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Globally, funding limitations and competition for resources require that transportation agencies increasingly focus on performance measurement in support of investment and policy decisions. In the United States, measuring performance has been in the forefront of recent transportation priorities. Recent Federal legislation has accelerated transportation agencies’ efforts to develop and emphasize performance outcomes.
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.
Effective intelligent transportation systems (ITS) architectures can facilitate efficient and interoperable ITS deployments. The U.S. National ITS Reference Architecture and associated toolsets provide a definitive and consistent framework to guide the planning and deployment of ITS.
Transportation officials and policymakers have access to lots of data to help plan and implement transportation services. But how do they best use the data to measure performance and improve transportation systems? Transportation performance management (TPM) is a strategic approach that uses system information to make investment and policy decisions to achieve performancegoals.
Below are brief descriptions of communications products recently developed by the Federal Highway Administration’s 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).
In 1942, 75 years ago, construction crews worked under frigid conditions to complete one of the most challenging engineering projects of World War II. Here’s the story of the Alaska Highway.
A new guide from FHWA can help small communities and rural areas build multimodal transportation networks that benefit users of all ages and abilities.
This glorious view of the Alaska Highway near Milepost 1348 shows the Robertson River Bridge, which is about 120 miles (193 kilometers) north of the Canadian border where the famous highway enters Alaska from the Yukon. Construction of the truck road was completed in November 1942, and improvements continued the following year–and for many years thereafter. To learn more, see "America's Glory Road" on page 10 in this issue of PUBLIC ROADS.
Building and maintaining the Nation’s roadways is a massive undertaking, especially for local and tribal agencies juggling increasingly complex challenges with limited funds. In 1982, Congress recognized the need for assistance and created the Local Technical Assistance Program in the Federal Highway Administration, followed 9 years later by legislation establishing the Tribal Technical Assistance Program (TTAP).
