Policies and Processes that Support Mainstreaming Transportation Systems Management and Operations

3. PRIMARY THEMES FROM LITERATURE REVIEW AND INTERVIEWS

This chapter discusses the efforts agencies have advanced to integrate and mainstream TSMO within their organizations in the six primary theme areas.

Theme 1. Develop TSMO Committees

A significant amount of cross-departmental work within State DOTs to mainstream TSMO is performed by permanent or temporary committees and task forces. These committees may arise out of TSMO champions within one or more districts, divisions, or functional areas to formalize and grow a team of champions throughout the agency. The committees may include TSMO champions from outside the DOT, such as metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and local agency representatives. A committee is used by several State DOTs to advance TSMO throughout the agency. Table 1 provides examples of TSMO committees or task forces and the related activities that support successful mainstreaming of TSMO.

Table 1. Examples of TSMO Committee processes for mainstreaming TSMO.
State DOT	TSMO Committee Examples
Florida DOT District 5 and statewide	Florida DOT District 5 has a TSMO consortium. The group meets quarterly to provide an opportunity for District 5 staff and local and regional agency partners to collaborate on the TSMO program and ongoing efforts. At the statewide level, Florida DOT’s TSMO Leadership Team and TSMO Task Team support TSMO policy and technical development and oversight, respectively.
Iowa DOT	Iowa DOT has a TSMO steering committee and three subcommittees: training and communications, work zones, and project development. The TSMO strategic and program plans developed by Iowa DOT helped define the need for those subcommittees.
Maryland DOT	The Maryland DOT State Highway Administration (MDOT SHA) established a TSMO executive committee to oversee the execution of the agency’s TSMO strategic implementation plan. It created a working group and seven TSMO task forces: Business processes and policy–This task force works to get TSMO mainstreamed into agency processes. Systems and technology–This task force creates a system of systems and advances them with operational approaches (i.e., integrated corridor management). Communication and outreach–This task force conducts outreach and focuses on how to make TSMO projects a part of what MPOs and other partners do. Training and education–This task force develops TSMO-oriented training curricula and is looking to tailor TSMO content to different groups of the DOT. Data, analysis, and performance measures–This task force is responsible for identifying the next generation of tools. Connected and automated vehicles (CAVs)–This task force develops strategic actions to prepare Maryland DOT SHA, both institutionally and technologically, for these emerging areas. Multimodal freight–This task force ensures freight and multimodal considerations are addressed in all the other task forces. The task forces consult representatives from different units of Maryland DOT as needed to define actions, roles, responsibilities, and resources to advance their task force area. Those recommendations are then presented to the TSMO executive committee for decisions on the proposed actions. Upon approval from the TSMO executive committee, the action items are implemented through various offices and districts.
Ohio DOT	Ohio DOT developed the TSMO Council, an executive committee called to prioritize and champion TSMO activities, including advocacy of funding. The TSMO Council members are members of executive management across the DOT. The deputy directors for Operations and Engineering are co‑chairs. The deputy directors for Planning and Construction, as well as one-half of the district directors, are members of the TSMO Council. Ohio DOT also has a technology council and a funding council.

Theme 2. Incorporate TSMO into Planning and Project Development

This section contains examples of approaches agencies take to incorporate TSMO considerations into formal planning and project development processes. Based on the research for this White Paper, this appears to be one of the most active areas for mainstreaming TSMO. In many cases, agencies use mobility performance metrics to drive decisions for project and service selection, budgeting, and funding. These efforts enable TSMO to be considered when making investment decisions that can complement traditional approaches of funding construction and maintenance projects. Several of the State DOTs interviewed integrate safety considerations into the same processes they have adopted to mainstream TSMO in the planning, programming, and project development process. Table 2 provides examples of policies and processes that State DOTs use to formally incorporate TSMO into planning and project development.

