The Research and Technology Coordinating Committee (RTCC), a special committee convened by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Research Council and funded by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), provides continuing guidance to FHWA on highway research and technology opportunities and priorities. Membership is drawn from top officials in state DOTs as well as university and private-sector research agencies; highway suppliers, contractors, and consultants; local government officials; highway users; and environmental and highway safety specialists. Since 1992 the committee has addressed a variety of topics, some at the request of FHWA and others selected by the committee in consultation with the agency

At the time of the RTCC's creation, state and federal highway agencies were increasingly looking to research as a means of improving the efficiency of the nation's highway system. In its 1992 Statement of National Transportation Policy the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) stressed its intent to significantly increase research, development, and technology activities. Among the major aims of an expanded research program were to undertake new initiatives such as exploring the potential for "intelligent" highways and motor vehicles; continue major research programs such as SHRP's long-term pavement performance test; and seek greater private-sector involvement in research than in the past.

More specifically, the committee's statement of task indicates that, as time and resources permit, it will address the following items:

• Create a continuing channel for independent assessment of research opportunities by establishing an advisory relationship between FHWA and TRB.
  
  
• Provide a source of broad-based research priority recommendations upon which the FHWA could draw in formulating its Nationally Coordinated Program (NCP) of Research, Development, and Technology, which is responsible for coordinating federally-funded highway research, much of which is conducted by states.
  
  
• Provide a mechanism for this guidance to consider the views of research bodies, highway users, suppliers, and contractors, along with economic, safety, energy, and environmental concerns, as these issues should appropriately influence highway research policy and programs.
  
  
• Facilitate increased international state, local, and private-sector participation in highway research and innovation and provide a mechanism for coordinating of research programs with non-highway research agencies dealing in similar technologies, such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
  
  
• Address issues related to innovation, the implementation and communication of research results and the application of technology in the field.
  
  
• Review, evaluate, and where desirable, recommend changes in the organizational structure, framework, and process through which highway research is conducted.
  
  
• Address issues of R&D management and policies within FHWA as they relate to the overall success of the research program and implementation of results.
  
  
• Identify research areas of overlap or duplication, and areas needing increased or decreased emphasis, considering prospective progress, costs, and program needs.