AASHTO Journal, 9 August 2013
With the application process now open for a second round of the SHRP2 FHWA/AASHTO implementation assistance, four top transportation officials this week shared their states’ approaches to implementing products from the first round.
At the 2013 Western Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (WASHTO) Conference, Malcolm Dougherty, Director of the California Department of Transportation, urged his fellow transportation agencies to get involved in the program, saying “your partnership and help are critical” in assisting state departments of transportation, metropolitan planning organizations, local agencies, and other interested organizations implement SHRP2 research products. Dougherty’s presentation can be found here.
The panel, Using SHRP2 Technologies to Achieve Success, focused on three products that were offered to states under the first round of the Implementation Assistance Program: a suite of tools to improve systems operations and management; innovative bridge designs for small and medium-sized bridges; and processes to assess conservation resources and priorities that will enable DOTs to better inform transportation planning. Dougherty led a panel of representatives from the Arizona Department of Transportation, Idaho Transportation Department, and his own agency to discuss their implementation approaches and strategies.
Barton Newton, State Bridge Engineer for CalTrans, discussed how his agency was incorporating Innovative Bridge Designs into its Fort Goff Creek Bridge streambed restoration project. The culvert and 60-foot long single-span bridge are located in a remote part of Northern California along the Klamath River in a severe climate area where freeze thaw cycles as well as heavy salting are common. The difficult site conditions paired with the significant distance from the nearest batch plant meant the use of precast elements as a superior choice for construction and lifecycle costs.
Newton said, the Fort Goff Creek Bridge project makes extensive use of the SHRP2 Bridge Design Toolkit. The construction of Fort Goff Creek Bridge will allow the channel section and stream bed beneath the highway to be restored to a more natural state. By using precast elements, the number of days traffic will be detoured with one-way traffic control will be reduced and the construction can be finished in one season.
Newton said that CalTrans has been developing an Accelerated Bridge Construction program for use in three general categories: emergency projects where rapid replacement is a top priority; projects that preclude conventional construction methods; and projects where innovative design can be used to tackle an emergency application to address time, safety, and environmental impacts. CalTrans hopes that the use of this SHRP2 product will assist their goal of standardizing Accelerated Bridge Construction in order to reduce on-site construction delays, minimize the use of detours, and decrease costs. Newton’s presentation is available here.
Jennifer Toth, Deputy Director for Transportation/State Engineer, said that the Arizona Department of Transportation is placing greater emphasis on transportation systems management and operations and is using SHRP2 Solutions to assist them in a variety of ways. Arizona was part of a pilot program during the SHRP2 research phase and used that experience to update their Traffic Operations Center with state-of the art technology. By implementing Operating for Reliability Tools, Toth said Arizona hopes to identify additional improvements, resources, and best practices; build a long-term strategy; and bring together stakeholders across the state.
Arizona’s technical approach to implementing the product will include an internal review and assessment of their systems management and operations capability within ADOT; a review with regional partners; and an effort to expand the program statewide. Arizona will also host one of five SHRP2 Regional Operations Forums in 2014.
According to Toth, an important aspect of Arizona’s approach to improving the reliability of its highway system includes incident management training for responders through the SHRP2 FHWA Train-the-Trainer Program. ADOT is working to make the training a requirement for all ADOT operations staff. Toth added, “This training will save the lives of our first responders, reduce secondary crashes, and reduce the time travelers have to wait in congestion due to accidents.” Toth’s presentation can be found here.
Erika Bowen, ITD’s Planning/Program Management Manager, said that Idaho will soon launch IPLAN, the transportation department’s web-based portal that will enable all its staff and external customers to easily view environmentally related data, bringing greater efficiency to the planning and decision-making process as well as strengthening outside partnerships. At the same time, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game is in the process of upgrading CHAT – the Crucial Habitat Assessment Tool that displays maps of crucial wildlife habitat. The two agencies will be working together on the Implementing Eco-Logical product to build strategies to reduce wildlife vehicular crashes and improve public safety.
Bowen said that by using Eco-Logical, they can identify lists of corridors for data refinement on specific Idaho fish and wildlife species and habitats; scale specific IDFG datasets and analysis to a more granular level for project planning; and incorporate the Fish and Game data into IPLAN.
“We hope to develop the conservation priorities that will enable us to conduct mitigation where it’s needed, and engage all the actors – national, state, and local – earlier in the process,” Bowen said. Bowen’s presentation is available here.
The application period for the latest round of Implementation Assistance extends through September 6, 2013, for the following four SHRP2 products: Railroad-DOT Mitigation Strategies (R16), Expediting Project Delivery (C19), Performance Specifications for Rapid Renewal (R07) and Managing Risk in Rapid Renewal Projects (R09). The assistance types will vary by product and may be in the form of direct funding back to the States or MPOs or technical assistance provided by FHWA or AASHTO. Specific informational webinars about these four products as well as other educational materials on the SHRP2 Implementation Assistance Program are available online here.
All presentations can be found here.