Table 2. Examples of policies and processes for mainstreaming TSMO in planning and project development.
State DOT	Examples of TSMO in Planning and Project Development
Arizona DOT	Arizona DOT incorporates TSMO efforts in its planning and program development process. Arizona DOT’s TSMO Division identifies specific projects that address various operational concerns throughout the State. Through the established planning to programming process, TSMO elements can then be incorporated into projects and prioritized for the 5-year construction program. The TSMO Division supports the review, evaluation, and prioritization of projects regarding safety, ITS, and operations. Arizona DOT’s project development group has revised its project review checklist to include safety, ITS, and operational groups in the formal project review process. This ensures that TSMO initiatives are identified, addressed, and included in upcoming construction projects. The State also works closely with the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG), the Phoenix region’s MPO, to advance TSMO initiatives and secure funding. Arizona DOT partners with MAG on the inclusion of TSMO-focused efforts and strategies in MAG’s systems management and operations plan.
Colorado DOT	Colorado DOT modified its project development process to include steps designed to ensure that operational considerations are identified and evaluated. Colorado DOT requires an operations evaluation for all its projects. The evaluation assesses safety, traffic/maintenance operations, and ITS factors that lead to recommendations to the project team on safety and mobility strategies.
Florida DOT	The Planning for TSM&O Guidebook provides statewide guidance on planning for operations and how to integrate the TSMO program into the transportation planning and project development process at Florida DOT. The guidebook supports incorporating TSMO into the overall process from system-wide planning evaluation to programming to project development. The Project Development and Environment Manual has statewide guidance to include TSMO as a feature of all build alternatives when TSMO does not meet a project’s purpose and need on its own. A flow chart has been developed to guide consideration of TSMO from planning through design and construction.
Iowa DOT	Iowa DOT uses a project development integration team to incorporate TSMO at “pause points” in the planning and project development process.
Maryland DOT	Maryland DOT SHA developed a TSMO Strategic Implementation Plan in 2016 and updated it as part of the 2018 TSMO Strategic Plan effort. The TSMO Strategic Plan identifies goals, objectives, performance measures, and strategies to implement and mainstream a robust TSMO program in planning, engineering, construction, operations, and maintenance activities. Maryland DOT SHA also developed a Reliability Roadmap that provides a travel time reliability analytical framework to inform transportation investment decisions. The roadmap includes products to enhance planning and preliminary engineering. Recently, Maryland DOT SHA has included TSMO alternatives in the long-range transportation plan. Maryland DOT SHA also released a TSMO Master Plan that identifies a tiered and prioritized list of TSMO projects that can be implemented by various offices across the agency.
Ohio DOT	Ohio DOT has brought TSMO considerations into the planning and scoping of projects. Their Project Initiation Package includes specific TSMO considerations. The major capital program consists of 18 project prioritization considerations that include whether the project area has an operations master plan, if it would benefit from traffic management center (TMC) coverage, if there are local TSMO infrastructure recommendations, and what existing TSMO infrastructure is in place. Ohio DOT’s Traffic Operations Assessment Systems Tool (TOAST) is an interactive spreadsheet used to track TSMO performance measures and support project prioritization. TOAST considers a variety of TSMO attributes to rank projects, including travel time performance, bottlenecks, incident clearance, secondary crashes, safety performance, volume per lane, and freight corridors. The Project Initiation Package requires applicants to indicate whether the project area contains a hot spot identified in TOAST and its ranking in TOAST. Ohio DOT has set aside $5 million annually to use for TSMO projects.
Oregon DOT	Oregon DOT developed an Active Traffic Management (ATM) Atlas in 2016 for Region 1 to identify where investments in ATM would benefit highway operations. The goals of the ATM Atlas were to improve safety and reduce the severity and frequency of collisions, improve network reliability, and allow for improved incident and work zone management (Oregon Department of Transportation 2016). The ATM Atlas is used in conjunction with two other Oregon DOT operations planning efforts: (1) the Portland Region Traffic Performance Report and (2) the Corridor Bottleneck Operations Study. The Portland Region Traffic Performance Report helps to identify congestion and bottlenecks, reliability, safety, and delay issues. The ATM Atlas is then used to identify where TSMO-related investments would be most useful. The Corridor Bottleneck Operations Study recommends small‑scale operational and safety improvements, such as adding an auxiliary lane at freeway interchanges. The ATM Atlas and the Corridor Bottleneck Operations Study recommend investments be provided as priorities during the development of the statewide transportation improvement program. (Oregon Department of Transportation 2019)
Texas DOT	Texas DOT’s TSMO Statewide strategic plan includes a TSMO evaluation section that contains questions to be used during project planning and development. The evaluation covers areas such as coordination and collaboration with stakeholders, safety, operations, and technology.

