Series consists of records documenting the Transportation Projects Department (TPD) and successor units' research projects and activities, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) projects, and operational support to the Bank's lending and project activities in the transport sector. Specific records are further described within the sections below.
Highway Design and Maintenance Standards Study (HDMS) and Highway Design and Maintenance Standards Model (HDM)
The largest volume of records in this seriesrelate to the World Bank's Highway Design and Maintenance Standards Model (HDM) and to the research projects that served as the basis for the model's creation (1969 - 1988). The mathematical model resulted from the Highway Design and Maintenance Standards Study (HDMS) initiated in 1969 by Transportation Department (TRP) engineers to develop a new quantitative basis for investment decision making in the highways sector. The HDMS became a large-scale collaborative research project involving academic institutions and road agencies in several countries. Among the first collaborators were the British Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL), the French Laboratoire Centrale des Ponts et Chaussee, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States.
While most of the records in this series concern the third model version, HDM-III, released in 1987 and researched and prepared over the previous decade, a massive portion of reports and background research materials from the earliest years of the project are also included. Records relate to general methodologies, country-based studies and analysis of highway design, evaluation, damage, costs, pavement performance, roughness measurement systems, deterioration, and maintenance. Records also relate to proposals to modify the HDM model, work programs, release of HDM, and discussion of a Permanent International Association of Road Congresses (PIARC) Committee on roads in developing regions.
Project records include proposals, reports, research and discussion papers, budget tables, user manuals, questionnaires, lists of computer specifications, model descriptions, and training materials. HDM-II and III were mainly based on field studies undertaken in Kenya, Brazil, India, and the Caribbean. The series mostly contains records that relate to the Brazilian and Indian studies, including internal and external reports, working papers, data tables or datasets, calculations, notes, memoranda, correspondence, back-to-office reports, project files, and seminar and presentation notes. Also included are the volumes of the Bank's Highway Design and Maintenance Standards Series that document the results of the HDM study: "The Highway Design and Maintenance Standards Model"; User's Manual for the HDM-III Model, both authored by Thawat Watanatada, Clell G. Harral, William D. O. Paterson, Ashok M. Dhareshwa, Anil Bhandari, and Koji Tsunokawa and "Vehicle Operating Costs: Evidence from Developing Countries" by Andrew Chesher and Robert Harrison; and "Modelo de Normas de Diseno y Mantenimiento de Carreteras".
The Brazil Highway Research Project study was the largest of the HDM field studies and was conducted from 1975 to 1984. The results were used as the primary basis for the empirical and theoretical work of the HDM-III model issued in 1987. The project was financed by the Government of Brazil and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and executed by the Empresa Brasileira de Planejamento de Transportes (GEIPOT) jointly with a team from the World Bank and the Texas Research and Development Foundation. Its objectives were to determine the total cost of highway transportation in Brazil and minimize the cost. Topics among the records include costs of highway construction, highway characteristics, vehicle utilization and maintenance, road deterioration analysis, road roughness analysis, road costs, paved road deterioration, traffic simulation model, and fuel consumption. Many records were maintained by TRP's Senior Highway Engineer William D.O. Paterson, who was responsible for methodology and processing of the primary data.
Records of the India studies concern the spectrum of axle loads on national highways, growth of highway traffic, construction and maintenance of roads, road user cost, and road improvement programs in India.
Highway and road research and project support
Series also contains various records created and maintained while conducting research projects for publication, or analysis and support for Bank lending projects. The earliest records relate to a Washington Motor Vehicle Operating Cost Survey (1952 - 1953). Most material dates between 1968 and 1991.
