SHRP RESEARCH PRODUCTS EXPECTED BY 1993

The Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP) is a strategic program because it is tightly focused on pragmatic solutions to a few key problems that affect highway agencies, with no attempt to address the full array of research activities that have been conducted and should be continued. SHRP is concentrating on a short list of high-payoff activities in which even modest product improvements will yield savings many times in excess of the research costs. In 1987 Congress authorized five years and $150 million to solve specific problems that were first identified by the Transportation Research Board's Strategic Transportation Research Study in 1984. SHRP's orientation toward near-term products is consumer- or user-oriented. The heavy involvement of high-level management from user agencies has continued beyond the planning phase of the SHRP program and is another unique and essential aspect of SHRP. State highway agencies also are deeply involved int he actual performance of the research. SHRP's four technical research areas are asphalt, concrete and structures, highway operations, and pavement performance. SHRP has proceeded on a fast track since its funding in April 1987. More than 80% of the planned research is currently under way. If the program succeeds, it should serve as a model for other, similar programs throughout the transportation sector.