Strategies for Improving the Project Agreement Process between Highway Agencies and Railroads (2010) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix B - Analysis of Survey Results
Appendix B - Analysis of Survey Results
Pages 88-99
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From page 88... ...
It requested agency perspectives on reasons for successful and unsuccessful project reviews. It provided an opportunity for responding agencies to list specific issues in coordination between railroads and highway agencies that needed to be addressed.
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From page 89... ...
Number of survey respondents who interact with each railroad.10 20 255 15 Local Agencies State Agencies Responses 11 28 0 30 Figure B.5. State versus local responses.
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From page 90... ...
One of the respondents in the survey noted, "Sometimes, an adversarial relationship develops between the railroad and the highway agency on some projects. Some DOT project managers try to avoid having to deal with the railroad, if possible." In agencies where open communication was integrated into the workings between agency and railroad personnel, both teams often found workable solutions to challenges.
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From page 91... ...
Have dedicated personnel either in the railroad or with outside contract engineering firms to focus solely on highway project reviews. 6 10 13 3 5 14 Coordinate Projects for Locals.
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From page 92... ...
One of the railroads discussed having hundreds of thousands of dollars of uncompensated expenses attributed to its public projects division as a result. The participants at the advisory panel meeting felt that in view of the project objective to smooth relationships and devise mitigation strategies to improve the workings between railroads and local and state transportation agencies, this issue needed to be resolved and a better and simpler mechanism to compensate railroads for preliminary engineering work needed to be devised.
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From page 93... ...
Open communication: Establish ongoing formal communication channels between the highway agency and the railroad; and 5. Conduct formal crossing diagnostics before programming a crossing project.
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From page 94... ...
Staff Expertise, Mature Processes, and Dedicated Railroad Personnel • Iowa DOT: Iowa has developed an effective primary highway crossing surface program implemented with an experienced staff. • Washington DOT: It funds a public project position at a railroad to work primarily on WSDOT projects.
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From page 95... ...
• Montana DOT, Right-of-Way Bureau, Utilities Section: Successful project reviews are successful when there is Early submittal of the project designs and standard agreements to the railroad. Prompt responses, negotiations, and execution of standard agreements from all parties (DOT and railroad)
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From page 96... ...
Unsuccessful or Delayed Project Reviews When asked to identify what tends to result in unsuccessful reviews, 32 responses were received. Perhaps predictably, the responses were generally the opposite of the ones cited as leading to successful projects.
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From page 97... ...
• Lack of consultation between highway and railroad design engineers during the project development process. • The railroad tries to change standard agreement language.
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From page 98... ...
• Hire more public projects staff. Streamline railroad process for engineering and legal reviews, including establishing a mechanism where the reviewer is prompted to contact the agency if there are questions or concerns regarding a submittal.• DOTs should be able to hire structure engineers to review railroad bridge plans in-house to expedite review.
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From page 99... ...
To date, most highway agencies and railroads have not documented baselines for project reviews or tracked the degree of deviation from those baselines. It is apparent that state and local highway officials express consistent dismay over the agreement process, but the actual percentage of projects that are delayed remains unclear.
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