2021 TSMO Awards Are Now Open
by: Patrick Son, Managing Director, NOCoE
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The 2021 NOCoE TSMO Awards are now open for submissions. Please review the full awards page for detailed submission information.
The TSMO Awards are open to cities, counties, MPOs (RPO, COG), state DOTs and private sector organizations. Winners in each of the four categories highlighted a successful TSMO project undertaken in the last five years that provided a clear benefit to the traveling public.
Two new categories have been announced for 2021:
- Work Zones Using TSMO
- Project Selection and Prioritization for TSMO
These new categories will accompany Best TSMO Project and Agency Improvement. Once again we will announce winners for each of the four categories. Then, an Overall Winner will be chosen from one of those four category winners. This year's Overall Winner was Georgia DOT for their Automated Traffic Signal Performance Measures Project. See more information on their project in the video below.
These awards aim to celebrate the best of TSMO but also to capture all the good work being done by the TSMO community. In the first two years, NOCoE has turned over a 100 awards submissions into case studies, turning your TSMO practices into resources from which the entire TSMO community can benefit.
Once again, we'll also honor a TSMO Champion and will be asking for nominations from you, the TSMO community. We are looking for you to identify an individual who was not only integral in implementing TSMO in their agency or organization, but who also led the way in transferring knowledge about TSMO to help the industry improve. Please view the 2021 Awards page for more information.
The 2020 Overall Award Winner and the 2020 TSMO Champions were announced last week, in a series of YouTube Live events. Both events are available to watch below.
For more information on the NOCoE TSMO Awards, please visit: https://transportationops.org/tsmoaward.
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National Traffic Incident Response Awareness Week is chance for all responder communities to individually and jointly make a difference by teaching each other, and the motoring public, about our common goal and responsibility to one another.
Join the planning calls to hear what agencies are doing to honor responders and increase awareness to the public and to report on your own activities for this important week.
Recording of the August 2020 Planning Call
Future planning calls will take place:
Please join these calls to let us know what your agency will be doing. |
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NOCoE Workforce Session at
ITS World Congress ALL ACCESS
October 7, 2020 at 12:15 ET
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On October 7 at 12:15pm ET, NOCoE will host a discussion on the future of the TSMO working during the ITS World Congress ALL ACCESS. The panel will feature winners of NOCoE’s Annual Best of TSMO awards: Brad Freeze, Director, Traffic Operations Division with the Tennessee Department of Transportation, Adam Kieffer, TSMO Capital Program Manager at the Ohio Department of Transportation and Monica Harwood Duncan, Washington State Department of Transportation Statewide TSMO Development Engineer.
Find out more, including how to watch this session for free, at the ITS World Congress ALL-ACCESS website.
Panelist Harwood Duncan from the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) for example, whose team won NOCoE’s Best of TSMO Award in the TSMO Workforce Development category, believes expanding the conversation about TSMO workforce is critical to the future of transportation. “If we just focus on technology, we’re going to nail technology but we’re not going to have the workforce to manage it, “she said. “The skills are not plug and play. We have to recognize TSMO skills and really develop a career path.”
TSMO has been integrated into WSDOT strategies and procedures for decades, but not clearly identified or articulated within the organization’s culture. Harwood Duncan’s challenge has been to change that and help define it as a discipline throughout the DOT. “Washington State DOT has been doing TSMO for a long, long time, and we have had a traffic operations division for almost as long. I think of the football analogy. You get to the 99-yard line but the last yard is the hardest.”
Read more . . . |
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As part of last week's TSMO Awards Week, NOCoE honored two TSMO Champions: Faisal Saleem of Maricopa County DOT, and Tony Kratofil of Michigan DOT.
A YouTube Live event, hosted by Jim Tymon, Executive Director, AASHTO, celebrated Tony and Faisal for their work and allowed them to share their insights on the future of the TSMO industry.
Full TSMO champion profiles on Tony Kratofil and Faisal Saleem are available here. |
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| 2020 TSMO Champions Interviews |
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| In a YouTube Live event, last week, the National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE) announced that the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) was selected as the 2020 NOCoE TSMO Awards Overall Winner. The announcement was made by Jim Tymon, Executive Director of the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO). |
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GDOT was selected from among 46 entries and the four finalists, each of whom had already been selected as a category winner in the annual awards. Georgia won in the “Best Use of Data to Improve TSMO” category before becoming the program’s Overall Winner. Their entry, entitled “Improving TSMO in Georgia Using Data,” highlighted GDOT’s development of a traffic data management and reporting system that saves the state hundreds of hours in staff time and $250,000 per year. To read GDOT’s case study, please click here.
