The RAC Region I teleconference was held on Thursday 1/6/11. The following individuals participated.

Dale Peabody (Chair)Maine DOT

Camille Crichton-Sumners (Vice Chair)New Jersey DOT

Glenn RobertsNew Hampshire DOT

Gary FrederickNew York DOT

Allison HardtMaryland State Highway Administration

Mike BoniniPenn DOT

Jennifer FitchVTrans

Wendy KippVTrans

Steve PepinMass. DOT

Mike SockRhode Island DOT

Ivy HarrisFHWA – Turner Fairbank

Chris JollyFHWA-Vermont

1. Minutes of the 11/4/10 conference call were approved.

2. Ivy Harris introduced herself and participated in the call. She recently joined FHWA Turner- Fairbanks. Has 25 years experience with State DOT. She is available as a resource and will be handling SPR Part II, peer exchanges and TT activities. Took over many of Bill Z’s responsibilities.

3. Had brief discussion of FHWA’s Every Day Counts (EDC) initiative. Research folks have not been involved to any significant degree. Should Research be involved ?

4. Regional Focus Areas

NCHRP 20-83 LongRange Strategic Issues Facing the Transportation Industry:

Glenn attended the workshop in D.C. on Dec. 8&9. Presentations were given on the 7 existing projects by the P.I.’s. All 7 projects are in the early stages. Each project is about a $1,000,000. At SCOR meeting it was determined that no additional projects would be funded at this time. Will wait and see how the existing 7 progress. Task force wants to fund a Communication Plan for $500,000 spread over 3 years. This will be voted on at next SCOR meeting.

Peer Exchanges

None recently. Still some follow up needed for the VT/Maine/NH exchange. Maine has already implemented some of the recommendations. Texas is having a peer exchange via the web to help save on costs.

“Show N Tell” on Conference Calls

No activity

TRBState Visits

No recent state visits. It was noted that a “State of TRB” report was recently sent out which has good info. and is worth reading. There was also a recent survey sent out on 2011 TRB state visits.

Cooperative Research Program

Dale discussed the NCHRP Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis Programs (IDEA) and the products list which was recently sent out.

New publications reported to RAC Officers during the January call include the following:

  • NCHRP Report 525, Volume 16: A Guide to Emergency Response Planning at State Transportation Agencies
  • NCHRP Report 674: Crossing Solutions at Roundabouts and Channelized Turn Lanes for Pedestrians with Vision Disabilities
  • NCHRP Report 676: Intelligent Soil Compaction Systems
  • NCHRP Report 668: Framework for a National Database System for Maintenance Actions on Highway Bridges
  • NCHRP Synthesis 411: Microsurfacing
  • NCHRP Summary of Progress 2010
  • TCRP Report 143: Resource Guide to Commingling ADA and Non-ADA Paratransit Riders
  • 2010 TCRP Annual Report of Progress
  • ACRP Report 41: Guide to the Decision-Making Tool for Evaluating Self-Tagging
  • ACRP Report 42: Sustainable Airport Construction Practices
  • Web-Only Document 11: A Comprehensive Development Plan for a Multimodal Noise and Emissions Model
  • 2010 ACRP Annual Report of Progress
  • HMCRP Report 2: Assessing Soil and Groundwater Impacts of Chemical Mixture Releases from Hazardous Materials Transportation Incidents
  • NCFRP Report 9:Guidebook for Developing A Freight Transportation Data Architecture

5. Leadership Activities

Discussed who was attending TRB meeting to coordinate RAC 1 meeting on Sunday.

6. 2012 RAC Meeting

Vt .gave tentative ok. Before definitive commitment wants to know exactly what they will be getting into- work load/time/target dates etc. Will follow up with calls to AASHTO/RAC/TRB.

7. Next call 2/3/11