USA Banner

Official US Government Icon

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure Site Icon

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

Public Roads

Subscribe to RSS
Left Nav - Public Roads
Public Roads

Management and Administration

Along the Road is the place to look for information about current and upcoming activities, developments, trends, and items of general interest to the highway community. This information comes from U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) sources unless otherwise indicated. Your suggestions and input are welcome. Let’s meet along the road.

Improving Access to LTPP Data

Established in 1987 as part of the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP), the Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) program’s purpose is to collect pavement data to better understand how and why pavements perform the way they do. Since the end of SHRP in 1992, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has managed the LTPP program and monitored more than 2,500 inservice pavement test sections in the United States and Canada. The resulting data form the most comprehensive pavement database in the world. So, how do highway engineers, researchers, planners, students, and others find and analyze exactly the data they need?

Clearly Vital: Underwater Bridge Inspection

Of the approximately 603,000 bridges in the National Bridge Inventory, an estimated 502,000--or 83 percent--are built over waterways. According to the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Underwater Bridge Inspection Manual (FHWA-NHI-10-027), most bridge failures occur because of issues below the surface of the water. Therefore, the manual states, underwater inspections are “an integral part of a comprehensive bridge safety program to ensure the safety of the traveling public” and a potentially vital component of cost-effective bridge maintenance programs.

Communication Product Updates

Below are brief descriptions of communications products recently developed by the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Office of Research, Development, and Technology. All of the reports are or will soon be available from the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). In some cases, limited copies of the communications products are available from FHWA’s Research and Technology (R&T) Product Distribution Center (PDC).

A Labor of Love

The opening of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge on Labor Day 2013 marked the symbolic end of a long and challenging journey.

Shaping The Future of Freight

Advisory committees are bringing public and private stakeholders to the table to boost the movement of goods. Just in time, because freight tonnage is expected to increase by 62 percent by 2040.

Living in The Line of Duty

An FHWA training course and partner efforts promise to help mitigate risks to firefighters and other first responders. The goal? Reduce, and ultimately eliminate, their roadway fatalities.

Simplifying Project Delivery Decisions With GeoTech Tools

Problematic soil and rock conditions often negatively affect the construction costs, schedules, and long-term structure performance of transportation infrastructure projects. Geoconstruction techniques can help to address those issues with materials and methods to stabilize foundations, retaining walls, and other earthworks. These technologies also have significant potential to achieve some of the objectives of the Strategic Highway Research Program 2 (SHRP2), including rapid renewal of transportation facilities, minimal disruption of traffic, and production of long-lived facilities.

Bridge Inspection Course Goes to College

The Nation’s bridge infrastructure relies heavily on the work of bridge safety inspectors to ensure quality, safety, and overall performance for public use. Therefore, safety inspectors are federally mandated to undergo comprehensive training to lead bridge inspection teams and become successful program managers. The National Highway Institute (NHI) developed Safety Inspection of In-Service Bridges (130055) and updated it in 2012 based on the latest edition of the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Bridge Inspector’s Reference Manual (FHWA NHI 12-049). The course provides the most current information on the safety inspection of in-service bridges.