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2 measurement. References to topical coverage of the research plan are made only in the context of testing the plan against some of the important research topics that are currently being investigated or are anticipated on the basis of evolving demographics, technology, culture, economic conditions, and other factors. SUMMARY The criticality of transportation to the economy, the environment, personal mobility and opportunity, public health and safety, and other aspects of quality of life requires continuing efforts to ensure that the benefits of mobility are realized and that its negative impacts are minimized. Effective RD&T allows transportation systems to keep evolving and improving to meet the changing needs of their users. As described below, the U.S. DOT faces the challenge of coordinating efforts between its administrations and with other entities to provide a robust and strategic transportation RD&T program in support of the departmentâs strategic goals. Coordination across the modal administrations will not come easily, given the many institutional and financial constraints that the U.S. DOT faces. However, moving toward a strategic, coordinated research effort can improve the contributions of current and future RD&T to the achievement of national goals. The committee has made both short- and long-term recommendations; the former apply to the current plan and the latter to future strategic plans. Highlights of the committeeâs recommendations to the U.S. DOT are listed below and are explained in greater detail in the sections that follow. Short-Term Recommendations 1. The plan should explain the research context of the U.S. DOT, including priorities and levels of resources as well as the roles and authorities of the different modal administrations. 2. Some of the modal administrations have put a great deal of effort into the development of their own strategic RD&T plans, and the U.S. DOT should leverage the strength of these modal plans when developing its overall strategic RD&T plan. 3. The planâs performance measures should be specific to a strategic research plan and should measure mode-specific research objectives and outputs as they relate to the departmentâs strategic objectives. 4. The U.S. DOT should use the plan to describe past successes of and future opportunities for RD&T in order to provide a compelling case for the importance and value of funding transportation RD&T. Long-Term Recommendations 1. RITA should develop longer-range RD&T strategic plans for the department, and the U.S. DOT might consider partnering with university transportation centers (UTCs) to develop long-term research plans that take advantage of resources outside the department. 2. The U.S. DOT should partner with universities for cross-modal research as well as both basic and advanced research, none of which are department strengths. 3. The department should stay attuned to investment in transportation-related RD&T by other federal agencies, national organizations, and international research organizations, both to draw on and to contribute to these efforts. 4. A substantial share of transportation-related research is conducted by federal agencies such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, and the