Theme 3. Include TSMO in Agency Manuals and Guidance Documents

One of the effective ways to mainstream TSMO is to include TSMO-focused actions in agency manuals and guidance documents so they become a part of the normal way of doing business. Several agencies are including new language to address TSMO in their documents or are developing new guidelines and manuals to ensure TSMO is considered in projects and agency functions. Training is often a key component to alert staff to changes in manuals and guides and to help staff turn that into regular practice.

Florida DOT conducted a study, published in 2018, that surveyed Florida DOT practices in each of the eight Florida DOT districts on the current state of the practice of TSMO in each district. It also surveyed TSMO and traffic operations of each State in the United States to identify best practices in TSMO implementation. Recommendations from this study included: “Develop a formalized process and procedure for TSM&O inclusion, provide supportive TSM&O language in FDOT guidelines…[and] place greater importance on TSM&O through policy and procedures.” Florida DOT has included TSMO prescreening in the district project scoping process and in the Project Development and Environment Study process. (Florida Department of Transportation Research Center 2018)

Table 3 provides examples of how Florida DOT, Pennsylvania DOT, Texas DOT, and Arizona DOT are formalizing TSMO by including TSMO in agency guidance.

Table 3. Examples of integrating TSMO policies and processes into agency manuals and guides
State DOT	Examples of TSMO Integrated into Agency Manuals and Guides
Arizona DOT	Arizona DOT developed a TSMO plan upon establishment of its TSMO Division that provides the framework for how the Division functions. The State is updating and revising agency manuals and guidance documents to incorporate TSMO.
Florida DOT	In 2017, Florida DOT released the Planning for Travel Time Reliability Guide that describes how Florida DOT’s employees and consultants can better incorporate travel time reliability into its planning process for capacity expansion and the planning process for operational improvements. The guide highlights opportunities for collaboration, how to adjust tools to incorporate travel time reliability, and funding options for improvements that address travel time reliability. (Florida DOT 2017) In January 2018, Florida DOT published a study, Evaluation of Project Processes in Relation to Transportation System Management and Operations (TSM&O), that considered opportunities for mainstreaming TSMO in its project development process. It included a number of recommendations and suggestions for a formalized process and procedure to involve TSMO in the planning and design phases of projects. The recommendations included a project checklist documenting TSMO inclusion as projects are vetted, and TSMO review opportunities in the Efficient Transportation Decision Making Manual. It also suggested including TSMO in the Project Management Handbook and the Project Design and Engineering Manual. Florida DOT’s Project Development and Environment Manual, Part 2, Chapter 3 “Engineering Analysis” includes consideration of TSMO strategies and ITS as elements of all build alternatives, even if the TSMO‑only alternative did not meet a project’s purpose and need. (Florida DOT 2020) TSMO elements are now identified and refined during the project development and environment study.
Pennsylvania DOT	Pennsylvania DOT is developing a guidebook series that will formalize how TSMO should be incorporated into several functions at the agency, including planning, design, construction, maintenance, and operations. In September 2018, Pennsylvania DOT released the Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO) Guidebook Part 1: Planning, which directs its staff in developing regional operations plans and identifying, classifying, and mitigating congestion. (PennDOT 2018)
Texas DOT	Texas DOT developed guidance within its statewide TSMO strategic plan for Districts to develop their own TSMO program plans. Texas DOT’s Work Zone ITS Guidance and the Chief Engineer directive on traffic management systems are also examples of how Texas has integrated TSMO in its guidance documents.

Theme 4. Integrate TSMO in Business Practices

To fully mainstream TSMO in transportation agencies, it is important to consider how business practices may need to be revised or developed to meet the changing demands in an agency. Including TSMO in how the agency performs its work on a day-to-day basis leads to a change in culture and employee mindset toward advancing TSMO. Changes may be needed to contracting and procurement; data management; and partnerships with private businesses, service providers, and research entities. Examples of how State DOTs are addressing this can be seen in Washington, Iowa, Missouri, and Tennessee (table 4).

