Overview
The National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE) is designed to offer a suite of resources to serve the transportation systems management and operations (TSMO) community. The Center offers an array of technical services such as webinars and peer exchange workshops, case studies, best practice reports, and on-call assistance.
The Center is 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 (ITSA) with support from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).
The NOCoE has two primary components. The first is the Operations Technical Services Program, funded through contributions from state transportation agencies and FHWA. Currently under development are an array of services that include the following:
- Lead best practices webinars;
- Regional TSMO best practices peer exchanges;
- National TSMO summits;
- Ongoing assessment and synthesis of emerging best practice experiences;
- On-call assistance to States and other organizations to identify best practice material and other resources to address specific technical and policy issues;
- Training and capacity building informatio
The second is a web portal, www.transportationops.org, which contains case studies, best practices reports, TSMO training course information, resources, links to an array of information, discussion forums, and a calendar of TSMO-related events.
NOCoE Leadership
NOCoE is guided by the leadership of AASHTO, ITE, ITS America, and FHWA. A Strategic Advisory Council with representatives from each of the associations helps provide strategic oversight for the direction of NOCoE.
NOCoE Strategic Plan
In 2024, the Strategic Advisory Council updated the strategic direction for NOCoE, covered in the 2025 - 2035 Strategic Plan. The updated plan outlines the path for the next phase and growth of the Center over the next decade. Both the vision and mission of the Center have been updated to set a new course of action to ensure NOCoE continues to deliver exceptional value to the TSMO community.
For the new strategic plan, the goals and objectives were minimally updated. New themes recognized in the update include increased emphasis on transportation safety and TSMO as defined in the AASHTO Transportation Operations Manual. These themes include growing the Center’s services and resources, and broadening stakeholder reach within member agencies and other transportation disciplines and sectors. The Strategic Plan update establishes the focus areas needed to execute these strategic directions and guide the Center into its next phase.
The three strategic goals are:
- Attract, develop, sustain, and expand the TSMO workforce
- Advocate for the deployment of current and emerging TSMO practices (technology and strategies)
- Mainstream TSMO across agencies and modes as a core f unction of providing transportation system solutions that prioritize safety, travel reliability, and economic vitality.
Frequently Asked Questions
For Whom is the National Operations Center of Excellence?
The National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE) is intended to serve the transportation systems management and operations (TSMO) community. The NOCoE provides an institutional support structure or a centralized home for collecting and disseminating best practice information and identifying research needs and capabilities throughout the United States. The NOCoE provides centralized and comprehensive set of resources to serve the TSMO community. The Center supports efforts to reduce congestion, improve reliability, improve safety, and advance overall TSMO efforts.
What is the knowledge transfer supported by this website?
The web portal includes the following features:
- Access to best practice materials
- Web pages for key topics of interest to the TSMO community
- Discussion forums for managing and sharing best practices, lessons learned, emerging technologies, and research and development opportunities and capabilities
- Calendar of events of interest to the TSMO community
- Direct links and access to resources and TSMO activities supported by groups such as FHWA, Operations Academy, ITE, ITS America, and others
What technical services does NOCoE offer?
The technical services include the following:
- Peer exchanges to share best practices and lessons learned
- Webinars on current and emerging TSMO topics
- National summits
- Ongoing assessment and synthesis of emerging best practice experience
- On-call assistance to States and other organizations to identify best practice material and other resources to address technical and policy issues
- Training and capacity building programs
What is the AASHTO Operations Technical Service Program?
The State DOT Operations Technical Service Programs include NOCoE. The NOCoE includes a broad array of services geared toward the transportation systems management and operations (TSMO) community and can be accessed at this link on the AASHTO websiteState DOT contributions to the Operations Technical Service Program go towards a number of technical services to benefit State DOT TSMO programs.
Who administers the National Operations Center of Excellence?
The NOCoE is a collaborative effort 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).
How are TSMO strategies developed and applied?
TSMO requires a different set of agency capabilities and arrangements for implementation by comparison with traditional capacity improvements. Each specific strategy (as shown above) depends on characteristic operational concepts and systems together with related procedures and protocols for their implementation in real time.
Development and application of the needed systems, procedures and protocols depend on certain technical and business processes such as planning and programming, systems engineering, and performance measurement, specifically oriented to supporting development and application of the strategies. The technical and business processes, in turn, require a supportive implementation environment in terms of leadership, organization and staffing, resources, and collaborative relationships.
The knowledge resources required to implement effective TSM&O strategies and to develop the necessary processes and institutional arrangements are part of the knowledge transfer supported by the National Operations Center of Excellence. Additional information can be found in AASHTO’s Transportation Operations Manual (TOM) which can be accessed here.