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Rosenbloom chairs the TRBExecutive Committee andserves as TRB’s InternationalSecretary; Professor of Plan-ning at the University of Ari-zona, Tucson, she is on leavefor 2012 and working asDirector of the InfrastructureInitiative for the Urban Insti-tute in Washington, D.C.Prozzi is Associate Professor,University of Texas, Austin,and Chair of the TRB Interna-tional Activities Committee.Micozzi is TRB Senior Pro-gram Officer, Management,Policy, and International Rela-tions. Houston is Senior Com-munications Officer, TRB.

As the words of the Disneyland songremind us, “It’s a small world afterall.” This observation applies moretoday than it did 92 years ago, when

the National Advisory Board on HighwayResearch—later the Highway Research Board(HRB)—was established. Today the organization,renamed the Transportation Research Board(TRB) in 1974, is more international, as measuredby the organization’s activities, the functions itsupports, the composition of attendees at theAnnual Meetings and other TRB conferences, thetopics of the research presented and published,the cosponsorship of major international trans-portation events, and the adoption of formalmemoranda of understanding (MoUs) with majorresearch organizations in Europe.

The growing international element in much ofwhat TRB does reflects the advantages of collabo-

rative research and the expanding efforts of keystakeholders—such as state departments of trans-portation (DOTs)—to partner with and learn fromcolleagues around the world. At least 10 states—from California to Minnesota, from Alaska to Geor-gia—are collaborating on research projects withgovernmental or research entities in Europe, theMiddle East, and Asia.

Transportation professionals around the globeare in closer contact through advances in trans-portation, telecommunications, and informationtechnology. Individual researchers, research cen-ters in other countries, and TRB have come to seethe similarity of the challenges faced in trans-portation sectors around the world. The resourcesavailable for a comprehensive study of transporta-tion problems are limited, making increased inter-national cooperation and collaboration valuablefor conducting research to address the challenges.

RESEARCH WITHOUT BORDERSThe Growing Role of International Cooperation and Collaboration

at the Transportation Research BoardSANDRA ROSENBLOOM, JORGE PROZZI, MARTINE MICOZZI, AND RUSSELL HOUSTON

Michael D. Meyer(left), GeorgiaInstitute of Tech-nology; TRB Exec-utive DirectorRobert E. Skinner,Jr.; and JosefMikulik, Trans-port Research Centre, CzechRepublic, partici-pate in an inter-national researchroundtable in2007. TRB pro-grams are open-ing avenues ofinternationalresearch acrossthe globe.

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Decades of TraditionOpportunities for OutreachWorld events and individuals from outside theUnited States have played a role in shaping TRB’shistory from the outset. According to Fred Burggrafand M. Earl Campbell, the primary authors of Ideasand Actions: A History of the Highway ResearchBoard,1920–1970, the contributions of research tothe war effort during World War I changed America’sthinking about the value of research (1). The Boardbuilt on this new support during its first five years,initiating the Annual Meetings and adopting othermechanisms to facilitate the gathering and dissemi-nation of information.

In 1924, the Board designated “contact men,”charged with creating a two-way flow of informationbetween state highway departments and the Board.The inaugural class of university contact menincluded a non-U.S. researcher at the University ofMexico.

In 1928, Roy W. Crum became director of theBoard and three years later started serving as theHRB representative to committees of the PermanentInternational Association of Road Congresses(PIARC), now known as the World Road Associa-tion. According to Ideas and Actions,

In 1941 Director Crum attended the Pan-Ameri-can Highway Congress in Mexico City. Upon hisreturn, the Executive Committee took note of theopportunity to extend informational service intothe neighboring Pan-American states and autho-rized Mr. Crum to explore the possibility forarranging translations of pertinent publicationsinto Spanish for distribution in Mexico and theCentral and South American countries. (1, p. 107)

International activities necessarily were curtailedduring World War II and in the early postwar years.

A dramatic change occurred in June andSeptember 1959, when HRB participated inexchange visits with soils engineers fromthe Soviet Union. The American Society of

Civil Engineers coordi-nated the exchange,which the National Sci-ence Foundation funded.In 1965, the HRB Execu-tive Committee estab-lished a Special Committeeon International Coopera-tive Activities in responseto requests from highwayengineers in other coun-

tries for a closer rapport with the Board. WilburSmith, who had worldwide consulting interests, wasnamed to chair the committee.

