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International Technology Scanning ProgramInternational Technology Scanning ProgramBringing Global Innovations to U.S. HighwaysBringing Global Innovations to U.S. Highways

Office of International ProgramsJanuary 2002

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Overview 1Better Roads for U.S. Drivers 2Longer-Lasting Pavement 4World-Class Bridges 6Geotechnical Advances 8Building Better Snowplows 9Innovative Contracting Techniques 10Planning for Today’s Travelers 12Designing Safer Roads 13Scanning for New Ideas 15Acknowledgements 20

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Iowa snowplow operators use air and pavement tem-perature sensors to calculate the ideal time to applychemicals that keep roads from freezing. Bicyclistsin Phoenix pedal safely alongside traffic in lanesdesigned especially for them. State highway depart-ments across the country pave with heavy-dutyasphalt that resists rutting, even on the mostcongested arteries.

Each of these innovations got its spark from the Inter-national Technology Scanning Program, which linksU.S. highway experts with their counterparts aroundthe world to learn about the newest approaches totransportation policy and highway operations, plan-ning, design, construction and maintenance. The goal:to see if any of these approaches have application inthe United States. The program allows the Americantransportation community to learn from the successes,as well as the failures, of other countries. It helpsexperts avoid duplicative research and developmentand accelerates improvements to U.S. transportation.

The program is a joint effort of the Office of Interna-tional Programs of the Federal Highway Administra-tion (FHWA) and the American Association of StateHighway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), in

International Technology Scanning Program:Bringing Global Innovations to U.S. Highways

collaboration with the Transportation ResearchBoard’s National Cooperative Highway ResearchProgram. The organizations work together to identifypriorities, organize scanning studies and help imple-ment key findings.

Scanning studies give U.S. experts a first-hand look at transportation advances around theworld that can result in better, safer roads at home.

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the globe. Ultimately, the program provides better,safer and more environmentally sound transportationfor the American public.

FHWA launched the current program in 1990 with astudy of European asphalt pavement innovations, butthe concept of looking abroad for innovations that canbe used at home is not new. For more than a century,FHWA and its predecessors have recognized thatmuch can be learned from observing how other coun-tries solve highway-related problems. Back in the1890s, the State Department conducted a study thatconfirmed what good roads advocates had been say-ing for years: European roads, particularly France’scentralized highway system, were in much bettershape than those in the United States.

During World War I, millions of American soldiers,including future President Harry S. Truman, got aclose look at the French roads and came back con-vinced the United States could do at least as well. TheGerman autobahn’s role in enhancing that country’smilitary effort early in World War II and the Alliedcounterattack at the end inspired another future presi-dent, Dwight D. Eisenhower. It was during his admin-istration in the 1950s that America inaugurated theInterstate Highway Program, the greatest publicworks project in history.

More recently, the Intermodal Surface TransportationEfficiency Act assigned FHWA the responsibility ofidentifying worthwhile technologies overseas with aview to implementing them at home. The scanningprogram has proved to be an efficient, cost-effectiveway to meet this responsibility.

Better Roads for U.S. Drivers

The scanning program offers many benefits. It allowstransportation departments to put the latest technol-ogy into practice more quickly without spendingscarce research dollars to recreate advances developedin other countries. It helps the United States remaineconomically and technically competitive by provid-ing access to the results of research and implementa-tion programs beyond its borders. It facilitates jointresearch and technology-sharing with other countries,further advancing transportation innovations around

The scanning program saves research time and dollars while bringing the latesttechnology to U.S. roads.

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Here’s how the program works: FHWA and AASHTOcarefully select high-priority scan topics and teams ofU.S. experts. The teams travel to Europe, Japan, Aus-tralia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and othercountries that are leaders in transportation innovationand practice. They meet with officials and gather in-formation about the scan’s topic – which typicallyrelates to technological advances, management prac-tices, organizational structure, program delivery andfinancing. In their exploration, teams work from adetailed list of questions compiled before the trip.They also draw from preliminary research and infor-mation on the topic gathered during the office-basedstudy that precedes many trips.

