The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is directing highway agencies to set up or improve pavement friction-management programs (PFMP) to ensure driving surfaces are designed, constructed and maintained to provide adequate and durable friction properties that reduce friction-related crashes in a cost-effective manner.

Such a program would include continuous friction-measuring equipment (CFME) that would relate to existing systems for quanitifying tire-pavement friction on a programmatic level.

Through this new project, Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) will conduct a pilot study designed to implement a proactive PFMP for the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT). This study will use available CFME technology owned by VTTI that will prepare a statewide implementation by VDOT in a second phase, when the recommended equipment will be available.