Expanding ContactsThe Special Committee started out with an impres-sive list of charges, including the expansion of inter-national cooperative activities, the incorporation oftranslations and research abstracts from major for-eign language publications into the HighwayResearch Information Services automated database,the planning of Annual Meeting sessions to presentinformation on research activities abroad, the par-ticipation of staff and committees in internationalconferences, and the expansion of contacts andexchanges with similar organizations around theworld (1, p. 108). The committee remained activeuntil 1976.

A brochure produced circa 1967 boasted that theBoard was mailing publications to individuals andorganizations in 59 countries. The brochure alsonoted that HRB had established bilateral coopera-tive arrangements with 22 highway research agen-cies, 11 universities, and 8 ministries of public worksthroughout the world for the exchange of publica-tions and research information.

In 1977, under the sponsorship of the U.S.Agency for International Development (USAID),TRB began a special project to enhance rural trans-portation in developing countries by improvingaccess to information on the planning, design, con-struction, and maintenance of low-volume roads.Through the three-year project, USAID producedand distributed thousands of compendia and syn-thesis reports to developing countries around theworld.

J. Jakob, Director, Swiss Federal Road Administration,welcomes attendees to a symposium on concreteroads in Bern, Switzerland, in 1973. Active from 1965to 1976, the TRB Special Committee on InternationalCooperative Activities gleaned information onresearch activities abroad and participated in interna-tional conferences.

A double drum winch(lower right) is used topower a simple, easilyconstructed pile driver inan image from Low-CostWater Crossings, a com-pendium from the Trans-portation TechnologySupport for DevelopingCountries project. TRBproduced the publicationin 1979 under the spon-sorship of the U.S. Agencyfor International Develop-ment.

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This circa-1967 brochuredetailed the internationalresearch activities of TRB,then called the HighwayResearch Board—forexample, distributing pub-lications in 59 countriesand developing coopera-tive arrangements withmore than 40 organiza-tions throughout theworld.

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Multinational PerspectivesIn the early 1980s, two Executive Committee taskforces studied the involvement of TRB in interna-tional activities. The task forces developed recom-mendations to increase TRB’s effectiveness in sharingresearch results and in receiving information ontransportation research from abroad that was appli -cable to the United States.

Through the efforts of the task forces, the Execu-tive Committee established 12 action items, includ-ing the creation of a permanent International Activ-ities Committee. The scope of that standing committeehas not changed since its creation in 1983:

This committee is concerned with the evolutionof an international perspective in all facets of allmodes of transportation within the scope of theBoard. In consultation with staff and volunteerleaders, it shall advise the Executive Committeeand Councils on specific actions that will help toachieve that perspective, including implementa-tion of the specific actions approved by the TRBExecutive Committee. (2)

Responding to the recommendations from thetwo task forces, TRB began to reserve spaces forinternational members on each standing committeeto gain multinational perspectives on the committee’sarea of interest. A committee could expand its mem-bership of 25 by adding up to four seats specificallyfor international participants; the limit was raised tofive in 2007.

New Millennium InitiativesTRB’s international activities continued to expand dur-ing the 1980s and 1990s as the organization’s portfo-lio grew. TRB entered the new millennium with an ar-ray of international activities that included compara-tive policy studies, internationally sponsored and

cosponsored conferences, international university rep-resentatives, cooperative international scanning pro-grams, the international sharing of bibliographic data,an international exchange for the analysis of pavementperformance data, loaned international staff and visit-ing scholars, and more. Many of these activities did notderive from a conscious effort to achieve internation-al scope but as logical outgrowths of shared interestsin transportation problems and of the substantial needto address similar transportation challenges jointly.

In its 2002 strategic plan, the TRB ExecutiveCommittee included the assessment of opportunitiesfor expanded international activities as an actionitem. The Executive Committee established a taskforce to review international activities and connec-tions, assess the need for expanding or redirectingthe activities, assess the interest of sponsors, anddevelop initiatives as appropriate.

Led by Michael D. Meyer of the Georgia Instituteof Technology, the task force recommended that theInternational Activities Committee develop a morestrategic approach to identify and achieve interna-

Harvey Fineberg (left) andMichael McGinnis,Institute of Medicine,meet with MaryvonnePlessis-Fraissard (right),World Bank, at TheNational Academies’Workshop on TrafficSafety in DevelopingNations in 2006.

