ACTT A "How To" Guide for State Highway Agencies

ACTT Standard Operating Procedures

Getting Ready

Step 1: The owner agency identifies a highway corridor or project as a good candidate for the application of the ACTT concept (See "Selecting the Corridor", page 13). Although ACTT may be implemented at any time during the pre-construction phase, it is most beneficial when applied during early project development, per Figure 2, below.

Figure 2: Benefits gained from the ACTT process are greatest when a workshop is held early in the project development phase.

Step 2: Through its FHWA division office, the owner agency advises the Accelerated Construction Management Team (Appendix A) of its intent to conduct a workshop. The purpose of a workshop is to explore innovative techniques and technologies that could help transportation agencies complete highway projects faster, safer, and with higher quality while minimizing impact on the traveling public. The workshop partners a national team of recognized transportation professionals with their local colleagues to collectively search for ways to help the host agency meet its project goals.

A typical ACTT workshop begins with an opening session on the afternoon of the first day, continues with an all-day brainstorming session on the second day, and ends with the presentation of ideas and recommendations by the skill sets on the morning of the third day. It is important to recognize that ACTT is a process. It builds on expertise and unconstrained brainstorming, and certain elements might vary from project to project. Appendix D includes a sample ACTT workshop agenda to use as a template for developing a workshop. The sample agenda provided permits travel for most national participants on the first and last days.

Getting Started

Step 3: The host State requests, through the FHWA division office, a 1/2-day meeting with one or two ACMT members. The meeting of host agency and FHWA division officials will help identify local contacts (State, FHWA, consultants, industry), select appropriate skill sets (see Appendix C), and will discuss national participation and invitational travel, funding, facilitation, documentation, workshop dates/agenda, and roles/responsibilities.

Getting Going

Step 4: Following the pre-workshop meeting, the ACTT Program Manager announces the workshop with at least 90 days lead time to the ACTT Skill Set Team Leaders, who coordinate with members of the Skill Sets Council.

Step 5: The ACMT assists the host agency in planning, facilitating and conducting the workshop.

Getting In, Staying In (and getting it done right), Getting Out, and Staying Out

Step 6: The State host captures workshop results (content and graphics) in an electronic report, using a template supplied by the ACMT. The elements of the template include:

• Executive summary
• Workshop purpose
• Project details, including cost/benefits
• Workshop meeting details
• Photos, maps, traffic volume charts, and other illustrative graphic elements
• Conclusions (including next steps and workshop evaluations)
• Appendices: workshop attendees, skill set reporting forms

FHWA coordinates the final editing and distribution of each report with the State. FHWA also publicizes the reports on the ACTT web site to chronicle for other stakeholders the significant findings that can accelerate their ability to get in, get out, and stay out of the construction site. Each year FHWA will analyze, summarize and publish lessons learned, recurring recommendations, and trends as a knowledge management tool for practitioners.

State ACTT workshop reports are available at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/construction/accelerated/