Highway Stormwater Management Training Materials and Electronic Resource Library
Focus Area
Water Quality/Wetlands
Subcommittee
Natural Resources
Status
Archived
Cost
$500k-$750k
Timeframe
2-3 years
Research Idea Scope
Research is needed to consolidate NCHRP and other research results related to highway stormwater management, update NCHRP research, document the efforts of various DOTs to comply with stormwater requirements, and develop a website to assist the highway practitioners in effectively managing their stormwater programs. The objectives of this research are to: 1. Update NCHRP stormwater related products (e.g., reports, guidebooks, tools) based on a prioritized list. 2. Create a searchable, updatable Highway Stormwater Management Electronic Resource Library that contains: a. All NCHRP and available non-NCHRP highway related stormwater management products b. Factsheets summarizing federal and state stormwater regulations c. Compile case studies of DOT approaches for regulatory compliance d. Provide a minimum of 5 individual training modules that include guidance addressing planning, design, monitoring and testing, treatment, and data interpretation for stormwater projects. The modules will be based on previous NCHRP research and reference the published reports. e. Templates to allow for the creation of highway specific training modules, and f. “Train-the-trainer” syllabus 3. Develop promotional materials (e.g., brochure, scripted PowerPoint presentations) to increase industry awareness and use of the Resource Library 4. Identify and evaluate options for incorporating the Resource Library in an existing or future industry continuing education program focused on highway stormwater management. TRB Committee AFB65, Stormwater, will serve as the manager of the webtool created by the RNS. The Committee will ensure that the information remains current and that the website is updated and maintained. Future RNS may be needed for major website revisions. A part of the Scope of this research is to identify a permanent host for the website.
Urgency and Payoff
NCHRP and other organizations that have funded numerous research projects (partial list attached) and the sheer volume of these reports may discourage highway stormwater practitioners from benefiting from their findings. Consequently, this timely effort will help practitioners readily identify material useful in the stormwater program. It will also be a benefit to AASHTO and TRB committee members considering future stormwater research needs statements. It organizes previous research, so it is clear what results have been achieved to date and where there are obvious future research needs. The case studies provided will also provide a template for developing a stormwater management program by DOTs that may be just beginning to face heightened regulatory scrutiny. The training modules will provide contemporary information on stormwater mitigation that is currently lacking. More broadly, this research will provide a web portal designed to contain the body of work published by NCHRP, DOT grey literature, and other DOT focused stormwater research, both historically and in the future. The information will be accessible through a master search function, keyed to topic areas, allowing the findings of multiple research reports to be examined together. This new tool will add exceptional value to past and future research by combining all NCHRP research reports in the Stormwater topic area effectively into one searchable reference. This type of tool reflects how practitioners will obtain data now and in the future, and ensures the utility of NCHRP Stormwater research investments indefinitely.
Submitted
04/24/2019