Records include technical, laboratory, and work progress reports, as well as correspondence with external institutions, executive summaries, notes, back-to-office reports, Terms of Reference, project cycle documents, government reports, topography maps, and chronological files primarily maintained by Senior Highway Engineer William D. O. Paterson. The records contain information about the Indonesia Highway Betterment Project P003838 concerning pavement and asphalt testing and road maintenance, as well as state-owned transport enterprises in Indonesia, road management system, India road deterioration study, Niger Fourth and Sixth Highway Project missions, road and pavement management in Niger and Nigeria, Eastern Europe highway survey and analysis, supervision of transport studies under the Korea Highway Sector Loan P004112 and the Korea Provincial and County Roads. or Road Development Project P004107, road maintenance study in Tunisia, fuel pricing, taxing transport, road use costs, and road engineering.
Also included are working papers and reports from various authors regarding cost responsibility and allocation, vehicle size and load limits, pavement design and management, and road roughness in the United States, South Africa, Brazil, etc., reports and proceedings about road deterioration and terrain analysis, and correspondence, articles, notes concerning axle-load regulations, climate analysis, and the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) design method, which was based on extensive tests on pavement failure carried out between the 1950s and early 1960s.
There are also photographic prints and negatives that depict road maintenance work, however the location and context of the photographs are not known.
World Bank / United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) projects
The series also contains records regarding the Transportation Department (TPD) role as the executing agency for projects of the United Nations Special Fund and the Fund's successor UNDP between 1968 and 1972. Through financing and technical assistance, the Bank and UNDP assisted former territories and countries who requested assistance to improve their transportation system. Projects in the series primarily relate to the Bank's supervision of national transport studies and surveys, which were typically conducted by outside consulting agencies or individuals (e.g., experts for technical assistance on the managerial level, engineers, soils and pavement specialists, economists, project managers, etc.) recruited by UNDP.
The records reflect project coordination, pre-appraisal and appraisal activities, feasibility studies, negotiations with contracting agencies (e.g., Kampsax, Louis Berger Inc.), staffing, cost estimates, project and contract extensions, logistic management, study findings and recommendations, and comments on reports.
Types of records include: survey and economic mission reports; applications and proposals; contractors' resumes; contracts for consultants' services; Terms of Reference; progress reports from contractors concerning various activities (e.g., implementation of rehabilitation work).
Specific projects include: Indonesia transport and port and dredging survey; Fiji transport and highway Maintenance Surveys (application submitted by the Government of the United Kingdom, on behalf of the Government of Fiji); Korea transport, highway studies, highway coordination and organization, and ports and harbors; Malaysia transport survey; Pakistan Karachi port expansion study; East Pakistan ports and waterways; East/West Pakistan transport study, Papua New Guinea highway study; Philippines port study; and Bangkok Thailand transport study.
Appraisal software user manuals
The series contains four user manuals developed by the Transportation and Urban Projects Department (TUD) with the assistance of the Computing Activities Department (1974, 1976 - 1977). The manuals provide instruction for the appraisal software used for Bank operational projects. The software was also distributed to member countries. Manuals include: Financial Analysis System (FAST, 1977), Port Simulation Model (PORTSIM, 1974), Cost Benefit Package (CBPACK, 1974), and the Road Analysis Model (RAM, 1976). FAST was designed to support the financial analysis of projects implemented by the Bank. CBPACK was produced to support the cost benefit analysis of projects. The Port Simulation Model (PORTISM) was an appraisal tool designed to support the evaluation of port projects. It aided Bank engineers and economists to accurately estimate the operational implications of the projects. The RAM appraisal tool was designed to support the economic evaluation of road projects by the Bank by providing an estimated return on the contemplated investment. The software is not included in the series.
Bank operational project support
The series also contains records related to the Transport Division of the Transport and Urban Development Department (TUDTR) and successor units' support to Bank lending projects (2001 - 2011). Records contain information about technical proposals for the supervision consultancy for Jaffna District in the Sri Lanka Provincial Roads Project - P107847 and technical assistance services for an environmental audit as part of the Bangladesh Rural Transport Improvement Project - P071435. Record types include reports and studies (e.g., status and audit reports), manuals, and procurement-related records.