FHWA R&T Now

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POLICY & PARTNERSHIPS

USDOT Announces Smart City Challenge

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has announced the “Beyond Traffic: Smart City 

Challenge,” a new grant opportunity that encourages midsized cities to demonstrate how advanced 

intelligent transportation systems technologies and applications can be used to reduce congestion, 

keep travelers safe, and support economic vitality in innovative ways. 

In the next few decades, midsized cities are expected to experience rapid population increases and 

rapidly growing demands on their transportation infrastructure. USDOT’s Smart City Challenge is 

designed to help them begin to address challenges this growth will present.

To show what is possible when communities use technology to connect transportation assets into 

an interactive network, the Smart City Challenge will concentrate Federal resources into one 

medium-sized city selected through a nationwide competition. Up to $40 million in funding will go 

to one midsized city that puts forward bold, data-driven ideas to improve lives by making 

transportation safer, easier, and more reliable.

Also, the Smart City Challenge will provide the opportunity to highlight the role of public-private 

partnerships in addressing transportation challenges. USDOT will partner with Vulcan for this 

competition; Vulcan is offering an additional $10 million to the winning city to support 

infrastructure for electric vehicles.

For more information, visit https://www.transportation.gov/smartcity, or contact Patricia 

Readinger, 202-366-9801, patricia.readinger@dot.gov. 

ADVANCED RESEARCH

Technical Brief: Novel Alternative Cementitious Materials for Development of the Next 

Generation of Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure 

FHWA’s Exploratory Advanced Research (EAR) Program recently published a technical brief that 

discusses an EAR project that is being performed by the Georgia Institute of Technology and 

collaborators from Oklahoma State University, Tourney Consulting, and the U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers. Funded by FHWA, the project involves conducting a comprehensive and systematic 

investigation of novel alternative cementitious materials for applications in sustainable 

transportation infrastructure. 

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

Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)

January/February 2016

FHWA R&T Now
 FHWA R&T Now

These cements included calcium aluminate, 

calcium sulfoaluminate, calcium sulfoaluminate 

belite, magnesium phosphate, and alkaliactivated and carbonate-binder systems that 

provide potential advantages over traditional 

portland cement through reductions in 

embodied energy and greenhouse gases, as well 

as enhanced performance, which contributes to 

sustainability. The research includes an 

evaluation of early-age and long-term material 

properties in addition to multiscale durability 

investigations.

The document is available to download at

www.fhwa.dot.gov/advancedresearch/pubs/16

017/index.cfm. 

Fact Sheet: Remotely Monitoring Water Quality 

Near Highways: A Sustainable Solution 

The EAR Program also published a fact sheet 

about the project, “A Remote, Self-Sustained 

System for Monitoring Water Quality Near 

Highways.” The goal of the project was to design 

a renewable and self-sustaining onsite system. 

Funded by FHWA, the research was conducted 

by Montana State University.

This project involved combining remote 

monitoring capabilities of in situ sensors with 

renewable and self-sustaining bio-energy 

generation. Instead of batteries, wireless 

sensors were powered by microbial fuel cells 

(MFC) that generated electricity through

electrochemical reactions with a type of 

common and safe bacteria (magnesium 

oxidizing microorganisms) ubiquitous to 

streams. Researchers designed MFCs that could 

function as batteries when there was little 

microbial activity in the stream but operate as 

MFCs when significant microbial activity 

occurred. These MFCs differ from the traditional 

ones that tend to have low energy generation 

and limited scalability. Because the energy 

generated from MFCs can fluctuate, a power 

management system regulates the voltage to 

provide a stable and accurate direct current 

voltage that can power the sensors and support 

a control system that collects, processes, and 

transmits real-time water quality data.

The fact sheet presents information about a 

self-sustained sensing system, field tests, key 

findings, future work, and the significance of this 

research to FHWA. The document is available to 

download at

www.fhwa.dot.gov/advancedresearch/pubs/16

018/index.cfm. 

