The Collaborative Advantage: Realizing the Tangible Benefits of Regional Transportation Operations Collaboration

A Reference Manual

August 2007

FHWA-HOP-08-001

U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
Office of Operations
http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov

Printable Version [PDF 2.9 MB]
To view PDF files, you need the Adobe Reader.
Contact Information: Operations Feedback at OperationsFeedback@dot.gov.

---

Table of Contents

Notice

Technical Report Documentation Page

Cover Letter

1. Introduction

1.1 What's In It for Us?
1.2 Discovering the Benefits
1.3 Purpose of the Manual
1.4 Overview of the Manual

2. A Framework for Describing Benefits

2.1 Anchoring Benefits to Agency Goals and Measurable Objectives
2.2 Areas of Benefit to Individual Agencies
2.3 Collaborative Strategies of Obtaining Benefits
2.4 Benefit Measures

3. Realizing Tangible Benefits: Key Strategies

3.1 Follow the Money
3.2 Get Smart
3.3 With One Voice
3.4 On the Same Page
3.5 Measuring Up
3.6 You Ought to Know
3.7 Can You Hear Me Now?
3.8 Sharing the Wealth
3.9 Building Economies of Scale
3.10 All Together Now

4. Identifying the Tangible Benefits of Collaboration to Your Agency in Six Steps

5. Summary

Appendix A: Collaboration Profiles

Hampton Roads ITS Committee
High Plains Corridor Coalition
Merced County Transit—"The Bus"
Vancouver Area Smart Trek (VAST)
Denver Region Traffic Signal System Improvement Program (TSSIP)
Niagara International Transportation Technology Coalition (NITTEC)
AZTech
Maryland National Capital Region—Regional Operations Coordination Committee (ROCC)
Virginia, Minnesota, Transportation Operations Communications Center (TOCC)

List of Figures

Figure 1. Benefits to a public safety agency participating in a collaborative effort to manage traffic during a special event.
Figure 2. Potential benefit areas for collaboration.

List of Tables

Table 1. Illustrative measures for benefits associated with collaborative strategies and actions.
Table 2: Snapshot of an agency's goal, objective, and measure of effectiveness.
Table 3. Description of needed resources for achieving agency's goal and objective.
Table 4. Example of sources for an agency's needed resources.
Table 5. Example showing the options for obtaining needed resources through collaboration or alone.
Table 6. Example of tracking strategies used to obtain needed resources.
Table 7. A quick illustration of items that may be on an agency's annual report about the benefits of a collaborative activity.