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Making Work Zones Work Better: Linking Planning and Operations

This working group aims to understand the perspectives of planning and operating agencies and develop guidance for effective transportation system management. It addresses barriers for planners, operators, and other agencies, and explores the role of planning in minimizing disruptions in work zones. The group also identifies tools for developing the linkage between planning and operations.

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Making Work Zones Work Better: Linking Planning and Operations

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  1. MAKING WORK ZONES WORK BETTERBY LINKINGPLANNING and OPERATIONS Steven Gayle, Chair FHWA Working Group on Linking Planning and Operations

  2. Steven Gayle, Chair Public Agencies: MPOs State DOTs Municipalities Transit Authorities Law Enforcement FHWA and FTA Associations AASHTO APTA AMPO ITE PTI THE WORKING GROUP Linking Planning and Operations Working Group

  3. THE WORKING GROUP • Met three times, concluding in December 2001 • Focus: • Understand the perspective of planning agencies • Understand the perspective of operating agencies • Synthesize those perspectives • Assist in development of FHWA guidance • Transition to TRB Subcommittee Linking Planning and Operations Working Group

  4. THE ISSUE How do we plan, construct, operate, and maintain a regional transportation system that meets or exceeds our customers’ expectations for safe and reliable travel? Linking Planning and Operations Working Group

  5. WORKING DEFINITION Effective management of transportation systems maximizes system performance through a coordinated and integrated decision making approach to construction, operation, preservation, and maintenance of transportation facilities, with the goal of providing safe, efficient, and reliable transportation to all users. Linking Planning and Operations Working Group

  6. WHAT IS PLANNING’S ROLE? • Planning integrates potentially disparate activities and directs the investment of public funds. • MPOs incorporate multi-jurisdictional and multi-modal thinking. Linking Planning and Operations Working Group

  7. BARRIERS FOR PLANNERS • The “project culture” mindset • Fragmented institutions: no one is in charge • Planners, decision makers lack operations vocabulary • MPOs don’t own transportation assets • Planning analysis tools may not reflect operations • Planners already have a full plate Linking Planning and Operations Working Group

  8. BARRIERS FOR OPERATORS • Agencies have internal stovepipes which separate planning and operations. • Business procedures (budgeting, procurement) work against multi-agency cooperation. • Operators don’t see the relationship of planning to their “24/7” culture. Linking Planning and Operations Working Group

  9. BARRIERS FOR OTHER AGENCIES • Stakeholders not directly involved in transportation (enforcement, public safety, media) don’t speak the language. • Law enforcement and public safety have very different performance measures. Linking Planning and Operations Working Group

  10. PRESSURE TO ACT • Public is demanding greater accountability and credibility: if the “project” approach does not improve their daily travel, they expect other solutions. • Crisis response (Olympics, natural disasters) has demonstrated to the public that operations can work, and regions can overcome institutional fragmentation. Linking Planning and Operations Working Group

  11. WHAT ABOUT WORK ZONES? Work zones, both short and long term, are high on the public’s list of negatives. They want us to “get in, get out, stay out”. Linking Planning and Operations Working Group

  12. WHAT IS PLANNING’S ROLE? Understand the customer’s perspective, and apply planning techniques to minimize disruption: • Asset management • Capital program development • Interjurisdictional coordination • Stakeholder involvement Linking Planning and Operations Working Group

  13. WHAT IS PLANNING’S ROLE? • Asset Management: Life cycle implications of project choices: “You just paved this road 5 years ago. Why are doing it again?” • Coordination of capital programs: “Why did you pave the road last year, then close it again this year to fix the bridge?” Linking Planning and Operations Working Group

  14. WHAT IS PLANNING’S ROLE? • Coordinate construction schedules within and between jurisdictions “Why did you start construction on the detour route 6 months before the main route was reopened?” • Ensure participation of stakeholders “Why didn’t you tell the transit authority that you would be working on a bus route?” Linking Planning and Operations Working Group

  15. HOW DO WE GET THERE? • Inter-disciplinary education: • Planners need to learn the language of operations • Operations/traffic engineers need to learn the value that planning brings • Public safety agencies need to understand how they fit in Linking Planning and Operations Working Group

  16. THOUGHTS ABOUT LINKAGES… The Working Group identified tools to develop the linkage between planning and operations, including those that are: • Performance-based • Product-based • Structural/institutional • Resource-based Linking Planning and Operations Working Group

  17. WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? • Consider how TEA-3 reauthorization can facilitate the linkage • Disseminate good practice • And just start talking locally… Linking Planning and Operations Working Group

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