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circumstances permit, focusing on the key elements most directly implicated by any externally
driven change but also using the momentum for more general improvements.
Institutional Innovation and Alternative Models
There are many examples of transportation agencies finding innovative ways to address the chal-
lenges of SO&M. Following are examples of innovation within existing transportation agencies,
as well as alternative models for delivery of SO&M strategies.
Innovation within Existing Transportation Agencies
Over the last 15 years, many states have built transportation management centers (TMCs),
installed ITS technologies over increasing segments of their major networks, deployed safety
service patrols, and developed interagency approaches to incident management and traveler
information. Several states have established benchmarks for the state of the practice in certain of
the basic NRC-oriented strategy applications (Table ES.7).
Table ES.7. Institutional Best Practice Examples
· An increasing number of states have quick clearance laws to support the removal of stopped vehicles from
obstructing the road. Florida DOT (FDOT), for example, carried out an aggressive statewide campaign of
signage, radio spots, billboards, and brochures to inform the public about the law and its benefits.
· Both the FDOT Rapid Incident Scene Clearance (RISC) program and Georgia DOT Towing and Recovery
Incentive Program (TRIP) are publicprivate partnerships that use both incentive payments and disincentive
liquidated damages to ensure shortened clearance times for heavy vehicle wrecks; these programs have
reduced the average clearance times by 100%.
· Oregon DOT has used a set of unique contractor requirements (staged tow trucks, traffic supervision, and
public advisories) as part of effective work zone traffic control.
· Detroit metropolitan area transportation agencies are part of a regional multiagency coalition that tracks
and manages weather problems and treatment strategies, including flexible interjurisdictional boundaries
for efficient operations.
· The 16-state I-95 Corridor Coalition has supported an operations academy, which is a two-week residential
program designed to provide middle and upper managers in state DOTs with a thorough grounding in
various aspects of SO&M state of the practice.
· The Maryland DOT Coordinated Highways Action Response Team (CHART) is a formal, multiyear budgeted
ITS and operations program with an advisory board that provides oversight and strategic direction. It is
chaired by the deputy administrator/chief engineer for operations and includes district engineers, the direc-
tor of the Office of Traffic and Safety, the director of the Office of Maintenance, the Maryland State Police,
the Maryland Transportation Authority, the Federal Highway Administration, the University of Maryland
Center for Advanced Transportation Technology, and various local governments.
· Washington State DOT (WSDOT) has formalized interactions among units and managers involved in its
SO&M program. TMC managers from around the state meet every 6 weeks to coordinate with regional Inci-
dent Response Program managers, who in turn meet quarterly for operations coordination with the state
patrol. TMC managers and incident response managers coordinate activities and issues by meeting with
the statewide traffic engineers group and the maintenance engineers group.
· The Oregon Transportation Commission moved some capacity funding to the operations program
to create an Operations Innovation Program that awards funding to projects selected on a competitive
basis for their potential to demonstrate innovative operations concepts related to congestion
mitigation and freight mobility.
· Virginia DOT has reorganized its senior management to include a deputy director for operations and main-
tenance responsible for all SO&M activities, as well as maintenance resources.
· WSDOT has made a strong and transparent commitment to performance measurement as evidenced by
the quarterly Gray Notebook, which tracks performance based on five WSDOT legislative goals, including
mobility/congestion, and includes regular updates on progress in the application of operations strategies
such as incident management and HOT lanes.
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Alternative Models
In addition to incremental change, the project evaluated a wide range of alternative institutional
models from existing sources in the United States and through discussion with key profession-
als. Descriptive information of some models was also derived from international sources. The
four models are activity outsourcing, program outsourcing (publicprivate partnerships), new
cooperative operating collaboration, and the public utility model.
Activity Outsourcing
This model assumes systematic outsourcing of certain SO&M functions at the activity level, such
as safety service patrols, TMC operations, and asset management--per current practice in a few
states, but with the transportation agency maintaining program and individual activity contract
management responsibility. While several states outsource TMC operations and safety service
patrols in some metropolitan areas, only two states have substantially outsourced most of these
activities on a statewide basis.
Program Outsourcing (PublicPrivate Partnerships)
This model is presumed to apply to a statewide program, although components can occur at dif-
ferent rates on a regional basis. This is distinguished from activity outsourcing by its inclusion
of an entire set of activities (e.g., all real-time operations activities) into a single contract, with a
program manager reporting to a separate publicprivate entity, and including management of
other service providers on a large-scale geographic basis. There is no statewide U.S. example
(although such PPP models are in use for some U.S.-tolled facilities), but the U.K. Highway
Authority has established subnational regions (like state DOT districts) under which most oper-
ational and related maintenance functions are performed by a combination of dedicated staff
and contractors.
New Cooperative Operating Collaboration
New regional operations relationships have been established either through a consolidation of
the SO&M responsibilities (state and local) of existing public agencies into a new entity or
through a new set of planning and operations collaborative relationships. These types of orga-
nizations reflect willingness on the part of state DOTs to devolve complex metropolitan or
regional multijurisdictional operating activities rather than lead such efforts themselves. Some
have coordinated planning functions and one or more real-time operations functions, such as
traffic conditions analysis and dissemination (e.g., TransCom in the New York City metropoli-
tan area); TMC; and arterial or freeway operations, such as Las Vegas Freeway and Arterial Sys-
tem of Transportation (FAST), the Denver Region Traffic Signal System Improvement Program
(TSSIP), and the Niagara International Transportation Technology Coalition (NITTEC) in New
York and Ontario. Similarly, there are organizations for incident management and high-
occupancy toll (HOT) lane operations (e.g., TranStar in Houston); bridge and tunnel operations
coordination and resource allocation (e.g., Bay Area Toll Authority in the San Francisco region);
and weather information development and dissemination (e.g., the Clarus Initiative).
Public Utility Model
This model, presumed to apply to a statewide program, is by definition privately managed and
funded by user fees, under public policy and regulatory oversight. There is no known example
in highway-related SO&M. The closest examples are regional transit authorities that provide
transit operations at the metropolitan (or regional) scale with professional management and