Jean-Pierre Médevielle(left), then Secretary-General of the EuropeanConference of TransportResearch Institutes(ECTRI); GeorgeGiannopoulos, thenPresident of ECTRI; andRobert E. Skinner, Jr.(right) display the historic10-point memorandumof understandingbetween ECTRI and TRB,signed in January 2006.

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tional cooperation. The task force also recommendedthat the Executive Committee appoint a member toserve as International Secretary, and Meyer wasnamed to the post in June 2004.

In response to the task force report, the ExecutiveCommittee adopted an international vision state-ment calling on TRB to look for partnering oppor-tunities wherever possible. In fulfilling this mission,TRB has sponsored a reception for the growing num-ber of international participants attending eachAnnual Meeting.

Pursuing PartnershipsTRB pursued the plan with speed and vigor, strength-ening and formalizing many international relation-ships, while seeking to expand internationalpartnerships. Working with the European Confer-

ence of Transport Research Institutes (ECTRI), TRBfostered technical exchanges and supported youngtransportation researchers around the globe. As aresult, ECTRI and TRB held a formal event in 2006to sign an historic MoU to develop research partner-ships across national borders. TRB hosted its firstinternational research roundtable in 2007, withECTRI representatives from 14 countries, to shareinformation on common research topics and toexplore prospects for research collaboration. ECTRIand TRB collaborate in identifying items that con-stitute an action plan, renewed every two years.

TRB has worked with PIARC since 1931 butsigned a formal MoU in 2007 at the World RoadCongress in Paris. As a result, TRB hosted PIARC’sTechnical Committee on Climate Change and theEnvironment at a special joint session with TRB’sleadership at the 2009 TRB Annual Meeting. TRBcommissioned three white papers for the session,exploring the prospects and challenges of climatechange adaptation and of mileage-based pricing. SueMcNeil, University of Delaware; Cindy Burbank, Parsons Brinckerhoff; and James Whitty, OregonDepartment of Transportation, authored the papers.

TRB built on these international collaborativeefforts by working with the American Association ofState Highway and Transportation Officials(AASHTO) and the Federal Highway Administra-tion (FHWA) to host a U.S. exhibit at the 2010PIARC Winter Road Maintenance Conference inQuebec, Canada. In 2011, TRB, AASHTO, andFHWA again sponsored a U.S exhibit at the PIARCWorld Congress in Mexico City.

Also in 2011, TRB signed an MoU with theEurope-based International Transport Forum, agree-

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At its 2007 World RoadCongress in Paris, thePermanent InternationalAssociation of RoadCongresses–World RoadAssociation signed aformal Memorandum ofUnderstanding with TRB,cementing a partnershipof more than 75 years.

Médevielle (left); GuyBourgeois (center), thenPresident, InstitutNational de Recherchesur les Transports et leurSécurité; and a group ofECTRI representativesparticipated in TRB’s firstinternational researchroundtable in 2007.

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ing to integrate TRB’s online, searchable Transporta-tion Research Information System (TRIS) databasewith the International Transport Research Database(ITRD). The combined TRIS-ITRD resource, knownas TRID, is a multilingual catalogue that includesapproximately 1 million transportation research ref-erences. TRID supplies researchers with a powerfultool for understanding the scope and magnitude ofresearch under way worldwide on a large number ofchallenging transportation questions.

Upward TrendsTRB’s international impact and outreach have con-tinued to grow and expand, and additional collabo-rative exchanges and research partnerships areexpected between TRB and research organizationsaround the world. All trends are upwards—in almostevery year of the past decade, the number of inter-national participants attending the TRB AnnualMeetings has grown (see bar chart, page 9); the par-ticipants come to present research findings or tolearn about comparable activities in the United Statesand around the world.

At the HRB 46th Annual Meeting in 1967, 200 ofthe meeting’s 3,311 attendees were from 17 countriesoutside the United States. In 2006, 1,230 interna-tional participants attended the annual meeting—comprising 12 percent of all attendees. In 2012,despite severe economic conditions worldwide,1,748 international registrants from 70 differentcountries participated in the Annual Meeting, com-prising more than 15 percent of attendees.

Laying the GroundworkIn addition, the International Activities Committeeis expanding its long-term international cooperativeefforts. Working with ECTRI to implement key activ-ities in the MoU, the committee performed a com-prehensive comparative analysis of the similaritiesand differences in the institutional structures andfunding sources in the United States and in the Euro-pean Union for planning, implementing, and admin-istering transportation research projects.

