FHWA R&T Now

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POLICY & PARTNERSHIPS

Over 400 SHRP2 Projects Underway Across Country

The Second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP2) aims to accelerate the renewal of U.S.

highways, improve highway safety, advance reliable travel times, and provide highway capacity in

support of U.S. economic, environmental, and social goals. More than 60 SHRP2 Solutions are in

use across the Nation. Since 2013, FHWA and the American Association of State Highway

Transportation Officials (AASHTO) have launched seven rounds of the SHRP2 Implementation

Assistance Program (IAP), providing more than $130 million in financial support and technical

assistance to transportation agencies. Nearly 430 SHRP2 projects are now in progress in all 50

States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

In June 2016, FHWA and AASHTO announced the recipients of the seventh and final round of the

IAP, and those new projects are getting underway. Moving into 2017 and beyond, SHRP2 will

continue to advance the ongoing success and deployment of SHRP2 Solutions through workshops,

peer exchanges, showcases, field demonstrations, training sessions, and other activities. As an

increasing number of transportation agencies adopt SHRP2 products and practices, all are

encouraged to share their expertise with other agencies. To access product reports, case studies,

and other resources, visit www.fhwa.dot.gov/goshrp2/.   

For more information, contact Carin Michel, 410‐962‐2530, carin.michel@dot.gov.   

ICM Report Points to Smart Cities Strategies and Initiatives

As a concept, integrated corridor management (ICM) can be defined as a practical application of a

smart cities objective, but within the defined cordon of a corridor, not necessarily citywide. The

ICM approach is based on three fundamental concepts: a corridor‐level operations nexus; agency

integration through institutional, operational, and technical means; and active management of all

available corridor assets and facilities. The vision of ICM is that transportation networks will realize

significant improvements in the efficient movement of people and goods through aggressive,

proactive integration of existing infrastructure along major corridors.

FHWA’s report, “Integrated Corridor Management and the Smart Cities Revolution: Leveraging

Synergies” (FHWA‐HOP‐16‐075), examines how ICM can integrate smart cities strategies and

investigates how existing ICM approaches can advance, inform, and help lead smart cities

initiatives. The report explores opportunities to effectively integrate strategies institutionally,

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

Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) 

January/February 2017

FHWA R&T Now
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operationally, and technically, both by

leveraging existing platforms and considering

new options for coordination between ICM and

smart cities stakeholders. It also identifies

potential challenges to integrating ICM and

smart cities, along with potential solutions.

The intended audience includes stakeholders

from State and local transportation

departments, metropolitan planning

organizations, city agencies, and other

organizations (in the public and private sector)

that provide services within a city or

metropolitan area and are seeking to provide

those services in a smarter, more efficient and

sustainable way. The report aims to encourage

these groups to think broadly about how to go

about creating smart cities and how integrated

corridor management can help achieve those

goals. It is available to download at

www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop16

075/fhwahop16075.pdf.   

For more information, contact Robert Sheehan,

202‐366‐6817, robert.sheehan@dot.gov.    

EXPLORATORY ADVANCED RESEARCH

WMATA SafeTrack Examined with EAR‐Funded

Modeling System

The University of Maryland College Park is

studying the impact of the Washington

Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA)

SafeTrack using a modeling system that was

funded and developed under FHWA’s

Exploratory Advanced Research (EAR) Program

with technical direction from FHWA’s Office of

Planning. The EAR Program provided funding to

University of Maryland for research on new

approaches for modeling travel behavior in

2011.   

Researchers used agent‐based modeling, an

approach that simulates interactions among

autonomous agents or individuals, providing

significantly better results than traditional

models (where behavior is deterministic) as

agents can learn from experience and change

behavior. The EAR Program has funded some of

the first applications of agent‐based modeling

for transportation to demonstrate the potential.

Both the National Science Foundation and the

U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research

Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA‐E) have funded

further studies that rely on research and models

created through FHWA’s EAR Program.

For more information, contact David Kuehn,

202‐493‐3414, david.kuehn@dot.gov.   

INFRASTRUCTURE

Secretary Foxx Visits Hydraulics Laboratory  

During a recent visit to the Turner‐Fairbank

Highway Research Center (TFHRC),

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx actuated

a robotic arm used to visually record the action

of water passing over a scale model in the new

multifunctional flume system at FHWA’s J.

Sterling Jones Hydraulics Research Laboratory.  

Attendees from TFHRC included Associate

Administrator for Research, Development, and

Technology (RD&T) and Director of TFHRC,

Michael Trentacoste; Chief Scientist, Jonathan

Porter; and the Director of FHWA’s Office of

Operations R&D, Brian Cronin.   

The new flume system is expected to advance

the lab’s ability to predict flooding‐related

damages and improve design guidance for

Secretary Foxx recently visited TFHRC’s

Hydraulics Laboratory.
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mitigating impacts on bridges and other

hydraulic structures.

