TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This executive summary highlights the findings of a study of current practices in the development of transportation solutions in State Departments of Transportation (STDs) and other transportation agencies. This "State of the Practice" synthesis report is the first of three products developed for the United States Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) project, "Integrating and Streamlining Transportation Development and Decision-making." The project focuses on the integration of the disciplines of planning, environment, engineering and real estate in the development of transportation solutions. Findings in this report were developed based on a review of available literature, an analysis of results from the FHWA Integration Solutions Survey, and the input and suggestions from a Sounding Board of nationwide transportation professionals.
Major Study Finding 1: A review of existing literature revealed that there are disparities among the states in their approaches to the development of transportation solutions.
- The states vary in their recognition of the need for a more integrated approach to transportation decision-making.
- Some states, for example, have developed voluminous documents and procedures brochures detailing the virtues of an integrated approach to the development of transportation solutions.
- Other states have apparently addressed the issue very little or not at all.
Major Study Finding 2: A group of federal, state and regional level transportation professionals are dedicated to the concept of promoting integration in the transportation decision-making process.
- These "integration advocates," especially those in the real estate and environmental disciplines, are actively involved in promoting the ideas of integrated transportation decision-making.
- Several conferences, professional meetings, and publicly funded research projects have explored the topic of integration and streamlining in the context of transportation planning and development.
- Many written materials have documented examples of better integration of environmental concerns in the transportation planning process.
- Some materials have focused on an earlier and increasing role for the real estate discipline in the development of transportation solutions.
- None of the conferences or written materials has specifically addressed the integration of all four disciplines. This study is the first to focus on the integration of all four disciplines.
Major Study Finding 3: The United States Department of Transportation and certain states - Oregon, Wisconsin, Florida, Pennsylvania, Washington and California, as a few examples - are in the forefront of the movement to promote integration in the transportation decision-making process.
- The U.S. Department of Transportation has also played a visible role in exploring and promoting this concept, hosting forums and funding research projects on the subject.
- The states listed above are not the only states engaging in such activities.
- Professionals from these states more frequently make their individual work or examples from their states available for discussions or papers regarding the topic.
Major Study Finding 4: While there is a fair amount of disparity among states in the processes they use to develop transportation solutions, there are also notable similarities.
- The majority of respondents believe that the most influential factors affecting the development of transportation solutions include:
- identified impacts on the environment, economy and community;
- cost of the project;
- funding; and
- the complexity or magnitude of the project.
- Respondents from integrated agencies believe that an integrated approach positively impacts their discipline's contributions to the development of transportation solutions.
- In an integrated approach, all disciplines are more involved in the initial planning and scoping phases when alternatives are developed and the preferred solution is identified.
- Increased participation earlier and throughout the process helps to ensure consensus and minimize potential conflicts.
Major Finding 5: Even among states reporting themselves to be non-integrated, respondents recognize value of an integrated approach.
- Of respondents from non-integrated agencies, the majority believe a multi-disciplinary approach is useful and would have a positive impact on their discipline's contribution to the development of transportation solutions.
- The most prevalent reasons why a multi-disciplinary approach was not adopted are perceived increases in workload and the need for additional information and training.
Major Finding 6: Survey results provide a basis for identifying the most frequent types of processes and development styles currently in use in integrated agencies.
- Results show that integrated agencies are more likely to be decentralized and have uniform processes across field units.
- Results show that agencies with either very few or a relatively large number of field units/divisions are less likely to be integrated.
- Results also show that agencies that coordinate with a large number of entities in the formulation of the Statewide Transportation Plan (STP) and Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) are more likely to be integrated.
Major Finding 7: Integrated agencies are less likely to have a functional discipline project management style.
- The functional discipline project manager style is one in which different portions of a project have a different individual serving as project manager (PM) based on that individual's expertise and the functions performed during the various aspects of the project.
- More frequent project development styles in integrated agencies include single point project managers (cradle-to-grave), phased project managers, or a team of managers.
Additional Findings from Qualitative Survey Responses: Qualitative comments from survey respondents provide more detailed information about the uniform processes utilized in both integrated and non-integrated agencies, as well as the general responsibilities of each discipline throughout different stages of the process.
