 In the 1950s and 60s, taxpayers poured billions into new road construction. In the 70s and 80s, the system aged, while the size, vehicle weight and volume of traffic grew. The latest figures available indicate highway maintenance costs local and state governments $20 billion a year. That amounts to about one-third the total highway program cost. Experts also predict maintenance costs will double in the next eight to ten years. Why? There are two major reasons. First, maintenance work covers an ever-increasing range of activities. Besides repairing pavement, removing snow and ice, painting, mowing and sweeping, there are rest areas, size, lighting, sophisticated electronic equipment, guard rails, barriers and more. And the number of devices and equipment keeps increasing as traffic volume increases. Second, while the traffic volume is increasing, the system is aging. The volume increases further compounded by a rapid growth of goods being moved by trucks. What's more, greater volume and more trucks means greater danger and a need for nearly fail-safe highway maintenance operations. The result? Higher maintenance costs and greater hazards for maintenance workers. To address this growing problem, in 1987, Congress created the Strategic Highway Research Program, or SHARP. The purpose of the SHARP research, of course, is to help state governments and city governments and county governments perform a better job with the tax dollars they have available. And we are losing a lot of national productivity because of delays in traffic and because of hazardous problems that may exist on the roadway, from potholes to resurfacing projects, etc. We need to get in and get out quicker than we ever have in the past. And we need to do a better job than we have. We need to know that when we fix a road, it will stay fixed. But we do know that it ought to be possible to measure in a meaningful way the effectiveness of different surfacing techniques. The same is true of ways of preventing injury to work crews. We started almost day one saying this exercise, this high visibility, high cost, short term exercise has to have products. And so we believe that there will be improved methodologies for paving roads, for repairing bridges, for winter maintenance, things that people care about and that cost an awful lot of money. It was the top managers that we must do research in these areas. We need these results. It's those same top managers that will see that those results are going to be implemented out there. The SHARP research program was created by Chief Administrative Officers to better equip each state with the ability to solve today's problems and especially tomorrow's problems. That's the importance of SHARP. We funded this program with all the states as partners. They are the owners. And as they start using these innovations in the programs in the 50 states, they will be really managing for the future. SHARP's highway operations research covers two major areas, maintenance cost effectiveness and snow and ice control. Long after the SHARP research in these areas is complete, the results will live on as new products and procedures that will bring us cost savings and greater public satisfaction. How will we reduce costs? By improving safety and productivity. For example, SHARP is testing more than 20 prototype safety devices such as barriers, lights and signs. Barriers often need to be deployed quickly, but existing barriers are heavy and require extensive equipment and manpower to move. A hollow, lightweight plastic barrier may solve the problem. Water or sand is added at the site to provide the needed mass. It may save time, money and improve safety. Too many maintenance workers on foot are injured each year by out of control vehicles entering the work zone. A new personal protection trailer may provide an enclosed, protected maintenance area. Many other workers could be saved injury if they had some advance warning. Ultrasonic or infrared detectors could sense a vehicle entering a work zone. Then a siren would provide workers 4 to 7 seconds to clear the area. Other maintenance workers are injured in moving maintenance areas. A moving taper may provide the answer. It's a snake-like series of 20-foot trailers hitched together and towed by a maintenance vehicle. Snowplow operators and motorists are sometimes involved in accidents because they fail to see the edge of a plow blade. Such accidents might be avoided with electroluminescent light strips mounted on the outer edges of a snowplow blade. A substantial number of serious accidents involve motorists who collide with the rear of slow-moving maintenance vehicles. An interesting safety-related optical illusion may provide a solution. The verging lights of increasing size mounted on the rear of a vehicle will make drivers feel they are approaching the vehicle faster than they actually are. They should slow sooner and avoid rear-end collisions. Improved maintenance equipment using automation could increase safety and productivity dramatically. It might also reduce costs and stretch existing maintenance forces. As a result, traditionally labor-intensive activities would be streamlined. Faster, longer-lasting repairs are a key to greater productivity. Several sharp researchers are investigating new high-tech materials. These include a rapid-curing polyurethane-based substance that can be dispersed through pneumatic equipment and is ready for traffic in 10 minutes. And are ready to use premixed cold patch designed for wet or dry pavement and hot or sub-freezing temperatures. It's ideal for winter use. The familiar advertising slogan You Can Pay Me Now or Pay Me Later describes the challenge facing maintenance engineers. They decide the when, what, and how of applying proper maintenance treatments to help prolong the life of the pavement. Six techniques are being tested. Thin overlays, chip sealing, slurry sealing, crack sealing, joint sealing, and under sealing. Findings will indicate the best fix for a given pavement condition to extend pavement life and minimize costs. Application methods are also being studied. The result will be a comprehensive manual with guidelines on each technique, when each application is most advantageous, and descriptions on how to perform the technique. A Preventive Maintenance Bible for Pavements Winter brings its own set of expenses. One of Sharp's main goals is to find ways to reduce the use of de-icing chemicals. That means developing new, more efficient snow plows, plows that will move more snow faster at less fuel cost and with better visibility to reduce accidents. Sharp is studying the mechanics of the snow plow and how it actually displaces snow. They will devise an optimum design based on considerations such as how the snow compresses ahead of the plow, the shape of the plow, and energy needed to throw the snow clear of the roadway. A newly designed plow will mean more efficient use of energy and less re-handling of snow. Best of all would be to keep snow off the road in the first place. Snow fences have been around a long time. Sharp researchers are studying exactly how they work. The result will be improved guidelines for their use. Increased use of snow fences as a passive snow control method may mean improved safety through better visibility and safer road surfaces. They may also reduce the costs associated with mechanical snow removal. Other researchers using a controlled environment are developing evaluation procedures for de-icing chemicals. The result will be environmentally safer, more efficient use of chemicals. They are also working to understand the ice substrate bond well enough to find better ways of breaking that bond. In many ways, the elements that affect cost savings also affect public satisfaction. Better signs, warning devices, and other safety advances will reduce accidents that cause injuries to drivers or create backups. Faster setting, cold patching, and sealing materials will improve workforce efficiency and minimize repair times. All of these improvements will mean reduced congestion. Longer lasting materials for construction as well as repair will mean fewer repair jobs overall. If we can reduce the use of chemicals, we protect our drinking water and the environment in general. New storm monitoring methods and equipment may provide more precise predictions, so we'll know which roads to treat first and in what manner. Remote sensors and processing units will send continuous data to control centers. Using this real-time, local data along with National Weather Service information, highway agencies will be able to better deal with snow and ice. Sharp is developing guidelines for the use of sensors, road weather information systems, and more. As you can see, Sharp's goal is to help highway agencies manage the future. There are many more projects. The United States, Canada, and other countries are cooperating in this highly focused effort. And as the products reach the users in each highway agency, we're sure to see cost savings and increased public satisfaction. It's a big effort, but the potential payoffs are worth it.