A myriad of common barriers can hinder research projects from achieving implementation. Within transportation agencies, many of these barriers are associated with organizational challenges, disconnected research outcomes, and workforce constraints. Organizational challenges arise from structures and processes that may not support effective research implementation. Disconnected research outcomes can lead end users to be unwilling to adopt those outcomes in their daily practice. Workforce constraints related to research implementation may involve staff capacity, skill sets, and levels of interest within both the agency’s research department and among the intended beneficiaries of the research outcomes.

NCHRP Research Report 1179: Overcoming Barriers to Implementing Research Outcomes, produced by TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program, provides a toolkit of strategies to improve the implementation of research outcomes and maximize their impact. The toolkit introduces a common language for describing research and its implementation and presents a series of frameworks that demonstrate alternative approaches to implementation planning. It also outlines strategies for overcoming the most commonly cited barriers to implementing research outcomes.