ADOT director appointed to national research council oversight committee

We’ve blogged before about how vital research is when it comes to progress in the field of transportation…

Whether it has to do with methods, the environment, maintenance or safety; research plays a big role at ADOT.

Which is why it’s exciting to hear that ADOT Director John Halikowski has been appointed to the prestigious Transportation Research Board Subcommittee for National Research Council Oversight, a post he will hold until 2016.

This subcommittee of the Transportation Research Board Executive Committee was created in 1982 as a mechanism to ensure that the research board meets National Research Council standards for objectivity and that its activities are appropriate for the research council.

The subcommittee’s major functions are to monitor the Transportation Research Board with regard to committee and panel appointments and report review, and to assist with the periodic summary of programs presented to the National Research Council Governing Board.

Robert E. Skinner, Jr., executive director of the Transportation Research Board, said Halikowski is a leader in applying research to solve everyday transportation problems.

“John is one of the leaders in our field who really understands the role of innovation in making his constituent’s lives better. As chair of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ Standing Committee on Research, he has been a forceful advocate for deploying transportation research results in order to do things smarter, faster and more cost-effectively,” Skinner said.

Through his existing service on the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ Standing Committee on Research, Halikowski is involved with the upper echelon of research in the transportation field. The appointment to the Transportation Research Board oversight committee places Halikowski within the preeminent transportation research body worldwide.

“Arizona has become a leader in transportation research,” Halikowski said. “An appointment to the Transportation Research Board’s Subcommittee for National Research Board Oversight positions Arizona to be at the nexus of the best and most innovative research being conducted in the United States. It provides Arizona with a voice in directing the activities of an important national resource.”