While the makeup of teams varies from one scan tothe next, participants usually represent FHWA, Statedepartments of transportation, local governments,transportation trade and research groups, academiaand the private sector. Team members are selected fortheir expertise on the scan topic, as well as for theirability to help put the most promising innovationsinto practice.

Back in the United States, team members evaluatetheir findings and develop comprehensive reports,including recommendations for further research andpilot projects to verify the value of adapting innova-tions for U.S. use. In particular, teams identify inno-vations that offer solutions to transportation prob-lems, improve performance or reduce costs. Teamfindings complement and enhance the U.S. transpor-tation community’s knowledge base, often puttinginnovations on the fast track to deployment.

With the help of teammembers, informationabout scan findingsand results of pilotprograms and re-search are circulatedthroughout the coun-try to State and localtransportation officialsand the private sector.But the informationexchange does notstop at the border.Through publishedreports, presentationsand the internet, theinternational transpor-tation community canaccess the findings ofU.S. scanning teams.

Since 1990, nearly 50teams of experts havetraveled overseas inthe quest for newknowledge. They havestudied pavements,bridge construction,contracting tech-niques, winter roadmaintenance, safety, intelligent transportation sys-tems, environmental issues, planning and policy.Scanning studies have exposed transportation profes-

Over the past decade, 50 teams of experts have observedglobal innovations ranging from safety measures forbicyclists to intelligent transportation systems.

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sionals to remarkable advancements and inspiredimplementation of hundreds of innovations. The re-sult: large savings of research dollars and time, as wellas significant improvements in the nation’s transporta-tion system.

Longer-Lasting Pavement

When a team of pavement experts visited Europe onthe first scanning study, the technology that impressedthem most was stone matrix asphalt. They found thisinnovative pavement mix, a strong stone skeleton heldtogether by a rich asphalt cement, used widely in Eu-rope for its ability to withstand rutting on heavilytraveled roads. After the scan, government and indus-try experts formed a Technical Working Group toevaluate the asphalt mix and develop specifications forits use in the United States.

Stone matrix asphalt is now the premier solution forU.S. roads subject to heavy loads and high traffic vol-umes. About 15 million tons have been used on morethan 250 projects in 25 States, and surfaces paved withthe mix are projected to last up to 20 years with mini-mal maintenance. “It has become the preferred pre-mium pavement surface,” observes Technical WorkingGroup Secretary John Bukowski of FHWA. “There is atremendous amount of interest in using stone matrixasphalt in the United States because it lasts a long timewithout maintenance.”

Larry Michael of the Maryland State Highway Admin-istration, who first examined stone matrix asphaltwhen he participated in a 1992 follow-up visit, has

Heavy-duty stone matrix asphalt, first used in Europe, is now the top pavement choicefor heavily traveled U.S. highways.

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become a strong advocate of its use on U.S. roads.Maryland has spread 3 million tons of stone matrixasphalt on its highways, more than any other State.“It is without a doubt the most tenacious mix I haveever seen,” maintains Michael. “It is almost impos-sible to make it rut and it will outlast any other mix.”

Scanning studies also yielded new ideas on testingpavements for strength and durability. As a result,nearly 20 States and universities now have acceleratedload facilities for pavement testing. These facilitiesallow engineers to try new pavement mixes undercontrolled conditions, improving performance andlengthening the life of pavements while saving timeand money. FHWA procured European laboratoryequipment for its Turner-Fairbank Highway ResearchCenter in Virginia and the Colorado Department ofTransportation after scan teams saw the equipmentin action.

Colorado has a French rutting tester, which assessesthe ability of hot mix asphalt to withstand rutting,and a German wheel-tracking device, which evaluatesasphalt’s susceptibility to both rutting and moisture.The Colorado DOT uses the equipment to benchmarkasphalt quality and test potential changes in mixspecifications. “There has been quite an improvementin our asphalt mixes based on our test results since wefirst obtained the equipment,” says Tim Aschenbrenerof the Colorado DOT.