GDOT worked with FHWA to develop its own Automated Traffic Signal Performance Measures (ATSPM) and built upon the work already accomplished by Indiana and Utah Departments of Transportation with Purdue University to develop performance measures that characterized flow rates and quality of traffic signal timing coordination. Launched in January 2018, GDOT’s Measurement, Accuracy, and Reliability Kit (MARK 1) automated the reporting system, replacing manual procedures that had been in place for five years.
All category winner case studies are available here. The 100 plus NOCoE Case Studies are available here. |
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NOCoE Case Studies of the Week
Maricopa County
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Bell Road Adaptive Signal Control Technology
Pilot Deployment Program
By: Maricopa County Department of Transportation
 IN THIS CASE STUDY YOU WILL LEARN:
- How cities, Maricopa County and state governments came together to manage a congested corridor.
- Processes for unifying separately owned signal systems into one adaptive signal control system.
- How a corridor can be split into areas to meet unique needs, but still be part of an overall adaptive system.
Read the full case study. |
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AZTech Regional Archived Data Server
By: Maricopa County Department of Transportation
 IN THIS CASE STUDY YOU WILL LEARN:
- How a collaborative development led to a Regional Archived Data System (RADS) for traffic management.
- How the RADS platform has enabled a secure data feed from multiple public safety agencies to provide a centralized source of freeway and arterial incident information.
- How centralizing data limits the need for multiple redundant servers and licenses throughout the region, resulting in cost savings.
Read the full case study. |
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Adventures in Crowdsourcing:
Using Crowdsourced Data for Traveler Information
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Crowdsourcing turns transportation system users into real-time sensors on system performance, providing low-cost, high-quality data on traffic operations, roadway conditions, travel patterns, and more. This webinar highlights how crowdsourced data can help transportation agencies provide more timely and accurate information to the public using various traveler information avenues.
For more information, see the webinar resource page.
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Talking TIM Webinar Series: September 2020
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Topics and presenters for this webinar include:
Public Works and Incident Response – Andrea Eales, Director of Government and Public Affairs at the American Public Works Association (APWA), will highlight the role of public works personnel in incident response and the TIM activities of APWA. This is a part of the "Meet the Executive Leadership Group" series.
FHWA Next Generation TIM program – Paul Jodoin will introduce the FHWA Every Day Counts Round Six (EDC-6) Program, NextGen TIM. This program will help agencies adopt proved but underutilized technologies, data, and training to improve TIM on all roadways.
Maricopa County's Arterial TIM Program – Jennifer Toth, the Maricopa County DOT Executive Director, will share unique features of the region's TIM program.
Fort Lauderdale Area TIM Program – Nicole Forest, Florida DOT District Four TSM&O Resource Manager, and Traffic Operations Lead, will highlight the practice of TIM in their region.
For more information, see the webinar resource page.
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Register Today for NOCoE Webinars Through October
NOCoE webinars cover a variety of topics and TSMO strategies. Also, be sure to check out our recently released NOCoE Webinar videos.
Thanks to our fantastic partners, including the Federal Highway Administration, these webinars will feature subject matter experts providing key insights into TSMO practices.
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Webinar Series, Part II: Achieving Better Coordination Between Operations and IT | October 6 | Register
Safety Service Patrol Idea Sharing Network | October 21 | Register
Adventures in Crowdsourcing: Business Case for Crowdsourced Data | October 22 | Register
Talking TIM Webinar Series: October 2020 | October 28 | Register
Talking TIM Webinar Series: November 2020 | November 12 | Register
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Webinar Series, Part 2: Achieving Better Coordination Between Operations and IT
October 6, 2020 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm | Register
Those responsible for implementing, operating, and maintaining Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO) solutions have long understood the challenges related to deploying, integrating, and managing transportation technologies (e.g. ITS). However, increasingly technology for TSMO is intersecting with traditional information technology (IT) functions and groups. This growing role of IT within TSMO/ITS functions is creating both opportunities and challenges. Opportunities include the ability to collaborate, leverage respective skill sets, improve network security, and gain advantages in procurement and maintaining IT infrastructure. Challenges include disconnects, misunderstandings, and points of conflict on program priorities, risks, and potential difference in standards.
