• Laying the groundwork for the Administration's position in Reauthorization
• Innovation in Technology—the start of strategic planning for the post-ISTEA era, representing a fundamental change in FHWA and the transportation community, a great shift of resources and energy away from traditional oversight to technology and innovation, and a greater return on investment
• History of FHWA's shift away from road building and compliance to research and then to leadership in technology innovation

• "Better compliance with today's standards and practices will not produce significantly better roads tomorrow."
• "The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them."—Einstein
• "If you do what you've always done, you will get what you've always got."—Yogi Berra
• Technology ranges from mature to best practices to state-of-the-art. Current FHWA technologies are largely mature, and therefore, outdated.
• The life cycle of an organization may be represented by a sigmoid curve that rises with early energy and innovation, and then flattens and drops off with maturity and the urge to preserve and maintain. FHWA, in Mr. Nemmers opinion, has reached the drop-off and must look to generate a new curve through commitment to new technology.

• "Big T" technology is about:
• Finance
• Environment
• Right of way
• All program areas
• Why technology?
• It's about the future
• It's about making roads better
• It adds significantly more value
• It has a link to the Quality Journey
• A survey of participants showed that most of their offices spend more than 40–50 percent of their resources on delivering technology; Mr. Ostensen challenged those whose offices spend less to achieve a higher percentage, perhaps even the earlier challenge of 70–80 percent
• The choice is about making roads better or worse; making them better plays well with the public, the customer, and adds value
• Comparisons should be made with the best in the business
• In delivery, never be satisfied with random acts of technology
• Measuring success should involve more than obligation of funds; FHWA, which does not measure what it does very well, should seek quantitative measures for what it does in order to persuade others of its successes

• Convince top management to look forward, not backwards
• Training—to build to the future—all staff, not just one or two people per year
• Travel—to benchmark, learn, etc., for the people in the trenches, too!
• Invitational travel for States, but how about for "us" [FHWA]?
• Motivate State DOTs to long term life cycle costs, etc.
• Some Region's teams help to identify best practices—a lot of self-help
• Focus message to cross cutting meetings
• Find THING that people want and get this out as an example; show how—Tool Kit
• Break paradigm on traditional reviews, etc.
• Make 3D (technology) same level as strategic planning
• Move conferences to cheaper venues
• Better is "quicker" time to product
• Technology is part of everything
• Get technology out quickly and broadly
• Make the process quicker
• Get Federal Lands Highways into the business of technology— Federal Lands is a partner and an opportunity for FHWA
• Won't improve until we eliminate stovepipes
• Learn from States where they want/need help and work for them to grow—win-win
• The process for handling money in special programs is hard to fit into the big program—find a way to fix this
• Assist States with common technology needs to physically get together, i.e., composite with California and Georgia, etc.
• Get better cooperation/help/leadership from HQ at working levels
• Need geometric design leadership in FHWA—especially important with reconstruction
• Walking the talk in technology means change in the field
• Have TFHRC get a Top 10 that are ready (Tool Kit)
• Publish the state-of-the-art with components under it in such a way as to build a field program

• High performance characteristics:
• Increased durability (longer service life)
• Higher strength
• Lighter weight
• Lower life cycle cost
• Other
• High performance bridge materials:
• High Performance Concrete (HPC)—standard
• High Performance Steel (HPS)—standard
• Aluminum—newer
• Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP)—newer
• Opportunities for deployment of HPC and HPS
• Deployment projects and T2 activities—HPC:
• HPC Technology Deployment Team
• HPC International Symposium, October 20–23, 1997
• Deployment projects—HPS
• Opportunities for deployment of aluminum and/or composites
• Applications for aluminum
• Deployment projects—aluminum
• Applications for FRP composites
• Deployment projects and T2 activities—FRP composites
• AASHTO Technical Committee on Composites
• Region 7 Focus Team
• High performance materials—divide and conquer?
• What's the difference?
• Closing the gap—aluminum
• Closing the gap—FRP composites
• High performance materials—what's working?
• High performance materials—what's next?
• High performance materials—what's NEXTEA?