INFRASTRUCTURE

New Book Released, Features Wood Trusses 

and Covered Bridge Construction

On January 7, 2016, Covered Bridges and the 

Birth of American Engineering was released at a 

book event at the historic Silver Spring 

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Station in 

Maryland. Completed through a partnership 

with the National Park Service–Historic 

American Engineering Record, the book is one of 

the products of FHWA’s National Historic 

Covered Bridge Preservation (NHCBP) Program. 

FHWA’s Office of Infrastructure Research and 

Development and the Historic American 

Engineering Record (HAER), a division of the 

National Park Service, Heritage Documentation 

Programs, have maintained a joint research and 

technology program for historic covered bridges 

since 2002. This partnership has included a 

variety of initiatives, such as documentation for 

This book describes the importance 

of covered bridges.
 FHWA R&T Now

the HAER collection at the Library of Congress, 

engineering studies, National Historic Landmark 

designations, conferences, and a traveling 

exhibition. These products are the result of 

cooperative research under FHWA’s NHCBP 

Program. 

Covered Bridges and the Birth of American 

Engineering, edited by Justine Christianson and 

Christopher H. Marston, examines the 

development of wood trusses and covered 

bridge construction, profiles the pioneering 

craftsmen and engineers involved, explores the 

function of trusses in covered bridges, and looks 

at the preservation and future of these distinctly 

American bridges. The book is generously 

illustrated and includes photographs and 

drawings chosen from a vast collection at the 

Library of Congress. It also includes historic 

images and engineering diagrams. The book is 

intended to show a new appreciation for the 

role that covered bridges played in the 

development of the Nation and in American 

bridge engineering.

Covered Bridges and the Birth of American 

Engineering will be distributed to FHWA offices 

and State departments of transportation. The 

book is available online at 

www.nps.gov/hdp/coveredbridges.htm. For 

more information, contact Christopher Marston, 

202-354-2162, christopher_marston@nps.gov, 

or Sheila Duwadi, 202-493-3106, 

sheila.duwadi@dot.gov. 

ASCE Recognizes FHWA’s Hydraulics Research, 

Engineers Attain Patent for In-Situ Scour 

Testing Device

The American Society of Civil Engineers will 

recognize Kornel Kerenyi, a senior hydraulics 

research engineer in FHWA’s Office of 

Infrastructure Research and Development, at its 

Outstanding Projects and Leaders Awards Gala 

on March 17, 2016. Kerenyi will receive the 

Henry L. Michel Award for Industry 

Advancement of Research, which acknowledges 

individuals whose dedication and aggressive 

vision have provided the cornerstones for 

improving the quality of people’s lives around 

the world through research in the design and 

construction industry.

The U.S. Patent Office recently granted Kerenyi 

and Bart Bergendahl, a senior hydraulic engineer 

in FHWA’s Resource Center in Lakewood, 

Colorado, a patent for inventing an in-situ scour 

testing device which is expected to help in 

assessing soil erosion resistance at bridge

foundation sites. Bergendahl and Kerenyi 

developed the device to advance bridge scour 

prediction and help improve hydraulic design 

decisions on a project-by-project basis. The 

device can be used to test the erosion and scour 

potential of a wide range of soil types to depths 

of 20 meters. 

More accurate estimates of scour in erosion 

resistant cohesive, cementatious, and rock-like 

soils could make foundation construction less 

expensive. An FHWA Strategic Initiative, the insitu scour testing device is part of a new bridge 

scour design methodology that researchers are 

currently working on in FHWA’s J. Sterling Jones 

Hydraulics Laboratory at Turner-Fairbank 

Highway Research Center. 

For more information contact Kornel Kerenyi, 

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

Bergendahl, bart.bergendahl@dot.gov, 720-963-

3754.

The in-situ scour testing device is part of a 

new bridge scour design methodology.
 FHWA R&T Now

Journal Paper Discusses Study on Rebar Bond in 

UHPC 

Jiqiu Yuan and Ben Graybeal, members of 

FHWA’s structural concrete research team, 

recently published a peer-reviewed manuscript 

in the ACI Structural Journal, produced by the 

American Concrete Institute. The manuscript, 

“Bond of Reinforcement in Ultra-High 

Performance Concrete,” presents results, 

conclusions, and recommendations from an 

applied engineering research effort conducted 

at Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center. 

