TSM&O: What Does It Mean for Planners? Webinar

Background - It should come as no surprise that the transportation environment is rapidly changing.  We are living in an information revolution, brought about and supported by new and emerging technologies. In today’s connected and information-rich world, customers are regularly introduced to new ways of using real-time information to save time and money; and transportation agencies are expected to take advantage of and use technology to improve efficiency and service.

The traveling public expect that the products they use and the technologies they encounter will be “smart” and that the information received will be accurate and reliable—regardless of who “owns” the road or the information.  Transportation customers expect improvements in mobility, safety, information, and reliability - with this said, congestion is an accepted and even predictable reality in major urban areas. So the real source of frustration for users comes from unexpected delays that are encountered because of crashes, special events, unanticipated work zones, extreme weather, and the like. The figure below demonstrates that customers are more likely to encounter one of the aforementioned nonrecurring events as oppose to delay due to capacity/recurring event.

Also, increased expectations and accountability are coming at a time when government agencies are expected to do more, but with fewer financial resources via complete transparency. 

Target Audience – Planners, Engineers/Operators at the MPO, Local Transportation Agency, and State DOT levels.

Web Conference Purpose - Traditionally, transportation planning and transportation system operations have been largely separate, independent activities. 

• Planners focused on long-range transportation investments, including development of metropolitan transportation plans and programming of projects. 
• Operators concerned with addressing immediate system needs—incident response, traffic control, traveler information, and work zone management. 

TSMO - The future of transportation - requires the separation between planning operation to abridge.   Given the many challenges facing transportation agencies – increased customer expectations and accountability, financial constraints, and the limitations on the provision of significant new capacity – it is increasingly important to leverage technology and operate the existing network to its fullest service potential.

FHWA has partnered with a few handful of Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) that has made strides in mainstreaming Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO) into the traditional planning and programming. The discussion will cover:

• How these MPOs are organized to mainstream TSMO
• How these MPOs are using TSMO strategies in Planning?
• How are these agencies using TSMO to evaluate projects?
• Short-term planning

• Data
• Analysis/Modeling
• Performance Measures/Management

• What benefits have these agencies realized from TSMO strategies

• How are the relationships among Planners and Engineers/Operators in these MPOs? (Internally and externally)

FHWA member and/or those with a FHWA login - Register here:  “TSMO - “What does it mean for Planners?” 

**All others: The registration is a two-step process.

• First, non-DOT users including State DOTs must request access to the FHWA External Portal.
• Second, non-DOT users including State DOTs must login using the email address used to request access to the site and their requested password
• Federal DOT staff and DOT-badged contractors do not need to register for an account.

In the new External SharePoint System, EXTERNAL users (those without a @dot.gov email address) will have to request an account before they can register. Here is the link to request an account:  https://collaboration.fhwa.dot.gov/FBA/Register.aspx . Step-by step instructions on how to request an account can be found here: https://connectdot.connectsolutions.com/espnon-dotstaff/

The account issuance takes approximately one business day. Once they receive their account information, they can access the site by clicking on the registration link and logging in.