Advancing Organizational Capabilities for Transportation Systems Management and Operations.
February 2018 Peer Exchange Report

Executive Summary

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Office of Operations hosted a peer exchange on the topic of "Organizing for Reliability" in Arlington, Virginia on February 7-8, 2018. The two-day peer exchange built upon earlier efforts conducted under the second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP2) Reliability focus area, which developed a Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO) Capability Maturity Model (CMM) and provided workshops and financial and technical support for CMM implementation activities. Research done for SHRP2 found that agencies with the most effective TSMO activities were not differentiated by budgets or technical skills alone but by the existence of critical processes and institutional arrangements focused on TSMO. This finding led to the development of the CMM. A sampling of agencies that implemented the CMM were invited to participate in this peer exchange.

The purpose of the peer exchange was to enable agencies to: 1) learn from each other about the challenges, opportunities, and effective practices that transportation agencies have employed to improve their capabilities related to institutionalizing TSMO; and 2) brainstorm future needs for continuing to advance organizational capabilities for TSMO. The peer exchange agenda (see Appendix A) focused on topics identified by participants prior to the workshop as most beneficial for discussion, building on the six dimensions of the TSMO CMM:

• Business processes,
• Systems and technology,
• Performance measurement,
• Culture,
• Organization and workforce, and
• Collaboration.

Representatives from seventeen (17) organizations participated in the peer exchange, including: from twelve (12) State departments of transportation (DOTs), two (2) metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), one (1) county-level department of transportation, and one (1) regional operations organization. In addition, representatives from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), FHWA, and facilitators and note-taking support from ICF were in attendance (see Appendix B for a list of participants).

Key Takeaways

Although participating agencies differed in context, geography, and organizational structures, several themes emerged from the discussions:

Defining TSMO – TSMO includes many different strategies and components.

While the term TSMO is defined in Federal legislation, as participants shared experiences, they recognized that the term TSMO is applied differently across their organizations. TSMO encompasses overall approaches to moving people and goods as well as many different strategies, such as incident management, work zone management, and freeway management, and there is a need to clearly communicate the meaning of the concept. Some agencies, for instance, include demand management and transportation planning activities that support reliability within the context of TSMO, while others do not. The question of "What is TSMO?" was significant enough to be chosen by the participants of the peer exchange as a breakout group topic. The consensus definition from this breakout was "Practice of managing traffic, technology, systems, and people to reduce congestion and emissions, and improve reliability and safety." The participants recognized that regardless of what terminology is used and what strategies are being deployed, it is important to be able to clearly convey the concept of TSMO within the organization and to stakeholders.

Telling the TSMO Story – Agencies need to be able to communicate the value of TSMO to varying audiences, including in rural areas, in order to foster a reliability focus and culture.

Changing agency culture continues to be a challenge for many agencies, and the topic of greatest interest to participants at the outset was "making the business case" for TSMO. This interest led to the question of "how do we tell the TSMO story?", both within the agency and to external partners. Participants created a list of "soundbites or hashtags" to quickly express the key messages, highlighting concepts such as efficiency ("squeezing more capacity out of existing infrastructure", "do a lot for a little"), getting to destinations on-time ("trips you can count on", "know before you go", "door to door"), and economic benefits. Communicating the value of TSMO is important for leadership buy-in, as well as for stakeholders. Given the focus on traffic congestion in most discussions of TSMO, participants felt there is a particular need for agencies to find effective methods of making the case for TSMO in rural areas. Some applications of TSMO, such as road weather management, special events management, and freight management strategies, can provide important benefits in rural areas by improving safety and helping to support tourism and the economy. Identifying gaps in awareness through communication with rural partners can help agencies better implement TSMO in rural areas.

Mainstreaming TSMO – There is a critical need to mainstream TSMO throughout transportation decision making and to imbed TSMO into a full array of agency functions.

TSMO can be integrated into an organization in many different ways: planning, project development, programs, performance measurement, and funding. When participants were asked to highlight a key theme that emerged after Day 1 of the workshop, the word "mainstream" rose to the top, as shown in the word cloud (Figure 1). Participants reported on efforts to integrate TSMO into planning and project development and identified a range of effective practices. For instance, Florida DOT's District 4 held a Value Engineering workshop, which identified how TSMO could be integrated into projects and resulted in development of a Scoping Form to be used in project development. Although some agencies, such as Arizona DOT, have found success in elevating the role of TSMO through creation of a TSMO Division, others such are Maryland and Washington State have worked to integrate TSMO into agency practices without an agency reorganization.

Partnerships – Working together yields benefits.

Beyond integrating TSMO into their own agencies, partnerships among agencies are important for a successful and sustainable TSMO program. Successful examples of State DOTs and MPOs working together, regional operations organizations that bring together multiple stakeholders, and engagement of different partner organizations (e.g., law enforcement) were highlighted throughout the workshop. AZTech and the Niagara International Transportation Technology Coalition (NITTEC) demonstrated the power of partnerships in advancing TSMO on a regional scale. These agencies are fostering communication and collaboration in their regions between agencies that normally may not interact. The increased collaboration raises general knowledge of projects and resources within the region.

Funding – There are a variety of funding sources being used for TSMO.

Agencies use a broad range of funding sources for TSMO activities, including funds generated from advertisements, regional taxes, State Planning and Research (SPR) funds, safety funds, Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) funds, and Federal grants, among others. In some cases, TSMO activities are also funded as part of construction projects. One example of a dedicated funding source is in Nevada, where it was legislatively mandated that funds from blue interstate signs be used for traveler information services, providing an on-going source of revenue to that program. Although a couple of agencies mentioned having some dedicated funding for TSMO, most agencies do not have dedicated funding for TSMO but compete for funding with other needs.

Participants pointed to the challenge associated with competing priorities within agencies, especially with regard to funding TSMO projects and services. However, the participants noted that obtaining funding is easier when TSMO is identified as an agency-wide priority. Still, the lack of maintenance funding for ITS equipment is a common challenge faced by agencies, and participants noted the need to take a life-cycle approach to TSMO infrastructure.

A key recommendation for agencies emerged over the course of the peer exchange: develop policies and procedures for identifying lower cost TSMO projects that address transportation needs and then finding the appropriate funding mechanism, rather than allowing the funding mechanism to dictate the type of projects pursued.

Changing Agency Culture – It takes time, persistence, and patience.

The full integration of TSMO requires changing agency culture, which is not a simple or quick process. Although executive leadership or a high-profile incident often has been an impetus, in some cases, bottom-up approaches have been driving TSMO within agencies. Participants identified motivation, partnership, and coordination as necessary for success. Participants noted that it is essential that "TSMO thinking" and a focus on improving system reliability permeate the organization, and successes help to demonstrate the power of TSMO solutions.

The Value of Peer Exchange – Sharing ideas and practices is valuable.

Although not a direct point of discussion in the workshop, the peer exchange itself highlighted the value of bringing diverse agencies together to discuss common challenges and successes, and to learn from each other. Participants highlighted the value of hearing about practices from other agencies and noted that they came away with new ideas.

What's Next? A desire to keep the momentum going.

Participants repeatedly asserted the value of the second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP2) and the desire to continue the momentum for TSMO. In thinking about what's next, the general opinion was "We've accomplished a lot, but there is still a lot to do." With the SHRP2 Program coming to its end, participants are looking for new opportunities to keep the focus on TSMO, and are seeking opportunities to continue to advance TSMO innovations.