Table 4. Examples of integrating TSMO policies and processes into agency business practices.
State DOT	Examples of TSMO Integrated into Business Practices
Iowa DOT	In Iowa, the Traffic Operations Bureau works closely with the DOT’s purchasing section to develop technical requirements for unique technical services that support TSMO. By changing these business practices to be more suitable for meeting the needs of TSMO projects, the DOT has helped to mainstream TSMO activities that previously did not fit more traditional construction-oriented purchasing processes. Iowa DOT partners with the Center of Transportation Research and Education at Iowa State University to support operations decisionmaking, the development of system-wide performance measures, and applications development (e.g., using probe data to alert operators of rapidly developing queuing situations). Developing university partnerships and business practices that support data sharing and performance measurement has helped to bring TSMO more effectively into the DOT’s decisionmaking processes.
Missouri DOT	Missouri DOT improved its procurement process for ITS technologies by providing uniformity in equipment and system deployment across regions. Missouri DOT’s statewide TSMO Implementation Teams have focus areas in work zone management, traffic incident management, and advancing technology and roadway departure. These teams have been working in various ways to integrate TSMO into their business practices, including updating job special provisions for identified technologies within work zones, creating handouts for placement of law enforcement within work zones, and creating a CAV vision team, along with many other items.
Tennessee DOT	Tennessee DOT is working to standardize ITS technology with the help of IT staff and DOT region cooperation, including the development of an ITS‑approved product list that includes products that can be used by Tennessee DOT.
Washington State DOT	Washington State DOT changed its regional mobility grant application process for public transportation. Washington State agencies applying for those grants must use Washington State DOT’s TSMO website to identify which TSMO strategies are part of their proposed solution.

Theme 5. Develop TSMO-Focused Organizational Structure and Staff Positions

This theme considers how organizational structure and staff positions are used to mainstream and advance TSMO. This section looks at how State DOTs have organized to address TSMO. It highlights the range of approaches taken by different agencies to mainstream TSMO through various organizational structures. The structure reflects how an agency defines and approaches TSMO and the importance that it gives to TSMO. While more research is needed to determine whether one organizational structure provides more benefit to TSMO than others, it is important to note that this is one of the tools agencies use to promote and more clearly establish TSMO in their organizations. In addition to, or as an alternative to, organizational structure changes, transportation agencies have also designated specific staff positions to serve as TSMO coordinators or TSMO leaders to mainstream TSMO throughout an agency. Different approaches can be seen throughout State DOTs (table 5).

Table 5. Examples of TSMO-focused organizational structure and staff positions to mainstream TSMO
State DOT	Examples of Organizational Structures and TSMO Staff Positions
Arizona DOT	Arizona DOT created a dedicated TSMO Division under the Deputy Director for Transportation (see figure 2 and figure 3).
Iowa DOT	Iowa DOT’s Traffic Operations Bureau is under its Operations Division, along with several other bureaus: Maintenance, Traffic and Safety, Construction and Materials, and Motor Vehicle Enforcement. By combining these functional areas under Operations, the State DOT is able to integrate TSMO strategies and activities more directly into each of these functions. For example, Iowa DOT has implemented a Traffic Critical Project initiative that applies TSMO strategies to large construction projects to minimize traffic impacts.
Maryland	MDOT SHA has established the TSMO Program Manager/Deputy Director position to provide leadership for TSMO and oversee the development and implementation of its TSMO strategic plan. Responsibilities include managing the TSMO program, TSMO master plan, education and training, communications and outreach, and coordinating and collaborating with the TSMO Executive Committee, working group, partners, and stakeholders (see figure 4).
DOT	The TSMO Program is developed and implemented through a committee structure. The TSMO Executive Committee provides strategic governance and the cross-disciplinary TSMO task forces provide tactical support. The strategies and action items coming from the task forces are implemented by various MDOT SHA offices and districts. The TSMO Program Manager oversees the activities of various TSMO task forces and reports progress to the TSMO Executive Committee.
Ohio DOT	Ohio DOT has reorganized its central office to bring all aspects of non‑recurring events and congestion into one group in an effort to better address TSMO. They have developed TSMO Coordinator positions in the district offices, and at the central office, have introduced TMC Operator positions, including the TMC Specialist position and the ITS Specialist position, which is a higher classification for the Traffic Signal technicians.
Tennessee DOT	Tennessee DOT elevated operations by creating the Traffic Operations Division in 2013, which combined three offices: ITS, traffic signal design, and traffic operations. Over time, Tennessee DOT added new offices and positions to the Division, and now there are four offices within the Division: State Traffic Engineer, ITS Design Office, ITS Deployment Office, and Transportation Management Office. This consolidation of TSMO responsibilities has clarified decisionmaking authority for quicker responses to major incidents.
Texas DOT	Texas DOT has a designated TSMO Coordinator in each of its regions.

