At its September 1992 meeting, the Standing Committee on Research (SCOR) of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) identified the need to examine AASHTO's research-related activities and, in particular, the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP), administered by the Transportation Research Board. At that time, funds were approved to conduct a strategic analysis of SCOR and the NCHRP.

Four strategic issues needed to be addressed to position SCOR and the NCHRP to fulfill their missions in the years ahead: (1) NCHRP program formulation, (2) greater involvement by executive-level officials of the state DOTs, (3) an implementation strategy, and (4) procedures, staffing, and other administrative concerns.

The research is complete. The final research report was sent to members of the AASHTO Standing Committee on Research (SCOR). At its meeting on March 21 and 22, 1995, SCOR decided to take specific action on two items, SCOR membership and NCHRP implementation.

As for other recommendations in the research report, the NCHRP staff will use the report for guidance in conducting and improving the NCHRP.

A "Clean Air Case Study" report was also produced to demonstrate, from a research perspective, how to deal with an emerging issue---air quality was chosen as an example.

The agency's research report and the "Clean Air Case Study" report are available for loan on request. A copy of the Case Study report was provided to the state DOTs along with an explanation of the various actions taken by SCOR.