FHWA is the DOT agency responsible for federal highway programs— including distributing billions of dollars in federal highway funds to the states—and developing federal policy regarding the nation’s highways. The agency provides technical assistance to improve the quality of the transportation network, conducts transportation research, and disseminates research results throughout the country. FHWA’s business units conduct these activities through its research and technology program, which includes “research” (conducting research activities), “development” (developing practical applications or prototypes of research findings), and “technology” (communicating research and development knowledge and products to users). FHWA maintains a highway research facility in McLean, Virginia. This facility, known as the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, has over 24 indoor and outdoor laboratories and support facilities. Approximately 300 federal employees, on-site contract employees, and students are currently engaged in transportation research at the center. According to FHWA officials, the agency’s research and technology program is oriented to supporting the agency’s and DOT’s strategic goals for the nation’s transportation system, including to promote public health and safety by working toward the elimination of transportation-related deaths and injuries; to provide an accessible, affordable, and reliable transportation system for all people, goods, and regions; to support a transportation system that sustains the nation’s economic growth; to protect and enhance communities and the natural environment affected by transportation; and to ensure the security of the transportation system for the movement of people and goods, and to support the national security strategy. The research and technology program is generally a component of broader agency programs directed toward the achievement of these strategic goals. For example, in a recent report the Transportation Research Board’s Research and Technology Coordinating Committee (RTCC) stated that most of FHWA’s research and technology program’s projects are aimed at incremental improvements to lower highway construction and maintenance costs, improve highway system performance, increase highway capacity, reduce highway fatalities and injuries, reduce adverse environmental impacts, and provide a variety of benefits such as improved travel times and fewer hazards for highway users. Concerned about the strategic focus of surface transportation research and technology activities, Congress required DOT to establish a strategic planning process to identify national priorities related to research and technology for surface transportation when it passed the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century in 1998. This process was to result in a strategic plan that included, among other things, performance goals, resources needed to achieve those goals, and performance indicators for the succeeding 5 years for each area of research and technology deployment. The plan was also to be developed with comments from external stakeholders. In response to this requirement, FHWA contributed to the development of a research, development, and technology strategic plan for all of DOT. DOT’s plan identifies formal research, development, and technology strategies to support each of DOT’s strategic goals. The plan is not focused solely on surface transportation research but applies to all modes, including examples of research activities undertaken by FHWA in support of the agency’s strategic goals. Congress also required that a group established by the National Research Council review DOT’s plan, and this has taken place for several years. Separately, in 1998 FHWA developed a 10-year strategic plan for the agency as a whole, stating that research is a strategy for achieving the plan’s objectives. The Research, Development, and Technology business unit has developed performance plans that support some of FHWA’s research efforts. Funding mechanisms for this program’s activities have varied in recent years. Prior to fiscal year 1992, they were wholly funded from FHWA’s administrative and operating funds. From fiscal years 1992 through 1997, the program was supported by a mix of operating funds and funds made available for specific types of research. For fiscal years 1998 through 2003, the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century authorized funding for the following seven research activities: surface transportation research, technology deployment, training and education, intelligent transportation systems, intelligent transportation systems deployment, university transportation centers, and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Since 1998, FHWA has generally not used administrative funds for research activities. A portion of the funds for the research and technology program are designated for or directed to particular research programs and recipients, either in the authorization or appropriations legislation or in committee reports. Although FHWA technical staff set priorities for the research and technology program, its activities are carried out through a combination of federal employees, private contractors and grantees, and university researchers. During the past decade, the use of contract employees instead of federal employees to conduct research has increased. Because the program’s authorizing legislation is scheduled to expire in fiscal year 2003, to continue it Congress will have to reauthorize the program and determine how it will be funded. Since 1998, individual business units within FHWA have directed and carried out the activities of FHWA’s research and technology program that fall under the surface transportation research and technology deployment areas. (See app. II for