  

Boasting a 90‐foot‐long and 13‐foot‐wide

tiltable working platform for setting up

experiments, the flume system features a 27‐

foot‐long flow inlet headworks, an outlet

section, and a sediment recirculating system

that is nationally unique.  

The recirculating system allows for sediment

infeed from the bottom of the flume channel

sections. The flume system supports the

hydraulics research program’s vision to enhance

experimental work and use computational fluid

dynamics modeling for a large part of its

research.

For more information, contact Kornel Kerenyi,

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

OPERATIONS

Report Covers Research on Traffic Bottlenecks

FWHA recently published the report, “Traffic

Bottlenecks: Identification and Solutions”

(FHWA‐HRT‐16‐064), which discusses a research

project aimed at developing practical methods

for prioritizing and mitigating traffic bottlenecks,

which are one of the top causes of surface

transportation congestion in the United States.

Researchers developed a new approach for

ranking traffic bottlenecks, a new playbook of 70

bottleneck mitigation strategies, a benefit‐cost

analysis of 5 low‐cost bottleneck mitigation

strategies, and 3 new bottleneck mitigation

strategies.

In advancing a new approach for ranking traffic

bottlenecks, researchers created a data‐driven

congestion and bottleneck identification

software tool with numerous performance

measures. In parallel, researchers conducted

extensive traffic simulations to assess the

operational benefits of underrated strategies as

opposed to popular strategies, such as ramp

metering, which have been extensively

researched and implemented in recent decades.

The project also focused on low‐cost solutions

as opposed to solutions requiring excessive

infrastructure investments or advanced vehicle

technologies. These solutions involved dynamic

lane use, contraflow or reversible lane use, hard

shoulder lane use, lane width reduction, and a

modest extension of auxiliary lanes.  

This report, which is expected to be of interest

to practitioners involved in the transportation

operations discipline, is available to download at

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

tions/16064/index.cfm.    

For more information, contact Joe Bared, 202‐

493‐3314, joe.bared@dot.gov.   

SAFETY

Administrator Nadeau Opens Safety Training

and Analysis Center  

On December 20, 2016, FHWA Administrator

Greg Nadeau and Deputy Administrator David

Kim attended a ribbon cutting event at TFHRC to

formally open the new Safety Training and

Analysis Center (STAC). FHWA established STAC

to help the research community and State

departments of transportation make use of data

The lab's robotic arm can be used to

visually record water passing over a scale

model.

The new flume system is expected to

advance the lab’s ability to predict

flooding‐related damages.
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from SHRP2’s Naturalistic Driving Study (NDS)

and Roadway Information Database (RID).

The SHRP2 NDS data provides information on

the driver and driving behavior, individual trip

characteristics, including events (crashes and

near‐crashes), non‐event ‘normal’ driving

(exposure data), and vehicle characteristics and

performance. Over 3,500 volunteer‐participants

in 6 U.S. locations participated in the 1 to 2‐year

study.  

The SHRP2 RID is a geospatial database that

provides the context for the SHRP2 NDS trips,

including roadway characteristics and features,

crash histories, traffic volumes, weather, 511

information (including work zones), and railroad

crossings.

Researchers demonstrated additional software

to show capabilities for automated identity

masking (to protect personally identifiable

information) and automated feature extraction,

which accelerates processing of over 1,000,000

hours of video and extracts relevant data for

analysis.

For more information, contact Charles Fay, 202‐

493‐3336, charles.fay@dot.gov.    

RECENT PERIODICALS  

Public Roads—January/February 2017

This issue includes: Peering Into the Crystal Ball;  

Encouraging Best Behavior;  Leading on the

International Stage;  Making Every Place Count;  

Preparing for Change;  Championing Safety on

Local Roads;  and Did You Hear That?

It is available online via

www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/17

janfeb/index.cfm.     

For more information, contact Lisa Shuler,

lisa.a.shuler@dot.gov.   

Innovator: Accelerating Innovation for the

American Driving Experience—

January/February 2017

This issue includes: Summits Launch Newest

Round of Highway Innovations; Using Data to

Improve Traffic Incident Management; National

Innovation Council Meeting Showcases

Massachusetts Success Stories; Innovation

Councils Recognized for Excellence; States

Innovate!; and Events.

The issue is available online via

www.fhwa.dot.gov/innovation/innovator/issue5

8/3dIssue/.     

For more information, contact Melissa Yu,

melissa.yu@dot.gov.    

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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think might find it interesting and/or useful.

Suggestions may be submitted to:

FHWA_Now@fhwa.dot.gov.      

A ribbon‐cutting ceremony marked the

opening of the Safety Training and Analysis

Center.