Getting More by Working Together — Opportunities for Linking Planning and Operations

2. Opportunities for Linking Planning and Operations

This section provides a roadmap to linking planning and operations by focusing on specific linkage opportunities. First, the section discusses general strategies for integrating operations considerations into the core regional transportation planning process. The purpose of this discussion is to demonstrate how the current planning process can serve as the foundation for a more integrative approach. Second, nine specific linkage opportunities are discussed:⁵

1. Transportation Planning Process,
2. Data Sharing,
3. Performance Measures,
4. Congestion Management Systems,
5. Funding and Resource Sharing,
6. Institutional Arrangements,
7. Regional ITS Architecture,
8. Regional Management and Operations Projects, and
9. Regional Concept for Transportation Operations.

The discussion of each of these linkage opportunities is organized as follows.

• Background—This subsection provides an overview of the linkage opportunity, with a general description of how it brings together planners and operators. As appropriate, this subsection also identifies intended outcomes of successful linkages and describes when the linkage is most applicable.
• Taking Advantage of Linkage Opportunities—This subsection illustrates specific linkages along with illustrative examples. These examples are intended to give the reader a concrete sense of how each described activity can enhance communication or coordination among practitioners.⁶
• Lessons Learned—This subsection identifies common challenges, obstacles, and unanticipated benefits. Lessons learned include points that practitioners commonly raised during MPO and State DOT interviews as well as points that appear frequently in the planning and operations literature. This section also includes tips on how to implement specific linkage opportunities

2.1 Transportation Planning Process

The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) identifies seven planning factors that must be considered in the transportation planning process.⁷ One of these factors requires that transportation plans “promote efficient system management and operation,” establishing a formal role for M&O activities in the transportation planning process.⁸ In support of this requirement, the structure of the transportation planning process provides numerous opportunities to address transportation management and operations. This section briefly highlights these opportunities in general terms. This discussion also points out several current trends within transportation planning that complement efforts to link planning and operations. Subsequent sections go into more detail about specific linkage opportunities.

BACKGROUND

The transportation planning process has traditionally focused on long-range travel trends and large-scale infrastructure projects. Management and operations strategies such as incident response, special event planning, and work zone management have received relatively little attention. However, over the past 20 years or so, a number of constraints have highlighted the need for coordination of regional operations strategies within the planning process. Following are several factors that are making it increasingly difficult to construct new highway and transit capacity.

• Environmental, Community, and Space Constraints—In many metropolitan areas, there are fewer opportunities for highway or transit capacity expansion along congested corridors. Often the environmental and community impacts that would result from new or widened roadways go beyond what is acceptable to the public. In some cases, there is little or no additional space within public right-of-ways. These constraints on traditional infrastructure construction have placed increased pressures on public officials and transportation agencies to find new ways of enhancing the effective capacity and reliability of the existing transportation network.
  
  
• Funding Constraints—As transportation construction costs have increased, State and local budgets have become more strained. Some transportation capacity projects move forward despite community, environmental, and space constraints, but overcoming these constraints requires longer construction periods, frequent project mitigations, and more complex construction techniques. This means that each project consumes a bigger share of available funds. At the time that project costs are increasing, many States and localities are facing infrastructure deterioration from years of deferred maintenance. These funding challenges mean that few agencies can build all of the facilities that might be desired.
  
  
• Inability to Respond to Short-term Problems—Major construction projects rarely deliver new capacity in the short term. In fact, some large-scale projects take well over a decade to complete. At the same time, transportation patterns are more diverse and less predictable than ever. New transportation challenges emerge unexpectedly as a result of economic shifts or short-term trends. Thus, there is a need for transportation solutions that can respond quickly to congestion, safety, and economic concerns.

The statutes and regulations that govern the transportation planning process have the flexibility to accommodate and, in fact, encourage management and operations solutions. It has become clear that MPOs, State DOTs, and other agencies that lead transportation planning efforts can use the planning process as an important forum and tool for collaboration between planners and operators.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PLANNING PROCESS

Various stages in the transportation planning process afford opportunities to ensure collaboration between planners and operators and to incorporate management and operations strategies into the decisionmaking process. These stages are summarized in Exhibit 2, along with examples of opportunities for operations coordination. This section summarizes opportunities in each of these stages.

Exhibit 2: Examples of Opportunities to Coordinate M&O in the Planning Process

Identify and Engage Stakeholders

The MPO serves as the regional agency coordinating transportation planning and programming among the State and local agencies and individual jurisdictions. The regional transportation planning process is designed to foster involvement by all interested parties, such as the business community, environmental organizations, community groups, and the general public. This is accomplished through a proactive public participation process conducted by the MPO in coordination with the State DOT, transit operators, and local jurisdictions. Because of the resources and the emphasis typically placed on getting all stakeholders to the table, outreach oriented toward public safety and transportation operations stakeholders can be particularly effective at this stage.

The interagency and inter-jurisdictional collaboration that is part of the regional planning process is critical for effective regional transportation management, and makes the process an important forum for addressing regional operations concerns. Through specific committees and task forces, the MPO can facilitate discussions between planners and operators, including public safety managers, freight stakeholders, and other operations stakeholders.

