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52 Implementation Implementing the Plan The success of a plan is only as good as the steps taken for its implementation. If the plan sits on a shelf, it will not be successful. However, if steps for implementation are documented and followed, then the project could lead to positive outcomes. The implementation of this roadmap has five parts including (1) making people aware of the NCHRP Project 20-122 and the final roadmap portfolios, (2) creating additional RNS and problem statements to submit for funding, (3) creating additional marketing items and port- folios, (4) identifying a home for the roadmap, and (5) measuring success. Although several of these implementation pieces have been started during the NCHRP Project 20-122 timeline, the project panel has also requested that the Research Team create an implementation funding request to send to the NCHRP Project 20-44 panel. Additional details on these five parts and how they fit into the implementation funding request are provided as follows. Awareness To raise awareness for this project, the Research Team held the following workshops and forums: ⢠Stakeholder workshop in September 2018 ⢠National Summit on Rural Road Safety session in December 2018 ⢠TRB Executive Committee Meeting at TRB in January 2019 ⢠TRB workshop at TRB in January 2019 ⢠Stakeholder webinar in March 2019 Along with the workshops, the Research Team did several presentations about this project to create awareness to the following committees: ⢠AASHTO Special Committee on R&I in October 2018 ⢠ADA40 Committee at TRB in January 2019 ⢠ANB10(7) Joint Subcommittee at TRB in January 2019 ⢠AASHTO Safety Committee in April 2019 ⢠TRB Low Volume Roads Conference in September 2019 ⢠AASHTO Research Advisory Committee (RAC) Committee at TRB in January 2020 ⢠ADA40 Committee at TRB in January 2020 ⢠ABJ20 Committee at TRB in January 2020 To increase awareness of the project, the Research Team chose two research needs (Equity and Energy Development) from the roadmap and created potential workshop agendas surrounding C H A P T E R  5
Implementation 53  SAVE THE DATE for an interactive workshop on Rural Equity at the 99th TRB Annual Meeting Rural Transportation for Everyone: Policy and Practice in 2020 Sponsoring Committees: AP055, ANF10, ANB10, AFB30, ADA10, ADA30, ADA40, ABE80, and ANB10(7) Thursday, January 16th 8 AM to Noon Everybody, including physically, economically and socially disadvan- taged people, needs accessible, affordable, and safe transportation to ensure access to economic and social opportunities. Providing this mobility and accessibility is particularly challenging in rural communi- ties where activities are dispersed, and public resources limited. As a result, many rural communities face severe mobility disparities which are inequitable and reduce local economic development. This multi- modal, multi-disciplinary workshop will begin with a panel presentation and finish with interactive round table discussions on the challenges that rural communities face in providing equitable access to disadvantaged groups, and creative solutions to these problems. Workshop outcomes will include a summary report and potential presentation at the TRB Tools of the Trade Conference. For more information contact Jaime Sullivan at jaime.sullivan2@montana.edu Panel Presentation: Planning with, not planning for: Considering Rural Equity in Transportation by Carrie Kissel, NADO Evaluating and Improving Rural Transportation Equity by Todd Litman, Victoria Transport Policy Institute Mobility Services and Needs of North Dakotaâs Transit System to Provide for North Dakota Residents by Jill Hough, Director of the Small Urban and Rural Transit Center at North Dakota State Transportation Equity in Greater Minnesota by Jake Granholm and Hally Turner, Minnesota Management and Budget Roundtable Discussions: ⢠Transit and Mobility ⢠Active Transportation ⢠Transportation Safety & Safety Culture ⢠Local Road Management and Resiliency ⢠Multimodal Planning ⢠Addressing Tribal Transportation Challenges ⢠Tourism and Public Lands For more information contact Jaime Sullivan at jaime.sullivan2@montana.edu Figure 18. TRB 2020 equity workshop postcard. these topics. The Research Team proposed these ideas to several TRB committees to gauge participation. In the end, the Equity theme was chosen and eight TRB committees and one joint subcommittee co-sponsored the workshop at TRB in January 2020. In addition, the U.S. DOTâs Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic Success (ROUTES) Initiative joined the workshop to collect information for their new rural initiative. Additionally, the Research Team worked with TRB staff to produce a write-up on the project in the TRB Annual Report and created a postcard handout about the project for distribution at TRB in January 2020 (see Figure 18). Now that the final report and final roadmap portfolios are created, additional conference and committee presentations should be done to build awareness. These recommended presentations were included in the implementation funding request. These include but are not limited to the following: ⢠All AASHTO committees ⢠AASHTO RAC ⢠CUTC Summer Conference ⢠Tools of the Trade Conference ⢠National Summit on Rural Road Safety ⢠National Conference on Rural Public and Intercity Bus Transportation
