Coordination of Highway Research

with University Transportation Centers 

(UTCs)

Michael F. Trentacoste

Associate Administrator for Research, Development, 

and Technology (RD&T)

Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)

Webinar on National Highway Research Priorities

May 10, 2012
Webinar Series Topics and Dates

• 1- State of Good Repair, March 28th

• 2- Economic Competitiveness, April 5th

• 3- Safety, May 8th

• 4- Livability and Sustainability, May 9th

• 5- Policy and Innovative Financing, May 10th ←

 today

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Invited Participants

• New UTCs

• State Research Managers

• FHWA Division Office Research Coordinators

3

Host and Presenters

• FHWA Research and Development (R&D)

Offices and Program Offices
Webinar Purpose

• Provide FHWA perspectives on national challenges 

and highway research priorities

• Opportunity for UTCs to consider highway research 

priorities in their research plans and initiatives

• Inform State research managers on priorities

• Provide FHWA contacts for follow-up 

communications and coordination 

4
For more information about UTC 

participation, contact:

Debra Elston, 202-493-3181

www.fhwa.dot.gov/research

Thanks for Your Participation

Thanks to Research and Innovative 

Technology Administration (RITA) for this 

Opportunity to Communicate Priorities to 

the UTCs
Visit our Web Site at 

www.fhwa.dot.gov/research 6
Crosscutting Policy Research

Mary Lynn Tischer, Ph.D., Director

Ross Crichton, Team Leader

Office of Transportation Policy Studies

Federal Highway Administration

Coordination of Highway Research with University Transportation Centers

May 10, 2012
Topics to be Considered

• The Context: Public Policy

• FHWA Policy Office

• Research Roadmap Areas for Policy

• Condition and Performance Report

• Research Questions

• People to Contact

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The Context: Public Policy Analysis

• Public policy is "courses of action, regulatory measures, 

laws, and funding priorities concerning a given topic 

promulgated by a governmental entity or its representatives."

• Policy Analysis involves identifying a problem that the 

government needs to solve; designing policy, legislation, 

regulation to solve the problem; and/or, asks the question: Are 

the policies doing what they are supposed to do? 

• This concept refers not only to the result of policies, but more 

broadly to the decisionmaking and analysis of governmental 

decisions. 
Associate Administrator for Policy 

and Governmental Affairs

• Office of Legislative Affairs and Policy 

Communications

• Office of International Programs

• Office of Highway Policy Information

• Office of Transportation Policy Studies

10
Challenges

• Anticipating issues

• Data availability 

• Timeliness of the data

• Time provided to perform the analysis (e.g., size 

and weight)

• Interpreting causality correctly

• Concern with unintended consequences

11
Roadmap Areas, cont’d

• International Policy, Coordination, and 

Cooperation—learning from others

– Coordinate exchanges with China on livability

– Coordinate with Sweden on livability and 

sustainability

– Lead PIARC safety activities; prepare white 

papers 

– Participate in technical workshop with Korea

12
Roadmap Areas

• National Transportation Data Collection, Reporting, and 

Processing

– Collection Methodology:

• Office of Transportation Policy Studies (HPTS)

• National Household Travel Survey (NHTS)

• Performance measures

• Traffic Monitoring Guide

– Technology: 

• License plate capture

• Weigh in motion (WIM)

• Unobtrusive measures

• Interactive Web tools 13
Roadmap Areas, cont’d

• Comprehensive Utilization of Transportation 

Data

– Improve travel estimates; forecast travel

– Multimodal passenger origin destination model

– Analysis of HPMS data (e.g., State indebtedness, 

fuel use, revenues, condition)

– Safety- analysis of Strategic Highway Research 

Program 2 (SHRP 2) naturalistic data

14
Roadmap Areas, cont’d

• Policy Studies, Analysis, and Outreach

– General policy analysis: cost allocation studies; 

State expenditures; truck size and weight issues

– Futures: traveler of the future; uses of the right of 

way; future of rural America

– Finances: revenue sources; tolling/pricing; 

technology issues; interoperability issues

15
Roadmap Areas, cont’d

• Performance Management 

– Strategic planning for the agency 

– Framework for the Federal Program

• Review state of the practice

• Develop performance measures and national targets

• Develop tools and build capacity

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Roadmap Areas, cont’d

• Impact of Investment on Transportation 

Performance and the Economy

– Analyses of the impact of investment on the 

economy

– Biennial Status of the Nation’s Highways, 

Bridges and Transit: (C&P report)

– Refinements to National Bridge Investment 

Analysis System (NBIAS) and Highway Economic 

Requirements System (HERS)

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C&P Report Question

• 23 USC 502(h)

“...the Secretary shall submit ...a report that 

describes --

(A) estimates of the future highway, transit, 

and bridge needs of the United States; and

(B) the backlog of current highway, transit, 

and bridge needs ...”

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Latest C&P Report Answers

Average Annual Spending ($B 2008) for 2009 to 2028

Sustain Current Spending Scenario $ 91.1 

Maintain Conditions and Performance Scenario $101.0

Intermediate Improvement Scenario $133.5

Improve Conditions and Performance Scenario $170.1

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Amounts shown represent combined investment by all levels of government not just the 

Federal portion. 
Arriving at the C&P Answers

• FHWA has been refining its approach since 1968.