The United States has a long history of pavementtesting that precedes the scanning program, butAschenbrener credits the overseas scans with

increasing the role of such equipment as wheel-track-ing devices. An American-made asphalt pavementanalyzer is now used in several States. “Its develop-ment, popularity and implementation were acceler-ated by the way the Europeans analyze asphalt withwheel-tracking devices,” Aschenbrener says.

Gerry Huber of Heritage Group in Indianapolis, Ind.,agrees. “What scanning teams learned overseas con-tributed to our knowledge base in the United Statesand improved the way we test pavements today,” hesays. “The greater access we have to new technologyaround the world, the faster we can make technologi-cal advances here. The scanning studies gave us theincentive to evaluate and employ cutting-edge equip-ment for all sorts of asphalt testing.”

Laboratory testing equipment innovations from Europe allow U.S. engineers to developbetter-performing pavement mixes under controlled conditions.

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World-Class Bridges

Keeping the nation’s bridges in safe, serviceable shapeand replacing them when necessary is a huge job forhighway departments. When bridge experts visitedCanada, Europe and Japan to see the latest in bridgeconstruction and maintenance, they found a wealth ofideas on innovative contracting methods, new con-struction techniques and high-tech materials. Many ofthose advances are now being used in the UnitedStates to reduce construction costs and make bridgesstronger, safer and more durable.

Among the technologies they studied is high-perfor-mance concrete, which is engineered to providegreater durability and strength than conventional con-crete. That means high-performance concrete bridgeslast longer and suffer less traffic and weather-relateddamage, resulting in lower maintenance costs. Theyalso can cost less to build, since they often requirefewer supports.

The American building industry has used high-perfor-mance concrete for years, but scanning studies helpedaccelerate its adoption for bridge construction. FHWApartnered with the Transportation Research Board todevelop parameters for high-performance concreteand provide technical assistance on bridge-buildingprojects. Since then, States and localities have builtmore than 50 high-performance concrete bridges.

The first bridge project in the country built with high-performance concrete in both the superstructure andsubstructure was the Louetta Road Overpass in

Scanning studies accelerated the use of high-performance concrete to buildlonger-lasting bridges that suffer less damage from traffic and weather.

U.S. experts observed the use of automated steel fabrication plants to buildhigh-quality, cost-efficient bridges in Japan.

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Houston, Texas. After building a sec-ond overpass project in San Angelo,the Texas Department of Transporta-tion developed specifications for us-ing a high-strength version of theconcrete on future bridge jobs.

“We use high-strength high-perfor-mance concrete when geometricalconstraints require longer spans, shal-lower beams or wider beam spac-ings,” says the Texas DOT’s KevinPruski. “This gives us additional flex-ibility in our designs, allowing us touse prestressed concrete beams insituations where, in the past, steelgirders may have been required.”

The State has used normal-strengthhigh-performance concrete on about200,000 square feet of bridge decks toprovide greater durability than con-ventional concrete. “FHWA’s leader-ship in the high performance concreteimplementation program has resultedin Texas looking directly at durabilityperformance characteristics rather than relating dura-bility to strength characteristics,” Pruski says. “Webelieve this is a huge step forward in constructingstructures with better long-term performance.”

Another technology U.S. experts examined overseas isadvanced composite materials, including fiber-rein-forced polymers and polymer matrix composites.

Developed originally for the aerospace industry fortheir strong but lightweight qualities, composites holdpromise for structural rehabilitation of bridges, bothto strengthen deficient bridges and retrofit bridges towithstand earthquakes.

Seeing advanced composite materials used on foreignbridges gave scan team members confidence that thetechnology could work back home. Since then,

Observing the latest cable-stay bridge technology overseas helps U.S. transportation professionals buildaesthetically pleasing, safer and more durable bridges at home.

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U.S. experts have accelerated research on compositematerials for bridge applications and are now sharingtheir findings with their counterparts in Europe.FHWA has worked with several States on projects,including replacing a bridge deck with compositematerials in New Hampshire and using fiber-rein-forced polymers to strengthen bridge columns in Utah.

