AASHTO Standing Committee on Research (SCOR) Awards its 2012 Sweet Sixteen High Value Research Projects

The Research Advisory Committee (RAC) to the AASHTO Standing Committee on Research (SCOR) awarded its2012 Sweet Sixteen High Value Research Projects at its annual summer meeting held in July in Burlington, Vermont. Each year, RAC collectsHigh Value Research highlights from member states across the nation. These highlights showcase projects that are providing transportation excellence through research. From these submittals, each of the four RAC regions selects its top four projects to form the Sweet Sixteen Awards. This year’s “Sweet 16” winners are:

  • Assessment of the Impact of Future External Factors on Road Revenues, Georgia DOT
  • An Expert Systems Approach to Highway Construction Scheduling, Illinois DOT
  • Constructability Analysis for Pavement Rehabilitation Strategies (CA4PRS) Online Training, Washington DOT
  • Development of Guidelines for Usage of High Percent RAP in WMA, Pennsylvania DOT
  • Evaluation of Life Expectancy of LED Traffic Signals and Development of a Replacement Schedule, Missouri DOT
  • Fatigue Failure and Cracking in High Mast Poles, Texas DOT
  • Functional Assessment of Colorado Wetlands (FACWet) Method, Colorado DOT
  • Improving Intersection Design Practices, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet
  • Local Calibration of the Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG), New Hampshire DOT
  • Low Cost Structural Health Monitoring of Bridges Using Wireless Sensors, Maryland DOT
  • MDOT ImplementationPlan for GPS Technology in Planning, Design, and Construction Delivery, Mississippi DOT
  • Recommendations for Meeting the Transportation Needs of Michigan’s Aging Population, Michigan DOT
  • Recycled Asphalt Pavement in Hot Mix Asphalt, New Jersey DOT
  • Testing Ultra High-Performance Concrete (UHPC) for Prestressed Concrete Bridge Application in New Mexico, New Mexico DOT
  • The Economics of Potential Reduction of the Rural Road System in Kansas, Kansas DOT
  • The Relationship of SCDOT Damage Claims and Lawsuits to Roadway Engineering Safety Issues, South Carolina DOT

In addition to being presented at the RAC annual meeting, the Sweet Sixteen will also be showcased in a poster session at the 2013 TRB Annual Meeting. These projects were selected from 120 High Value Research projects submitted for 2012. To see the complete list of projects, visit the RAC publication, Research Impacts: Better - Cheaper – Faster, posted on its website,

Continually challenged to deliver more efficient transportation systems, State DOTs are committed to utlizing research and innovation to meet these challenges. All aspects of transportation, from planning and design to construction and maintenance, benefit from the power of research. The “Sweet 16” projects are just a sampling of the many pioneering works from across the nation. Congratulations to these award winners and all successful researchers dedicated to providing maximum return on transportation research investments.