VOR TF Meeting Notes 5/13/15

AASHTO Research Advisory Committee Value of Research Task Force Meeting Minutes

Date May 13, 2015 Time 11:00 am to Noon Central Co-Chairs Bill Stone, Missouri DOT Scribe Cindy Smith, Mississippi DOT Linda Taylor, Minnesota DOT Subject Value of Research Task Force Quarterly Teleconference Attendees State DOT – members Other organizations – friends Linda Taylor, Minnesota (co-chair) Pat Casey, CTC & Associates Bill Stone, Missouri (co-chair) Jorge Prozzi, University of Texas-Austin Cindy Smith, Mississippi (secretary) Barbara Harder, B. T. Harder & Assoc. Darryll Dockstader (Florida DOT) Michelle Owens (ALDOT)

State DOT – friends

Tim McDowell (Wyoming DOT) Enid White (Wyoming DOT) Ann Scholz (New Hampshire DOT) Megan Swanson (Illinois DOT) Mike Connors (ConnDOT) Brad Overturf (ConnDOT) Kirk Zeringue (LADOTD) Hafiz Munir (MnDOT) Sue Sillick (Montana DOT)

Key Points Discussed No. Topic Highlights 1 Welcome & Roll Call Linda began the meeting with a roll call. Conference calls are normally the second Wednesday of alternate months. We added Kirk Zeringue, Hafiz Munir, and Mike Connors. Sue Sillick attended this meeting to talk about the RPPM website. Mark Morvant has retired from LADOTD, and we wish him well.

2 Review & approve March Minutes from the previous meeting on March 17, 2015, were Meeting Minutes & Action reviewed and approved. Items

3 High Value Research Update High Value Research Update o 2015 HVR Solicitation Update o Representation

. Region Chair’s Submit HVR . Region 1 had 6 states who submitted 15 Votes by May 15th projects, a 50% participation rate.

. Research Impacts Better – . Region 2 had 10 states submit 30 projects, an Faster - Cheaper 83% participation rate.

. Research Makes a Difference . Region 3 had 9 states submit 39 projects, a Brochure 100% participation rate.

o TRB/AASHTO-RAC . Region 4 had 10 states submit 27 projects, a Summer Meeting 56% participation rate.

. Sweet 16 Presentations . How can we increase HVR participation? July 28th 2:30-4:30 PM o Brochures . Sweet 16 Award . Presentations July 29th over Research Impacts brochure of 111 projects is lunch being compiled by LADOTD. . . Value of Research Research Makes the Difference will only include Taskforce Meeting July 29th the Sweet 16. CTC & Associates will be compiling 1:00-2:45 this document, and it will be available at the summer meeting. o 2016 Leaders Requested

Expanding TRB Poster Session TRB/AASHTO-RAC Summer Meeting 16 to 24 o Sweet 16 Presentations July 28th 2:30-4:30 PM o Misc. Topics o Sweet 16 Award Presentations July 29th over . NCHRP SP-05 Support for lunch AASHTO-RAC Taskforces o Value of Research Taskforce meeting July 29, . AASHTO hosting RPM 1:00-2:45 pm—looking for ideas for topics, website presentations, etc.

o RAC leadership is still discussing highlighting “honorable mention” projects that did not quite make the Sweet 16 but that regions wish to highlight. This might be at a poster or lectern session at TRB in January of 2016.