Scan teams also studied automated bridge fabricationin the United Kingdom and Japan. Team memberswere impressed with the increased speed, improvedquality and lower costs they saw in such technologiesas computerized assembly and testing systems. These

simulate erection of complicated structures and elimi-nate the need for shop assembly of bridges. While theUnited States has used automated fabrication in auto-mobile manufacturing and shipbuilding for years,experts are now researching its application in bridgefabrication.

Geotechnical Advances

Using a technique to reinforce earth walls known assoil nailing can save time and money on highwayconstruction projects. While this was not news to U.S.

geotechnical specialists, European scans boosted theirknowledge of the research and design principles be-hind the technology and greatly expanded its use inthis country.

Soil nailing involves strengthening an excavated slopeby installing closely spaced steel bars in the slope asconstruction proceeds from the top down. This processcreates a soil mass stable enough to retain the groundbehind it safely and keep it from collapsing. It allowsconstruction of steeper walls in smaller areas, savingright-of-way procurement and construction costs aswell as time.

Scans helped close the gap in U.S. research on soilnailing, which is now routinely integrated into high-way construction. FHWA has published several tech-nical documents, sponsored a demonstration projectand provided assistance to numerous State transporta-tion departments to assure economical design andquality construction of soil nail walls. As a result,more than 500 soil nail walls have been completed inthe United States with an estimated $100 million sav-ings in construction costs.

The leading State in the use of soil nail walls in high-way construction is California, where more than two

Soil-nailing technology from Europe has resulted in more than 500installations in the United States with an estimated $100 million savings inconstruction and right-of-way costs.

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million square feet of wall face have been built usingthe technology. The State uses soil nailing for bothpermanent and temporary retaining walls, accordingto John Ehsan of the California Department of Trans-portation.

“Soil nailing is most cost-effective when used onlarger projects that would require considerable exca-vation using conventional methods,” Ehsan says. Ona wall 30 feet high, soil nailing saves the State asmuch as 40 percent in construction costs. “You can doa lot more with soil nailing than with traditionalmethods,” Ehsan adds. “You can build a taller wall.You can build any shape wall. You can make it lookexactly like rock, so it’s more aesthetically pleasing.”

Reports from FHWA on how European engineersused soil nailing were helpful when California wasdeveloping a computer program for designing soilnail walls. “It would have been much more difficult todo without that information,” Ehsan said. “But now

that we’ve done a lot of work with soil nailing, weprobably have more experience with it than they dooverseas.”

Building Better Snowplows

When a scan team visited Europe and Japan to seehow they handle snow and ice removal, they discov-ered important advances in controlling the effects ofwinter weather on driving conditions. The team alsodetermined that much of what other countries weredoing could be adapted fairly easily to American use.

Team members observed, for example, that pre-wet-ting and using finer grades of anti-icing chemicalskept more material on the road and saved a third ofthe amount normally used. They also learned thatattaching a canvas shield to a snowplow diverts over-spray under the truck, protecting the radiator andwindshield. As a result of adopting and enhancingthese and other ideas, Snow Belt States have nar-rowed the winter maintenance technology gap withtheir overseas counterparts.

The scan inspired Iowa, Minnesota and Michigan toform a consortium to design and build snow removalequipment with the latest technology. The snowplowfeatures a global positioning device, high-intensitylights, anti-icing equipment that handles both liquidand granular chemicals, a friction meter that mea-sures road slipperiness, and reverse-obstacle sensorsthat apply brakes automatically.

Scan teams found that many snow and ice removal techniques used inother countries could be adapted easily to U.S. roads.

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The plow also has a sophisticated sensor system thatallows more accurate predictions of when pavementtemperatures will dip below freezing, making it pos-sible to fine-tune chemical use. “With this proactiveapproach, snowplow operators are getting just theright amount of chemical down at the right time,”says Lee Smithson of the Iowa Department of Trans-portation, which has equipped 18 trucks with the newtechnology. “The roads are at a better level of serviceand we can save on chemicals.”

