It’s an exciting time of opportunity and change in the transportation industry, with strong partnerships contributing to great research. Every day, researchers and transportation practitioners are working tirelessly to improve the safety, efficiency, and sustainability of our roads and transportation infrastructure. Recognizing the importance of these efforts, the Transportation Pooled Fund (TPF) Excellence Awards highlight exceptional projects that demonstrate the success of meaningful collaboration and partnership. These projects illustrate how partners are coming together to solve common challenges and shape the future of transportation.

The TPF Excellence Awards

The TPF Excellence Awards reflect a joint Federal Highway Administration and American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) effort to showcase the incredible achievements made by partners through the TPF Program (https://www.pooledfund.org/). Since its establishment in 1977, the TPF Program has advanced collaboration, innovation, and efficiency in transportation research. By pooling funds and expertise, agencies can develop innovative solutions more efficiently and cost effectively than conducting the research alone.

The biennial TPF Excellence Awards’ debut showcases TPF studies that have significantly advanced safety, economic growth, equity, climate solutions, and/or transformation through meaningful collaboration and partnership in transportation research.

“The TPF Excellence Awards underscore the critical importance of collaborative research in advancing our transportation network. By recognizing exceptional research efforts from across the Nation, we celebrate innovative solutions that enhance safety, efficiency, and sustainability. These awards highlight the power of shared expertise in addressing the challenges and opportunities within the transportation sector.”

Kelly Regal, Ph.D.
Associate Administrator for Research, Development, and Technology
Director, Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center

The development of the TPF Excellence Awards would not have been possible without the dedication, insight, and expertise of the working group comprising State departments of transportation (DOT) and FHWA staff. Their invaluable contributions and thoughtful feedback were instrumental in shaping the vision, evaluation criteria, and selection process for these awards.

The TPF Excellence Awards recognize two TPF studies each cycle, including at least one State DOT-led study. Nominations for each award cycle are collected in odd-numbered years and winners are announced in even-numbered years.

The 2024 call for nominations included many competitive research studies from partners spanning across the United States and other parts of the world. These nominations featured the exceptional TPF research work done, ranging from low-cost safety innovations to transformational intelligent infrastructure system solutions.

After careful consideration by a diverse panel of judges, the 2024 winners are Clear Roads Winter Maintenance Research (Clear Roads; TPF-5(353)) and Member-level Redundancy in Built-up Steel Members (TPF-5(253)). Let’s dive into the great work they have done to strengthen the Nation’s transportation network.

Clear Roads 

The Clear Roads TPF study (https://www.clearroads.org/) is a great example of the core values of the TPF Program. This TPF study brought together transportation professionals and researchers from around the country to drive winter maintenance research and innovation. By evaluating materials, equipment, and methods in real-world conditions, Clear Roads identifies the most effective techniques and technologies to save agencies money, improve safety, and increase efficiency.

This TPF study’s primary activities include:

• Researching winter maintenance materials, equipment, and methods.
• Developing specifications and recommendations for winter maintenance.
• Studying and promoting innovative techniques and technologies that will improve safety, save agencies money, and increase efficiency.
• Developing practical field guides and training curriculum to promote the results of research projects.

Maintaining Road Safety: Snow or Shine

Clear Roads supplies a wealth of resources, including training videos and toolkits, that support States and municipalities managing winter weather events. It has advanced the national state of the practice in winter maintenance by providing updated guidance and trainings to more than 1,145 agencies and creating more than 86 research products. The study serves as a one-stop shop operators can rely on for advice on procurement, safety training, snowplow deployment scheduling, and more. This TPF study has become a resource by gathering lessons learned from its partners and packaging them into an easy-to-understand format.

Clear Roads has also improved the state of deicer practices across the country. Through research and testing, the study identified best practices for applying deicer to keep salt on roadways and out of the environment. Maryland DOT found that implementing these best practices reduced the number of well contamination claims, saving the State more than $90 million over the last nine winter seasons. Similarly, after implementing corrosion prevention related deicer best practices, West Virginia DOT noted a dramatic reduction in corrosion damage and repairs.

Overall, Clear Roads has paved the way for a more collaborative, winter-resilient transportation network across the country, with many of its findings implemented nationwide. Seventy percent of study members have implemented findings from Clear Roads’ material application projects.

Advancing Road Safety through Partnerships

The Clear Roads study benefits greatly from its partnerships. By pooling resources, agencies can conduct more extensive studies across a greater range of conditions than could be done by a single agency. For example, many State DOTs maintain their own qualified-products list (QPL) for snow removal equipment, but small agencies often lack the resources to test specific products themselves. Clear Roads’ QPL levels the playing field by providing a vetted list of winter maintenance products, saving time and energy for agencies of all sizes.

“There is power in working together, if every agency uses the QPL, manufacturers know what requirements they have to meet, and it makes the entire process…easier and less expensive for everyone,” says Doug McBroom, Montana DOT.

The Clear Roads study also provides an excellent opportunity to share best practices and subject matter expertise with agency members across the country through the technical advisory committee (TAC) meetings. Each TPF study includes a TAC that is made up of agency representatives and subject matter experts from all partners. Clear Roads TAC members meet twice a year to discuss and prioritize projects, share effective practices, and review research results.

Oregon DOT study member Patti Caswell states, “The networking capacity is immense. You have 39 peer DOTs to help solve a problem.”