The report, European–United States TransportationResearch Collaboration: Challenges and Opportunities,was published in 2009, laying the groundwork forcollaboration (3). The report was disseminated widelyvia the Internet through postings on the TRB andECTRI websites. In support of ECTRI, France’s Min-istry of Transport translated and republished the reportin French.1 The International Activities Committeeviews its role as bringing researchers from around theworld together to increase communication, share ideas

and research results, and develop research partner-ships in multiple transportation arenas.

The committee reflects only a portion of the inter-national presence in TRB, however—many technicalstanding committees have long had active and com-mitted international members. But the number ofinternational members has grown rapidly in the pastdecade, in part because of the expanded number ofmember spaces reserved for international researchersbut also because of the global nature of research intokey transportation topics.

TRB’s nearly 200 standing committees include771 committee members—almost 13 percent of allformal members—who are international scholarsand researchers addressing questions in subject areasranging from pavement materials to public transit toadaption to climate change. This number is almostfour times what it was in 2002, when the total ofinternational researchers serving as formal commit-tee members was less than 200.

Representatives from TRBand the European Com-mission discussed trans-portation researchcollaboration at an infor-mal meeting in 2010.

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Members of an ECTRIworking group analyzeresearch infrastructureinitiatives that wouldenhance the exchange oftransportation knowledgeacross internationalborders.

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Strategic PartnershipsThe second Strategic Highway Research Program(SHRP 2), managed by TRB for the NationalResearch Council, supplies another example of theinternational presence in TRB and of the interna-tional collaborative partnerships among researchersaddressing major transportation problems. Congressauthorized SHRP 2 in 2005 and subsequentlyextended the authorization to address some of themost pressing research needs in the U.S. highway

system: reducing traffic deaths and injuries, rehabil-itating aging infrastructure with minimal disruptionto travelers, and resolving reliability problems causedby congestion and inadequate capacity. The programis designed to translate research results into profes-sional practice.

SHRP 2 has formal MoUs with other nations. Twodeputy ministers from the Canadian TransportationAgency have worked on the staff, on-site at TRB, atdifferent times, since the inception of the program.Dutch and French transportation professionals alsohave contributed to SHRP 2 projects as loaned stafffor extended periods (see sidebar, below).

Through an MoU with Finland, TRB is identifyingsites suitable for research on the nondestructive test-

T he second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2)has benefited from the expertise of professionals from

Canada and Europe who are contributing to its mission andbuilding international organizational relationships, collab-oration, and integrated methods of research.

Abdelmename Hedhli joined SHRP 2 in 2010 through anagreement between TRB and the French Institute of Scienceand Technology for Transport, Development, and Networks(IFSTTAR). He focuses on projects tomainstream systems operations andachieve system reliability. These reli-ability projects include corridor plan-ning, organization and businessprocesses, incident management,geometric design, and intelligenttransportation systems. Hedhli saysthat his work fulfills two goals: toestablish relationships with fellowtransportation researchers and togain understanding of transporta-tion research organization in theUnited States—particularly, TRB’s model of volunteer-driven,nonprofit research. Other areas of exploration include theprocess of research results implementation. A merger of theFrench National Institute for Transport and Safety Researchand the Central Laboratory of Roads and Bridges, IFSTTAR is anexample of the reorganization of transportation research inEurope, Hedhli notes.

A common challenge for Europe and America is how tomake the most of limited funds for transportation research,observes Onno Tool, who comes to TRB and SHRP 2 from Rijk-swaterstaat in the Netherlands. Tool splits his time betweenTRB and the Federal Highway Administration, guiding imple-mentation of SHRP 2 reliability products. His goal is to opena two-way exchange of knowledge between Dutch andAmerican researchers, enhanced by face-to-face interaction.

The different approaches to research in the two countries—the structured method of this program and the Netherlands’more direct and hands-on style—have much to offer eachother, Tool observes.

