BACKGROUND
Our highway system now supports more uses than ever before, creating the need to balance them all within the limited space of the roadways. While the increase in types of use the roadways supports is beneficial to the health, economy, and resiliency of the transportation network, it also creates a substantial challenge to meet the needs of all roadway users.
Currently, a typical way to decide how to build a multimodal facility is to use multiple American Association of Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) publications focused on individual modes of travel. As several of these are independent documents focused on specific modes, there is an opportunity to review how these documents might more effectively inform decision makers in a more integrated approach.
Furthermore, given the timing of the various design manual updates can lead to missed opportunities for the coordination of common elements in each document. Streamlined guidance at the national level may help avoid future repetitive updates that take years of overhaul, dedicated staff time, and financial investment.
Current and forthcoming AASHTO publications (e.g., A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets; Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities; Guide for the Planning, Design, and Operation of Pedestrian Facilities) include new planning and design concepts for motorized and nonmotorized users on streets and highways. To support these publications, there is a need for a comprehensive approach to guidance and training material that would give planners and designers direction on developing a holistic process to choose a multimodal facility in one consolidated document.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this project is to produce a roadmap to establish an integrated selection process for multimodal facilities for developing transportation infrastructure projects.
This research would suggest strategies directly correlated with AASHTO strategic safety plans and initiatives to reduce serious injuries and fatalities while planning and designing safer roadways for all and streamlining and strengthening decision-making for multimodal facility selection.
The outcome of this research will be a roadmap to establish an integrated selection process for multimodal facilities using all relevant AASHTO and related design guidance documents. Using this roadmap should enhance the safety and mobility of the traveling public across all modes and aid planning and design practitioners by removing silos when considering all roadway users in developing transportation infrastructure projects.
Accomplishment of the project objective will require at least the following tasks.
RESEARCH PLAN
At minimum, the proposed tasks should include:
- Review, identify, and synthesize current AASHTO, United States Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), state DOT, and Transportation Research Board (TRB) publications, resolutions, policies, requirements, guidance, initiatives, best practices, and regulations relevant to facility selection decision-making.
- Evaluate and document existing approaches to an integrated selection process for multimodal facilities, including opportunities to consolidate or better align relevant AASHTO publications and resolutions as appropriate.
- Propose a roadmap to streamline the selection process of appropriate multimodal facility types based on context and performance.
- Explore and document the level of effort, resource needs, implementation challenges and opportunities, and other potential impacts for the recommended framework.
- Develop an implementation plan of the framework, including strategies for future updates to AASHTO publications, training options, and research needs for TRB/NCHRP.
The research plan should build in appropriate checkpoints with the NCHRP project panel, including at a minimum (1) a kickoff teleconference meeting to be held within 1 month of the contract’s execution date, (2) at least one face-to-face interim deliverable review meeting, and (3) web-enabled teleconferences tied to panel review and/or NCHRP approval of interim deliverables.
The research plan will describe appropriate deliverables that include the following (which also represent key project milestones):
- An interim report and panel meeting. The interim report should include the analyses and results of completed tasks, a plan for the remaining tasks, and a detailed outline of the final research product(s). The panel meeting will take place in Washington, DC, after the panel review of the interim report. The interim report and panel meeting should occur after the expenditure of about 40 to 50 percent of the project budget. No further work is allowed until the interim report is approved by the NCHRP.
- Final deliverables. The final deliverables should include a useful resource for practitioners and stakeholders of transportation and planning agencies, supplemented by a research report that documents the research process.
- A technical memorandum titled “Implementation of Research Findings and Products”.
- A slide deck that presents the research findings and conclusions that can be used in webinars.
STATUS: Proposals have been received in response to the RFP. The project panel will meet to select a contractor to perform the work.
