NCHRP Synthesis Program
NCHRP Project 20-05
Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Practices
Announcements
Propose New Topics for the NCHRP Synthesis Program
1 August 2022
Due by February 17, 2023
You are invited to propose a new NCHRP Synthesis topic. Upload your synthesis topic statement in a Word document to the NCHRP Synthesis Topic Submission Portal by February 17, 2023.
An outline to guide you in creating your synthesis topic statement is available here: Synthesis Topic Outline.
A synthesis study documents current practice for specific highway topics. The following factors are considered in the selection of a synthesis topic:
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The objective of the scope of work is to document current highway practice in state departments of transportation (DOTs);
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The synthesis documents current practice not best practice; it is not a research project or a guidebook;
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The topic addresses an area of practice that is widespread and of general interest to state DOTs; and
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The topic should be timely and critical for expediting delivery, improving the quality, or lowering the cost of highway programs.
New topics will be selected in May 2023 and will be posted on this website.
For further information on the NCHRP synthesis program, please see the Background section of this website. Scroll down to view links to NCHRP Synthesis topics currently under study and completed.
Questions can be directed to Jo Allen Gause by email at jagause@nas.edu.
Background
Highway administrators, engineers, and researchers face problems for which
information already exists, either in documented form or as undocumented experience and practice. This
information may be fragmented, scattered, and unevaluated. As a consequence, full knowledge of what has
been learned about a problem is frequently not brought to bear on its solution. Costly research findings
may go unused, valuable experience may be overlooked, and due consideration may not be given to
recommended practices for solving or alleviating the problem.
There is information on nearly every subject of concern to highway
administrators and engineers. Much of it comes from research and much from the work of practitioners
faced with problems in their day-to-day work. To provide a systematic means for assembling and
evaluating such useful information together and making it available to the entire highway community, the
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials has through the mechanism of the
National Cooperative Highway Research Program authorized the Transportation Research Board to undertake
a continuing study. This study, NCHRP Project 20-05, "Synthesis of Information Related to Highway
Problems," searches out and synthesizes useful knowledge from all available sources and prepares
concise, documented reports on specific topics.
The NCHRP Synthesis of Highway Practice series reports on current knowledge
and practice, in a compact format, without the detailed directions usually found in handbooks or design
manuals. Each report in the series provides a compendium of the best knowledge available on those
measures found to be the most successful in resolving specific problems.
Learn more about the NCHRP Synthesis Program.
New NCHRP Synthesis Studies
Current NCHRP Synthesis Studies
Completed NCHRP Synthesis Studies