• Current generation of tools attempt to apply benefit-cost 

analysis to the problem. 

– HERS and NBIAS

• Refinements involve many different lines of research. 

• UTCs have a potential role in many of these lines of 

inquiry !

20
Background: HERS

• Utilizes HPMS sample section data (100,000+ samples)

• Identifies deficient sections based on engineering criteria

• Evaluates potential improvements to deficient sections 

using benefit-cost analysis

• Considers impacts of deployments of operations 

strategies and intelligent transportation systems (ITS)

• Considers impacts of future changes in user costs of 

travel on demand (VMT)

21
Background: Benefits and Costs

• Benefits

– Reductions in user costs (such as travel time costs, 

vehicle operating costs, and crash costs)

– Reductions in agency costs (such as routine 

maintenance costs) 

– Reductions in societal costs (such as emissions)

• Costs 

– Direct costs of implementing a project

22
Research Questions: General

• How valid is the overall approach of building up from 

section level analysis to develop a national estimate?

• How well does the HPMS sample support this type of 

analysis? Representation of non-State roads?

• What are the differences between current practice and 

the modeled approach? Are differences due to modeling 

error, or inefficiencies in typical real world practices? 

• What new tools and techniques could be developed to 

expand the scope of the analysis? 

23
Research Questions: Travel Demand

• What factors (besides price) are likely to influence longterm highway travel demand? 

• How is travel behavior affected by changes in user costs 

(congestion, operating costs, crash risk) or user fees? 

• How well do drivers perceive different components of the 

generalized price of travel? 

• How elastic is travel demand relative to price? Do 

elasticities vary by price component? Do elasticities 

differ for significant price changes versus smaller ones? 

24
Research Questions: Capital

• What are the typical costs associated with different types 

of capital improvements to different types of roads? 

• What are tradeoffs among initial cost, expected life, and 

future maintenance costs for different strategies? 

• What are typical practices regarding mitigation of delays, 

noise, emissions, etc. during construction? 

• How are typical costs, strategies, and practices likely to 

change over the next 20 years? 

25
Research Questions: Travel Time

• How should travel time be valued in general? 

• Is it appropriate to recognize heterogeneity among 

travelers in value of travel time? (Equity concerns?)

• What are the implications of recurring delay vs. 

nonrecurring (incident) delay? 

• What impacts can different types of investments be 

expected to have on different types of delay? 

• What are the impacts of poor infrastructure conditions on 

vehicle speeds? 

26
Research Questions: Operating Cost

• How are changes in technology and driver behavior 

affecting typical operating costs associated with driving? 

• How are changes in Corporate Average Fuel Economy 

(CAFE) standards likely to impact vehicle fleet turnover 

rates? 

• What are the impacts of poor infrastructure conditions on 

vehicle operational costs? 

• How accurately do travelers estimate their total operating 

costs when making travel-related decisions? 

27
Research Questions: Crash Costs

• What statistical values should be placed on fatal and 

non-fatal crashes? 

• What are the typical relationships among system 

characteristics, system conditions, and crashes for 

different types of roadways? How are such relationships 

affected by changes in driver behavior over time? 

• How well do drivers generally perceive crash risks when 

making travel-related decisions? 

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Research Questions: Agency Costs

• What are the typical routine maintenance costs 

associated with different types of roadways over time? 

• What are the impacts on users and society of different 

types of maintenance actions? 

• What are the implications of deferring maintenance in 

terms of long term infrastructure performance? 

• How can aggressive preventative maintenance actions 

be expected to impact asset life? 

• At what point does it make sense to abandon an asset?

29
Research Questions: Societal Costs

• How should one value emissions, greenhouse gases, 

noise, etc.?

• How are emissions affected by changes in speed cycles 

under different operating conditions? 

• How can other environmental impacts be estimated? 

• How can the benefits associated with improved livability 

or sustainability be quantified most accurately? 

• How can system access benefits be quantified? Indirect 

economic impacts? 

30
Policy Roadmap Contacts

• Data Collection and Utilization– Tianjia Tang 202-366-2236

• International Policy – Ian Saunders 202-366-0111

• Policy Studies – Heather Contrino 202-366-5060 or Max Azizi 202-366-9237

• Performance Management – Rabinder Bains 202-366-2073

• Impact of Investment – Ross Crichton 202-366-5027

• Strategic Management – Woody Stanley 202-366-9070

31
32

Any questions?

For more information, contact:

Mary Lynn Tischer, 202-366-9232

ML.Tischer@dot.gov
Visit our Web Site at 

www.fhwa.dot.gov/research 33
Delivering Transportation Services:

Innovative Financing, Revenue Generation, 

and Procurement Strategies

Regina McElroy

Office of Innovative Program Delivery

Federal Highway Administration

Coordination of Highway Research with University Transportation Centers

May 10,2012
Office of Innovative Program Delivery (OIPD)

• Established October 2008

• Brought together expert 

staff from across the 

Agency

– Resource Center

– Transportation 

Infrastructure Finance 

and Innovation Act 

(TIFIA)

– Major Projects

– Tolling and Pricing
Why OIPD?

