National Highway Research and Development Program (NCHRP)

National Highway Research and Development Program (NCHRP) is sponsored by Federal Highway Administration. This is a cooperative agreement with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to administer and conduct research on various topics selected under the NCHRP.

Properties: HeaderHtml--> Properties: HeaderHtml--> Styles (Left Hand Navigation): HeaderHtml--> Navigation (e87e2a15-dfc3-47ef-a265-a9ab77050102): HeaderHtml--> Navigation: HeaderHtml--> NCHRP Foresight Report 750 Series NCHRP Implementation Support Program NCHRP 20-123 Support for AASHTO Committees and Councils U.S. Domestic Scan Program the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) The States’ Highway Research Program Systematic, well-designed, and implementable research is the most effective way to solve many problems facing state departments of transportation (DOTs) administrators and engineers.

Often, highway problems are of local interest and can best be studied by state DOTs individually or in cooperation with their state universities and others. However, the accelerating growth of highway transportation results in increasingly complex problems of wide interest to highway authorities. These problems are best studied through a coordinated program of cooperative research.

In 1962, recognizing this need, the Chief Executive Officers of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) initiated an objective national highway research program using modern scientific techniques—the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP).

Funded by participating member states of AASHTO, NCHRP also receives critical technical support from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), United States Department of Transportation.

The Transportation Research Board (TRB), part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, was requested by AASHTO to administer the research program because of TRB’s recognized objectivity and understanding of modern research practices.

TRB is uniquely suited for this purpose for many reasons: TRB maintains an extensive volunteer committee structure from which authorities on any highway transportation subject may be drawn; TRB possesses avenues of communications and cooperation with federal, state, and local governmental agencies, universities, and industry; TRB’s relationship to the National Academies is an insurance of objectivity; and TRB maintains a full-time staff of specialists in highway transportation matters and research project management to bring the findings of research directly to those in a position to use them.

The annual research program is developed on the basis of research needs identified by chief administrators and other staff of the highway and transportation departments, by committees of AASHTO, and by FHWA. Topics of the highest merit are selected by the AASHTO Special Committee on Research and Innovation (R&I), and each year R&I’s recommendations are proposed to the AASHTO Board of Directors, the National Academies, and FHWA.

The scopes of research projects to address these topics are defined by NCHRP, and qualified research agencies are selected from submitted proposals. Administration and surveillance of research contracts are the responsibilities of the National Academies and TRB.

NCHRP Summary of Progress Through 1988 representatives of the predecessor organizations of AASHTO, TRB, and FHWA recognized the importance of a state DOT-driven research program addressing common transportation needs, and on June 19, 1962, the last signatory made the three-way agreement official that created the National Cooperative Highway Research Program.

The basic terms and philosophy of that original agreement have remained essentially unchanged over the past 50 years, resulting in findings and recommendations that have made a difference, be it through direct guidance to the state DOTs or other means, such as the numerous AASHTO specifications and guides and their updates that are based on NCHRP research.

This publication provides an opportunity to take a glance back at the history and accomplishments of the program that has been advancing transportation for the past five decades. Please click here to view our sponsor's message.