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21st Century Operations Using 21st Century Technologies

Elements of Business Rules and Decision Support Systems within Integrated Corridor Management: Understanding the Intersection of These Three Components

APPENDIX C: INTERAGENCY AGREEMENT APPROACHES

  1. Definition and Explanation of Terms - have clear definition of all terms documented, such as:
    Emergency Vehicle Preemption (EVP) – Devices on emergency vehicles communicate with devices at traffic signals to provide a green traffic signal phase for emergency vehicles approaching an intersection.
  2. Purpose of MOU, Project Description, and Project Governance
    1. Purpose. The MOU should serve the following purposes:
      1. Confirm support from all project partners, particularly local support for freeway elements;
      2. Articulate key operations and maintenance (O&M) principles for continuing project development;
      3. Clarify ownership, O&M, and management responsibilities;
      4. Clarify the distribution of costs and funding sources;
      5. Outline the framework for multi-agency cooperation, collaboration, and conflict resolution;
      6. Identify which Smart Corridor devices will be made part of the ICM project; and
      7. Signify the ongoing commitment of the project partners to deliver the project and make it a success.
    2. Governance
      It is the intent that all technical and operational matters be resolved among the partnering agencies at the lowest working level. For instance, the I-80 integrated corridor management activities will be directed through three bodies of governance, in the following order of hierarchy, from low to high:
      Technical Coordinating Committee (I-80 TCC)
      Corridor Steering Committee (I-80 CSC)
      Policy Advisory Committee (I-80 PAC)
  3. Project Goals & Objectives
  4. Operations Strategies and Principles
    1. Operational Scenarios & Lead Agencies - illustrates the operational strategies that will initially be deployed as part of the I-80 ICM Project and the agencies that will take the lead in implementing the strategies.
      Normal Operations
      Incident / Special Events Management
    2. Operating Principles - day-to-day transportation management and operational activities along the corridor
  5. Equipment Ownership & Maintenance - delineates the ownership and operations responsibilities.
  6. Project Development Principles
    1. Project Documents
      1. To design the project:
        1. Project Report: Defines the purpose and need for the project, identifies the alternative selected, describes how that alternative was decided upon, and describes how consensus was reached among stakeholders.
        2. Environmental Document: For a capital project to proceed, it must receive official federal, state, and environmental approvals as well as consensus from all the stakeholders and the public.
        3. Corridor Systems Management Plan (CSMP): Overall corridor operational conditions, existing and future conditions, list of future projects, and recommendations.
        4. Concept of Operations Report (Con Ops): Concept for proposed system, user-oriented operational description, operational needs, system overview, operational and support environment, operational scenarios, summary of impacts.
        5. Traffic Operations Analysis Report (TOAR): Existing traffic conditions, proposed alternatives, traffic forecasts, modeling results.
      2. To govern the implementation of the project
        1. Project Implementation Plan: Document identifying the staging and commissioning of each I-80 ICM project element (TOS, TLSP, ARM, and ATM).
        2. Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Plan: Operational scenarios and cost of operations, maintenance and management for each city along the corridor.
        3. Incident Response Plan (IRP): Overall incident response plan that defines various incident scenarios and procedures for managing traffic congestion during incidents, including signal flush plans.
        4. System Integration Plan: Specifies the procedures, methods and strategies to implement the required project elements based on project documents and system requirements.
        5. Configuration Management Plan: Details the process to establish and maintain the integrity and control of software and hardware products.
        6. Outreach Plan: Outlines strategies to disseminate periodic project information and updates to various stakeholders.
    2. Construction
    3. System Integration
    4. Implementation & Initial System Evaluation
    5. Regular Operations & Maintenance
    6. Configuration and Change Management
  7. Costs & Funding - The project most likely is funded by various fund sources for the different phases of the project – Project Development, Construction, and Operation & Maintenance phases. Funding for each phase should be outlined.
  8. Future MOU Modifications - The MOU could be a legally non-binding document. However, revisions to this MOU may be requested by the Technical Coordinating Committee (TCC) and approved by the Corridor Steering Committee (CSC). Revisions may also be recommended by the CSC.
  9. Need for Additional Agreements - New maintenance agreements or amendments to existing maintenance agreements could be developed and executed as necessary to address maintenance arrangements, liabilities, or any other legal issues.
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