The FHWA-led Leveraging and Coordinating Technology Resources for Transportation Systems Management and Operations research effort explores common challenges between TSMO practitioners and IT staff and identifies effective practices to overcome these challenges that have been implemented by a variety of transportation organizations. This webinar series is intended to share findings from the FHWA project and to hear about the experiences and lessons learned in coordinating IT and TSMO from transportation agencies.
The first webinar focused on challenges that agency panelists faced regarding information technology and how they were able to overcome those challenges.
This second webinar will focus on specific effective practices to address IT-related challenges and how to use the reference document to find effective practices to address many of the most common challenges. The webinar will present:
- The categories of IT-TSMO challenges and effective practices.
- Demonstrate how to use the reference document to find effective practices to overcome specific challenges.
- Specific panelist experience in addressing challenges with these effective practices.
Target Audience
- Senior managers with TSMO responsibilities
- TMC managers
- IT Managers involved with supporting Transportation Operations
- Transportation operations staff
- IT staff involved with supporting Transportation Operations
Learning Objectives
- Become familiar with IT challenges that Operations personnel face.
- Learn about potential effective practices in overcoming these challenges.
- Learn about the Principles and Strategies for Effective Coordination of IT and TSMO reference document.
Moderators
- Jim Hunt, FHWA
- Les Jacobson, WSP USA
Presenters
- Collin Castle, Michigan DOT
- Nick Compin, Caltrans
- Susan Klasen, New Hampshire DOR
- Raj Ponnaluri, Florida DOT
- Murali Rao, Virginia DOT
- Les Jacobson, WSP USA
Please register now for this webinar.
Part 1 of this webinar series, Achieving Better Coordination Between Operations and IT, is to be held on September 1, 2020 with the recording available here. Registration for part 1 is available here.
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Safety Service Patrol Idea Sharing Network
October 21, 2020 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm | Register
On October 21, 2020, SafeHighways.org will host its seventeenth Safety Service Patrol Idea Sharing Network webinar with support from NOCoE. The topic, selected by attendees from past sessions, will be announced shortly. Target Audience: Safety Service Patrol professionals, including managers, supervisors, patrol operators, etc. and FHWA Division Administrators.
Please register now for this webinar. |
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Talking TIM Webinar Series: October 2020
October 22, 2020 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm | Register
This webinar will be a departure from the traditional Adventures in Crowdsourcing Webinar, and feature seven rapid-fire successes in the use of crowdsourced data to improve operations. Representatives of seven State and local transportation agencies will highlight how their agencies benefitted from using crowdsourced data for traffic incident, road weather, traffic signal, maintenance, traveler information, and project prioritization functions.
Crowdsourcing turns transportation system users into real-time sensors on system performance, providing low-cost, high-quality data on traffic operations, roadway conditions, traveler information, and more. This webinar will conclude with a question, answer, and discussion to engage and inform the webinar audience.
Presenters
- Missouri Personalized Traveler Information Improves Responder Safety – Ashley Buechter, Traffic Liaison Engineer, Missouri DOT
- Colorado DOT’s new Operations Dashboard Blends ITS and Crowdsourced Data for Quicker Incident Detection – Jamie Yount, Winter Operations Program Manager, Colorado DOT.
- Delaware DOT’s Crowdsources Data to Improve Road Maintenance – Gene Donaldson, TMC Operations Manager, Delaware DOT.
- Maine’s App Crowdsources Road Weather Conditions and its Crowdsourced Traffic Operations Dashboard Improves System Monitoring – Colby Fortier-Brown, Traffic and ITS Engineer, Maine DOT.
- Dallas-Fort Worth Uses Crowdsourced Data to Improve Roadway Incident Response – Thomas J. Bamonte, Senior Program Manager, Automated Vehicles, North Central Texas Council of Governments
- Lake County Crowdsourced Data Improves Traveler Information and Enables Traffic Signal-Responsive Incident Management – Ryan Legare, TMC Manager, Lake County Division of Transportation
- Indiana Improves Seven Facets of Operations and Investment Decision-Making with Crowdsourced Data – Ed Cox, Engineering Director of Traffic Management. Indiana Department of Transportation.
Moderators
- Ralph Volpe, FHWA EDC-5 Crowdsourcing for Operations Program Co-Lead and the FHWA Office of Operations.
