The Regional Concept for Transportation Operations: A Practitioner's Guide

Appendix A: A Practitioners Checklist for Developing and Maintaining an RCTO

This checklist offers RCTO developers the opportunity to assess their process for developing and maintaining an RCTO according to several factors that contribute to the success of an RCTO. The questions cover important actions to consider as practitioners progress through the development and implementation of an RCTO.

Motivation – the "Why"

• Is there a compelling need to improve one or more elements of transportation operations that crosses jurisdictional and/or functional boundaries?
• Is there a recognized need for a strategic, formal approach to improving regional transportation operations through inter-agency collaboration?
• Are there potential benefits associated with this topic or area that justify significant multi-jurisdictional and inter-agency collaboration?

Organizing for Action

• Is there a host or convener that can provide a table for the regional collaboration?
• Is there at least one committed champion who has a clear vision of the desired outcome and will work to get support among decisionmakers for the RCTO?
• Have all of the necessary stakeholders for accomplishing the operations objective(s) been engaged (both those needed to implement the RCTO and those who might oppose it)?
• Are there adequate resources (staff time and support services) allocated to support the collaborative activities needed to develop an RCTO?
• Is there a plan for maintaining participant involvement during the development and implementation of the RCTO?

Identifying the Operations Objectives

• Have the operations needs been accepted and endorsed by the participating jurisdictions and agencies?
• Has a specific, measurable, and realistic operations objective(s) been established to guide further development of the RCTO?
• Have the collaborating agencies defined the operations objective(s) in sufficient detail to make it actionable?

Knowing What Success Looks Like

• Have appropriate performance measures been developed to judge how well the RCTO operations objective(s) have been met?
• Are the data needed to assess performance generally available and, if not, have provisions been made for collecting the data needed to monitor performance?
• Are the performance measures expressed in terms that are meaningful to both operating agencies and system users?

Getting Specific

• Have the collaborating agencies identified the strategies and actions that must be accomplished to achieve the operations objective(s) and the schedule for completing these strategies and actions?
• Do the strategies and actions include both those needed to implement the RCTO and those needed to sustain the level of performance associated with the objectives?
• Have all of the physical elements (technology, facilities, equipment) needed to achieve the objective been identified?
• Have the collaborators developed a joint strategy for acquiring the facilities, technology, and equipment needed for achieving the objectives?
• Have the collaborators agreed on primary roles and responsibilities associated with the strategies and actions needed to achieve the objectives?
• Have the means for holding collaborators accountable for their responsibilities been developed so that each of the partners can proceed with "good faith" that all will perform as agreed?
• Have the collaborators agreed on information sharing protocols (content, form, communication methods, archiving, protection, liability) associated with implementing the RCTO and measuring performance?
• Have all of the resources (funds, staff time, materials) needed to implement the RCTO been identified and have collaborating agencies agreed on how those resources will be acquired and allocated?

Measuring What Matters

• As the RCTO is implemented, is performance measured as planned using the best data available?
• Are trends being tracked over time so that problems can be detected and the RCTO can be adjusted?
• Is performance routinely reported to key decision makers and system users so that participating agencies are held accountable for their activities and the consequences (positive and negative) of those actions (or lack thereof)?

Keeping It Going

• Do participating agencies convene regularly to discuss progress toward achieving objectives and addressing obstacles to success?
• Do participating agencies look for ways to expand and extend the RCTO to address additional functions, expand the number of jurisdictions covered, and engage agencies whose participation would contribute to sustaining the RCTO?
• Do participating agencies regularly report the status of the RCTO to key decisionmakers so that they understand the progress made in regional transportation system performance?