Regional Concept for Transportation Operations

A Tool for Strengthening and Guiding Regional Transportation Operations
Collaboration and Coordination

Prepared by

![](media/image1.png){width="2.2083333333333335in"
height="0.5979166666666667in"}

Federal Highway Administration

Office of Transportation Management

**November 13, 2023**

##   {#section .unnumbered}

## Preface {#preface .unnumbered}

The idea for a Regional Concept for Transportation Operations was
conceived by a FHWA-FTA Linking Planning and Operations Working Group
that met three times over a 15-month period in 2000 and 2001. This group
was charged with envisioning ways to make transportation planning and
transportation operations work together better for the benefit
transportation users and the community. The participants were officials
from the transportation operations, transportation planning, and the
public safety communities in local, regional, State, and Federal
agencies.

A Regional Concept for Transportation Operations emerged as a key tool
for strengthening and guiding regional transportation operations
collaboration and coordination. The group believed that a Regional
Concept for Transportation Operations could serve three important
purposes. First, it presents an operations vision and direction for the
future of transportation systems management and operations based on a
holistic view of the region. Second, it can garner commitment from
agencies and jurisdictions for a common regional approach to
transportation management and operations. Third, it provides an
opportunity to strengthen the linkage between regional planners and
managers responsible for transportation operations by providing a
coherent operations strategy for consideration in the planning process.

The working group's idea received support and endorsement in 2003 by a
special policy committee of the Transportation Research Board that was
convened to further explore the nature and implications of a Regional
Concept for Transportation Operations. The committee recommended that
the idea of a Regional Concept for Transportation Operations be refined
and expanded as a way to "assist and enable the multi-jurisdictional and
multi-functional agencies in all regions to work more effectively
together."

This white paper is the first step in introducing and framing the idea
of a Regional Concept for Transportation Operations. Subsequent work is
planned, involving many stakeholders and interest groups to explore its
implications and more fully develop its scope in various settings. The
result will be more detailed guidance for developing and using a
Regional Concept for Transportation Operations.

## Executive Summary {#executive-summary .unnumbered}

A Regional Concept for Transportation Operations (RCTO) presents a
regional objective for transportation operations and what is needed to
achieve that objective within a reasonably short timeframe, possibly
three to five years. It is a description of the desired state for
transportation operations presented as an operations objective
accompanied by a set of physical improvements that need to be
implemented, relationships and procedures that must be established, and
resource arrangements that are needed to accomplish the operations
objective. Both the operations objective and what is needed to achieve
it are accomplished through deliberate and sustained collaboration among
stakeholders. An RCTO is created out of ongoing collaboration primarily
between managers responsible for operating the transportation system on
a day-to-day basis, such as for traffic operations, transit service, and
public safety. Development of an RCTO should include participation by
the regional planning organization to ensure consistency with the
region's vision and goals.

The scope of an RCTO reflects the nature of the collaborative activity.
It guides the collaborative efforts of individual participants through a
common approach to achieve a common objective. An RCTO can address a
single service, (e.g., traffic incident management, traveler information
services, or electronic fare payment), a collection of related services
(e.g., congestion management for arterials and freeways), or
capabilities that cut across several services (e.g., wireless
communications network, surveillance and control systems, or vehicle
detection and locator systems). Additionally, an RCTO can stimulate
further collaborative activity. For example, an RCTO can help
collaboration on incident management expand to include emergency
management.

An RCTO serves three important purposes. First, it presents an
operations vision and direction for the future of transportation systems
management and operations based on a holistic view of the region.
Second, it can garner commitment from agencies and jurisdictions for a
common regional approach to transportation management and operations.
Third, provides an opportunity to strengthen the linkage between
regional planners and managers responsible for transportation operations
by providing a coherent operations strategy for consideration in the
planning process. An RCTO can be used as significant input into the
ongoing regional transportation planning and investment process by
communicating with transportation planners about regional management and
operations funding needs.

Table of Contents

[Preface 2](#preface)

[Executive Summary 3](#executive-summary)

[1. Introduction 5](#introduction)

[2. A Regional Concept for Transportation Operations -- At a Glance
5](#a-regional-concept-for-transportation-operations-at-a-glance)

[3. The Benefits of a Regional Concept for Transportation Operations
7](#the-benefits-of-a-regional-concept-for-transportation-operations)

[4. Elements of a Regional Concept for Transportation Operations
8](#elements-of-a-regional-concept-for-transportation-operations)

[5. What a Regional Concept for Transportation Operations Looks Like
11](#what-a-regional-concept-for-transportation-operations-looks-like)

[6. Challenges and Opportunities 14](#challenges-and-opportunities)

[7. Closing 15](#closing)

[Appendix A: Who is doing it? Some Examples
16](#appendix-a-who-is-doing-it-some-examples)

##  {#section-1 .unnumbered}

## Introduction

Effective transportation systems management and operation is crucial to
the safety, security, efficiency, and reliability of our Nation's
transportation systems, especially as travel demand rises and terrorism
threatens our mobility. Achieving effective management and operation of
transportation systems on a regional level means that agencies and
jurisdictions must collaborate in a deliberate and sustained fashion.
Nowhere is the need for regional collaboration and coordination more
evident than in metropolitan areas where numerous jurisdictions,
agencies, and service providers are responsible for managing and
operating a wide variety of transportation services. The public often
does not know or even care whose road they are driving on, so they do
not accept jurisdictional or agency boundaries as a reason why services
are not being coordinated.

Collaboration between operating agencies is often on an *ad hoc* basis,
usually limited to a project, special event, or emergency. Typically
when the project, special event, or emergency ends, so does the
collaborative effort. The challenge is to sustain and guide that
collaborative effort to address the daily operational issues that are so
important to the public and essential to improving system performance.