The paper supports FHWA’s Every Day Counts 

Ultra-High Performance Concrete Connections 

Initiative and is expected to spur further 

advancement in the field as follow-on research 

extends the concept to additional reinforced 

concrete detailing scenarios. 

For more information, contact Ben Graybeal, 

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

Pavement Software Features New Traffic 

Defaults from LTPP

This fall, the American Association of State 

Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) 

implemented new traffic loading defaults 

developed by the Long-Term Pavement 

Performance (LTPP) program in its 

AASHTOWare® Pavement ME Design Software. 

In 2012, the LTPP program completed a data 

analysis project that evaluated the applicability 

of the existing global traffic loading defaults 

used in the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement 

Design Guide (MEPDG). The project used weighin-motion (WIM) data from the LTPP program’s 

Specific Pavement Study experiments to 

improve the global axle loading values included 

in the original 2008 defaults. 

The MEPDG methodology, which was developed 

under National Cooperative Highway Research 

Program Project 1-37A, requires actual traffic 

inputs. Since the cost to collect these inputs is 

not possible for the majority of highway 

agencies, most pavement designs developed 

using the MEPDG rely on regional, agency-wide, 

or national traffic loading defaults. Therefore, it 

is important for the default values to be 

representative of the actual truck loadings for a 

project site.

The original traffic default values used in the 

MEPDG were based on LTPP traffic data 

collected by highway agencies prior to 1999. At 

that time, these data represented the best 

available and most comprehensive national set 

of WIM and automated vehicle classification 

data. Since 1999, the LTPP program has 

generated high-quality traffic loading 

information for some of its test sites. These data 

are being collected using standard protocols for 

data collection consistency and improved data 

quality assurance. As a result, these new data 

provided an opportunity to improve the axle 

loading traffic defaults in the MEPDG for 

highway agencies. 

For more information, contact Deborah Walker, 

202-493-3068, deborah.walker@dot.gov. 

LTPP InfoPaveTM Has New Web Address

FHWA’s Long-Term Pavement Performance 

(LTPP) InfoPave, which enables users to access 

pavement performance data and other 

information available through the LTPP 

program, has a new Web address:

https://infopave.fhwa.dot.gov. The new URL 

fulfills the requirement that Government-owned 

Web portals have a .GOV address. 

Security features have been enhanced by 

applying Secure Sockets Layer (HTTPS) 

technology, which creates a secure connection 

between the user and the server. Previous LTPP 

InfoPave URLs, http://www.infopave.com and 

LTPP Web page
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http://infopave.com, have been configured to 

automatically redirect users to the .GOV Web 

site. 

By using the latest in computer technology, this 

Web-centric interface is designed to improve 

access to LTPP data through user-friendly 

visualization features. In addition to the 

pavement performance data from more than 

2,500 test sections, the interface provides 

information, education, and tools to maximize 

the use of available data. LTPP InfoPave enables 

users to explore and extract the right data 

efficiently for analysis to advance the science of 

pavement engineering and management. In 

January, an enhanced version of LTPP InfoPave 

was released to the public at the 95th 

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 

in Washington, D.C. 

For more information, contact Y. Jane Jiang, 

202-493-3149, jane.jiang@dot.gov. 

OPERATIONS

Saxton Lab Releases Video on Connected 

Automation

FHWA’s Office of Operations Research and 

Development recently released “Paving the Way 

to Connected Automation–Cooperative 

Adaptive Cruise Control,” a new video produced 

at Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center. 

The video explains how FHWA and USDOT are 

developing cutting edge technologies that 

enable vehicles to communicate and respond to 

each other in a proactive manner by sharing 

speed, following distance, and 

accelerating/decelerating data. Employing 

connected automation technology, a fleet of 

Cadillacs successfully conduct a platoon test. 

This technology, which is essential for improving 

roadway safety and efficiency, could be a future 

solution to congestion and traffic incidents as it 

can prevent unnecessary braking and establish 

safe and constant speeds with other vehicles.

The video is available at https://youtu.be/2-

WoV8nKQUE. For more information, contact 

Taylor Lochrane, 202-493-3293, 

taylor.lochrane@dot.gov. 