- While collaboration between the disciplines of planning, engineering, environment and right of way generally occurs when identifying and selecting the preferred transportation solution, a more integrated approach focuses on coordination throughout all phases of the process, from planning to design to operation and maintenance.
- Some of the successful factors identified by agencies with an integrated approach include increased involvement of all disciplines earlier in the process, concurrent development, "cradle to grave" management approach, and increased public involvement.
- Some of the key challenges to implementing a more integrated approach include the merging of the NEPA and planning process, the seemingly conflicting pressure to complete projects quickly and the difficulty of conducting efficient public participation throughout project development.
- Training, education and research were all identified by survey respondents as integral components to the implementation of a successful integrated approach.
1 INTRODUCTION
Federal transportation and environmental policy in the 1990s, as embodied in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) of 1991, the Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) of 1990 and the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA21), has prompted the need for new planning and decision-making processes in the development of transportation solutions by State Departments of Transportation (STDs) and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs). These transportation and environmental policies have focused attention on the efficiency of coordinated, multimodal planning to meet the need for transportation services.
Multimodalism ensures that all potential solutions to transportation problems - ranging from those that increase supply of transportation to those that manage demand - are considered within the context of the planning process. Multimodalism also emphasizes comprehensive and integrated planning as a way to better equilibrate supply and demand while concurrently minimizing externalities such as air pollution, energy consumption, safety and congestion. This new emphasis on utilizing multimodal solutions to achieve our overall societal goals highlights the need for integration among the disciplines of planning, engineering, real estate and environment in the transportation planning process.
Jack Faucett Associates (JFA), an economics and public policy consulting firm, is conducting a project for the United States Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Planning, Environment, and Real Estate Core Business Unit (CBU) entitled, "Integrating and Streamlining Transportation Development and Decision-Making." The goal of the project is to identify successful practices currently employed in the development of transportation solutions by means of integrating the disciplines of planning, environment, real estate, and engineering. The three main products of this project are:
- This "State of the Practice" synthesis report which identifies current practices in State Departments of Transportation (STDs) and other transportation agencies.
- A "Best Practices" report developed from site visits to 5 or 6 transportation agencies which will illustrate the best examples of integrating and streamlining in the transportation development and decision-making process.
- A "Recommendations Report" which will provide recommendations for how the process of transportation decision-making can be improved by better integrating the different disciplines in transportation agencies.
This "State of the Practice" synthesis report constitutes the first of the three main products. The information in this report was developed based upon a review of available literature regarding the development of transportation solutions and the results of the FHWA Integration Solutions Survey. A Sounding Board which included members with expertise in each of the four disciplines provided guidance and support throughout the development of this report. The findings from this report, summarized in the concluding chapter, will serve as a basis for developing the other two main products of this project: the best practices and recommendations reports.
2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE
JFA conducted an extensive review of existing literature related to transportation decision-making methods and the development of transportation solutions in federal, state and local environments. This review focused particularly on the integration of the real estate, engineering, planning and environment disciplines in this process. It also included a review of integration efforts undertaken by states, cities, counties, planning organizations, federal government agencies and foreign countries.
Efforts to identify relevant studies and information included internet searches, discussions with involved FHWA parties, and discussions with relevant American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), Transportation Research Board (TRB) and other transportation-related entity committee members. In addition, JFA consulted with the members of a Sounding Board assembled for this project. The Sounding Board was established by JFA with input from FHWA as a cross-disciplinary group of individuals in the real estate, planning, environment and engineering disciplines. The role of the Sounding Board was to serve in an advisory capacity throughout the duration of the project. The group consisted of 18 members representing various STDs and Federal Highway division offices.1 The first task asked of the Sounding Board members was to recommend relevant reports or other documents on the subject of transportation decision-making and the roles and interaction of the various disciplines in that process.
The result of the literature search was an annotated bibliography of reports, presentations, guidance documents, websites, transportation trade journal articles and other materials relevant to transportation solution development. Materials reviewed in the annotated bibliography cover subjects including value engineering, context sensitive design, smart growth, land use, the statewide transportation planning process, NEPA and other environmental guidelines and processes, innovative right-of-way practices, and specific STD streamlining and transportation planning practices and procedures. The complete annotated bibliography is included in Appendix B.
1 Appendix A provides the names, titles and affiliations of each Sounding Board member, as of February 2002. (back)
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