Synthesis Of Highway Practice

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis Report 322: Safety Management Systems (SMS) provides an overview of current transportation agency practices, recent literature findings, and reviews of two model state SMS initiatives. According to the report, benefits derived from the SMS process are increased coordination, cooperation, and communication among state agencies and improvements to data analysis and collection procedures, as well as collaborative strategic plans.

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 352: Value Engineering Applications in Transportation examines the current value engineering (VE) practices of highway transportation agencies in the United States and Canada. Value engineering (VE) is the systematic review of a project, product, or process to improve performance, quality, and/or life-cycle cost by an independent multidisciplinary team of specialists. The report identifies the reported best practices, key strengths, and challenges of current VE study processes and agency programs, and offers guidance on applying and improving the effectiveness of VE in projects and programs.

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 305: Interaction Between Roadways and Wildlife Ecology summarizes existing information related to roadway planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance practices being used successfully and unsuccessfully, nationally and internationally, to accommodate wildlife ecology given the challenging background of rapid growth and diminishing natural resources.

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 351 examines issues involved in acquiring access rights along roadways other than freeways. The report documents the state of the practice with the intent to limit the amount of access to the roadway for the purpose of managing highway safety and mobility. The report documents successful practices and current policies, legal and real estate literature, and other publications that address this subject.

This synthesis report will be of interest to pavement design, construction, management, and research engineers, highway safety officials, and others concerned with pavement friction characteristics. It describes the current state of the practice and discusses the methods used for evaluating wet pavement friction characteristics of new and restored pavements. This synthesis reviews models used for measuring and evaluating friction and texture, causes for friction changes over time, and aggregate and mix design to provide adequate friction. Also presented are construction and surface restoration practices for providing good pavement surface characteristics. In addition, considerations of noise and ride quality are discussed when compromise may be required.