Also as a result of the scan, AASHTO established theSnow and Ice Cooperative Pooled Fund Program toevaluate and share information on winter maintenancetechnologies. Members include 35 States, the AmericanPublic Works Association and the National Associa-tion of County Engineers. The group conducts work-shops, develops manuals and computer-based trainingprograms, and maintains an information exchange forsnow and ice experts across the country.

“I can’t imagine how long it would have taken us toget to the point where we are if we hadn’t discoveredthings that were already being done internationally. Itsaves us an enormous amount of research effort andtime,” Smithson says. “One thing leads to another andall of a sudden we’ve got a better mousetrap allaround.”

Innovative Contracting Techniques

There’s more than one way to build a road. That’s whya scanning team went to Europe to learn more aboutcontracting techniques other countries use for high-way jobs. They looked at how these techniques savetime and money, improve quality, and reduce incon-venience to motorists during construction. Their find-ings kindled a national discussion among highwayexperts on innovative contracting practices andprompted FHWA to develop a special program thathas enabled at least 40 States to try new techniques.

One practice several States now use is lane rental,which requires contractors to pay rent on lanes theyblock during construction. Rental costs normally are

This concept vehicle features intelligent transportation technologies observed in Japan andEurope, including global positioning systems and temperature-sensing instruments.

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based on traffic density and impact on road-usercosts, with higher rental rates for times when traffic isheavy and lower rates when traffic is light. This givescontractors an incentive to minimize the time thedriving public is exposed to travel delays.

Another technique is cost-plus-time bidding, whichrequires contractors to estimate the number of days tocomplete work and incorporate it into the bid. TheCalifornia Department of Transportation used cost-plus-time bidding on 10 projects during reconstruc-tion of freeways damaged by the Northridge Earth-quake. The bidding technique reduced total contracttime for all 10 projects by 450 calendar days andsaved nearly $48 million in road-user costs.

Many States now add warranty clauses, used exten-sively in Europe, to highway construction contracts toassure project quality. A warranty requires a contrac-tor to guarantee the integrity of a roadway, structureor other work product for a specified time and out-lines responsibility for repairing or replacing a defec-tive product. The hundreds of warranties now in ef-fect on American highway projects cover items suchas pavement performance and bridge painting.

Design-build contracting is another technique ob-served in Europe that is attracting growing interestfor highway construction in the United States. Bycombining project design with construction, design-build contracting allows projects to be completedmore quickly than traditional contracting methods. Italso makes it easier to integrate construction withdesign because it allows the contractor maximum

flexibility in selecting design, materials and construc-tion methods.

“Adoption of the design-build method of project de-livery offers major benefits to highway development.It’s similar to U.S. business embracing computers toadvance efficiency and productivity,” says TanyaMatthews of the Design-Build Institute of America inWashington, D.C. “Not only does design-build bringthe designer and constructor together to foster inno-vative ways to develop projects, it can accelerate aproject schedule to meet a critical, time-sensitive goal.”

Design-build contracting combines project design with construction to save time and allowgreater flexibility on complex highway projects, like this multi-lane expansion on I-15 in Utah.

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Two-dozen States and several localities have adopteddesign-build techniques to save time on complexprojects. In one of the largest highway design-buildefforts in U.S. history, a 17-mile stretch of Interstate 15through Utah’s Salt Lake Valley was transformedfrom a congested, deteriorating six-lane highway intoa 12-lane superhighway. Design-build contractinghelped the Utah Department of Transportation finishthe job under budget and ahead of schedule – inplenty of time for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

Planning for Today’s Travelers

Transportation experts recognize a growing need todesign roads that fit their physical setting and pre-

serve the environment while maintaining safety andmobility for travelers. One name for that approach toplanning is context-sensitive design, which considersthe total context in which a transportation project willexist and tries to achieve a balance among the factorsinvolved. The intent is to create transportation systemsthat integrate roadways smoothly into communitiesand the environment.

Scanning team members encountered this context-sensitive approach to planning and design in severalEuropean countries, where planners use a collabora-tive process involving a variety of stakeholders todevelop transportation projects. As a result of thescan, U.S. and European experts have exchanged in-formation and ideas to expand knowledge of this de-sign process on both sides of the Atlantic.

