Evaluating Alternative Operations Strategies to Improve Travel Time ...

SHRP 2 L11: Final Appendices
1.1. Systems Operations and Management Awareness
It is important that agency staff and leadership understand the impacts and benefits of a SO&M
structure and to also establish a goal for improving and maintaining reliability. Greater awareness
can be achieved through informational programs, visible leadership, establishing a formal core
program, coordinating actions among several partners (public safety, other state agencies and local
governments), and setting performance measurement, analysis, and procedural improvement goals.
Therefore, an organization and its members need to accept reliability as a goal, understand and
take responsibility for their strategies, and actively deploy resources to protect and enhance
reliability to meet customer needs.
1.2. Systems Operations and Management Structure
Executive leadership (at the central office and in the field) needs to be on parity with the leadership
of other programs (capacity, maintenance, etc.) for representation in policy, resource, staffing, and
related decisions. The organizational structure can potentially support efficient and effective
program delivery in the field via clear and efficient disposition of responsibility/capabilities with
appropriate authority—at district and central office levels and between them. Furthermore, SO&M
requires technical specialties regarding planning, engineering, Traffic Management Centers
(TMCs), field operations, and contract management. SO&M is therefore a specialty requiring a
broad acquaintance with both the state-of-the-practice and with state DOT administration
regulations. As a service focused on system performance, much of it in real time, the SO&M
program can justify its claim on resources through performance accountability at the scale of the
entire DOT and its component units.
Therefore, the staff within the organization needs to know the goals and the tools necessary to
achieve them. This could mean retaining key leaders, making structural changes within the
organization, and contracting with private entities to achieve the goals.
1.3. Systems Operations and Management as High Priority Budget Item
The development of a sustainable program involving a multi-year budget and operating funds
requires a rational and transparent budget process, equivalent to those used in other core programs.
SO&M cannot be established as a long-term, sustainable program unless it is part of the formal
budgeting process for capital, operations, and staff resources. Think: goals –> budgets ->
strategies -> tactics –> evaluation -> goals.
Therefore, it is essential to secure the funding and tools necessary to achieve the goals of
improving travel-time reliability.
1.4. Identify Opportunities for public partnerships
Effective delivery of key SO&M strategy applications requires close cooperation between DOTs
and public safety agencies (PSAs). This may entail shared priorities, clear roles, and consensus
procedures that can be implemented through changes in conventional procedures that may support
DOT objectives without compromising those of the partners. At the state of the art, most SO&M
strategies involve both state and local government. An essential component of developing a
program in a multijurisdictional environment is a strong and institutionalized working relationship
among state, local (parallel collaborations), and regional entities (MPOs) that supports effective
regional SO&M planning, programming, and implementation.
STRATEGY FRAMEWORK FOR AGENCY MANAGEMENT, ORGANIZATION, AND RESOURCE ALLOCATION Page E-6