After more than 32 years with the Nova Scotia Departmentof Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal (TIR), Ralph Hes-sian retired as Director of Highway Engineering Services and in2008 joined SHRP 2 as a visiting professional under an agree-

ment with the Canadian Council ofDeputy Ministers Responsible forTransportation and Highway Safety.While with TIR, Hessian had servedas the Canadian liaison to the SHRP2 Safety Technical CoordinatingCommittee. He now coordinates andmanages capacity and travel timereliability research projects and dis-seminates SHRP 2 program researchfindings in Canada. Participating inSHRP 2 provides him an opportunityto contribute to new and developing

knowledge and to products that advance transportation prac-tice, Hessian affirms.

Andrew Horosko began his longtime association with TRBas a visiting researcher with the first SHRP. Horosko returned toserve on the SHRP 2 oversight committee as Deputy Minister ofInfrastructure and Transportation in Manitoba, Canada. Whenhe retired in 2009, he took on an assignment to coordinate thesix data collection sites in the SHRP 2 naturalistic driving study.An engineer by training and an administrator by practice,Horosko is inspired by the integration of technology and thefree exchange of information among SHRP 2 participants. Thefirst SHRP imparted a vision for a positive relationship betweentransportation professionals in Canada and the United States,he recalls, and he has observed the continued collaborativedevelopment under SHRP 2.

Visiting Professionals Bring International Perspective

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In their work with SHRP 2, Onno Tool (left) andAbdelmename Hedhli apply their expertise and developcollaborative approaches and exchanges.

The 2009 publication European–United StatesTransportation Research Collaboration: Challengesand Opportunities was translated into French andrepublished by France’s Ministry of Transport.

QUICK FACTSInternational Participation in TRB

Number of International Attendees at TRB Annual Meetings, 2004–2012

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ing of highway materials and for cooperative researchefforts. In addition, other countries are expandingtheir research efforts to parallel SHRP 2 work; forexample, Canada is initiating its own naturalistic driv-ing study, equipping cars to record drivers’ movementsunder various situations to develop highway and in-vehicle safety improvements.

SHRP 2 undertakes its research through compet-itively awarded, merit-based contracts withresearchers. A Swedish group was chosen as theprime contractor on one project, and subcontractorson other projects include researchers from Canada,Denmark, England, and the Netherlands.

The SHRP 2 staff communicates often withresearchers around the world who are working onsimilar problems; some staff members serve on advi-sory committees for parallel work under way inEurope. In 2011, a SHRP 2 delegation was invited toa conference in China, to present the program’s workin infrastructure renewal and traffic safety (see side-bar, page 11).

Addressing Mutual InterestsThe international presence in TRB activities andmeetings, and TRB’s partnerships and collaborationswith similar research organizations around the

world, result from the recognition that research andanalysis can help address the myriad global, com-mon, and local problems productively and effec-tively:

u 70 percent of the people accessing TRIDare from outside the United States.

u More than 20 percent of the 30,000 subscribers of the TRB TransportationResearch E-Newsletter reside outside theUnited States.

u 771 of TRB’s standing committee mem-bers—almost 13 percent—are from out-side the United States.

u TRB’s influence is global—in the past year,nearly 3.5 million visits or approximately65 percent of all visits to TRB’s website,www.trb.org, represented viewers in 216countries outside the United States.

u The number of international attendees atTRB’s Annual Meeting increased by 91 per-cent from 2004 to 2012 (see chart, below).The 2012 total represents 70 countries.

Magnus Quarshie (left),Delin Consult; SampsonAsare, University ofVirginia; and AdeyemiFowe (right), NokiaCorporation, converse atthe 2012 TRB AnnualMeeting. Quarshie andFowe were among thenearly 1,750international attendeesat the meeting, comingto Washington, D.C.,from Ghana and Nigeria,respectively.

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2005 1,052

2006 1,230

2007 1,295

2008 1,400

2009 1,537

2010 1,541

2011 1,562

2012 1,748

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u Global problems—such as climate changeattributable to transportation emissions—cannot beaddressed in isolation or by any one nation alone.Nations will need to identify and agree on possiblecorrective actions and work together to implementsolutions.

u Common problems include safety, congestion,and obsolete or inadequate transportation infra-

structure. Although each nation can address theseproblems independently, working together offersopportunities to use research funds more efficientlywhile bringing multiple perspectives to bear on theproblems.

u Local problems may affect only one region, orone country, or the borders between countries.Although the solutions must be local, decision mak-ers in the affected areas can learn from the experi-ences of other countries. International exchangesallow researchers to share ideas with those who haveaddressed similar problems or who have conductedresearch that could be relevant to the needs of localtransportation professionals.

