3.0 The Benefits of a Regional Concept for Transportation Operations
A Regional Concept for Transportation Operations is a foundational, outcome-oriented product of regional transportation operations collaboration. It provides the overall guidance for both planning and operations needed to ensure that both projects and day-to-day operations are consistent with the regional vision and expectations for regional transportation system performance. As such, it affords many benefits to the region. For example, an RCTO:
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Presents a holistic approach to regional transportation system management and operations.
An RCTO enables managers responsible for day-to-day operations and regional planners to be proactive about operations. Creating an RCTO leads participating stakeholders to determine what the future of transportation operations needs to look like and how it can be achieved. This holistic approach helps decisionmakers to make better choices about operations and management investments because they have a better understanding of the overall direction of transportation operations in the near future.
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Helps to link operations to the planning process.
An RCTO provides a coherent operations strategy for consideration during the planning process. It also helps to create a common understanding of system operations by translating regional goals, objectives, and plans into an operations objective and actions.
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Creates a synergy between the regional ITS architecture and the broader picture of operations.
The synergy between these two “living documents” can develop as the RCTO informs the regional ITS architecture on the broader path of operations and the regional ITS architecture defines for the RCTO the region’s current ITS capabilities and limitations in support of operations activities.
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Garners commitment among stakeholders to a common regional approach to operations.
As participating stakeholders gradually reach agreement on an RCTO, dedicate common resources, and form relationships with other participants, they become committed to a regional approach to address one or more issues of mutual interest, e.g., traffic incident management, traveler information services, and road weather management.
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Facilitates consistency between local decisions and regional objectives.
With an RCTO, agencies and jurisdictions control their own projects or actions with view to also helping achieve a larger regional operations objective. An RCTO provides a basis for local decisions because of unified participant support for regional collaboration and coordination. An RCTO forms a foundation for agencies and jurisdictions to understand the regional implications and benefits of their actions.
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Provides elected officials justification for promoting regional benefits through local decisions.
An RCTO gives elected officials a stronger case for justifying and supporting local decisions. It enables elected officials and operators to point out how managing, designing, and operating decisions, which affect different constituency groups in different ways, have positive benefits for the entire region.