• The challenges facing the transportation industry are 

enormous – it can not be business as usual

– Increasing investment requirements

– Mounting budget pressures

– Efficient operation of system more important, but difficult to 

financially sustain

– Traditional ways of paying for and procuring projects are 

not fully up to the challenge
Why Project Finance?

• Brings future revenues into present use and achieves economic, 

safety, and congestion reduction benefits, NOW, while avoiding 

potential inflation costs and providing opportunities for economies of 

scale

• Specifically, refers to assembling the capital to deliver a project and 

the revenue needed to repay it

• Project finance tools can:

– Overcome project, market access, and institutional challenges

– Spread out payment for an asset over the life cycle of the asset (instead of only 

the first few years)

– Enable new funding sources

– Facilitate capital flow to transportation from various classes of investors

– Provide innovation and asset management benefits
What is Innovative Project Finance?

1956

Well, it is not traditional . . .

1995 1997 2005 2009

BABs* PABs TIFIA

GARVEEs

TRADITIONAL

• State DOTs only

• Pay-as-you-go; no 

borrowing; revenue 

through fuel taxes and 

general government 

appropriations

• No outside lending to 

projects

• Tolling restricted

• Limited private 

involvement

INNOVATIVE

* Now expired.

1991

P3s

P3s = Public-Private Partnerships

GARVEEs = Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicles

TIFIA = Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act 

PABs = Private Activity Bonds 

BABs = Build America Bonds 
Why OIPD?

• What tools (and business practices) are we talking 

about?

– Revenue generation strategies to include tolling and pricing

– Procurement strategies to include public-private partnerships

– Project finance strategies to include GARVEEs, SIBs (State 

Infrastructure Banks), Section 129 loans, and TIFIA

• Stewardship is important

– Major project cost reviews, finance plans, and project 

management plans

– Implementation of revenue, procurement, and finance strategies

– Are the strategies are good value for the public?
• Where are we?

• Where do we want to be?

• How will we get there? 

Roadmap Development
 Limited experience 

 Various State models

 Uncertain public acceptance

 Policy/legislative issues and 

constraints

 Technical capacity issues

 Lack of performance 

information

 Etcetera 

Port of Miami Tunnel, FL

SH 130, TX

Where Are We Today?
I-595, FL

Capital Beltway, HOT Lanes, VA

 It is simple. We want 

everyone using (or thinking 

about using) innovative 

revenue, procurement, and 

financing strategies to be 

smarter. We want to see the 

efficient and effective use of 

these strategies in a way that 

makes sense for the public

Where Do We Want to Be?
IH 635, TX

North Tarrant, TX

 What topics should we focus 

on?

 What delivery mechanisms work 

best?

 What tools should be provide?

 How should we define our target 

audience(s)?

 How should be allocate our 

limited resources?

How Do We Get There?
Roadmaps

DATA

COLLECTION

Products and Services

• Policy Development 

• Analytical Tools

• Stewardship

• Capacity Building/Training/

Outreach/Awareness/

Technical Assistance

Stakeholders/Customers

Fiscal resources
• Topics

– P3s, revenue, capacity building

• How

– Small group discussions

– Diverse participants 

– Feedback page on Web site

• What

– Issue papers identifying research areas 

ripe for pursuit

– FHWA roadmap 

– Related deliverables: E.g., - P3 Leaders Group; 

P3 Guide for New Practitioners

Roadmap Development
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Research

Policy Development/ 

Innovations

Tools

Stewardship

Capacity Building/ 

Training/Outreach/

Awareness/Technical 

Assistance

Primers and Fact Sheets

Conference Support

IPD Academy (especially Webinars) and Training Web Site

Major Project Cost Estimate, Finance Plan and Project Management Plan Reviews

Models

Guides and Toolkit

Project Library: Major Project Assessment

International and Domestic Exchanges / Listening Sessions

P3OC

Special Experimental Program 15

Implementation of Tolling and Pricing Programs

On Demand Technical Assistance (Including Critical Project Review)

Technical Workshops for Projects and Tools / Peer Exchanges / P3 Leaders Group

TIFIA Implementation (Federal Credit Support)

TIFIA Oversight and Monitoring
What Are We Looking At Now?

• Statutory Issues

• Financial Market Issues

• Organizational Issues (Including Technical Capacity)

• Decisionmaking Processes 

• Revenue Options and Debt Capacity

• Performance Management Issues

• Stewardship Issues
Getting Involved?

• OIPD Comment Page 

• Researchers Group

• Check Out Our Roadmaps

• Contact Us

• Your ideas?
Please visit our Web site for 

more information on the 

Office of Innovative Program 

Delivery and innovative 

finance tools

www.fhwa.dot.gov/ipd
Any questions?

For more information, contact:

Regina McElroy, 202-366-8006

Regina.Mcelroy@dot.gov
Visit our Web Site at 

www.fhwa.dot.gov/research 51