Two categories of travelers that get special attention inmany European countries are bicyclists and pedestri-ans, whose concerns are included in every element oftransportation planning. From car-free zones to urbanbike paths to traffic signals with infrared sensors thatdetect the presence of pedestrians, European innova-tions offered many ideas to a scan team for improvingbicycle and pedestrian facilities in the United States.

Since the scan, planning techniques and safety featuresfor cyclists and walkers have been the subject of work-shops across the country and a comprehensive FHWAreport. The Minnesota Department of Transportationdeveloped a bicyclist and pedestrian safety demon-stration project in the city of Hutchinson. Several cit-ies, including Los Angeles and Rochester, N.Y., haveinstalled automated pedestrian detectors.

Scan teams visiting Europe found many ideas for improving bicyclist and pedestrian safety inthe United States.

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Another city that has put European design ideas intopractice is Phoenix, which boasts 412 miles of bicyclelanes on a 3,945-mile street system as well as an im-pressive sidewalk network. Among the safety tech-niques Phoenix has adopted are landscaping betweenstreets and sidewalks to add a buffer between pedes-trians and cars. It also was one of the first cities in thecountry to equip all of its buses with bike racks. Themeasures earned Phoenix recognition from Bicyclingmagazine as one of the top 10 U.S. cities for biking.

“The primary thing we brought back from the scanwas the confidence that these techniques work,” ob-serves Michael Cynecki of the city’s traffic depart-ment. “We had been planning to use a number ofthem in Phoenix, but we did not have the experiencewith them that traffic engineers in other countrieshad. Seeing them in use gave us the confidence to goahead. As a result, Phoenix has become a much morebike- and pedestrian-friendly city.”

Designing Safer Roads

Traffic – and lots of it – is a common characteristic ofurban areas around the world. As highway conges-tion surges, transportation experts seek new ways toaccommodate increased demand while enhancingsafety. U.S. traffic engineers traveled to Europe totake a look at how other countries are improving traf-fic operations.

Among the practices they observed was traffic calm-ing, a collection of technologies that reduce trafficspeeds through residential or highly dense pedestrian

Traffic calming and context-sensitive design techniques in Phoenix, such as lane narrowing andbicycle lanes, use the roadway itself to reduce traffic speeds instead of police enforcement.

Separated bicyclelanes in Europeencourage increasedbicycle use in urbanareas whileprotecting cyclistsfrom the flow ofvehicular traffic.

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areas. They include speed humps, roundabouts, lanenarrowing and other methods that use the roadwayitself to control speed instead of police enforcement.

States and localities across the country have adoptedideas scan teams brought back. Speed enforcementtechniques, such as photo radar to combat aggressivedriving and cameras to catch red-light runners, areused in many urban areas. Several States have imple-mented variable speed limit programs in which speedlimits are adjusted as traffic and weather conditionschange, resulting in better traffic flow and increasedsafety.

Two European traffic control practices that earnedhigh marks from teams for potential U.S. applicationare under study. One is tiger tail marking, a paintedpattern used on multilane freeway entrances and exitsthat creates a buffer between lanes and clearly indi-cates the merge point for each lane. Another is all-white pavement markings, which offer greater visibil-ity, higher contrast and lower costs than traditionalyellow-and-white markings.

One State that has been aggressive in adopting safetytechnology is Washington. It has installed such inno-vations as traffic calming circles, crosswalks withlights imbedded in the pavement, wildlife detectionsystems that flash when animals venture near roads,and variable speed limit signs.

Brian Walsh of the Washington State Department ofTransportation was part of a group that hosted trafficexperts from other countries who visited the State tosee how it uses safety enhancements. Such networkingopportunities are “essential in getting the knowledgewe need to convince our own management of the ben-efits of a new technology or innovation,” Walsh says.

