THE NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM

This paper describes how the National Cooperative Highway Research Program is a major force in solving extremely critical problems concerning highway design, construction, maintenance and operation. An editorial stated the impact on our technology of the NCHRP has only started to be felt. The state highway departments now are unleashing a of new ideas for needed research through this program. This flood of new ideas for needed research is the direct result of a joint agreement among the American Association of State Highway Officials, the Bureau of Public Roads, and the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council. These groups were painfully aware of the vital need for the study of acute problems in the field of highway transportation and the need to get this information into the hands of those responsible for America's Highway program, and thus the NCHRP was born.