November 10, 2016
Innovation of the Month: Regional Models of Cooperation
The Every Day Counts effort on regional models of cooperation encourages transportation departments, metropolitan planning organizations and other stakeholders to work together to develop multijurisdictional transportation plans.
Regional models of cooperation also provide a framework and process for creating agreements to improve communication, collaboration, policy implementation, technology use and performance management across agency boundaries.
By working together, agencies can reap many benefits:
- Enhance decision making
- Reduce project delivery times
- Save time and money through shared resources
- Improve coordination across jurisdictional boundaries in areas such as traffic congestion management and freight movement
- Enhance public trust and improve the quality of life in communities
See the Federal Highway Administration's Regional Models of Cooperation webpage for resources and training on transportation planning, including reports on peer exchanges in North Carolina and Ohio.
Arizona Partnership Celebrates 20 Years of Innovation
AZTech, a regional traffic management partnership in the Phoenix metropolitan area, celebrated 20 years of transportation innovation with a November 2 event. Over the years, AZTech's local, state and federal partners have collaborated on initiatives to share data and information and provide seamless transportation across jurisdictional boundaries, an example of regional models of cooperation. They have also worked on projects that incorporate innovations such as smarter work zones, traffic incident management and adaptive signal control technology.
Colorado Summit Focuses on Transportation Technologies
More than 650 people attended the Colorado Transportation Matters Summit on November 1 in Denver. The theme was how technology can transform the transportation customer experience. Topics included self-driving cars, connected vehicles, transit on demand and how technology will influence future transportation infrastructure projects. Before the summit, the Colorado Innovisers Council met for the first time to discuss how to rapidly implement new technologies in transportation. Council members include transportation industry and technology leaders.
Indiana Signs Interstate Access Programmatic Agreement
The Indiana Department of Transportation and FHWA signed a programmatic agreement allowing the state agency to determine the engineering and operational acceptability for changes in interstate access. The state agency and FHWA meet regularly to discuss interstate projects and processes for analyzing engineering and operational approvals. Programmatic agreements on interstate system change in access requests were authorized by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act. FHWA retains final approval for interstate access projects.
New Mexico Opens First Diverging Diamond Interchange
State and federal officials celebrated the opening of New Mexico's first diverging diamond interchange on October 31. The new interchange at I-25 and Cerrillos Road in Santa Fe was completed on time and on budget. The New Mexico Department of Transportation chose the innovative design to improve safety and efficiency, reduce congestion and accommodate future traffic needs. The interchange includes a multiuse trail that will make travel safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. Visit the project website for a virtual tour of how to drive the interchange.
