was resolved, and since 1945 the BPR’s support of the HRB’s operational budget has averaged about 14 percent and that from the State highway departments about 60 percent. The balance has come from industry and cooperating organizations and associations.[1] Incidentally, the operational budget of the HRB does not include the cost of the actual research activities the HRB may administer—such funds are provided separately for specific projects by the BPR, the States, and, as appropirate, private industry on a project-by-project basis.
Among the various regular ongoing programs of HRB, the committee activities have been the most important. Committees have been organized within subject matter areas and can be created or terminated as needs dictate. The membership of the committees have always included technical specialists from BPR and the States; often these specialists have been selected to serve as either the committee chairman or secretary. Membership on the committees has also included specialists from universities and colleges, technical and professional associations, and the private sector in the wide scope of the highway industry. By 1926 six committees had been formed on economic theory of highway improvement, structural design of roads, character and use of road materials, highway traffic analysis, highway finance, and maintenance.
Since 1922 the Board has held annual meetings. These meetings have provided a forum for the presentation of technical and administrative research papers and have presented an invaluable opportunity to all segments of the industry interested in highway research to assemble and exchange information on the latest research developments. Attendance at the annual meetings has shown an almost continuous increase from the 30 who attended the first meeting in 1922 to a level that approaches 3,500 today. From the beginning until 1962, the technical papers presented at the HRB annual meetings were published in the HRB Proceedings. Other HRB publications have served over the years to distribute research information.
A Highway Research Information Service (HRIS) was instituted in 1930 for a broader means of research exchange. At one point the Director of HRB, Roy W. Crum (1928–1951), said he had always felt that HRB was an educational institution and that “The end product of our work is usable technical information, but it will be of no value to anyone unless it is learned and put to use by the technical man.”[2] In addition, HRB has produced Highway Research Abstracts, HRB Bibliography, Annual Report, and many other publications on highway and transportation research, which effectively carries out its mission “to collect and distribute information.”
A typical “trumpet” interchange providing service to and from I-80 (approaching from left) and local route 111 near Des Moines, Iowa.
In 1945, the HRB inaugurated the Highway Research Correlation Service (HRCS) which greatly strengthened its role in implementing the concept upon which it was created. The method of operation of the HECS was “for a staff of competent engineers and other technologists who can work in the various areas of interest, travel about the country, and find out the things we need to know about facilities, personnel, and needed information. They will carry information from one State to another, or to other research agencies. In the progress of this work they will gather for dissemination much valuable and
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