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Page 89
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 7 - Conclusions." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Accelerating Transportation Project and Program Delivery: Conception to Completion. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14405.
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Page 89
Page 90
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 7 - Conclusions." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Accelerating Transportation Project and Program Delivery: Conception to Completion. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14405.
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Page 90

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89 The highway transportation industry in the United States has evolved rapidly over the last 60 years. Thirty years of indef- inite expansion and new construction, followed by years of heavy use and maintenance, have brought it to a state where overhaul and costly maintenance or replacement is now called for. Some states are still expanding their existing networks, but not with the vigor that characterized the late 1950s and 1960s. The parabolic bridge profiles and endless miles of high- ways that came together to create the visual and symbolic land- scape that is iconic of the American interstate system are in need of repair. As that same network is aging, every state is embracing innovative, cost effective ways to extend the useful life of their respective system of roads and bridges. Confronted with an aging infrastructure, the catalyst driving states to maintain and preserve their infrastructure assets lies in the financial constraints that transportation departments are experiencing. Additionally, the loss of tacit knowledge through retirements, an ever increasing population with greater mobility needs, chronic congestion, and rapidly increasing VMTs press upon them the need to accelerate programs and projects from con- ception to completion. Several state DOTs have taken a broader approach to deliv- ering programs and projects. Their task is even more difficult in today’s environment. They must combine modern means with an organic approach to preserve both infrastructure and environment. It is hard not to be impressed by what DOTs have accomplished by expanding on smaller successes, com- bining winning strategies, and taking a holistic approach to delivering projects. This research has illuminated the best prac- tices developed and implemented by states in their endeavor to take an idea from concept to completion. In California, the concept of a performance-based man- agement program incorporates a strategic plan, operations plan, and actual performance measures. The outcome-driven results provide an assessment of Caltrans’ system and the prod- uct that Caltrans is delivering to the public and stakeholders. Its goal is to strive for 100 percent delivery of scheduled projects every fiscal year. At the same time, under CEQA (California’s NEPA delegation), Caltrans has been able to reduce the time required to obtain approved environmental documents. In Maine, a comprehensive bridge tracking program mon- itors safety, environmental compatibility, functionality, and overall quality of bridges. A team approach has significantly helped to accelerate programs through commitment, shared responsibility, risk taking, and accountability. Maryland SHA’s best practices focus on performance mea- sures for the agency’s six modal administrations. The pub- lication of the Annual Attainment Report encompasses the health of its infrastructure and sets new targets for the coming years. Considered to be the leaders in CSS, MDOT incorpo- rates CSS as a standard operating procedure. Acceleration is also accomplished through environmental streamlining and design–build delivery systems. MoDOT’s unique organizational structure emphasizes three separate wheels for system delivery, organizational sup- port, and system facilitation. A bipartisan Transportation Commission provides balanced decision making on all trans- portation issues. However, Missouri’s Tracker measures the department’s internal and external organizational effective- ness. Accountability of “drivers” for and transparency of results create the momentum for continuous monitoring and constant improvement of their benchmarks. In New Jersey, pipelines for project delivery selectively map the activities of a project based on its complexity and character- istics. Acceleration is achieved through a customized, well- scoped project that follows a defined process and network logic. A project management philosophy guides the project managers in how projects are initiated, planned, executed, monitored, and closed. New Jersey’s future lies in asset manage- ment involving policies, programming, and program delivery based on implementing a performance measurement system. C H A P T E R 7 Conclusions

In North Carolina, a creative realignment provided the direction for future vision, strategy, and employee engagement. Those efforts culminated in streamlining project develop- ment and delivery through concurrence. The Merger 01 process, a multiagency initiative, seeks to formally register the concurrence of all concerned parties at strategic points in the development of a project, from the earliest concep- tion and planning phases. North Carolina’s organizational performance dashboard also provides a set of gauges that are linked to a performance management program. Texas has experimented with innovative financing tools and contracting methods. Procurement strategies such as evergreen contracts, which pre-qualify contractors to perform specific types of work, have helped TxDOT accelerate smaller projects. Its comprehensive development agreements allow a given contractor to perform all services of a project from design and construction to maintenance and operation. In Utah, the best practice is a pilot contracting program called construction manager–general contractor. This innova- tive approach involves a design consultant and a construction contractor to collaborate on a project early on. Involving the contractor during the design process allows constructability issues to surface and opens greater possibilities for parallel processes to occur. Programs that incorporate performance measures; contin- uous improvement processes; pipelines to project delivery; collaborative advances to communicate ideas; cooperative efforts; project management principles; integrative ideas that encompass holistic processes; continuity in leadership; and changing policies at federal, state and local levels are just some of the ways that states are responding to the demands of a new climate in transportation. Such programs, which move toward common end goals, are in effect accelerating programs and projects from conception to completion, using a combination of techniques and proven methods to bring facilities to the public more quickly. States now prac- tice a very rational method of planning and designing in which single or multiple tracks of a process, under challeng- ing scenarios, have opened up many dimensions of creative opportunity. States have also undergone some shifts in DOT culture. Par- adigm shifts have occurred in the way that departments do business. New skill sets, new ideas, and new relationships have been developed through the course of these shifts. Account- ability and transparency are the new mantras that require state DOTs to perform a candid self-assessment and then engage in setting benchmarks, targets, and higher goals at all levels within the organization. All the states studied, through their evolution, have allowed us to gain insight to what is possible given all the limita- tions, funding challenges, and aging infrastructure. These states demand more of themselves and challenge the boundaries of current processes, policies, and practices to strive for excellence. That excellence is evidenced in the built environment. Acceleration does not have to come at a high cost. States have achieved accelerated delivery through up-front planning, well-defined scopes, organized processes that outline tasks and responsibilities, accountability and transparency for one’s work, intense community outreach efforts, and innovative contract- ing, all before the monumental ground breaking. New mana- gerial methods, coupled with technological advances, allow transportation professionals to make balanced decisions result- ing in smoother process execution and, ultimately, quicker pro- gram and project delivery. 90

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TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 662: Accelerating Transportation Project and Program Delivery: Conception to Completion explores the experiences of eight state departments of transportation that made improvements in their project delivery and examines the lessons to be learned from their experiences.

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