The Role of Highway Engineering Standards in the United States of

Americaby

Dr. Anthony Kane AASHTO Director of Engineering and Technical

Servicesat The Middle-East Regional Congress

Abu Dhabi UAENovember 29, 2010

Presentation Overview• Explanation of AASHTO and the role of

states in the USA vis-à-vis the federal government

• The standards development process• Discussion of the importance of standards• Discussion of key roadway guides and

standards• Follow-up contacts–email addresses• Q & A

What is AASHTO?• The American Association of State

Highway and Transportation Officials is a nonprofit association founded in 1914

• Members include:– Highway and transportation

departments of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico

– 35 Associate Members from Federal, State, and Local agencies and other countries

• Covers all five modes:– Highways - Air– Transit - Rail– Water

Role of AASHTO• AASHTO is a forum for good road practices; and a

technical standards-setting organization ; and a policy making organization

• Similar to:– Nordic Road Association (Sweden, Denmark,

Norway, Iceland and Finland)– Austroads (Australia and New Zealand)– TAC (Canadian Provinces plus the private sector)

Variety in the USA

• Governance of the highway functions in the 50 states; for example with regard to highway safety (only two state DOTs have the state highway patrol police function; half the state DOTs have the behavioral programs ; and only a third have the motor vehicle and driver licensing function)

• Diversity of the states– Geography – Climate– Road systems’ ownership—on average 19% of the

public roads are owned by the states

A CORE Mission of AASHTOTo Provide Technical Services

– Develop Technical Guidance– Develop and License Software– Publications– Centers of Excellence– Laboratory and Product Assessments

2,000 volunteer committee members – Over 200 committeesGuidelines and Standards approved by balloting the State DOTsOver 200 titlesUsed worldwide

Technical ActivitiesDevelopment of Technical Guidance

Standards and GuidesDesign Standards; standard specifications ;and guides• Importance of them (way for the diverse USA states to

be united)• 20th century – pavements, structures, geometric design,

construction and maintenance• 21st century – same plus roadway operations, safety,

and ITS• Legal aspects vis-à-vis the federal government; some

required by regulation; e.g.:– the MUTCD on all roads (4 million miles)– the geometric design guide (the NHS—national highway

system—about 160,000 miles)– the bridge codes on all federal-aid projects

Process for developing and refreshing standards and guides

• The appropriate AASHTO technical subcommittee reviews relevant research and other findings and prepares new or updated standards (note :associate members of AASHTO partake in this process –foreign members; and toll authorities and large cities and counties)

• Ballot voted on by the Standing Committee on Highways ( the top highway official in each state)—2/3rd required positive votes

Types of Standards/Guides• Bridges• Traffic Engineering • Geometric Design• Safety• Pavements• Construction• Materials• Data• Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)

Bridge Standards – ExamplesNew Editions in 2010• LRFD Guide Specifications for the Design of

Pedestrian Bridges • LRFD Design• LRFD Construction • Technical Manual for Design and Construction of

Road Tunnels

New Editions in 2011• Manual for Bridge Evaluation, 2nd Edition• Manual on Bridge Element Inspection, 1st Edition• Guide Specification for Design of Externally

Bonded FRP Systems for Strengthening Concrete, 1st Edition

• Bridge Aesthetics Sourcebook—Practical Ideas for Short- and Medium-Span Bridges, 1st Edition

Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD)

• Standards and guidance for designing highway signs, traffic signals, pavement markings

• Power of law—federal regulation—all roadways regardless of federal funding

• Exceptions—engineering judgment

“Green Book” – Geometric Design• Geometric design criteria for new

roads and highways• Required on all projects using federal-

aid on the National Highway System• Updated every 4-6 years based on

new research• Current issues:

– Context-sensitive design– Exceptions– “Complete streets”

• Companion volume on flexibility in highway design

Safety Guides – Examples• Roadside Design Guide

– Safety treatments for minimizing consequences of leaving the roadway

– Synthesis of common practices, rather than a standard or policy

• Highway Safety Manual– Quantitative analysis of design

decisions on safety– Manual of new methodologies for

evaluating safety

Pavement Guides• Multiple documents covering various

aspects of pavement, including– Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement

Design Guide– Friction Guide– Local Calibration

Guide

Construction Standards/Guides• AASHTO Guide Specifications

for Highway Construction– Used by the states in developing

their own highway construction specifications – allows for flexibility within the states (state law, procurement methods, typical practices)

– FHWA maintains web site with state specs: www.specs.fhwa.dot.gov/

Materials Specifications• Materials Book (Red Book), 30th Edition

– Four Volumes, contains over 400 specifications– Materials covered include

• Concrete• Asphalt• Aggregate• Pipe• Traffic Paint• Reinforcing Steel• Many more…

TransXMLA New Data Exchange Standard

• Electronic data format standards for transportation engineering data – similar to HTML

• The goal: to provide for the uninhibited exchange of electronic data between various software applications and data customers – “Vendor-neutral” format – Inter-operability – all software and machines talking to

each other– Reduce costs, save time, and improve quality of the

resulting product • www.transxml.com

Laboratory Accreditation and Services

- AASHTO Accreditation available to member agencies and private laboratories.

– Laboratory Services include distribution of proficiency samples to laboratories in 22 countries outside of the USA• Participants in Lebanon, Libya, Egypt,

Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia

AASHTOWare (www.aashtoware.org) • Software solutions developed through a technical

service program at AASHTO• Allows member agencies to pool resources to

develop, support, and maintain software at substantially lower costs than custom/individual development

• Many applications based on AASHTO Standards• All 50 states license one or more AASHTOWare

products.

Software Developed Cooperatively by the DOTs

Construction Project Lifecycle: AASHTO Trns•port® – Modular suite of products– AASHTO BRIDGEWare ®

• Pontis ® – Bridge Management System• Virtis ® – Bridge Analysis and Load Rating

– In accordance with AASHTO LRFR requirements

• Opis ® – Bridge Design and Analysis– In accordance with AASHTO LRFD specification

AASHTOWare Products (examples)

– Roadway: DARWin-ME™

• Based on the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide

– Right-of-Way: Turbo Relocation™

– Safety: SafetyAnalyst™

• Based on Highway Safety Manual

AASHTOWare Products (cont’d.)

Follow-Up• General: Jim McDonnell, jimm@aashto.org and Tony Kane

akane@aashto.org• Bridges/Structures: Kelley Rehm krehm@aashto.org• Geometric Design: Keith Platte kplatte@aashto.org• Pavement Design: Keith Platte kplatte@aashto.org• Construction: Greta Smith gsmith@aashto.org• Safety: Kelly Hardy khardy@aashto.org• Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD): Jim McDonnell

jimm@aashto.org• Publications: Erin Grady: egrady@aashto.org• Software (AASHTOWare) Jan Edwards jedwards@aashto.org• ITS: Bill Brownlow: wbrownlow@aashto.org• Membership applications: Monica Russell mrussell@aashto.org

Questions

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www.transportation.org