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Context Sensitive Solutions Technical Assistance: Florida Department of Transportation

Key Takeaways

Through a facilitation exercise, participants at the meeting came up with key challenges that they associated with FDOT’s Complete Streets implementation effort. The challenges that emerged were then sorted into five categories:

• Implementation phasing;
• Funding;
• Managing expectations;
• Project delivery process – scoping; and
• Training/culture change.

FDOT District personnel expressed concern that an early release of the Handbook to the public might generate high expectations on the part of its customers for additional accommodations outside of the scope of programmed projects, putting pressure on an already tight capital program. The goal of the Complete Streets policy is to increase the balance of multimodal elements in FDOT projects. However, with limited resources and funding for implementation, there is uncertainty among District personnel regarding how to redistribute funds between: freight, commuting capacity-increase projects, fix-it-first infrastructure projects, as well as the newly emphasized Complete Streets elements. Furthermore, the Handbook adds a new process related to the determination of eight land-use context classifications. District personnel participants discussed challenges with the new process and ways to approach it successfully, in a manner that would not overburden existing staff resources and cause them to fall behind schedule on projects already in the capital program pipeline.

After discussing the challenges associated with Complete Streets implementation, participants brainstormed strategies to overcome these challenges. The top strategies that emerged were:

• Resurfacing, restoration, and rehabilitation (3R) projects already in the project pipeline should be grandfathered in.
• The priority project programming process (4P)—a project scoping process used by several of the Districts—would provide a useful tool for making the decisions on how and when to include Complete Streets components into FDOT projects. It was discussed that this approach could be expanded to all Districts during the planning and pre-programming phase.
• The Handbook should distinguish between capacity and non-capacity projects in prescribing the extent of implementation of Complete Street and context sensitive elements. For instance, non-capacity projects such as resurfacing have manageable scopes of work that are usually bundled with other street improvements for quick implementation. For these projects, anything more than reallocating space between the modes—e.g. narrowing lanes to fit in a bike lane—could fundamentally change the cost and scope to a degree that it would effectively kill the project. District staff recommended that in these instances, non-capacity projects be allowed to move ahead within the existing curb lines and the Complete Streets elements be considered in a new project for planning study and incorporation into the development program.
• The Handbook and public outreach should make it clear that, for 3R projects in the pipeline, the budget is already set, and there is no new FDOT funding for additional scope such as bulb-outs. If the local jurisdiction wishes to add elements beyond the scope of a 3R project, then it must provide the funds themselves. Participants discussed working with their respective Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) to secure the funding, or having FDOT create a new multimodal project-scoping study to address the desired features.
• The current wording regarding public engagement in the Handbook inserts public engagement into each phase of a project, including 3R projects. This is challenging, particularly in light of the recommendation that 3R projects need to remain with a pre-set scope. Providing the public with a “pattern book” of Complete Streets and CSS features and then inviting them in for discussion on their transportation needs and priorities would be beneficial for both the community and FDOT. The Handbook can be used to educate the public and elected officials about the Complete Streets implementation process. Similarly, the Handbook could be used to discuss newly requested transportation features that may not fall within the scope of a 3R project, yet could more suitably be addressed during a 4P-like scoping process. The 4P process provides an opportunity for robust public engagement on “capacity” and multimodal focused projects.
• Participants communicated that more time is needed for project phasing beyond what is currently allotted in the Handbook. A primary cause for concern is the amount of time and resources needed to fully incorporate CSS principles when establishing the street context classifications. One proposed solution suggested removing the need to set classifications for 3R projects, or using relatively simple methods to distinguish context characteristics. While the Handbook does state on page 19 that “[i]n most cases, especially for [3R], safety, and traffic operations projects, primary measures are sufficient to understand and determine a roadway’s context classification,” workshop participants expressed the need for additional ongoing collaboration to fully incorporate the process of identifying and implementing the updated classifications.
• The Handbook should clarify the distinction between existing and future context classifications. This is most relevant for 3R projects.