ATTRI Awarded Special Acknowledgement for 

Poster at Global Summit

At a recent event, the Accessible Transportation 

Technologies Research Initiative (ATTRI)—a joint 

USDOT initiative, co-led by FHWA and the 

Federal Transit Administration, with support 

from the Intelligent Transportation Systems 

Joint Program Office—was awarded a Special 

Acknowledgement for a poster that illustrated 

the cross-cutting nature and practical aspects of 

its initiative, which impacts a broad spectrum of 

mobility changes for future systems.

The event, a global summit held November 11–

13, 2015 in Cambridge, MA, brought together 

more than 300 researchers and entrepreneurs, 

as well as leaders involved in policy, industry, 

and government. Entitled “Disrupting Mobility,” 

the summit aimed to investigate sustainable 

futures. ATTRI was represented at a poster 

session alongside 30 other posters that covered 

topics from peer-to-peer carsharing to future 

mobility for seniors.

For more information, contact Mohammed 

Yousuf, 202-493-3199, 

mohammed.yousuf@dot.gov. 

ATTRI poster
 FHWA R&T Now

Workshop on Vehicle Automation and Wireless 

Connectivity Explores Policy Issues 

In coordination with FHWA’s Office of Policy, 

FHWA’s Office of Operations Research and 

Development hosted an all-day workshop at 

Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center on 

December 8, 2015. The purpose of the 

workshop was to explore policy related issues—

especially policy research needs—associated 

with vehicle automation and wireless 

connectivity. The workshop brought together 

representatives from a number of FHWA offices, 

the National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration, and other administrations.

For more information, contact Paul Pisano, 202-

366-1301, paul.pisano@dot.gov. 

SAFETY

FHWA’s Office of Safety R&D Publishes HumanFactors Guidelines Report

FHWA’s Office of Safety Research and 

Development (R&D) recently published a report 

that describes research offering initial design 

guidance for vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) 

safety messages and some limited guidance for 

vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) systems.

The report, “Multiple Sources of Safety 

Information from V2V and V2I,” uses existing 

transportation safety research and research 

from related domains. This information can be 

used by connected-vehicle system designers and 

other State transportation department 

personnel to develop and implement V2I 

applications to ensure that these systems work 

effectively and safely within a larger vehicle-toinfrastructure, vehicle-to-vehicle, and vehicleto-device environment. 

This research project was administered through 

the National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration’s Human Factors for Connected 

Vehicles research program and funded by the 

USDOT Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint 

Program Office. Findings are expected to help 

make the interaction of roadway and vehicle 

systems safer, reduce the likelihood of crashes 

and injuries, and improve safety for all roadway 

users.

The report is available at 

www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safet

y/15007/index.cfm. For more information, 

contact Brian Philips, 202-493-3468, 

brian.philips@dot.gov. 

RECENT PERIODICALS

Public Roads—January/February 2016

This issue includes: Moving Beyond Traffic; Stop 

or Go?; The Roads Less Traveled; Commuting in 

a Post-Baby Boomer World; Digitizing for Better 

Decisionmaking; and Leveraging a Data-Rich 

World.

It is available online via 

www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/16

janfeb/index.cfm. 

For more information, contact TaMara McCrae, 

tamara.mccrae@dot.gov. 

Innovator: Accelerating Innovation for the 

American Driving Experience—

January/February 2016

This issue includes: Coming Together to Tackle 

Transportation Issues; Iowa Builds Experience 

With Accelerated Bridge Construction Project; 

National STIC Network Advances Innovation 

Culture; Smarter Work Zone Strategies Promote 

Safety and Efficiency; Safety Software Helps 

An example of a Cooperative Intersection Collision 

Avoidance System—Violation Driver Infrastructure 

Interface
 FHWA R&T Now

Agencies Make Better Project Decisions; FHWA 

Seeks Innovations for EDC-4; States Innovate!; 

and Events.

The issue is available online via 

www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/innovator/eversion/issue_52/. 

LINKS

Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center: 

www.fhwa.dot.gov/research/ 

 

Resource Center:

www.fhwa.dot.gov/resourcecenter/ 

National Highway Institute: 

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

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