"TRB Special Report 292 ... recommends the creation of an independent scientific advisory committee (SAC). The SAC would be charged with development of a transparent process for identifying and prioritizing research needs and opportunities in highway safety, with emphasis on infrastructure and operations, and using the process developed to recommend a national research agenda focused on highway infrastructure and operations safety. The report also explores opportunities to improve the quality of highway safety research." -- publisher's website.

The road improvement prioritizing system currently utilized by the Virginia Department of Transportation is similar to the method utilized by many states: it is a sufficiency rating system that evaluates proposed projects on the basis of points assigned for a number of variables. Although this type of system is commonly used, it has several limitations, including its lack of sensitivity to individual variables, the difficulty in assigning and interpreting a point total based on multiple heterogeneous variables, and the rigidity of the system after the point structure is established. In this report, an alternative method is introduced that consists of sorting projects in sequential ranking steps based on ranges of individual variables. The proposed method is simpler, more flexible, and requires less data manipulation than the present rating system. Individual variables have greater impact on the prioritizing process, and the resulting prioritizing ratings correlate well with results obtained from the previous rating method.