• Exhibit installations come with a kit containing complete directions, photo of what the completed exhibit should look like, and a phone number for help
• Borrowing an exhibit is one fourth of the job; staffing it is three fourths; the booth staff makes an important impression
• People stop at one in four exhibits; one dominant image is best to attract their attention—use photos instead of illustrations
• Booth recall—more likely due to interest in product and live demonstrations
• Rules for publications
• Booth staff reflects agency/staff and is most frequent cause of dissatisfaction
• Rules for booth staffers: No talking to each other; no eating; no talking on cellular phones; no sitting around; and be a professional
• Salespeople do not sit unless the customer is across from them
• Marketing is an attempt to form mutually beneficial exchange relationships
• Marketing activities include research, packaging, pricing, delivery, service, and selling
• Marketing requires study, just as engineering does, yet engineers are often expected to perform marketing
• Marketing techniques include interviews, publications, press releases, and displaying of exhibits
• Marketing events include press conferences, round table discussions, conferences/symposia, and media events/public appearances—moving information to the customer
• Marketers must identify and reach their audiences within budget—the key word is partnering

• A major research effort in the Safety Design Division of the Office of Safety and Traffic Operations R&D
• Goal: To develop tools to assess potential effects of specific geometric design as an integral part of the design process
• Prototype for 2-lane rural highways within 5 years: Interactive; modular format; compatible with CAD and civil design software; usable by highway designers
• Consists of five modules:
• Traffic analysis
• Policy review
• Driver vehicle
• Design consistency
• Accident analysis

"Robotics and Automated Systems for Highways":

• Advanced Highway Maintenance and Construction Technology (AHMCT) Research Center, UC, Davis—Goal: To develop prototype machines for highway maintenance to reduce/eliminate maintenance worker injuries/death
• Types of prototypes being developed:
• Automated crack sealing machine
• Bridge inspection utilizing an unmanned aerial vehicle
• Removal of graffiti using laser
• Robotic lane sign stenciling
• Litter bag and debris pickup
• Smart herbicide applicator
• Remote controlled front end loader for mud slides and avalanches
• How FHWA can facilitate T2 for the automated maintenance and construction of highways:
• Develop fiscal incentives for State DOTs to use automated equipment
• Develop task specifications that can only be met by automated machines
• Develop specifications that require use of advanced, automated machines
• Provide incentives for private sector to develop and use advanced, automated machines
• AHMCT web site: http://www.ahmct.engr.ucdavis.edu/ahmct/

"Find It and Fix It":

• Non-destructive Evaluation (NDE)—active research by FHWA, which seeks people to champion devices in the field
• FHWA seeks to expand the hard side idea of "find it and fix it" to other areas of highway technology besides structures
• Examples of NDE include:
• Dual band infrared thermography
• Ground penetrating radar imaging
• Wireless data acquisition systems
• Fatigue crack detection
• Passive fatigue load indicator
• Passive overload sensor
• Differential GPS
• FHWA is establishing an NDE validation center for NDE development for highway infrastructure

• ITS Awareness Seminars—37 sessions presented or scheduled, 37 to be scheduled
• ITS Technical Seminars planned in urban planning; telecommunications; innovative procurement; public-private partnerships; commercial vehicle operations
• Four-day course, "Integrating ITS Using the National ITS Architecture"— first session in June 1997; 10–15 sessions planned with ITS and ITE chapters

"ITS Professional Capacity Building Program":

• NHI needs to shorten classroom time by using distance learning technologies, especially CD-ROM
• Availability of computer hardware
• Management attitude toward "playing" on computer
• Start using CD-ROM training with transportation software applications such as CORSIM
• Put NHI course books on CD-ROM with search features

"Internet Opportunities Explored":