Member-Level Redundancy in Built-Up Steel Members

The second awardee of this year’s TPF Excellence Awards is the Member-Level Redundancy in Built-up Steel Members TPF study (https://www.pooledfund.org/details/study/482). This study helped address the analysis, design, evaluation, and safety inspection of internally redundant built-up steel bridge members. Typically, built-up members will not fail if one of the components fails (whether through fatigue or fracture); however, before this study, there was very little experimental data quantifying the remaining fatigue life and strength of a steel bridge member in which one of the components had failed.

The study’s primary activities involved testing full-scale specimens to gain deeper understanding of the energy release, load redistribution, and subsequent fatigue resistance of a damaged section and ultimately develop code-ready assessment methodologies. As a result of the extensive collaboration and research, the study created two new AASHTO guide specifications: Guide Specifications for Internal Redundancy of Mechanically-fastened Built-up Steel Members and Guide Specifications for Analysis and Identification of Fracture Critical Members and System Redundant Members. Transportation agencies around the country are already using these guide specifications to evaluate existing steel bridges and inform new designs.

Stronger Bridges, Safer Roads 

The Member-Level Redundancy in Built-up Steel Members study developed the first integrated fracture control plan, increasing knowledge of the reliability and safety of mechanically fastened steel bridges and advancing safety—a strategic goal of the U.S. Department of Transportation. It also paved the way for incorporating and integrating risk-based inspection strategies into existing AASHTO specifications. The study has allowed designers to utilize economical and innovative designs that can now be shown to have a high level of internal redundancy and reliability. Finally, transportation partners have benefited from study activities encouraging the transition from calendar-based bridge inspection strategies to more efficient risk-based approaches. This TPF study has strengthened the bridge and steel industries and serves as a success story for similar initiatives across the Nation. The results of the study have changed how the bridge engineering profession views an entire classification of structures and will result in immense savings related to the cost of in-service inspection strategies.

“This work TPF-5(253) ushered in a new family of structural steel members that take advantage of modern fabrication methods to cost-effectively improve reliability and bridge performance. Now, engineers have an accepted design approach to facilitate use of these members, thereby reducing in-service inspection costs and traffic disruptions,” says Ronnie Medlock, P.E., High Steel Structures LLC.

Collaborative Insights 

The Member Level Redundancy in Built-Up Steel Members project required extensive public–private sector collaboration, including the participating agencies, AASHTO committees, Army Corps of Engineers, and the steel industry. The steel industry provided specimens and fixtures for testing at reduced or no cost. This industry support allowed the project to conduct the large number of full-scale tests needed to develop improved specifications.

“The TPF-5(253) research work, which resulted in the new AASHTO Guide Specification for Internal Redundancy of Mechanically Fastened Built-up Steel Members, has been one of the more significant contributions to the steel bridge industry in recent history. This work and codified publication, recognized by the FHWA, filled a major industry gap, and now gives bridge engineers and owners the ability to recognize internal redundancy, exploit their advantages in strength and resistance to actual failure, and provide a more reasonable hands-on in-service inspection interval for these types of members which improves the safety of our bridge inspectors,” says Brandon Chavel, technical director, Michael Baker International.

So, You Want to Start a Pooled Fund? 

The TPF Program paves the way for collaboration and innovation. The Clear Roads and Member-level Redundancy in Built-up Steel Members TPF studies are great examples of partners coming together to address common problems like the safety of our bridge infrastructure and winter maintenance. The TPF Program supports a broad range of transportation research areas, including pavements, bridges, design, safety, administration, environment, security, and maintenance. Entities as wide ranging as State DOTs, academic institutions, industry associations, private industry, and foreign entities in good standing with the U.S. Government are eligible to participate in the TPF Program. If you want to get involved with innovative research projects advancing transportation, consider joining one of our many open studies (https://www.pooledfund.org/Browse/open).

Nominate Your Research for the Next TPF Excellence Awards

Applying for the TPF Excellence Awards is a great opportunity to showcase your achievements in regional and national collaboration. These awards are perfect for publicizing impactful TPF work, attracting more study members, and connecting stakeholders with the tools that can improve the transportation industry. Projects recognized through the TPF Excellence Awards can serve as examples of strong collaboration and the advancement of national research priorities.

The TPF Excellence Awards aim to inspire States and localities to create TPF studies and continue building partnerships that deliver a better transportation system for all. The 2026 awards nomination period will begin in fall 2025.

The TPF Program is fueled by your participation, and overall collaboration. Together we can lead the Nation to better transportation solutions for tomorrow.

Tricia Sergeson, MPA, PMP, is the TPF program manager at FHWA’s Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, VA. She has a master’s degree from Rutgers University in public administration, and two bachelor’s degrees in political science and foreign languages (Spanish) from Washington State University.

Zachary T. Bergeron is a transportation policy analyst at the U.S. Department of Transportation Volpe National Transportation Systems Center in Cambridge, MA. He provides research and policy support focused on micromobility, pedestrian safety, and asset management. He holds two master’s degrees—one in sustainability science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the other in biology (visual ecology) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign—and a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Michael York is a transportation policy analyst at the Volpe Center. He provides research and policy support focused on road safety, public park access, transit, and equity. He holds a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Virginia and an undergraduate degree from the University of Richmond.

For more information about the award recipients, open TPF studies or the program, visit the TPF website at https://www.pooledfund.org/ or contact Tricia Sergeson at patricia.sergeson@dot.gov. If you have any questions about the TPF Excellence Awards, you can reach out to tpfexcellenceawards@dot.gov.

Disclaimer: FHWA and all its offices and units do not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or names appear in this article only because they are considered essential to the objective of the document.