The project is divided into focus areas over a four-year period that will assist both Caltrans and WTI achieve certain objectives. These objectives include: • Identify potential California public and private sector organizations and federal agency partners to leverage resources and funding to address Caltrans’s rural transportation challenges. • Provide formalized methods of cooperation among the Caltrans district customers, sponsoring organizations and universities for advanced rural transportation technology research and technology transfer. • Conduct outreach and assess rural transportation challenges and ITS needs. • Accelerate the deployment of ITS to address driver behavior, safety, operations and maintenance through improved documentation of systems for replication in Caltrans districts with similar challenges. • Assess opportunities to improve driver simulation capabilities and coordination between WTI and Caltrans. • Improve coordination and communication between organizations involved in rural transportation solutions, including Caltrans DRI, Caltrans district offices, universities, and WTI. • Improve the dissemination of research results to assist Caltrans, practitioners in other states and researchers by providing a one-stop-shop clearinghouse of information on rural transportation. • Accelerate dissemination of research findings through working papers, publications and conference presentations.