• Objective: To seek perspective on a proposal for FHWA direction regarding information systems of the next 1–5 years, with a focus of policy guidance and built around the Internet
• History of Internet
• A policy guidance information management system built around the Internet would mean coding existing policy files into HTML format with links
• Goals: Accessibility; accuracy; added context; minimized information overload; reduced redundancy; and elimination of information noise
• Field offices maintain hard copy policy guidance systems; benefits accrue if a core system is maintained by few people with access to all
• Who would maintain the system? If not maintained, the system would fall into disuse
• Success will require teamwork among FHWA offices; tasks would include actual updating of data and continuing site improvement
• The support base for this effort must be assessed; this meeting demonstrated support for such a system; and redundant efforts should be avoided

• ITS reminds of urban issues, not rural
• Rural ITS—safety; stranded motorists; weather problems; emergency response
• Major issue: Rural transit—paratransit, not mass transit
• What is being done?
• Efforts predominantly random up to now—how to link them?
• JHK Study results:
• Safety is number one issue
• Needs-based approach
• Developing Strategic Plan and Program Plan—Goals:
• Safety and security
• Mobility and convenience
• Efficiency
• Environmental conservation
• Productivity and economic vitality
• Critical program areas: To identify similar ideas and cluster them
• Simple solutions:
• Low cost, low tech
• Proven
• Expandable
• Advanced Rural Transportation System (ARTS)

"Region 7 Showcase/Workshop on Rural ITS

• Handout, "FHWA Region 7 Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)" Final Report
• Goals:
• To bring together the private and public sectors
• To identify activities that could be carried forward
• Workshop results: Group consensus
• Safety (Mayday)
• Road and weather information are important
• Rural public transit needs ITS
• Each State needs a champion
• Coordination is key
• Recognize ongoing role
• Workshops generate interest
• Future activities:
• Each Division should work with LTAP and State DOTs
• Survey all conference participants
• Establish Rural ITS
• NEXTEA implementations
• Examples of current involvement

"Yellowstone Rural ITS Priority Corridor Program":

• Tourism has a high magnitude of economic activity
• Study of three-State area (Montana, Wyoming, Idaho)
• Review of Yellowstone Corridor—emergency response time exceeded national average
• Nationally, 400,000 animal/vehicle collisions per year at $2,000 each
• Vision included:
• Improvement of rural travel
• Increased economic potential of area
• Safety Management System
• CVO System
• Tourist Information System
• Tourism Network
• Traveler Information Center
• Travel Demand Management Center
• Smart Card Usage Program
• Smart Card Settlement Center
• Regional Clearinghouse (IEN)
• 1997 Rural Advanced Technology and Transportation Conference, Montana

"Lessons Learned from the 1996 Olympics"

• Greatest number of tickets ever sold at an Olympics
• Olympic transportation systems:
• Athlete System
• Olympic Family System
• Media System—ACOG
• Spectator System—MARTA
• Lessons learned:
• Traveler Demand Management (TDM) works
• MARTA ridership was utilized
• Incident management works
• Information sharing works
• System integration is needed
• Specialists
• Development takes much time and money
• Clear requirements save time and money
• Contracting relationships and accountability must be thought through
• Clear lines of communication are needed
• Manage expectations
• Manage communications
• FHWA plays an important role
• People make it happen

• Six steps to implementation:
• 1997–2000 Data studies
• 1998–2004 Concepts of distress mechanisms
• 1998–2006 Component models and relationships
• 2005–2007 Model integration and calibration
• 2006–2008 Model validation
• 2008–2009 Simplified models for application to Implementation Team
• LTPP analysis is based on the Strategic Plan for Data Analysis
• Budget: 15–20 percent of total LTPP
• Outputs: Knowledge; guidance; procedures; models for performance prediction; and prototype software
• LTPP product development:
• Research role—Needs identification; analysis; results/findings; product identification
• Implementation role—Prototype; evaluation; refinement; product implementation; marketing; distribution; and user support

"Overview of LTPP Implementation":