Figure 2 shows TSMO as one of six upper-level divisions within the organizational structure for Arizona DOT.

In this organizational diagram, the director of the Arizona Department of Transportation reports directly to the governor.

Source: Arizona DOT, with modification by the Federal Highway Administration.

Figure 2. Arizona Department of Transportation organizational structure with the Transportation System Management and Operations Division circled

Figure 3 illustrates the organizational structure within Arizona DOT’s TSMO Division. The Arizona DOT TSMO Division comprises approximately 300 full-time employees that encompass all aspects of TSMO strategies.

This organizational diagram depicts the offices within the Arizona Department of Transportation's transportation systems management and operations division.

Source: Arizona DOT, with modification by the Federal Highway Administration.

Figure 3. Organizational structure for the Arizona Department of Transportation Systems Management and Operations Division.

Figure 4 shows Maryland DOT’s TSMO organizational structure according to strategic, tactical, and operational decision paradigms.

This diagram shows Maryland DOT's transportation system management and operations (TSMO) organizational structure according to strategic, tactical, and operational decision paradigms.

CHART = Coordinated Highways Action Response Team; OOTS = Office of Traffic and Safety; OPPE = Office of Planning and Preliminary Engineering; OC = Office of Communications; OOC = Office of Chief Engineer (Operations); OPR = Office of Policy & Research; OHD = Office of Highway Development; OOM = Office of Maintenance.
Source: MDOT SHA, with modification by the Federal Highway Administration.

Figure 4. Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration Transportation System Management and Operations organizational structure.

Theme 6. Integrate TSMO into Agency-Wide Performance Management

Performance management and measures provide a foundation for performance-based policies and practices. Including TSMO in agency dashboards can increase the visibility of TSMO, place importance on showing positive performance in TSMO-related measures, and increase resources for TSMO to help “move the needle.” Tracking and documenting TSMO benefits and the return on investment, including cost-benefit analysis of TSMO strategies and tactics after implementation, can make the business case for investing in TSMO. These efforts can help formalize and mainstream TSMO throughout an agency. Examples of the use of performance management to mainstream TSMO in State DOTs are highlighted in table 6.

Table 6. Examples of integrating TSMO into agency performance management processes
State DOT	Examples of Integrating TSMO into Agency Performance Management Processes
Arizona DOT	Arizona DOT’s TSMO Division developed performance measures and targets across all groups within the Division. The measures and targets tie into the agency-wide “scorecard” for identifying resource needs in alignment with agency goals and objectives. The TSMO Division holds monthly meetings to track progress and identify countermeasures to address areas where targets are not being met.
Maryland DOT	Maryland DOT SHA produces its annual Maryland State Highway Mobility Report, a document that applies performance-based monitoring to system reliability. This report looks at congestion and reliability performance trends and documents the effect of various congestion management and reliability improvement strategies. Maryland DOT SHA also developed customized dashboards for different audiences, such as operators, planners, decisionmakers, legislators, or the public. MDOT SHA has partnered with Maryland MPOs and university research centers to ensure the dashboards are consistent from a data governance and management perspective.
Missouri DOT	Missouri DOT posts its performance management Tracker report online on a quarterly basis. TSMO‑specific performance management is contained in the “Operate a Reliable and Convenient Transportation System” section of the report, including travel time and reliability measures, traffic congestion measures, traffic incident management measures, work zone impact measures, and management of winter storm events.
Ohio DOT	Ohio DOT has begun to track TSMO-related performance measures. It hired a data architect to build a data warehouse for pulling together data (e.g., speed, weather, work zone, and freeway patrol assist). Ohio DOT has completed some dashboards using the data warehouse and expects to complete more dashboards in the future.
Oregon DOT	Oregon DOT developed a TSMO performance measures plan with the intent of focusing on traffic incident management, systems management, and program management.
Pennsylvania DOT	Pennsylvania DOT developed a TSMO performance program that develops periodic performance reports that analyze various aspects of traffic operations. The initial focus was TMC performance, but it has been continually expanding over time, including work zone-related performance.
Washington State DOT	Washington State DOT calculates the return on investment of its incident response program and publishes the results in the agency’s online quarterly performance and accountability report, The Grey Notebook. The September 2019 update of The Grey Notebook reports that, for every $1 spent on the Washington State DOT incident response program, drivers receive approximately $17.51 in economic benefit. (Washington State Department of Transportation 2019)

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