FHWA and FTA Field Offices

These resources offer staff at FHWA division offices and FTA regional offices an awareness and understanding of the core themes of the planning for operations program.

• Advancing Metropolitan Planning for Operations: An Objectives-Driven, Performance-Based Approach – A Guidebook (HTML, PDF 977KB) - This guidebook presents an approach for integrating management and operations (M&O) strategies into the metropolitan transportation planning process that is designed to maximize the performance of the existing and planned transportation system. (Publication Number: FHWA-HOP-10-026, February 2010).
• Advancing Metropolitan Planning for Operations: The Building Blocks of a Model Transportation Plan Incorporating Operations - A Desk Reference (HTML, PDF 2.1MB) - This publication is a resource designed to enable transportation planners and their planning partners to build a transportation plan that includes operations objectives, performance measures, and strategies that are relevant to their region, that reflect the community's values and constraints, and that move the region in a direction of improved mobility and safety. (Publication Number: FHWA-HOP-10-027, April 2010).
• Applying Analysis Tools in Planning for Operations (Brochure) (HTML, PDF 1.6MB) - The intent of this brochure, and four accompanying case study brochures, is to help planners and operations professionals use existing transportation planning and operations analysis tools and methods in a more systematic way to better analyze, evaluate, and report the benefits of needed investments in transportation operations, in order to make the overall transportation system work better. (Publication Number: FHWA-HOP-10-001, September 2009).
• The Collaborative Advantage: Realizing the Tangible Benefits of Regional Transportation Operations Collaboration (HTML, PDF 2.9MB) - This manual uses nine collaborative efforts across the U.S. to illustrate the tangible benefits gained through key strategies such as sharing resources and expertise, performing joint operations, using common operations procedures, and exchanging real-time information. The manual includes a six-step process to allow agencies to estimate their benefits of collaboration. (Publication Number: FHWA-HOP-08-001, August 2007).
• Congestion Management Process Guidebook (HTML, PDF 3MB) – The guidebook is designed to provide information on how to create an objectives-driven, performance-based congestion management process (CMP). It describes a flexible framework of 8 actions that should be included in the development of a CMP. (Publication Number: FHWA-HEP-11-011, April 2011).
• Creating an Effective Program to Advance Transportation System Management and Operations: Primer (HTML, PDF 3.1MB) - The purpose of this Primer is to raise awareness of the opportunities for improving the effectiveness of State and local Transportation System Management and Operations (TSM&O) activities. The Primer provides high-level guidance focused on key program, process, and organizational capabilities that are essential to the development of more effective TSM&O strategy applications. (Publication Number: FHWA-HOP-12-003, January 2012).
• Designing for Transportation Management and Operations: A Primer (HTML, PDF 2.2MB) - This primer is focused on the collaborative and systematic consideration of management and operations during transportation project design and development. (Publication Number: FHWA-HOP-13-013, February 2013).
• Operations Benefit/Cost Analysis Desk Reference (HTML, PDF 4.16MB) - This Desk Reference is intended to meet the needs of a wide range of practitioners looking to conduct benefit/cost analysis of operations strategies. The guidance provided in the Desk Reference includes basic background information on benefit/cost analysis, including basic terminology and concepts and also describes some of the more complex analytical concepts and latest research in order to support more advanced analysts in conducting their analysis. (Publication Number: FHWA-HOP-12-028, May 2012).
• The Regional Concept for Transportation Operations: A Practitioner's Guide (HTML, PDF 2.4MB) - This practitioner’s guide is a collection of the observed successes and lessons learned from four metropolitan regions as they developed Regional Concepts for Transportation Operations. (Publication Number: FHWA-HOP-11-032, July 2011).
• Statewide Opportunities for Integrating Operations, Safety and Multimodal Planning: A Reference Manual (HTML, PDF 1.8MB) - This publication is a reference manual designed to provide "how to" information to assist transportation professionals in taking actions to integrate these activities. It identifies and describes opportunities at various levels of decisionmaking - statewide, regional, corridor, and project - and the benefits of these approaches. (Publication Number: FHWA-HOP-10-028, May 2010).
• Transit at the Table I: A Guide to Participation in Metropolitan Decisionmaking (HTML, PDF 4.71MB) – Explores how transit agencies in larger metropolitan areas (more than 200,000 in population) could be more effective partners with MPOs in the metropolitan transportation planning and programming process. (Publication Number: VA-90-1004-04-1, December 2004).
• Transit at the Table II: A Guide to Participation in Metropolitan Transportation Decisionmaking for Transit Agencies in Small- and Medium-Sized Metropolitan Areas (HTML, PDF 4.21MB) – Explores how transit agencies in smaller metropolitan areas (populations between 50,000 and 200,000) could be more effective partners with MPOs in the metropolitan transportation planning and programming process. (Publication Number: FTA MD-27-1004, June 2010).
• Transit at the Table III: A Guide to Effective Participation in Statewide Decisionmaking for Transit Agencies in Non-Urbanized Areas (PDF 2.84MB) – Explores how transit agencies in non-urbanized and rural areas can be more effective partners with state departments of transportation (DOTs) and other entities in the statewide transportation planning and programming process. (Publication Number: FTA-MA-27-1013, March 2011).