Public Roads Vol. 71 No. 3

Armstrong, Amit; Riley, Scott A.; Steinfeld, David E.; Wilkinson, Kim M.; Band, David; Perel, Michael; McCullough, Jody; Machek, Elizabeth; Gibson, David; Mills, Milton K.; Klein, Lawrence A. · 2007 · ROSA P / United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration. Office of Research, Development, and Technology

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Summary

This document is the November/December 2007 issue of *Public Roads*, a bimonthly publication by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). It features articles on environmental stewardship, transportation safety for older drivers, planning awards, and traffic detection technologies. The lead article, "The Greening of Public Roadsides," addresses the failure of past roadside revegetation efforts, which often relied on exotic species that failed to persist or became invasive weeds. To promote ecological health and reduce maintenance costs, the FHWA’s Western Federal Lands Highway Division (WFLHD) partnered with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to develop an integrated approach for establishing native plants. The resulting guide, *Roadside Revegetation: An Integrated Approach to Establishing Native Plants*, outlines a collaborative, context-sensitive process involving engineers and biologists from the project’s initiation through monitoring. Key innovations include "tall pot" stock types grown in modified PVC pipes to develop deep root systems, and mechanized planters that install these stocks through riprap or on steep slopes. The article argues that healthy native plant communities stabilize slopes, prevent erosion, and serve as a long-term defense against invasive species, thereby reducing the need for expensive herbicide applications. Another feature, "New Vehicle Technologies May Help Older Drivers," examines how advanced vehicle systems can enhance safety for senior motorists, who comprised 21 percent of new car buyers in 2006. The article highlights technologies such as infrared night vision systems, which compensate for age-related declines in low-contrast vision and glare recovery, as well as adaptive cruise control and lane departure warnings. However, it notes that these technologies must be designed to be compatible with older drivers’ physical and cognitive capabilities to avoid distraction or overwhelm. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is researching how to engineer these systems to ensure they provide net safety benefits without encouraging unsafe driving behaviors. Additional articles include "Spotlight on Transportation Planning," which describes a partnership between the FHWA and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to recognize innovative planning practices at state, local, and tribal levels. Finally, "A New Look at Sensors" discusses the FHWA’s updated Traffic Detector Handbook, detailing in-roadway and over-roadway technologies that enable adaptive signal controls and ramp metering to reduce congestion. The issue concludes with a guest editorial emphasizing the need for revolutionary solutions to traffic congestion, citing the $78 billion annual cost of delays and highlighting FHWA’s research into smart sensors and vehicle-highway automation.

Key finding

The publication presents a collection of advisory articles and policy updates rather than a single unified study with a specific empirical result.

Methodology

review

Provenance

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Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

Topics

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• perceptual countermeasures
• roadway lighting effects

Information type

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• Applied Guidance: countermeasure evaluation
• Empirical Findings: observational prevalence
• Methodological Resource: dataset resource