In November 2011 TRB held a special workshopfor stakeholders and international researchers andparticipants to begin the development of a newinternational strategic plan for TRB (see sidebar,page 12). The final elements of the plan are still tobe determined, but TRB will continue its nearlycentury-old goal of promoting and facilitating inter-national research collaborations that address majorglobal and common transportation problems, aswell as providing guidance for local solutions.

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M any public transportation agencies inthe United States use performance mea-

sures to maximize resources, improve opera-tions and customer service, and meet strategicgoals. In 2009, a team of professionals fromtransit systems throughout the United Statesvisited four areas in Southeast Asia—HongKong; Singapore; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; andTaipei, Taiwan—to examine how public trans-portation agencies apply the results of perfor-mance measurements. The findings werepublished in TCRP Research Results Digest 95,Performance Measurements and Outcomes.

Team members gained familiarity witheach agency’s history, political structure, oper-ation, management framework, and perfor-mance measurement systems. Among thechallenges common to transit agencies inAmerica and Asia are safety, cost control, andcontinued quality of service; areas of differ-ence include population densities, politics,and levels of investment in transit. The reviewwas organized around a performance mea-surement model comprising strategy devel-

opment, specific actions, reporting mecha-nisms, quality control, agency improvementmethods, and strategy refinement.

The team found that the Asian transit agen-cies followed a model that made customer satisfaction a priority. The agencies establishedgoals and objectives, developed strategies formeeting those objectives, defined performancecriteria and targets, measured the progress,and developed inputs for future objectives. Themodels integrated some standards—such asbenchmarking and those of the InternationalOrganization for Standardization—butwhether these standards were integrated inter-nally or were set by government regulators wasnot clear. Most performance targets, however,were based on past performance, instead ofon specific goals. The research also showed thatfor most systems, continuous improvement wasnot always clearly articulated in an organiza-tion’s strategies.

TCRP Research Results Digest 95 can beaccessed at http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/tcrp/tcrp_rrd_95.pdf.

Asian Transit Agencies Demonstrate Performance Measures for Improved Service

A delegation oftransportation professorsfrom Lanzhou JiaotongUniversity in northwestChina visited TRB in 2003as part of a nationwidetour of academic,governmental, andprivate-sectorinstitutions. Researchpartnerships allowcountries to addressglobal and localproblems together.

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In June 2011, a delegation representing the second StrategicHighway Research Program (SHRP 2) participated in the

China–U.S. Seminar on Highway Technology in Beijing. SHRP2 committee members, contractors, and staff specializing in ar-eas of renewal and safety research met with representativesfrom the Research Institute of Highways (RIOH), part of Chi-na’s Ministry of Transport, to share research approaches andfindings.

SHRP 2 renewal research is advancing tools for transporta-tion agencies to complete highway projects consistently andquickly, while minimizing disruption to the community and pro-ducing long-lasting facilities. Renewal research products includethe following:

u Advanced technological methods for locating under-ground utilities, including the tools for selecting the most ap-propriate technology for a project;

u Procedures to speed the evaluation of designs and the in-spection of construction;

u Methods and materials for preserving, rehabilitating, andreconstructing roadways and bridges; and

u Alternative strategies for contracting, financing, and man-aging projects and for mitigating institutional barriers.

To gain key insights into driving behavior, the SHRP 2 safe-ty program is conducting a study of unprecedented scope andscale. Major highway safety research themes include the fol-lowing:

u A naturalistic driving study (NDS) involving 3,100 volun-teer participants driving instrumented vehicles;

u Collecting roadway data to correlate driving behavior withroadway design;

u Analyzing high-priority safety issues, with a focus on po-tential countermeasures; and

u Developing a rich database for future research.

The technical exchange opened and concluded with ple-nary sessions. Two days were devoted to technical breakout ses-sions; on the third day, participants visited RIOH’s testing facilitiesoutside of Beijing. In the opening plenary session, a RIOH rep-resentative introduced China’s National Road Safety Science andTechnology Action Plan, and SHRP 2 staff provided an overviewof research in the four focus areas of capacity, reliability, renewal,and safety.

Participants in the breakout sessions on bridge and pave-ment technical issues discussed the state of highway and bridgeinfrastructure in China and in the United States. Emerging is-sues in the design, construction, maintenance, and preserva-tion of pavements and bridges—as well as long-term dataarchival needs—also were explored.