A key way to improve highway safety is to treat thecauses of crashes before they occur. U.S. safety expertstraveled to Australia and New Zealand to study howthose countries use road safety audits. Safety auditsare a process that uses a team of experts to identifydangerous features of existing or future road projects.Variable speed limit signs, first observed on a tour of European highway operations, allow

speed limits to be adjusted as weather conditions change on Washington State highways.

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After the scan, FHWA and the Institute of Transporta-tion Engineers developed a seminar for State trans-portation departments interested in launching auditprograms. About a dozen States have completed orsigned up for the program. The engineers’ group alsoestablished a Web site where States can access re-sources related to road safety audits.

Kentucky, one of the first States to participate in theroad safety audit training program, put 140 highwayprofessionals through the course. As part of their training,teams of experts from one highway district audited a con-struction project in another district, examining 12 projectsin all for safety hazards.

“Basically, we’re looking for potential crashes,” saysJoanne Tingle of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.“That’s why we use multidisciplinary teams, so we cancatch anything that could contribute to an accident. Ourdistrict people found that this process helps us make surewe have the safest product possible for Kentucky drivers.Safety is a priority for us, and this gets us closer to ourgoal.”

Scanning for New Ideas

The International Technology Scanning Program is anongoing process. While programs to test and implementideas brought back from earlier scans are carried out, fu-ture scans are planned and organized. Some scans aredesigned to build on knowledge gained from what pastteams observed and subsequent research on the topic,while others explore new areas of technology.

FHWA and AASHTO share funding for the program, withAASHTO’s funding provided through the TransportationResearch Board’s National Cooperative Highway ResearchProgram. FHWA and AASHTO also work together toselect scan topics. The two organizations solicit potentialsubjects, FHWA from its core business and service units,regional resource centers and field offices, and AASHTOthrough its committees. They evaluate each proposed scanon whether it will produce technologies or procedures thatthe U.S. transportation community can adopt and whethera scan is the best way to learn about those technologies.

After observing the use of traffic circles in Europe, scan teams encouraged their construction in theUnited States to improve traffic flow at intersections.

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The organizations agree on no more than a dozen topics toexplore over a two-year period. Among the topics upcom-ing teams plan to study are signalized intersection safety,winter operations management, asphalt pavement warran-ties, underground highway systems, environmental plan-ning and design, and innovative technology for acceleratedconstruction of bridge foundations.

After a scan topic wins approval, a team of about a dozenspecialists in the area to be investigated is formed. FHWAand AASHTO each provide a co-chair. FHWA choosesadditional team members from its ranks, while AASHTOselects participants from State transportation departments.Scan co-chairs work with FHWA and AASHTO to inviteappropriate municipal, county or other public sector repre-

sentatives to join the team. The co-chairs also contact pri-vate sector professional organizations and associations toinvite representatives to join the team at their own expense.

The composition of the team is vital to the scan study’ssubsequent impact on technology adoption. Team mem-bers are selected not only for their expertise in the areabeing investigated, but for their ability to pass on whatthey have learned to the domestic transportation commu-nity and convince their peers to try new ideas. The goal isto provide hands-on knowledge of foreign technologies toleaders of public agencies and private industry. They, inturn, stimulate the introduction of the most promisinginnovations within their organizations and, ultimately,throughout the country.

Finding out more about what scan teams learn overseas issimple. Soon after they return, teams publish a summaryof what they observed. They follow up with a comprehen-sive report, widely distributed among the transportationcommunity, that includes details on their findings andrecommendations.

Each team puts together a scan technology implementationplan that focuses on activities that will expose broad audi-ences of transportation experts to ideas gained from scans.Activities include briefings, workshops, articles, publica-tions, Web postings, translations of foreign technical docu-ments, and exhibits at major highway and transportationconferences. They also include research and demonstrationprograms around the country that explore how foreigntechnologies can best be adapted for American use.

A scan on recycled materials in highway construction in Europe led to aU.S. pilot project on the use of foam bitumen in recyled asphalt.

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Iowa DOT’s Smithson is one of many scan participantswho have shared what they learned overseas in presenta-tions to professional colleagues. “When I showed slides Ibrought back from the winter road maintenance scan, Ihad 250 people in the audience saying, ‘This looks great!How can we get going on this?’ Scanning studies give usthe ability to gain years of enthusiasm and experience andguidance on new technologies.”

