Overview for 2024
NOTE: This is closed and winners have been announced here. 2025 Award submissions will open in the Spring of 2025.
The NOCoE TSMO Awards celebrate the TSMO strategies and tools that leverage existing infrastructure to increase safety and reliability and the individuals who lead the way in advancing the practices.
The Four Category Awards
The NOCoE TSMO Awards celebrate the TSMO strategies and tools that leverage existing infrastructure to increase safety and reliability. Each year, NOCoE awards winners in four TSMO Award categories. For 2024, the categories are:
- Best TSMO Project
- Agency Improvement
- Traffic Signals
- Emerging Practices and Technologies
Winners for the 2024 TSMO Awards were announced in August. Click here to view the winners.
Where possible, NOCoE will also promote the four category winners via webinars, peer exchanges, and other industry activities.
The Overall Winner
The TSMO Award 2024 Overall Winner will then be chosen from the four category winners.
The winner will be announced at the NOCoE luncheon at the CTSO Annual Meeting in Kansas City, MO at the end of August. The project will then be promoted to the wider transportation industry via press releases, specialized case studies, and a video made featuring the project and the team.
Joey Sagal TSMO Leadership Award Winner
The Joey Sagal TSMO Leadership Award (previously TSMO Champion), honors an individual who has made significant contributions to advancing TSMO both inside their organization and within the industry at-large.
Benefits of Winning an Award
Benefits of being a TSMO Award winner include:
- A TSMO Award and digital seal for promotion
- A case study document of their submission featured on the NOCoE website
- A press release announcing them as a TSMO Award winner
- A feature in NOCoE’s newsletter, social media channels, and website as a TSMO Award winner
Most award submissions are also turned into NOCoE Case Studies, which form a library of TSMO strategies, tactics, and best practices that can be shared with other TSMO practitioners and organizations.
Benefits of being a Joey Sagal TSMO Leadership Award winner include:
- A Joey Sagal TSMO Leadership Award and digital seal for promotion
- A profile document highlighting the individual and their contributions featured on the NOCoE website
- A press release announcing them as a Joey Sagal TSMO Leadership Award winner
- A feature in NOCoE’s newsletter, social media channels, and website as a Joey Sagal TSMO Leadership Award winner
Award Categories
Best TSMO Project
This award will recognize an actual, implemented TSMO project; planning or response to a specific event; or other TSMO improvement with consideration of safety, congestion and/or travel time reliability improvements. These innovative practices seek to advance the transportation system via TSMO strategies, such as active traffic management, connected vehicle applications, traffic incident management, traveler information, integrated corridor management, work zones using TSMO, special event management, and all other TSMO strategies deployed on the system to save lives, time, or money.
Agency Improvement
This award will recognize an agency/organization that uses Capability Maturity Model (CMM) in the agency/organization and how the capabilities in each of the CMM dimensions have been improved through the use of the agency/organization self-assessments, development of business processes and implementation of follow-on action plans. Topic areas might include workforce development, organizational improvements, contracting for TSMO, establishing partnerships, planning, or expanding TSMO capabilities.
Traffic Signals
This award will highlight an agency or organization that has deployed a traffic signal timing and operations strategy to improve safety and travel time. Topic areas may include traffic signal timing process, saturated conditions, strategies for pedestrians and bikes, improving walkability, and effectiveness of signal control technologies. Projects should address the needs of all users including pedestrians, bicycles, and vehicles, and in relevant scenarios freight, transit, railroad, and emergency vehicles.
Emerging Practices and Technologies
This award will highlight an agency or organization that has deployed an emerging practice or technology to support their transportation system or the system user. Emerging practices might include connected or automated vehicles, new mobility solutions, new data applications, or other TSMO deployments using strategies new to your agency or organization. Submissions in this category should be sure to discuss how the emerging practice was chosen and the expected benefits.
Award Submission Eligibility
NOCoE TSMO Awards are open to any city, county, MPO (RPO, COG), regional or state agency and private sector organizations. All submissions were due by June 14, 2024.
Award Criteria
Applicants should describe a TSMO project or strategy, implemented within the last five years that demonstrates transportation system management or operations success in saving lives, time or money (individually or in combination). Submissions will be judged on the 1200 word submissions (with weighted sections) and supporting documentation that demonstrates an overall public, community and industry impact, creativity and advances TSMO.
Submissions may be shared publicly and on the NOCoE website (unless otherwise requested).
Submission Rules
All applications for the 2024 awards cycle must be submitted using an online submission portal. Applications must include any associated TSMO program planning documents, and may include any supporting documentation that further explains the processes involved.
Each submission should include:
- Name of the organization(s) applying for the award
- Name of contact applying for the award including:
- Address (city, state, zip code, country)
- Phone number
- Twitter handle (if applicable)
- Category being applied for
- Up to 1,200 words in the following sections:
- Background - Provide details of history and situation that led to a need for a TSMO solution
- TSMO Planning, Strategies and Deployment - Provide details of the TSMO implementation process from beginning to end
- Communications Planning and Execution - Provide details of the communications process with the public, within your agency, and if applicable, coordination with other agencies
- Outcome, Benefit and Learnings - Provide details of how the TSMO solution worked, any public or community benefit and lessons learned
- Photographs, diagrams, graphics, logos etc. associated with your submission. Please submit individually in 300 DPI or in the highest resolution possible. Also, any agency/company logos should be submitted in .eps format along with a .jpeg or .png.
Any supplemental materials that are not included in the case study submission document should be submitted at the same time. Please make sure all supporting documents share a common title (ex. TSMO AZ Case Study, TSMO AZ Photo1, TSMO AZ Diagram1).
Please consider that using video is an effective way of showcasing your submission and will be more compelling than text-only submissions. We advise that you include video content with your submission when possible.
Judging Criteria
10% – Background
20% – TSMO Planning, Strategies and Deployment
20% – Communications Planning and Execution
40% – Outcome, Learnings and Public Benefit
10% - Visual, photographic, and video materials
Joey Sagal TSMO Leadership Award (previously TSMO Champion)
Since 2019, NOCoE has named a TSMO Champion, an individual who has made significant contributions to advancing TSMO both inside their organization and within the industry at-large. The award is given via nominations from the industry, and then nominees are ranked by the leadership of the NOCoE partnership organizations.
This year, NOCoE has renamed the award to the Joey Sagal TSMO Leadership Award.
The award will maintain the same criteria and process as before and add a few items reflecting Joey Sagal’s legacy in the industry. Full criteria for nominees will be:
- Advancing TSMO inside their organization(s)
- Advancing TSMO across the country or within the industry at-large
- Demonstrated contributions across areas of TSMO, from road side assistance and TIM to project delivery and organizational management
- Demonstrated workforce development for personnel, including via career planning, training, or organizational culture