This Guide, "Flexibility in Highway Design," is about designing highways that incorporate community values and are safe, efficient, effective mechanisms for the movement of people and goods. It is written for highway engineers and project managers who want to learn more about the flexibility available to them when designing roads and illustrates successful approaches used in other highway projects. It can also be used by citizens who want to gain a better understanding of the highway design process. Congress, in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) of 1991 and the...

Continued growth in travel on congested urban freeway corridors exceeds the ability of agencies to provide sufficient solutions and alternatives based on traditional roadway expansion and improvement projects. Several countries are implementing managed motorway concepts to improve motorway capacity without acquiring more land and building large-scale infrastructure projects. The Federal Highway Administration, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and National Cooperative Highway Research Program sponsored a scanning study of England, Germany, the Netherlands,...

Trade growth between the United States and China has increased U.S. interest in how the Chinese transportation system handles exports. The Federal Highway Administration, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and National Cooperative Highway Research Program sponsored a scanning study to identify how China provides intermodal access to its ports and uses investment strategies to foster freight mobility and intermodal connectivity. The scan team learned that China's national, provincial, and metropolitan transportation policy is closely coordinated with the...

Have you ever wondered how decisions are made about the transportation projects that affect your life? How do government officials decide where to put a bus stop, road, or bridge? How are these and other transportation projects planned? And how can you make sure your opinions are heard and considered by residents, planners, designers, and elected officials? The Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration created this guide to answer these and other transportation project-related questions. We hope this guide will help you understand how transportation decisions are made...

The purpose of this document is to provide information useful to States as they plan, design, operate, and manage HOV facilities. It is intended to be non-binding and should be construed as a rule of general applicability. This document provides examples for States to follow in evaluating proposed significant changes to the operation of an HOV lane, to include conversion of an HOV lane to a High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lane. The FHWA supports HOV lanes as a cost-effective and environmentally friendly option to help move people along congested urban and suburban routes. As such, FHWA regulations...

JOBMOD2 is a model that makes quantitative estimates of the total employment income and jobs supported by federally funded highway improvement projects. This includes not only the direct employment of construction workers, but also all those workers who are required to produce inputs to the construction project. It also goes a step further by estimating the number of jobs that are supported by the growth in consumer expenditure that arises due to all the employment income from those jobs supported by the project. Thus, it provides a very broad definition of the total employment impact of...

People need walkable communities where sidewalks, trails, and street crossings are safe, accessible, and comfortable for people of all ability levels. Pedestrian-friendly communities have many benefits, including: Safer environments for walking and bicycling, which means you are less likely to be in a traffic collision or get injured; Better access to more places, providing more choices in how you can get to your destinations so you don't have to rely on having a car; More opportunities to be physically active, which can improve your health and overall quality of life; and Opportunities for...

This Manual includes state-of-the-art information relative to materials, post-tensioning systems, construction practices and grouting of post-tensioning tendons for bridges. The Manual is targeted at Federal, State and local transportation department and private company personnel that may be involved in the design, inspection, construction or maintenance of bridges that contain post-tensioning tendons. This Manual will serve as a reference and guide to designers, inspectors and construction personnel for post-tensioning materials, installation and grouting of bridge tendons. The document is...

Comprehensive highway public-private partnership (PPP) programs are relatively new to the United States and not widely used. Limited highway funds, unmet needs for new highway capacity, interest from private investors, and other factors have led to substantial discussion of PPP projects and programs at the State and Federal levels and implementation of projects in a few leading States. In contrast, some countries have extensive and, in some cases, long-term experience with infrastructure PPPs, particularly highways. This presents a unique opportunity to capitalize on the knowledge and...

The purpose of the Signal Timing Manual is to provide direction and guidance to managers, supervisors, and practitioner based on the sound practice to proactively and comprehensively improve signal timing.