Free copies of all scanning study reports are available fromFHWA’s Office of International Programs, and all can beaccessed at www.international.fhwa.dot.gov. Also avail-able is FHWA’s handbook, “International Guide to Trans-portation Information.” It lists a variety of foreign anddomestic information sources, including highway trans-portation libraries, research centers, databases, electronicbulletin boards, organizations, associations and profes-sional societies.

For More InformationTo learn more about the International TechnologyScanning Program and how it benefits the U.S. travel-ing public, contact:Office of International ProgramsFederal Highway AdministrationU.S. Department of Transportation400 Seventh Street, SWWashington, DC 20590Phone: 202-366-9636Fax: 202-366-9626E-mail: international@fhwa.dot.govWeb Site: www.international.fhwa.dot.gov

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All reports are available online. Specially marked reports ( ) are available exclusively at www.international.fhwa.dot.gov.

InfrastructureGeotechnical Engineering Practices in Canada and EuropeGeotechnology—Soil NailingInternational Contract Administration Techniques for Quality Enhancement-CATQEST

PavementsEuropean Asphalt Technology European Concrete Technology South African Pavement Technology Highway/Commercial Vehicle Interaction Recycled Materials in European Highway Environments

BridgesNorthumberland Strait Crossing Project European Bridge StructuresAsian Bridge StructuresBridge Maintenance CoatingsEuropean Practices for Bridge Scour and Stream Instability CountermeasuresAdvanced Composites in Bridges in Europe and JapanSteel Bridge Fabrication Technologies in Europe and Japan

Planning and EnvironmentEuropean Intermodal Programs: Planning, Policy and TechnologyNational Travel SurveysSustainable Transportation Practices in European Roads Recycled Materials in European Highway Environments

FHWA International Technology Exchange Reports

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SafetyPedestrian and Bicycle Safety in England, Germany and the NetherlandsSpeed Management and Enforcement Technology: Europe & AustraliaSafety Management Practices in Japan, Australia, and New ZealandRoad Safety Audits—Final ReportRoad Safety Audits—Case StudiesInnovative Traffic Control Technology & Practice in EuropeCommercial Vehicle Safety Technology & Practice in EuropeMethods and Procedures to Reduce Motorist Delays in European Work Zones

OperationsAdvanced Transportation TechnologyEuropean Traffic MonitoringEuropean Road Lighting TechnologiesTraffic Management and Traveler Information SystemsWinter Maintenance Technology and Practices - Learning from Abroad (1995) European Winter Service Technology (1998)Snowbreak Forest Book – Highway Snowstorm Countermeasure Manual (Translated from Japanese)

Policy & InformationEmerging Models for Delivering Transportation Programs and ServicesAcquiring Highway Transportation Information from Abroad—HandbookAcquiring Highway Transportation Information from Abroad—Final ReportInternational Guide to Highway Transportation Information

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Acknowledgements

The Federal Highway Administration and its part-ners, the American Association of State HighwayTransportation Officials and the National CooperativeHighway Research Program, wish to thank the manypeople and organizations that have helped make theInternational Technology Scanning Program a success.

First, we would like to thank our gracious hosts andcounterparts in the many countries that the scanteams have visited over the years. The hospitality andopenness with which they have shared their insights,knowledge and information have had positive im-pacts on transportation systems in the United States,and have enhanced the professional development oftransportation practitioners across the country.

Ultimately, though, the success of this program lies withthe participation and commitment of forward- thinkingtransportation professionals from States, metropolitanplanning organizations, municipal and county gov-ernments, and the private sector across the country.Their dedication to acquiring, disseminating, andimplementing global innovations contributes to thecontinuous improvement of transportation in theUnited States.

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24Publication No.: FHWA-PL-02-002HPIP-1-02(10M)EW

Office of International ProgramsFHWA/US DOT (HPIP)400 Seventh Street, SWWashington, DC 20590

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