Modernization of MDOT SHA Statewide Operations Center

Overview

When the Statewide Operations Center (SOC) of the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration (MDOT SHA) opened in 1995, it was the nation’s first statewide traffic management center. As SHA’s TSMO obligations have grown, the SOC’s capabilities and responsibilities have expanded as well. A 2021 reconfiguration allows the SOC to better serve as SHA’s 24/7 emergency operations facility and facilitate Maryland’s TSMO activities. The renovated facility increased the number of TMC Operator and Supervisor stations, includes a dedicated Maryland State Police workstation, includes access to computer-aided detection (CAD), and incorporated a dedicated signal operations workstation that enables remote signal timing modifications rather than field modifications.

In this case study you will learn: 

1. How Maryland DOT SHA realized a need to redesign of its Statewide Operations Center (SOC) to modernize the workspace to enable technicians to collect and manage incident and emergency response information more effectively.

2. How the planning and design of the new SOC was done by a collaboration between various stakeholders who operate from the SOC and other offices within the agency. The collaboration included interactive exercises, operator shadowing, and site visits operations centers of various types including ESPN and New City’s Office of Emergency Management.

3. How the renovated facility increased the number of TMC Operator and Supervisor stations, ensuring faster response times.

Background

When the Statewide Operations Center (SOC) of the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT SHA) opened in 1995, it was the nation's first statewide traffic management center. The SOC is part of the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) CHART (Coordinated Highways Action Response Team) is a collaborative effort between MDOT State Highway Administration (SHA), the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA), and the Maryland State Police (MSP). It is the highway operations component of MDOT SHA's TSMO Program. CHART contributes to Maryland's highway mobility by providing Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS), service patrols, communication, system integration, and incident response and management. CHART's mission is to improve mobility and safety in Maryland by addressing non-recurring congestion using Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and interagency collaboration.

The SOC serves as CHART's primary communications hub and command center, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week and also serves a dual role as MDOT SHA's Emergency Operations Center (EOC). The primary goal and objective of the SOC redesign was to modernize the workspace to enable technicians to collect and manage incident and emergency response information more effectively. As SHA's TSMO obligations have grown, the SOC's capabilities and responsibilities have expanded as well. The 2021 reconfiguration allows the SOC to better serve as SHA's 24/7 emergency operations facility and facilitate Maryland's TSMO activities.

There were ten identified design objectives:

1. To facilitate effective and accurate communication among personnel, reduce distances and minimize obstructions between the operational staff when they are at their workstations;
2. To minimize interruptions or distractions, provide a sense of access control and/or separation of the central SOC floor workspace;
3. To reduce interference and cross-talk during emergency operations, provide separation between the Statewide Operation Center, Emergency Operations Center and other defined functional areas while still facilitating effective communication amongst them;
4. To further reduce interference on the operations floor, while better supporting the interaction between SOC functions, provide easily accessible collaborative, joint-use areas;
5. To enable operators to access and manage numerous information sources, provide modern, multi-function workstations and improve line-of-sight to shared information displays such as the video wall;
6. To make the SOC upper floor a more functional part of the operations center and to reduce the frequency of non-operational staff “visiting” the SOC operations floor;
7. To improve operator effectiveness, provide a supportive, healthier work environment on the operations floor through lighting, climate control and space utilization;
8. To improve work efficiency and minimize the time to complete tasks, improve access for staff to circulate through the operational space and improve the flow of personnel between functional areas of the center;
9. To facilitate supervision and management of SOC operations, place supervisors in a position to observe and direct activities in the SOC workspace as well as to be the first point of contact for visitors to the SOC floor;
10. To accommodate added responsibilities and to account for future growth, add to the total available functional seating for both operations as well as support staff in the center

TSMO Planning, Strategies and Deployment

The project began with several collaboration meetings between various stakeholders who operate from the SOC and other offices within the agency who are served by it. These meetings included interactive exercises, operator shadowing, and site visits operations centers of various types including ESPN, New City's Office of Emergency Management, Houston City's EOC, HSEMA in Washington DC., Virginia's EOC, and JTMC in New York. From the collaboration meetings, a list of functional requirements was developed, and initial planning began with rough 30% design drawings. Designs were eventually completed to 100% after continued collaborative meetings and an IFB completed. After a contract was selected and given notice to proceed in spring of 2020. Work began immediately to configure training room space to a Temporary SOC (TSOC) for operations to continue during construction. The SOC was officially vacated and transitioned to the TSOC in August of 2020. During the project, weekly progress meetings with held with all stakeholders to ensure the project remained on schedule and any needed change orders were discussed. The project was deemed substantially complete in July of 2020 and Operations officially relocated back to the newly reconfigured SOC facility in October of 2021. 

Communications Planning and Execution

The project involved many meetings from conceptualization to completion with internal and external stakeholders. Since the SOC also functions as MDOT SHA's Emergency Operations Center (EOC) there were various needs to consider outside of routine daily operations. Stakeholder meetings included representatives from MDOT SHA's Office of Maintenance (OOM), Office of Traffic and Safety (OOTS), Chief Engineers Office, Office of Communications, and the various Divisions of CHART. The project also required review by Maryland's Board of Public Works which includes the State's Governor, Comptroller, and Treasurer. After the official opening of the facility, several guided tours have been provide an overview of the facility to former and current members of MDOT SHA who played key roles in supporting the CHART Program through its history. The project was also featured at the annual ITS Maryland Conference and the Baltimore Region Traffic Incident Management Conference

Outcome, Benefit and Learnings

This project involved making renovations to the CHART Statewide Operations Center (SOC). It required a significant reconfiguration to the existing building layout to improve information flow, enhance wellness, and improve space utilization, without any modification to the existing building footprint. The renovation resulted in the innovative concept known internally as the "Operations Football," which breaks traditional TMC design convention, orienting operators away from a central video wall and focus more on grouping functions and positions together, while also creating the "central hub" of activity for the room, insulating core operations from the surrounding space.

Apart from supporting routine traffic monitoring and incident management activities, the SOC also functions as MDOT’s emergency operations center during large scale emergency management operations including special events, hurricane evacuation(s), winter operations, etc. It has been clear from past winter operations events that the old SOC configuration was unable to properly accommodate all the parties involved in large-scale emergency management. Additionally, the older consoles lacked the communications, electronics, and ergonomic capabilities required for efficient emergency management operations.

The renovated facility increased the number of TMC Operator and Supervisor stations, ensuring faster response times and allowing each operator to control a single radio channel rather than multiple channels. The new area retained a dedicated Maryland State Police workstation, allowing for continued coordination with law enforcement partners, including access to computer-aided detection (CAD). It developed a dedicated signal operations workstation that enables remote signal timing modifications rather than field modifications. The reconfiguration new design resulted in the creation of collaboration space that did not obstruct operations on the operations floor. Additionally, the strategy room can be used for cross-jurisdictional meetings in the event of an emergency. Additionally, the reconfiguration increased nearly all monitors' display capabilities, allowing for the monitoring of multiple data points rather than just standard CCTV camera feeds. The renovated SOC Floor now provides additional console space to better accommodate emergency management staff from various offices and agencies during large scale events. It also houses new and enhanced technological and communications equipment/functions to better serve the traveling public.