agency organization charts.) Under the current organization, directors of these business units (Federal Lands Highway; Infrastructure; Operations; Planning and Environment; Policy; Research, Development, and Technology; and Safety) work collaboratively to provide leadership for the program’s activities (see table 1). The program’s management is complex because these business units are individually responsible, among other things, for identifying research needs, developing strategies to address transportation problems, and managing research and technology activities that support the agency’s strategic goals. In some cases, the business units conduct their own research. However, the Research, Development, and Technology business unit, located at the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, conducts research for the Infrastructure, Operations, and Safety business units. The Research, Development, and Technology business unit also works with the other business units to prepare materials to support the program’s overall budget, and it serves as FHWA’s liaison to other organizations that advise FHWA on research or conduct highway-related research. The agency’s leadership team, composed of the business unit directors, field service directors, a division administrator, the FHWA administrator, and the FHWA executive director, meets periodically to advise the business units on research and technology program priorities, budgets, and milestones. FHWA’s leadership team advises the business units on how funds should be distributed by considering designations in statutes and committee reports and the stated needs of individual business units. The Office of the Administrator approves final budgets for the business units. In fiscal year 2002, the business unit responsible for the largest percentage of surface transportation research and technology deployment funds was the Infrastructure business unit (see fig. 1). Prior to the agencywide restructuring in 1998, research activities were managed throughout the organization, including at the Office of the Associate Administrator for Research and Development and the Office of Technology Applications. Decisions related to developing research and technology projects, budgets, and acquisition plans were made by the Research and Technology Executive Board. Chaired by the executive director, the board’s membership included all agency associate administrators, the director of the Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office, and one regional administrator. The board met periodically to obtain information from working groups composed of representatives from across the agency, the National Highway Institute, and other DOT agencies. FHWA has recently assessed the effects of its 1998 agencywide restructuring and has drafted 13 recommendations to address the limitations of the new organization. Two of these recommendations specifically address the agency’s research and technology program, identifying the need to raise its stature in FHWA. The agency has created and filled the position of assistant director for Research, Technology, and Innovation Deployment as a response to this recommendation. This new position will also be responsible for implementing recent recommendations made by the RTCC for improving FHWA’s program. In addition to its own research projects, FHWA collaborates with other DOT agencies to conduct research. For example, FHWA works with DOT’s Research and Special Programs Administration to coordinate efforts to support key research identified in the department’s strategic plan. In fiscal year 2001, FHWA and the Research and Special Programs Administration contributed an estimated $15.2 million and $3.5 million, respectively, for these collaborative, “intermodal” research and technology efforts. Examples of FHWA’s research with other transportation modes include: an ongoing study with DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, through the Georgia Institute of Technology, to investigate the relationship between vehicle speed and crash risk under various demographic, environmental, and physical conditions. Funds from FHWA were spent to compare the speeds of drivers involved in crashes with the prevailing speeds of other drivers at the time and location of the crashes; and a study at the Center for Climate Change and Environmental Forecasting, with the collaboration of several other agencies, including DOT’s Maritime Administration, Federal Railroad Administration, and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This study examined the potential effects on transportation infrastructure of such climate change phenomena as rising sea levels, increasing frequency of severe weather events, and changing precipitation levels. Several other entities and organizations, detailed below, conduct surface transportation research that can be related to FHWA’s research and technology program. FHWA officials told us that the agency has both formal and informal means for coordination with some of these other organizations. Each of the 50 states, Washington, D. C., and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico have an independent highway research program. In general, state programs address technical questions associated with the planning, design, construction, rehabilitation, and maintenance of highways. State highway research projects usually reflect local concerns. According to an official at the Transportation Research Board, 47 states indicated that they spent approximately $322 million in 1999 on such research. State research programs are generally funded through federal funds set aside from the federal highway aid apportioned to the states. FHWA division administrators in each state approve the state’s annual or biennial research program, funded by a subset of federal funds.