54 Rural Transportation Issues: Research Roadmap ⢠APTA Conference and Expo ⢠CTAA Conference ⢠Committee presentations at the 2021 TRB Annual Meeting ⢠Podium session at the TRB Annual Meeting Additional RNS and Problem Statements It is envisioned that as TRB committees, UTCs, state DOTs, AASHTO committees, and others become aware of the final roadmap portfolios, they will begin choosing projects from these portfolios and creating additional RNS and problem statements. The creation of additional RNS and problem statements was included in the implementation funding request. Additional Products and Portfolios An important part of the implementation funding request will be for additional products and portfolios that fell outside the current budget. These deliverables would be beneficial for raising awareness and educating stakeholders about rural needs. Examples of the additional products include but are not limited to the following: ⢠Handout based on the Summary of this report, suitable for briefing the RAC, TRB committees, AASHTO committees, and UTCs. This document should reflect not only the project overview and outcomes but the benefits of the project and how it can help the reader. There may be a need to make two separate documents, one focused on those who may undertake the research and a second focused on the practitioners who will use the research and advocate for it to be funded. ⢠Website to house the database, portfolios, reports, and marketing materials. ⢠Additional marketing graphics. ⢠Creation of additional products for dissemination that include information on the impor- tance of rural transportation. ⢠Submission of RNS into the TRB RNS Database, in particular the addition of the RNS that were not submitted to CRP. The RNS would be tagged to show that they are part of a rural roadmap. ⢠Creation of a snap search for a rural roadmap. ⢠Creation of a schedule showing the process schedules of the various CRP [i.e., NCHRP, ACRP, TCRP, Behavior Traffic Safety CRP (BTSCRP), NCFRP, and National Cooperative Rail Research Program (NCRRP)]. This would guide and facilitate outreach efforts to remind TRB and AASHTO committees of the roadmap portfolios and to ensure that projects are being expanded into problem statements and submitted. ⢠Creation of a schedule outlining the submission periods/deadlines of state DOT research programs, so the research needs can be submitted into those processes. Additional portfolios that the project panel believed should be considered include but are not limited to the following: ⢠Rural tribal transportation critical needs category ⢠Policy category that combines not only the Cross-cutting Funding, Economic, and Policy Issues Portfolio but also the policy needs shown under the policy subcategories in the other portfolios ⢠Portfolios directed at specific TRB committees ⢠Portfolios directed at the AASHTO RAC, with research appropriate for state DOTs Identifying a Home Although the final roadmap portfolios were a key milestone in the NCHRP Project 20-122, the Research Team also recognized a critical need to establish a process for updating the roadmap, so it could continue to be a useful, living document. To keep the roadmap updated, items will
Implementation 55  need to be removed as research is completed and added as rural transportation needs evolve. For example, continuing developments in connected and autonomous vehicles are likely to result in research needs that are difficult to predict currently. To prepare for this need, the Research Team included a discussion of this topic at the equity workshop held during the 2020 TRB Annual Meeting. During this meeting, the Research Team provided several potential options for forums or initiatives that could continue the work of the research roadmap including the Rural Public and Intercity Bus Transportation Committee (AP055); the Rural Road Safety Policy, Programming, and Implementation Joint Subcommittee [ANB10(7)]; the creation of a new TRB joint subcommittee; a pooled fund study; the newly announced A0040C: Rural Transportation Issues Coordinating Council, and one of the AASHTO committees. During the discussion, it was noted that having a single TRB committee or AASHTO com- mittee as the home does not appropriately represent the fact that the roadmap is cross-cutting (i.e., multimodal, multi-user type, and multi-disciplinary, crossing 15 critical needs factors) and should reside with a forum that can keep these cross-cutting concepts, topics, and needs alive. Therefore, the consensus was that the new A0040C: Rural Transportation Issues Coordinating Council would be the most appropriate place for the roadmap to reside. The Council comprises representatives from other TRB committees that have ties to the rural topic. TRB reached out to the principal investigator of the roadmap project about the potential of her serving as the chair of the A0040C: Rural Transportation Issues Coordinating Council and ensuring that one of the responsibilities of the Council will be to house, maintain, and update this roadmap. An announcement of the A0040C: Rural Transportation Issues Coordinating Council and chair was made in April 2020. A continued endorsement of this product would elevate and sustain emphasis on rural issues and the recognition of their importance to the transportation system as a whole. Measuring Success With the completion of the NCHRP Project 20-122 and the roadmap, there is a need to evaluate the roadmapâs success. This roadmap can be seen as a success if (1) roadmap research projects are funded, (2) if the number of RNS and/or problem statements increases over time (showing that rural is still at the forefront of leadersâ minds, as well as a priority for action and funding), and (3) local and regional coalitions are formed to support implementation of addi- tional roadmap items. Table 13 indicates the current performance measure results at the end of this project. These should be considered the baseline results and used to measure the increases. It is assumed that measuring the success of the roadmap will also be part of the A0040C: Rural Transportation Issues Coordinating Council mission. Performance Measures Results to Date (as of Spring 2020) Notes Number of roadmap research projects funded 3 Two through NCHRP and one through TCRP in FY2020 Number of RNS created for roadmap projects 29 Number of problem statements created for roadmap projects 10 Seven submitted to the AASHTO Special Committee on R&I and three submitted to TCRP Number of local and regional coalitions formed to support implementation of additional roadmap items 1 A0040C: Rural Transportation Issues Coordinating Council Table 13. Performance measure results to date.