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The National Academies

NCHRP 20-07/Task 061 [Completed]

Assessment of AASHTO Needs for Metric Conversions & Design of Metrication Clearinghouse
[ NCHRP 20-07 (Research for AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways) ]

  Project Data
Funds: 135000
Research Agency: Texas A&M University
Effective Date: 12/1/1993
Completion Date: 5/31/1995

Task 61, FY 1993, "Assessment of AASHTO Needs for Metric Conversion and Design of a Metrication Clearinghouse" (Texas A&M Research Foundation, Byron Blaschke). This task was requested by the AASHTO Task Force on Metrication. The objectives of the study are to (1) design a plan for organizing and operating a metrication clearinghouse for use by AASHTO and its member departments, (2) assess the metric conversion needs for AASHTO's approximately 100 publications and 12 software products, including cost and level of effort required for conversion, and (3) develop a plan of action to carry out the conversions. The FHWA has established 1996 as the year for all states to use the metric system (System International) as the standard system of weights and measurements for PS&E documents. Currently, there is little guidance on the cost of, or optimal process for, converting specifications, software, and similar items from customary U.S. units to the metric system, and there is no central clearinghouse available to the states to access updated information regarding metric conversion. The first phase of Task 61 resulted in a report that discusses the cost and urgency of conversion of AASHTO documents and software, it also provides a design for a clearinghouse for dissemination of appropriate information. The report has been disseminated to the sponsors of the program. After a 1-year pilot operation, the clearinghouse has become part of NCHRP Project 20-40. (NCHRP Staff: D.B. Beal)

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