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To improve safety in both the highway work
zone and the completed project.
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To relieve work-zone traffic congestion by
both improving the speed of construction and by building more durable
highways that require less frequent repair and reconstruction.
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To improve the durability and performance of
pavements.
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To raise the level of highway user
satisfaction.
Federal funding
The new Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient
Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users legislation established
total funding at $75 million for HfL through 2009, including $15 million
for fiscal 2006 and $20 million for each of fiscal years 2007 through
2009. This funding includes incentive grants of up to 20%, but not more
than $5 million of the total cost of qualifying demonstration projects.
A maximum of 15 projects may receive incentive funds in any fiscal year.
Up to a 100% federal share is allowed on HfL demonstration projects.
The FHWA has set the goal of providing funds for
at least one project per state by 2009. A state may also use up to 10%
of its Interstate Maintenance, National Highway System, Surface
Transportation Program, and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality
Improvement funds for HfL eligible projects up to 100%. Based on the
level of funding provided in SAFETEA-LU, the FHWA expects individual
project funding levels to range between $500,000 and $1 million.
In addition to fulfilling the four HfL goals,
Wathne said priority will be given to projects that deliver and deploy
innovative techniques, financing, contracting practices, and performance
measures.
State transportation departments must submit
applications for HfL projects. And the FHWA encourages states to work
with industry and other local agencies to perform an HfL project, which
must be on the National Highway System. The HfL program is designed to
permit applicants the maximum flexibility in methods, procedures,
processes, materials, and equipment.
But the goals of HfL reach well beyond funding
projects, the FHWA expert says. “A major element of the program is
technology transfer,” he says. “Our goal is to accelerate the pace of
project innovation. And we will accomplish that goal by transforming the
work force and the decision makers in their understanding and
willingness to embrace innovation. That is the strategic plan.”
The FHWA intends that HfL projects become
platforms from which to demonstrate the value and constructability of
innovations. “We want to provide an opportunity for people who are
important in accomplishing the Highways for LIFE vision to understand
and learn and exchange with others so they can go back and teach and
practice these innovations in their own setting,” says the FHWA’s HfL
expert.
Information about HfL innovations will be
disseminated through open houses, field demonstrations, and seminars, as
well as through print and electronic media. A demonstration project is
planned for Florida in May, when contractors will use a self-propelled
mobile transporter to pick up a prefabricated bridge and place it on its
foundation in a matter of hours. The entire lift-and-place will occur on
a Sunday between 11:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. The FHWA says it will provide
whatever project documentation is needed.
ACPA support
Already, the ACPA’s headquarters staff and field
engineers are actively supporting the HfL program. Several times, the
ACPA has publicized the program in its newsletter. As well, the ACPA’s
chapter state network is being encouraged to work with state
transportation departments to identify candidate projects for the HfL
program, Wathne says.
“We have to stop doing business the way we have
been doing it,” says Wathne. “We must accomplish construction more
quickly and put down materials that last longer. And we feel that
concrete is well-positioned to do that.”
In launching HfL, the FHWA has identified three
areas in which it is promoting new technologies and systems to achieve
some early success:
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Road safety audits, which offer an opportunity
to improve the safety of America’s highways.
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Prefabricated bridge systems, which can
improve bridge quality, reduce congestion, and cut costs.
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A range of activities devoted to making
highway work zones safer for both workers and motorists, and to
improving construction logistics.
Next year, the FHWA plans to begin forming
technology partnerships as part of HfL. “There is a great deal of
innovation out there that is on the verge of becoming adopted for
highways,” says the FHWA’s HfL expert. “It might be used in vertical
construction, or used overseas, but not in the United States, and we
have a limited budget to provide a boost for this kind of innovation in
the Highways for LIFE program.”
HfL has two vital principles. One is to secure
stakeholder input and participation, and the second is to evaluate and
document the effectiveness of ideas, methods, and technologies that
emerge from HfL. The FHWA says if it documents the benefits of HfL
ideas, the documentation will support stakeholders’ continued drive to
be innovative.
“We anticipate that we will announce the
selection of this year’s projects in 2006,” says the FHWA’s expert.
“We’re pushing hard. The states have already identified a lot of
projects on which they’re using innovations.” |
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