In the safety-focused sessions, SHRP 2 representatives pre-sented information on the NDS and on the roadway data col-lection projects supporting highway safety analysis. Other top-ics included the Highway Safety Manual, highway safety researchin the United States, and the U.S. Road Assessment Program. RIOHrepresentatives detailed China’s National Road Safety Action Plan,summarized research on human factors in highway safety, anddiscussed China’s road network risk assessment program.

For more information about SHRP 2 renewal research, vis-it www.trb.org/SHRP2/ Renewal; for information about SHRP2 safety research, visit www.trb.org/SHRP2/Safety.

Bryant is Senior Program Officer, Renewal, and Fay is Senior Pro-gram Officer, Safety, with TRB’s Second Strategic Highway ResearchProgram in Washington, D.C.

China–U.S. Exchange Focuses on Highway Renewal and Safety

J A M E S W . B R Y A N T , J R . , A N D C H A R L E S R . F A Y

Jinquan Zhang, Deputy Director General of China’s Research Institute of Highways; Neil Hawks, first Director of SHRP 2; and Charles Fay, SHRP 2 Senior Program Officer, participate in a discussion at the China–U.S. Seminar on Highway Technology.

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More than ever before, TRB presents individualscholars, transportation organizations, and govern-mental research agencies around the world with theopportunity to interact at many levels to address

mutual interests in transportation in compellingand exciting ways. TRB’s network of internationalactivities provides forums for international trans-portation professionals to work together to createsafer, more effective, efficient, equitable, and sus-tainable transportation systems, meeting the needsof a world that seems smaller even as transportationchallenges loom larger.

References1. Burggraf, F., M. E. Campbell, W. N. Carey, Jr., and K. Cook.

Ideas and Actions: A History of the Highway Research Board,1920–1970. National Research Council, National Academyof Sciences, Washington, D.C., 1971.

2. TRB Online Directory: International Activities (A0010).www.trb.org/ CommitteeandPanels/OnlineDirectory.aspx#DetailsType=Committee&ID=2070.

3. TRB-ECTRI Working Group on EU–U.S. TransportationResearch Collaboration. European–United States Trans-portation Research Collaboration: Challenges and Opportu-nities. February 2009. http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/general/EU-USResearch.pdf; www.ectri.org/Docu-ments/Publications/Strategic-documents/WG10report_EU-UScooperation_pub_EN.pdf.

I n November 2011, a group of TRB represen-tatives and stakeholders with international

backgrounds and interests convened to iden-tify actions, activities, and initiatives tostrengthen international research collabora-tion. Among the possible initiatives examinedwere regular international symposia, orga-nized around a topic of broad internationalinterest, and programs for young researchers,in association with other TRB activities orlinked to similar programs organized by theEuropean Conference of Transport ResearchInstitutes.

Participants discussed ways to develop con-nections between TRB standing technical committees and World Road Association com-mittees—matching up interests, anticipatingcollaborative activities, sharing information,and encouraging teamwork—and to stimulateinternational participation on all TRB commit-tees. Ideas for facilitating partnerships withinternational stakeholders included developingresearch area frameworks, supporting infor-mation exchanges among researchers workingin the same fields, pairing projects with similargoals and scopes of work, and brokering in-depth collaborations among teams in the

United States and abroad working in relatedareas of research.

Participants also explored the establishmentof international research programs—for exam-ple, an international cooperative research pro-gram that would acquire funding and selectresearch topics and a strategic internationalresearch program that would specify researchtopics before obtaining funding.

Other proposals included the following:

u Conduct outreach to developing countriesthrough capacity-building activities;

u Create an inventory of sister organizationsoutside the United States as potential partners;

u Designate a group within TRB to follow upon international proposals;

u Develop a mechanism for standing techni-cal committees to provide input;

u Clarify the role and mission of the Interna-tional Activities Committee; and

u Reexamine and redefine as needed the vi-sion and goals first adopted for TRB internationalactivities in January 2003.

For more information, contact Martine A.Micozzi, TRB, 202-334-3177, mmicozzi@nas.edu.

Stakeholders Map out Routes for International Collaboration

Traffic in Kunming,China. Internationalpartnerships can applyresearch and analysis toaddress global, common,and local problemsproductively.

PHOTO

: MIC

HAEL

KODRANSK

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