Dynamic speed 

feedback sign (DSFS) systems are one method to 

reduce vehicle speeds and, consequently, crashes 

on curves. These systems show promise but they 

have not been fully evaluated on curves. 

This report presents the results of a national 

demonstration project conducted by the Center 

for Transportation Research and Education at 

Iowa State University to evaluate the 

effectiveness of two different DSFSs in reducing 

speed and crashes on curves at 22 total sites on 

rural two-lane roadways in seven States. Data 

were collected before and at 1, 12, and 24 

months after installation of the DSFS. On 

average, most sites had decreases in mean 

speeds, with decreases up to 10.9 miles per hour 

noted for both the point of curvature (PC) and 

center of curve (CC). As well, large reductions in 

the number of vehicles traveling over the posted 

or advisory speed occurred for all of the after 

periods at the PC and CC, indicating that the signs 

were effective in reducing high-end speeds, as 

well as average and 85th percentile speeds. 

This document is available at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov

/publications/research/safety/14020/14020.pdf.

For more information, 

contact Abdul Zineddin, 202-493-3288, 

abdul.zineddin@dot.gov. 

OPERATIONS

FHWA Discusses V2I Applications and Enabling 

Technologies at TRB 

In January, Benjamin McKeever of FHWA’s Office 

of Operations Research and Development 

discussed vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) 

applications and enabling technologies at the 

Transportation Research Board’s (TRB) Annual 
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Meeting in Washington, DC. Some of the key 

points included recognition that the auto industry 

is moving forward with vehicle to vehicle (V2V) 

communications and that the National Highway 

Traffic Safety Administration’s proposed 

rulemaking may require V2V communications in 

all vehicles. Integrated V2I prototype and V2I 

applications testing are nearing completion and 

connected vehicle pilots are planned from 2015 

to 2017. Some of the ongoing support activities 

include AASHTO’s Footprint Analysis and 

Connected Vehicle Pooled Fund Study. 

For more information, contact Benjamin 

McKeever, 202-493-3270, 

ben.mckeever@umd.edu. 

NAS Publishes FHWA Research on MicroSimulation 

The National Academies of Science recently 

published a paper based on research conducted 

at TFHRC. Published in The Postdoc, a newsletter 

of the National Academies of Science, the paper 

focused on traffic performance analysis and 

dynamic merge control using micro-simulation. 

Dynamic merge control can be used in freeway 

merge areas to dynamically change lane 

allocation at interchanges. The technology can 

prioritize the roadway having higher volume and 

close a lane on the lesser-volume roadway. 

According to the research, after implementing 

the technology the average delay per vehicle was 

reduced up to 540 seconds (about 98 percent). 

Dynamic merge control can also increase average 

speed by 26 miles per hour (more than 80 

percent). 

Written by Ximiao Jiang, a postdoctoral scholar 

working at TFHRC, and Joe Bared, leader of 

FHWA’s Transportation Operations Concepts and 

Analysis team, the article is available at: 

http://sites.nationalacademies.org/cs/groups/pg

asite/documents/webpage/pga_153210.pdf. 

Yousuf Represents FHWA on FCC’s Disability 

Advisory Committee 

Mohammed Yousuf of FHWA’s Office of 

Operations Research and Development was 

recently appointed to serve on the Federal 

Communications Commission’s Disability 

Advisory Committee. Representing FHWA, Yousuf 

will serve a 2-year term as an ex officio member 

and attend plenary committee meetings. 

According to the appointment letter, Yousuf will 

work on various subcommittees and will be asked 

to represent FHWA’s viewpoints on disability 

issues and develop recommendations. 

For more information, contact Mohammed 

Yousuf, 202-493-3199, 

mohammed.yousuf@dot.gov. 

Webinars Inform Stakeholders of Research 

Efforts 

FHWA’s Office of Operations Research and 

Development recently led three Webinars that 

were part of the Dynamic Mobility Applications 

Program Webinar Series. Aimed at informing 

stakeholders and interested parties of research 

efforts, progress, and impacts, the Webinars 

covered the Research Data Exchange and Open 

Source Application Development Portal; the 

Multimodal Intelligent Traffic Signal System 

bundle; and the Intelligent Network Flow 

Optimization bundle. About 500 stakeholders 

attended these Webinars, which featured an 

overview of the bundle, a description of 

prototypes or algorithms, testing and impacts 

assessment results, and a stakeholder question 

and answer session. 

For more information, contact Joe Peters, 202-

493-3269, joe.peters@dot.gov. 

ATTRI Webinar Focuses on Travel Needs 

A Webinar focused on understanding the travel 

needs of people with disabilities was recently 

held to advance the Accessible Transportation 

Technologies Research Initiative (ATTRI). The 

target audience was people with disabilities; 

caregivers; advocates; transportation system 

managers; State, local, and Federal officials; 

academics; and individuals involved with 

technology and mobility needs for people with 

disabilities. The interactive Webinar walked 

participants through several scenarios to gather 
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responses and feedback. Participants were asked 

to express their concerns and problems 

encountered in fulfilling their travel and 

transportation needs. They were also asked how 

they use technology now and how they think 

technology might help them get to the places 

they need to go in the future. Directed by FHWA 

and the Federal Transit Administration, ATTRI 

aims to enable independent mobility of travelers 

with disabilities through the use of intelligent 

transportation systems and other innovative 

technologies. 

For more information, contact Charlene Wilder: 

202-366-1077 (phone), 202-366-3765 (fax), 

charlene.wilder@dot.gov. 

RECENT PERIODICALS

 

Public Roads—January/February 2015 

This issue includes: FHWA’s “Innovations Factory” 

Commands Presidential Attention; Excitement 

Reigns During Presidential Visit; Innovations Hit 

the Road; How the Uncommon Became the 

Commonplace; Slowing Climate Change One 

Highway at a Time; and The Secret to Making 

Federal Tax Dollars Work for Your State. 

It is available online via 

www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/15j

anfeb/index.cfm. 

For more information, contact TaMara McCrae, 

tamara.mccrae@dot.gov. 

Innovator: Accelerating Innovation for the 

American Driving Experience—January/February 

2015

This issue includes: Summits Launch Next Round 

of Highway Innovation; States Innovate!; FHWA 

Offers Innovation Incentives; Utah DOT Saves 

Time and Money with GRS-IBS; ABC Slashes 

Schedule on Virginia Project; STICs Spread 

Innovation Culture Nationwide; and Calendar. 

The issue is available online via 

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/innovator/eversion/issue_46/. 

Links: 

Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center:

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/research/ 

Resource Center: 

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/resourcecenter/ 

National Highway Institute:

http://www.nhi.fhwa.dot.gov/home.aspx 

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