• LTPP program status:
• Research program is at halfway point (10 of 20 years)
• Products have been developed
• Field Implementation Team:
• Data Base Squad
• Pavement Squad
• Traffic Squad
• FWD/Resilient Modulus Squad
• LTPP Data Base Implementation Squad:
• Information management system—keep it simple
• Squad will develop software to allow data retrieval and use
• Data parameters collected
• LTPP data base use—Obstacles:
• Difficult to use
• Not recognized as major source of pavement related information
• Data/Pave software—Beta testing, summer 1997; good to distribute program at 1998 TRB Annual Meeting
• Workshops—Demonstrate software nationwide; delivery, March 1998
• LTPP FWD/Resilient Modulus Squad:
• FWD calibration
• Looking at Lead States concept for quality control and implementation
• Pavement Rehabilitation and Performance Squad:
• States want to know how rehabilitation treatments perform
• Primary focus on pavement performance
• Division involvement:
• Opportunity for personnel
• Conduit to States
• Involvement and knowledge critical

"The Lead States Program—A New Paradigm in Technology Transfer":

• Background—Initiated by AASHTO Task Force for SHRP Implementation
• Goals:
• To expand/accelerate SHRP implementation
• To target high payoff technologies
• To achieve AASHTO regional representation
• To leverage experience of State/industry technology champions
• To create technology partnerships with FHWA
• High payoff technologies:
• Superpave
• High performance concrete for structures
• Anti-icing and roadway weather systems
• Innovative pavement materials
• Pavement preservation
• Protection and rehabilitation of reinforced concrete
• ASR
• Role of Lead States:
• Know products/optimize benefits
• Facilitate use of products by others
• Increase and accelerate adoption
• Team members and resources:
• Technology champions from Lead States
• FHWA technical support, assistance, guidance, resources, training, etc.
• FHWA not clear on field role—Should encourage State commitment and network; should clarify field role in Lead States, as well

"Field Activities with Lead States"

• Operating philosophy:
• Customer service
• Based on identified needs
• Activities that add value
• Building a technical network:
• Implementation channel
• Technical assistance
• Tool to bridge the gap
• Each of seven Technical Areas Teams has developed a mission statement and goals; they should focus on implementation and assistance

• Motivation for risks—States
• Dollars/resources are necessary:
• Shifted
• New partners with money
• What are we waiting for?
• Just do it
• Change any Federal/State rules, regulations, or maybe just perceptions that inhibit 3D
• Enhanced support to field is needed—Teams
• Do a better job of showing the link between "Technology 3D" and "Making Roads (transportation) Better"
• Brag!

PM Session:

• Customer driven with leadership—Customize
• Maintain contact—Know what is going on
• Keys to success, lessons learned, success stories
• Take advantage of opportunities
• Customer needs anticipated—They call us back!—Respectable performance
• Learning environment—Keep in it!
• FHWA re-Toole-ing—skills needed
• Flexible/adaptive program
• Sensible/rational
• Customize

• A lot of information is not well structured; maintenance is difficult
• Decentralized policy by Intranet (Region 8 customer service survey)
• Business is knowledge, not just technology; should access to knowledge go directly to States (via Internet) or does the field organization have a role?
• In pursuit of "the answer," stay within the chain of command in order to answer the question and expand the knowledge base
• Information becomes knowledge when it is needed
• Answers to customers with backtracking information to organizational hierarchy
• Anticipate customers' needs—be proactive
• How can we shift emphasis on T² in FHWA offices? Eliminate terminology
• What constitutes technology? We need to find ways to maximize technology in program delivery
• How can we convey that review and oversight are not our primary job?
• Jane Garvey—cultural change is needed; the old is standardization; the new is flexibility to help States do the best job possible
• Walk the talk—management speaks the words, but doesn't back with actions or support; top-down and bottom-up squeeze
• Applies across the board to all disciplines
• Technology is an umbrella; safety is an umbrella
• Need across the board commitment not to technology, but to quality service
• Headquarters/field teamwork issues:
• Fear of establishing new relationships and new commitments
• Don't understand how
• Headquarters sets up programs and budgets
• Headquarters doesn't understand Regions' and Divisions' priorities or how and why field isn't responsive to products
• The field doesn't understand funding tools
• Why have T² coordinators in Regions and Divisions?
• PTP is a connection between the field and Headquarters
• We need to add value to what we do
• Learn the organization—we need detailed organization charts
• The organization has created the stigma that we don't work for the same organization—gates and boundaries
• We are a technology organization; we need to inculcate that—technology is everything we do
• We are about communication—Internet reliance does not recognize the diversity of our people
• Technology council network—need feedback mechanisms
• Field based teams—field participation on teams (time concern)
• Teams can bridge loss of personnel
• Institutional problem with sharing personnel with other States; not total buy-in by managers
• Take smaller steps to turning organization around; try voluntary field involvement on national teams and initiatives
• Find ways to reallocate workload to free up time for participation on teams
• Provide service—unresponsive links will be bypassed

