WASHINGTON, D.C. — TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) issued a request for proposals to develop guidelines for the selection and maintenance of highway-related stormwater best management practices (BMPs) based on long-term performance and life-cycle costs. Proposals are due Nov. 8, 2011.

According to TRB, for each broad category of BMP type, while providing flexibility to address the local context (e.g., topography, geology, climate, urban versus rural, soil type, site constraints), it is expected that the final products will provide decision-making guidance on the following:
• defining long-term performance and selecting appropriate performance measures;
• predicting long-term performance, service life, and maintenance costs based on the best current information and practice;
• determining appropriate inspection schedules and procedures;
• determining appropriate maintenance schedules and procedures;
• incorporating long-term performance and life-cycle costs into the BMP selection process;
• ensuring that funding, staffing, and training requirements are understood and considered by all relevant functional areas within the transportation agency for the selection, installation, inspection, and maintenance of BMPs; and
• identifying life-cycle data collection and analysis protocols to facilitate future evaluation of long-term BMP performance.

To the extent possible, researchers should compare the long-term performance of structural BMPs to viable non-structural approaches.

Additional information is available at http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3192.