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CHAPTER 2 Project Background Project R16B was preceded by two other projects, both completed under the SHRP 2 initiative. The first research project involved the identification of the major challenges faced by stakeholders working on rail and road projects and the best practices implemented by them to address these challenges. The challenges often relate to project delays, scope changes, cost increases, delays and issues in agreement processing, lack of streamlined processes, coordination, communication, safety, and many others. Activities included surveying and interviewing many of the stakeholders involving railroad companies and transportation agencies from all states and many local jurisdictions. The team worked with an advisory panel consisting of representatives from federal and state transportation agencies and railroads to vet the best practices that were identified or developed during the project. The findings were summarized in the SHRP2 R16 report, Strategies for Improving the Project Agreement Process Between Highway Agencies and Railroads, published in 2010. The report includes several practices that had been successfully implemented in isolated pockets across the United States and new strategies that were developed during the research project to streamline processes and address challenges on projects involving transportation agencies and railroads. Collectively, the innovative practices and strategies are referred to as project innovations. In conjunction with an appropriate strategy for dissemination and national adoption, these project innovations have the potential to address on a national scale many of the challenges that transportation agencies and railroads face on projects involving both organizations. This project was the first time that a research effort was able to engage the participation and collaboration of transportation agencies and railroads in finding solutions to challenges faced by them in their work together. The objective of the second phase of the project, communication and dissemination, was to disseminate the research findings nationally. The dissemination was to be done in a manner that would generate sufficient interest in the project innovations to start the adoption of these innovations by other peers across the country. To set the stage for adoption, the StarIsis team created a collaborative forum of stakeholders called the community of interest (COI). This COI consisted of four of the nation's largest Class I railroads [Norfolk Southern Railway, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF), CSX Transportation, and Union Pacific], one short line railroad (Genesee & Wyoming), two federal agencies [Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)], eight U.S. state departments of transportation (DOTs) (from Texas, Florida, Washington, Illinois, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Iowa), and one Canadian transportation agency (Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation). Meetings of the COI served as a forum for brainstorming innovations and refining strategies to address project challenges in ways that could be beneficial to both transportation agencies and railroads. The team was able to create an environment conducive for members to share ideas and perspectives in a noncontentious way and involve the stakeholders productively. 4
The resulting environment was conducive to creating a better understanding among members about the differences in objectives and business perspectives of transportation agencies and railroads. By focusing on collaboration and establishing win-win strategies, the team was able to successfully encourage member participation in panel discussions, conferences, webinar presentations, workshops, and other dissemination activities. The research team and the COI members worked collaboratively, and their effective communication of the benefits of the project innovations on a national scale triggered significant interest in their adoption. In the second phase of the project, the team conducted five dissemination sessions, mostly at American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officialsâ (AASHTO) conferences. In collaboration with COI members, the team successfully disseminated information about the project innovations at 12 outreach events, including the AASHTO meetings. The outreach sessions were strategically planned and conducted at venues to reach audiences from transportation agencies and railroads involved in project activities. These sessions thus were more effective in getting the information to potential users of the innovations. This phase of the project achieved four major milestones: (1) successful dissemination of the information about the project innovations, (2) enhanced collaboration between railroads and transportation agencies in the community, (3) engagement of members of both communities in the dissemination of the innovations, and (4) collaborative implementation of a project innovation by transportation agency and railroad pairs. These strategic activities set the stage for moving forward with activities to catalyze the national adoption of the project innovations. The third phase of the project, reported here, involved the development of web-based tools to support nationwide adoption of the project innovations. 5