• Partnering: Collaborating to accomplish a common mission
• Existing partners:
• State
• MPO
• Local governments and counties
• Private industry
• Universities
• Contractors and consultants
• Other Federal agencies
• Other State agencies
• Other DOTs
• International
• Mexico
• FHWA Regions and Division
• Public
• Barriers:
• Travel—funds; time; inability to travel outside boundaries
• Partnering expectation
• Professional jealousy
• Lack of a clear mission; perceived benefit is low
• Fear of risk
• Management conflicts between potential partners
• Organizational conflicts
• Lack of trust
• Legal issues, items by law your organization can't do
• Small, medium companies may not be able to afford staff and resources
• Challenges addressed:
• Strong strategy to demonstrate and communicate the new mission
• T² partnering agreements
• Define in agreement the roles and responsibilities
• Showcase the benefits of a partnership as we benefit the technology
• FHWA must be the thread that holds partners together; FHWA must be agile and adaptive by taking agency strategies and adapting them for a specific Region, Division, or situation
• Provide Federal perspective as a value added and as helpful to mission
• Better contracting techniques to suit new partner
• Contracting rules need to be changed (like ITS)
• Encourage pooling of technical expertise and resources
• Technology changes quickly; we must change quickly, too!
• Action recommendations:
• Enhanced contracting techniques tool kit; enable cash flow to/from different partners
• Partnering tool kit
• Showcase the benefits of partnerships
• Training and skill building to help in partnering and facilitating
• Everybody's CJE requires everyone to demonstrate they help close the gap through partnering

• Technology resources currently available:
• Experimental projects
• HITEC
• TFHRC personnel assigned as Division contacts
• FHWA Report Center
• Electronic dipping service
• Internet/Intranet
• LTAP
• T² E-mail group
• PTP
• Research libraries at DOTs
• TRIS
• Professional journals
• University transportation centers
• TRB/AASHTO
• Private sector vendors
• WIN/World Road Congress
• Others not specifically mentioned
• Technology resources being developed:
• OTA requesting contractor proposals for one-stop shopping technology resource
• Highway Innovation National Clearinghouse by HITEC
• "Technology Transfer Resources" pamphlet by OTA
• Challenge addressed: Technology resources available can be overwhelming and need to be better organized and more accessible. Numerous and varied technology resources are currently available in printed and electronic media. Awareness of these resource varies among research and technology coordinators and technical specialists in specific transportation fields. Research and technology practitioners develop their own methods for locating information they consider necessary to do their jobs based on their preferences, job demands, and works styles. The publications, reports, journals, fliers, data bases, organizations, Internet web pages, and other technology resources available can be overwhelming, however, and can discourage searching for the best available information.
• Action recommendations:
• Expand FHWA Report Center to include all FHWA reports
• Create a complete listing of the FHWA reports on line
• Develop T² training in effectively using technology resources
• Capture decision making processes into knowledge based systems when new concepts/technologies are initially deployed (how-to manuals)
• Endorse the one-stop shopping contract by OTA Endorse the Highway
• Innovation National Clearinghouse by HITEC