National Cooperative Highway Research Program, Transportation Board, 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20418

A -- ANNOUNCEMENT OF NCHRP RESEARCH ALLOCATIONS FOR FY 1997 POC Crawford Jencks, 202/334-3224. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials' Standing Committee on Research met in Washington, D.C., on March 19 and 20, 1996, and selected the following new projects for the National Cooperative Highway Research Program in Fiscal Year 1997: 1-35, Guidelines and Procedures to Aid State Highway Agencies in the Development of Pavement Performance Trends; 1-37, Development of the 2002 AASHTO Guide for the Design of Pavement Structures; 2-21 Economic Implications of Congestion; 2-22, Needs in Communicating the Relationships Between Transportation Investment and Economic Growth; 4-25, Automation of Materials Testing; 8-34, Major Investment Studies: Process Development Including Coordination with NEPA Requirements; 9-11, Verification Test Procedures for QC/QA Programs for Hot-Mix Asphalt Construction Using Contractor Quality Control Testing; 9-12, Adaptation of SUPERPAVE Binder Tests to Recycled Asphalt Pavement Designs; 9-13, Evaluation of Water Sensitivity Tests; 10-50, Methods of Rehabilitating Rigid Pavements Concurrent with Heavy Traffic; 10-51, Performance-Related Tests for Elastomeric Bridge Bearings; 10-52, Performance Tests for Modular Bridge Deck Joints; 10-53, Condition Evaluation of Prestressed Strands in Bridges; 10-54, Quality-Based Performance Rating of Contractors and Suppliers for Prequalification and Bidding Purposes; 11-7, A Feasibility Assessment of a National Reporting System for Highway Tort Claims Made Against Governmental Entities; 12-46, LRFD-Related Revision of the AASHTO Manual for Condition Evaluation of Bridges; 15-16, An Evaluation of Superelevation and Transition Design and Operations Associated with Horizontal Curvature; 17-15, Safety on Over-Capacity Rural and Semi-Urban Two-Lane Highways; 17-16, Accident Warrant for Traffic Signals; 17-17, Development of Guidelines to Improve Safety During Nighttime Construction or System Preservation Work; 18-5, Optimization of Dry Kiln Cement Properties for Concrete Durability; 22-14, Assessment of Updating Needs for the Procedures for the Performance Evaluation of Roadside Safety Features; 24-9, Static and Dynamic Lateral Loading of Piles and Pile Groups; 25-13, Assessments of Impacts of Highway and Bridge-Deck Runoff-Water Contaminants on Receiving Waters. Two additional projects, 4-26, Rapid, Automated Method for Determining a Complete Aggregate Graduation; and 21-6, Applying Advanced Technology Particle-Size Analyzer to Soil Sizing and Characterization, are contingent on the availability of funds. A preliminary announcement containing descriptions of these projects was distributed in April to all those on the NCHRP mailing list. The Announcement is also available on the Internet at http://WWW2.nas.edu/trbcrp under the heading ``Anticipated Projects.'' Project statements inviting proposals for most of these projects are scheduled to be issued in August and September 1996, and research is expected to begin early in 1997. In addition to distribution by mail, project statements will be available on the Internet as they are issued. Inquiries may be addressed to Manager NCHRP, Cooperative Research Programs, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20418. (113)

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