As part of its workforce development initiative, the National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE) has worked with several state departments of transportation (DOTs) and their university partners to learn more about their collaboration in support of transportation systems management operations (TSMO).  These partnerships are natural to form and have become essential in enhancing the role and effectiveness of TSMO within state DOTs.

We talked to the Tennessee, Oregon, Iowa, and Virginia DOTs about their university partnerships and each graciously helped us capture their experiences in a case study format. 

Tennessee DOT has successfully harnessed a multitude of technical expertise and research capabilities at various universities to advance its goal in improving safety, efficiency, reliability, and service in general.

 In Oregon, Oregon State University played a significant role in software development to support the Department.  And both have partnered for nearly three quarters of a century to convene The Northwest Transportation Conference (NWTC) which annually explores topics related to all aspects of transportation.

We also engaged our colleagues at Washtenaw Community College in Michigan about its emerging role as a major workforce training provider to Michigan’s automotive hot bed and Michigan DOT and country road commissions.

Other case studies are in the works which we hope will share more angles that have been explored by and found successful to further TSMO.

The Iowa DOT/Iowa State partnership engaged students to assist the DOT with data analytics and to help inform the University on the subject matter areas that coursework should embrace to prepare students for future careers in the Department.

The longstanding partnership between the Virginia DOT and the Virginia Transportation Research Council – a collaborative organization between VDOT and UVA—provided the basis for the Smart Travel Lab which is integrated directly into traffic management centers throughout the Commonwealth. 

To all, we extend a sincere thanks for sharing their stories!

If you would like to volunteer your state DOT and its university collaboration to highlight in a case study, let us know.