Miscellaneous Topics

o NCHRP SP-05: Proposed to add dedicated funding to AASHTO/RAC for task forces was approved for funding. The NCHRP project will provide support to RAC/SCOR for various websites (RPPM, Research Funding Guide, RPM website, and TPF) and the ability to hire supportive consultant to augment development 3 High-Value Research (continued) o AASHTO will be hosting RPM website. Our taskforce can request enhancements to support HVR submittals and discuss other issues at the summer meeting o RPPM website—Sue Sillick of the Coordination and Collaboration Task Force (CCTF) shared features of the RPPM website. The RPM website has information on setting the research agenda, carrying it out, delivering results, communicating value, and collaborating research activities. There is a documents section and a discussion forum. Documents are posted on communication, intellectual property (IP), project evaluation, etc., and ties these to the VoR TF. RPPM is a SharePoint site and would allow members to register and add documents to help distribute the workload. CCTF needs volunteers to keep VoR section up to date. There is some overlap with SCOR/RAC website; however, anything specific content can be linked between the two sites. HVR docs, minutes, brochures, HVR process, surveys are all on RAC site. VoR could possibly link to NCHRP or RPPM. CC TF will soon do a webinar about research resources and will post presentation to discussion forum on RPPM. Members can sign up for alerts and RSS feed for different areas. 4 Performance Measure/Quantifying Value o Soliciting for Working Group Chair of Research Working Group  We are still looking for a chair since Bill Stone  Soliciting for Working Group Chair now co-chairs VoR  If interested in chairing this working group,  Status Update let Bill and Linda know. o Southeast Transportation o Status Updates Consortium (STC)  STC: Kirk Zeringue (LADOTD/LTRC) advised that o Florida STC hopes to advertise the RFP at end of May. We o MnDOT Benefit Quantification talked about how to get the word out to potential Project PIs (university or consultant). This RFP will be  NCHRP Project 20-44(P) Evaluating advertised widely beyond the southeast region, and Implementation of NCHRP Products VoR could possibly help get the word out. The RFP o Building on Successful Practices will be posted on LADOTD’s website. The project is 24 months. Most work will be done in the first 18 months, and the last 6 months are to be review and training. Each project phase will have a deliverable, which STC will share with VoR. The TAC has been established within STC.  Florida DOT: Darryll Dockstader advised that FDOT is in phase 2 of their 15-month project. Phase 2 will build on the framework developed in phase 1 for evaluating projects. FDOT is reviewing 8 projects in various phases of the life cycle, from SOWs to kick-off meetings, from midway through to finished. The 8 projects have not been identified yet, but he is holding conference calls with project managers. Hopefully there will be more information to share at the next VoR meeting.  MnDOT: . The research benefit quantification project started in spring of last year. Based on the literature review, outreach, and interview of personnel in different technical areas (traffic, bridge, maintenance, bridge, etc.), MnDOT identified 10 projects that they can quantify benefits The consultant has developed spreadsheet tools to enter project info and quantify (lives saved, $ saved, etc.). The spreadsheet is being beta tested with the 10 select projects. Some projects were successfully while others struggled with having data needed for quantification. MnDOT is working with technical experts to address data needs. So far, estimates shows that 4 projects have resulted in approximately $59M benefit within the 3-year analysis period. . MnDOT is putting together a consultant contract to conduct a SP&R Part II program assessment. This would include capturing studying the benefits from transportation pooled fund (TPF) studies, AASHTO Technical programs, etc. They are finalizing the SOW and hope to finalize the RFP within the next 6 months.

 NCHRP NCHRP 20-44: Evaluation & implementation of NCHRP products. Pat Casey gave us summary of 18- month study. The information in this study can apply not only to NCHRP projects, but any type of study.

The taskforce discussed having a series of presentations or interactive discussion at the summer meeting on quantifying research benefits. Several states are interested in this area. States which have been quantifying research benefit for years, such as LA, MO, UT, might contribute.

5 Marketing the Value of Research o VoR is putting supplemental brochure with 10 structural projects. Work has been assigned to each  Supplemental High Value Research region to create project write-ups with pictures to be Project: Structure Emphasis ready for summer meeting. o Selection of Projects to o There is a concern that DOTs have with limited Highlight marketing staff and resources. We could talk about o Role of Responsibilities and how to market research, what is the biggest bang for Timeline buck (social media, newsletter), for different program sizes, and how to reach target audiences. We will likely send a survey through the RAC listserv regarding state of practice. DOTs that express interest in this include: o The Ahead of the Curve workshop will be held Sunday, July 26, 2015. o MnDOT and MoDOT will be moving to a new conferencing system soon, watch for updated information. Action Items No. Action Item Owner Target Date 1 Compilation of High Value Research Bill Stone July 1, 2015 Brochure information for the Structures Focus Area 2 Send feedback on ideas for the VoR Linda Taylor July 1, 2015 meeting at the summer conference Bill Stone 3 Sent information to CTC & Associates to Linda Taylor July 1, 2015 produce the Research Makes a Difference Bill Stone Brochure

4 Put together a panel of presenters for Performance June 18, 2015 Summer meeting to showcase how Measure/Quantifying quantified research projects Value of Research Working Group 5 Value of Research is soliciting a chair for All July 2015 the Performance Measure/Quantifying Value of Research working group

6 Develop a RAC listserv survey to assess Marketing the Value of June 18, 2015 effective communication methods Research working group 2015 Value of Research Meeting Schedule Conference Calls: Second Wednesday of Alternating Months 9-10 PST, 10-11 MST, 11-12 CST, 12-1 EST

 July 29th at 1:00-2:45 pm at the AASHTO‐RAC/ TRB Representative meeting th  Sept. 9 th  Nov. 18 (Holiday conflict so moved to alternate week)