- Vaishali Shah, Senior Program Director for Transportation Systems at AEM Corporation.
Please register now for this webinar. |
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Talking TIM Webinar Series: October 2020
October 28, 2020 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm | Register
State and local Traffic Incident Management (TIM) programs cover a broad range of maturity from emerging programs to those that are advanced. The Talking TIM Webinar Series seeks to provide a forum where TIM champions with any level of experience can exchange information about current practices, programs, and technologies. Each month, Talking TIM will highlight successful programs, identify best practices, and showcase technology that advances the profession. The agenda for October includes:
- Volunteer Fire, EMS, and Rescue Services Role in TIM – Sarah Lee, Deputy Chief Executive with the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC), This is a part of the "Meet the Executive Leadership Group" series.
- Protecting the Queue through Crowdsourcing – Brian Purvis, AECOM and Project Manager with the Georgia DOT.
- North Carolina DOT’s New Training Track, Newsletter, and More –Wayne Taylor, Atkins Global and the North Carolina DOT TIM Coordinator.
- Using RITIS for TIM Performance Measures – Michael Pack, Director of CATT Laboratory, will showcase new TIM templates within RITIS.
Please register now for this webinar. |
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Talking TIM Webinar Series: November 2020
November 12, 2020 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm | Register
State and local Traffic Incident Management (TIM) programs cover a broad range of maturity from emerging programs to those that are advanced. The Talking TIM Webinar Series seeks to provide a forum where TIM champions with any level of experience can exchange information about current practices, programs, and technologies. Each month, Talking TIM will highlight successful programs, identify best practices, and showcase technology that advances the profession. The webinar agenda will be published shortly.
Please register now for this webinar. |
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ITE Webinar on Arterial Traffic Incident Management
October 13, 2020 at 2:00 pm ET
Traffic Incident Management (TIM) for freeways and other limited access facilities has long been a proven tool for reducing secondary crashes, providing a higher level of safety to first responders, and for improving the time needed to clear a roadway and restore normal traffic flow. However, arterial TIM applications have not historically been used, for a variety of reasons, including generally lower volumes, the availability of alternate routes, and lack of video and other instrumentation coverage along the corridors. As there appears to be a growing interest in providing TIM services along arterials, and with the limited information available on how best to implement arterial TIM.
On October 13, hear from representatives from public and private sectors about successful programs, case studies on existing arterial TIM strategies, and innovations in technology implementations during the webinar Arterial Traffic Incident Management. Participants will learn about the benefits in setting up a management system for arterial corridors as well as the overall importance of arterial TIM.
Learn more and to register: https://www.pathlms.com/ite/courses/23948
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We are expanding the way we connect you, the practitioner, with resources via our TSMO Resource Connect effort.
This service aims to be a resource to the growing TSMO industry, one that gives you access to information and people when you need it with direct assistance from us at NOCoE.
Here are some examples of how this service can help you:
- Looking for resources on any topic of TSMO
- Looking for an expert on a particular TSMO topic
- Researching new technologies or initiatives
- Learning more about an existing initiative that NOCoE is involved in
- Anything TSMO
From Nicole Forest, TSMO Resource Manager, Florida DOT, District 4: "The TSMO Resource Connect feature is an incredible opportunity to connect with resources that are not as readily available and that are needed for the function of TSMO. I thoroughly enjoyed being able to connect with Patrick one-on-one to ask questions that go beyond my organization. The TSMO Resource Connect has a lot of case studies, information, research, and peer reviews that come from all over the country and are easy to understand and allow for easy use within any organization that operates a TSMO program. I have a better direction on where take the TSMO program for FDOT District 4 utilizing the information I received through the TSMO Resource Connect service."
To facilitate this growing service, we’ve set up a scheduling tool so you can book time to work directly with us. We will help you identify important resources and connect you with them. Whether it’s people or files, we’re here to help you make the right connections to improve your systems and ultimately, the lives of your constituents.
Schedule your session today!
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About the National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE)
The mission of NOCoE is to empower the transportation systems management and operations (TSMO) community to succeed by building its knowledge, skills and abilities and to connect them with best-practices and experts to save lives, time and money. Born of a partnership of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) and the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) with support from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), we serve those in state departments of transportation, regional planning organizations, municipalities, local agencies as well as private sector organizations.
For more information, please visit www.transportationops.org.
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