Linking Operations and Transportation Planning Executive Session

1
Linking Operations and Transportation
PlanningExecutive Session

• MPO Leadership
• June 28, 2005
• Association for Metropolitan Planning
  Organizations (AMPO)
• Under a grant from the Federal Highway
  Administration

2
Session Purpose

• To share with MPO leadership emerging thinking
  with respect to improving the linkage between
  transportation operations and transportation
  planning and its decision-making process

3
Discussion Outline

• Background
• OM gtgtgt TSMO
• Regional collaboration and coordination
• Linking planning and operations

4
Regional Concerns

• Economic growth/sustainability
• Security
• Public safety
• Congestion
• Sprawl
• Environment (air and water)
• . . . And everyone is faced with budget
  constraints, decreased funding, and rising
  expectations

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Transportation-related Concerns

• Commuter congestion
• Traffic incidents
• Work zones
• Goods movement
• Special events
• Homeland security/emergency response
• Modal choices
• Weather

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20th Century Operations

• Focus Jurisdiction/Agency peak-period
  operations
• Characterized by
• Maintenance oriented
• Limited real-time information
• Targeted coordination for specific events
• Out-based measures
• Result Regional system thinking not the norm
  performance measurement output oriented

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21st Century Operations

• Focus Regional cross-jurisdictional,
  multi-agency, multi-modal system
• Characterized by
• Proactive on 24/7 basis to support operations
  decisions
• Deliberate and sustained collaboration and
  coordination
• Customer-focused performance measures
• Result Regional system focus with performance
  measures outcome oriented

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OM gtgt TSMO

• Operations and Maintenance (OM) is the
  traditional operating agency perspective of
  maintaining and operating the existing
  infrastructure, focused on each agencys internal
  assets.
• Transportation Systems Management and Operations
  (TSMO) is an integrated program to optimize the
  performance of existing (and programmed)
  infrastructure through the implementation of
  multimodal, intermodal, and often
  cross-jurisdictional systems, services, and
  projects designed to preserve capacity and
  improve security, safety and reliability.

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TSMO Elements

• Traffic incident management
• Travel information services
• Freeway management
• Traffic signal coordination
• Work zone traffic management
• Roadway weather information
• Electronic payment
• Freight management
• Automatic vehicle location
• Etc. . . .
• Applied individually or in combination

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21st Century Operations The Keys to Make it
Happen

• Applying 21st Century technologies
• Intelligent transportation systems (ITS)
• Information technology (IT)
• GPS, GIS, etc.
• Unprecedented institutional collaboration and
  coordination (especially in metro areas)
• Agency to agency
• Jurisdiction to jurisdiction
• Transportation to public safety
• Operations to planning and planning to operations

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FHWA-FTA Linking Planning Operations Working
Group Key Principles of Agreement

• Formal collaboration for operations needs to take
  place in a metro area to share information and
  address regional operations concerns.
• Where this collaboration occurs organizationally
  is not important.

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FHWA-FTA Linking Planning Operations Working
Group Key Principles of Agreement (cont)

• Improving system performance is the challenge.
• The collaborative effort needs to be linked to
  the established transportation planning process.

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What Regional Collaboration Coordination Means
for Operations

• It means operations-oriented managers and
  planners within transportation and public safety
  agencies and service providers, routinely working
  together.
• It means collectively shaping, developing, and
  evolving regional operations policies, programs,
  procedures, protocols, standards, and projects.

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What Regional Collaboration Coordination Means
for Operations (cont)

• It means developing an architecture for sharing
  real-time information for systems management and
  for travel information.
• It means collectively defining the expectations
  for how operational actions of regional
  significance need to function and evolve over 3
  to 5 years to achieve improved system performance.

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A Key Product of Regional Transportation
Operations Collaboration Coordination

• The collectively defined set of expectations for
  the following areas
• For regional operations - including policies,
  procedures, plans, and programs, and projects.
• For the regional processes, relationships, and
  sharing of information on system performance.
• For the regional sharing of resources needed to
  implement, evolve, and adapt policies,
  procedures, plans, and programs, and projects.

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Some Key Ways to Link Operations and Planning

• The transportation planning process
• Data sharing
• Performance measures
• Congestion management systems
• Funding and resource sharing
• Institutional arrangements
• Regional ITS architecture
• Regional MO projects
• Regional concept for transportation operations
  (RCTO)

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Transportation Planning Process

• Engaging stakeholders
• Developing goals and objectives
• Defining performance criteria and data needs
• Evaluating regional deficiencies
• Developing alternative plan scenarios
• Evaluating alternatives

• Engage operators
• Engage operating agency managers
• Look at system holistically
• Evaluate performance of system
• Involve operating agency managers
• Involve ops experts

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Performance Measure

• Involve operations managers in process of
  developing performance measures
• Incorporate operational performance measures into
  strategic plans (e.g., LRTP)
• Use operations data for tracking performance in
  annual or quarterly reports
• Use performance measures to motivate data and
  tool development

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Congestion Management Systems

• Involve operations managers in CMS development
• Integrate the CMS into the planning process
• Use the CMS to build a system for rapid response
  to congestion issues

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Funding and Resource Sharing

• Link funding to planning goals and objectives
• Develop innovative operations funding sources
• Build on emergency response needs to create
  momentum for collaboration
• Prioritize multi-jurisdictional funding requests
• Integrate capital investments and MO within a
  single budget process
• Share office facilities
• Use the Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) to
  define commitments to MO planning
• Use funding as a tool to attract participation in
  MO discussions

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Institutional Arrangements

• Designate an MPO stakeholder forum on regional
  TSMO
• Attract stakeholders with specific regional
  operations programs
• Involve regional operations forums in the
  planning process
• Define an organizational structure for the MPO
  that reflects the importance of regional
  operations
• Link planning and operations within state DOTs
  and transit agencies
• Reinforce institutional links by integrating
  operations into project design and delivery

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Regional ITS Architecture

• Designate the MPO to lead development and
  monitoring of architecture
• Make the regional ITS architecture part of an
  integrated regional plan
• Link the architecture to the TIP
• Build from the architectures operational concept
• Build a sustained forum around maintenance of the
  architecture

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Regional MO Projects

• Work zone management programs
• Regional incident management programs
• Special events management
• Regional signal coordination
• HOV lane development
• Emergency response and security planning
• Regional traffic management centers

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Regional Concept for Transportation Operations
(RCTO) What Is It?

• An RCTO presents a regional objective for
  transportation operations and describes what is
  needed to achieve objective within a reasonably
  short time frame
• Includes
• Operations objective
• Physical improvements
• Relationships and precedures
• Resource arrangements

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RCTO Linking Planning and Operations

• Data sharing
• Performance measures
• Congestion management systems
• Funding and resource sharing
• Institutional arrangements
• Regional ITS architecture
• Regional MO projects

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Self-Assessment

• Using the categories of linking opportunities,
  conduct a self-assessment as suggested by FHWA
  reference manual Getting More by Working
  Together Opportunities for Linking Planning and
  Operations

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Final Thoughts

• Integrated operations, using ITS, requires
  strategic thinking not just problem solving.
• Operations in the 21st Century demands more
  collaboration and linkages between planning and
  operations.

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For More Information

• Regional Transportation Operations Collaboration
  and Coordination A Primer for Working Together
  to Improve Transportation Safety, Reliability,
  and Security
• E-Copy available at
• http//www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/travel
• Hard copy and information contact
• wayne.berman_at_fhwa.dot.gov