Develop Goals and Objectives

The development of regional transportation vision and goals affords an opportunity to involve operations agencies in the process that shape future transportation systems. First, visions and goals need not be confined to the distant future. Near-term goals and visions are important for engaging businesses and members of the public in setting priorities. These shorter term goals often demand a greater role for management and operations practitioners. Second, setting goals and objectives provides an opportunity to engage with M&O practitioners (see Case 1). The region's vision should emphasize efficient operations, as well as needed physical infrastructure investments.

Optimally, as regions strive to improve the efficiency, reliability, and safety of transportation systems, strategies that transcend the spectrum of options should be developed and evaluated early in the planning process (see Case 2). In this manner, "solutions packages" that combine operations, info-structure, infrastructure, and land use strategies and projects can be formulated. Such a "transportation-as-a-system" perspective can help to improve the quality and timeliness of transportation decisions, and inherently integrates operations into the planning process.

Define Performance Criteria and Data Needs

Performance measures help to determine whether resources are being prioritized properly to meet goals and objectives. The approach to performance measurement can dramatically influence what regional needs are highlighted within the planning process and which are downplayed or ignored. Transportation professionals with a management and operations focus contribute a unique perspective on how to measure performance, and therefore can add a great deal to the regional discussion about performance measurement at the system, corridor, or facility level.

The availability of data also has a great deal to do with the types of performance measures that can be implemented. Operations data address real time performance of the transportation system, allowing for the development of measures that can better capture the experiences of users (e.g., travel time and travel time reliability). However, to access and properly apply real-time data, the resources and expertise of operations practitioners is needed in the planning process.

Assessment of Deficiencies

An important component of regional planning processes involves determining where transportation improvements are most needed. Needs assessment traditionally has focused on additional roadway or transit capacity to improve mobility in particular corridors. As the focus of planning efforts expands beyond mobility to also address travel time reliability and accessibility, management and operations strategies grow in importance, especially given environmental, community, and funding constraints to new physical infrastructure projects. Consequently, the needs assessment phase provides an important opportunity to engage more effectively management and operations in the decisionmaking process. The need to better integrate management and operations into regional needs assessment is heightened further by the increased focus on transportation security, which will rely on effective operations planning and response to prepare for and respond to terrorist incidents.

Develop Alternative Scenarios

Many plans define two or more alternative scenarios, often relating to particular themes. For example, a region may define a scenario with all the desired capital investments, as well as a less costly scenario that seeks primarily to maintain the existing system. M&O strategies can form the basis for an alternative scenario (see Case 3). Developing an integrated M&O-focused alternative is an excellent opportunity for involving operations practitioners in the planning process. This is a chance to see how regional or State coordination of management and operations efforts can address short- and mid-term needs. Moreover, incorporating M&O strategies into all types of capacity enhancement projects is important to ensure that the effective capacity of the system is maximized.

Evaluate Alternatives and Select Superior Options

Many planning agencies have developed advanced procedures for applying modeling techniques and economic assessments in order to choose between various capital investment options. This already challenging process becomes even more complex when transportation management projects and programs are included within competing investment scenarios. For example, evaluation techniques can rarely weigh the benefit from a coordinated set of corridor management strategies.

Involvement from operations practitioners is critical to ensure that the full range of benefits of these programs is considered. Involvement at this stage can help operations staff to see the importance of their expertise within the transportation decisionmaking process. Ultimately, interaction in this evaluation process can lead to improved mutual understanding and often raises new coordination steps for subsequent updates to the transportation plan.

Taking Advantage of These Opportunities

Implementing the broad opportunities discussed above requires specific consideration of the planning and operations activities that best afford new linkages. This is detailed in the subsequent parts of this section, most of which follow directly from the themes raised in this section.⁹

5 These nine linkage opportunities were identified through literature review and practitioner interviews.

6 The examples that are used throughout Section 2 focus disproportionately on the regions that were interviewed for this guidebook. There are undoubtedly many more illustrations of the opportunities discussed in this section. Readers are encouraged to share successes and lessons learned so that others may continue to learn from each other's efforts. Some easy ways to share such examples are listed in the Resource Section at the end of this guide.

7 The metropolitan and statewide planning factors are referenced under 23 U.S.C. 134(f) and 23 U.S.C. 135(c), respectively.

8 Other planning factors focus on increasing safety and security, enhancing the integration and connectivity of the transportation system, and preservation of the existing system. These additional factors further support the importance of addressing management and operations within the planning process.

9 A Note of Caution on Timeframes in Planning and Operations: This discussion and the remainder of this guide point out opportunities within the planning process to coordinate with, and incorporate, shorter term, operations-oriented solutions. However, a shorter term focus must be approached with caution. In cases where short-term and long-term responsibilities are assigned to the same organization, there is a danger that the immediate and tangible issues of the short term will overwhelm the time and resources available for long-term planning responsibilities. One of the strengths of MPOs is that their primary mandated responsibility has been to take the long view of the community's transportation needs; thus it is vital that a strong long-term perspective be maintained. A melding of the long-term focus of planning and the short-term focus of operations means that MPOs should take a more active role in forums for regional operations coordination and in coordination between short- and long-term planning. It does not mean that planning practitioners should prioritize short-term planning over long-term planning.