The Interstate Technical Group on Abandoned Underground Mines (ITGAUM) has been active and growing since formed in 1997. The group is closely affiliated with the TRB Subcommittee on Abandoned Underground Mines (AFP10(3)). Through volunteer efforts, past biennial meetings have been held and work on various action items completed. Though accomplishments have been made, certain research efforts and other activities of interest to the group have not been able to be accomplished due to the ad hoc nature of the support. Most of the ITGAUM members have expressed interest in a pooled fund project to fund development of a best practices manual, research projects, two biennial meetings and other committee activities. See:http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/mine for more information.

The objective is to support RD&T activities of the Interstate Technical Group on Abandoned Underground Mines (ITGAUM).

The purpose of the Interstate Technical Group on Abandoned Underground Mines (ITGAUM) Support project will be to: ¿ Provide a forum for transportation technical personnel to discuss, present, and share experiences in the documentation, information dissemination, discovery, identification, and remediation of abandoned underground mines that affect transportation systems. ¿ Complete development work on the abandoned underground mines Best Practices Manual (BPM). It is anticipated that the writing and editing of the manual can be completed through voluntary efforts. Associated meeting costs and other costs, as approved by the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), will be paid for through this project. When completed and approved, the BPM will be published and distributed by the FHWA. ¿ Conduct research projects or activities approved by the TAC members. Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) research has been already identified as a need. ¿ Organize and host two biennial meetings (2008 & 2010) for Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) members who have contributed to the pooled fund project and also conduct two associated ITGAUM meetings. TAC member travel to the two biennial TAC/ITGAUM meetings will be provided.

This will be a 4-year project with renewal anticipated. The proposed budget will cover the cost of arrangements for two biennial meetings, TAC member travel to the meetings, meeting and miscellaneous costs of BPM development, limited research costs and brief quarterly administrative reports to the TAC. Each state is requested to provide a minimum funding level of $5,000 once during either FFY 2007 or 2008 for the initial period. About 50% of the funds will be used to cover the cost of administration and the two biennial meetings. Remaining funds from initial solicitation will be used for research projects recommended by the TAC. Additional funds may be solicited before the end of this project for research projects if determined feasible by the TAC.