Regional improvements occur when agencies actively collaborate on
transportation management and operations in a much more deliberate and
sustained manner. Guided by a common operations vision of what needs to
be achieved and how to work together to achieve it, they can produce
significant results. For example:

-   Agencies better manage resources during traffic incidents because
    real-time information on transportation system performance is shared
    across agencies.

-   Road users have plenty of time to adjust their routes thanks to
    timely and relevant weather and traffic reports delivered seamlessly
    across jurisdictions, agencies, and modes.

-   Hazardous materials moving through an urban area are electronically
    identified and monitored by traffic management and public safety
    agencies to ensure their safe, secure, and efficient intermodal
    movement.

What often enables any collaborative effort to produce these kinds of
results is a common operations vision of what the operating agencies and
other transportation stakeholders want the management and operation of
the regional transportation system to look like and agreement on what
must be done to make it happen. This operations vision can greatly help
improve system performance by showing how agencies can work together to
achieve mutual objectives for safety, reliability, mobility, and
security matters. The process of creating and working to accomplish a
common objective builds strong relationships between agencies and
jurisdictions that can be relied upon to garner political support for
operations and address other common regional operations-related issues.

A Regional Concept for Transportation Operations (RCTO) presents this
common operations vision by describing a regional objective for
transportation operations and what is needed to achieve that objective
within a reasonably short timeframe, possibly three to five years. It is
a description of the desired state for transportation operations
presented as an operations objective plus a set of physical improvements
that need to be implemented, relationships and procedures that must
occur, and resource arrangements that are needed to accomplish the
operations objective. This paper focuses what an RCTO is, what it can
look like, its benefits, and its important role in creating an
opportunity for regional transportation operations collaboration and
coordination to flourish.

## A Regional Concept for Transportation Operations -- At a Glance

A Regional Concept for Transportation Operations is derived through
sustained collaboration among stakeholders. It contains the shared
regional objective for transportation operations and what is needed to
achieve that objective -- specifically physical improvements,
relationships and procedures, and resource arrangements. An RCTO is
created out of ongoing collaboration primarily between managers
responsible for operating the transportation system on a day-to-day
basis. The following key questions and answers on an RCTO provide a
sense of its scope and nature:

**What is the purpose of an RCTO?**

An RCTO serves three important purposes. First, it presents a mutual
operations vision and direction for the future of transportation systems
management and operations based on a holistic view of the region. It
guides the collaborative effort by bringing together varied
transportation operations perspectives from different agencies and
jurisdictions to provide a common approach for a common objective.
Through this effort, an RCTC assists participants in coordinating
priorities, leveraging resources, and alleviating duplicative efforts.
Second, it can garner commitment from agencies and jurisdictions for a
common regional approach to transportation management and operations.
Third, an RCTO provides an opportunity to strengthen the linkage between
regional planners and managers responsible for transportation operations
by providing a coherent operations strategy for consideration in the
planning process.

**Who is involved in creating an RCTO?**

An RCTO is a product of regional transportation operations collaboration
and coordination - a deliberate, continuous, and sustained activity that
includes transportation practitioners from different agencies and
jurisdictions who are responsible for day-to-day operations. These
individuals are often at the manager or official level. The development
process should also include those responsible for regional
transportation planning in order to be consistent and supportive of
regional goals, plans, and programs. The particular agencies that should
be involved depend heavily on the functional scope of the collaborative
activity. A sample of transportation-related participants that could be
involved in developing an RCTO is given below:

-   Traffic operations engineers and managers

-   Transit operations managers

-   Police officials

-   Fire officials

-   Emergency medical service (EMS) officials

-   Emergency managers

-   Port authority managers

-   Transportation planners

-   Bridge and toll facility operators

**What is the scope of an RCTO?**

The scope of an RCTO is shaped by the collaborative activity among
transportation operators from multiple jurisdictions. An RCTO can
address a single service (e.g., traffic incident management, traveler
information services, or electronic fare payment), a collection of
related services (e.g., congestion management for arterials and
freeways), or capabilities that cut across several services (e.g.,
wireless communications network, surveillance and control systems, or
vehicle detection and locator systems). The functional scope of an RCTO
may change over time in response to changes in the collaboration between
participants. For example, an RCTO can help collaboration on incident
management expand to include emergency management.

Services that tend to be of regional significance and could benefit from
an RCTO include:

-   Congestion management

-   Traffic incident management

-   Traveler information

-   Electronic payment services (e.g., transit, parking, tolls)

-   Emergency response and homeland security

-   Traffic signal coordination

-   Road weather management

-   Freight management

-   Work zone traffic management

-   Freeway management

**Why does an RCTO have a three- to five-year timeframe?**

Three to five years is the suggested horizon for an RCTO, although this
is can vary depending on the individual needs of the participating
jurisdictions and agencies. An RCTO focuses on an operations objective
that can be achieved in the near-term because that is the prevailing
perspective of most managers who have responsibility for improving
day-to-day operations. Significant improvements to transportation
operations can also be made beyond three to five years; however, the
short timeframe keeps the interest of results-oriented,
operations-minded stakeholder groups. Additionally, the three- to
five-year timeline of an RCTO facilitates coordination with capital
improvement programs (CIPs) in the region, such as the Transportation
Improvement Program (TIP), which relates to this three- to five-year
time period. .

**Is an RCTO just for metropolitan areas?**

No. An RCTO is useful in any geographic region or setting where
collaborative thinking about transportation operations is taking place
or is needed to identify and address the interests of multiple
constituencies. Geographic settings include small urban areas, rural
areas, freight corridors, national parks, tourist areas, as well as
larger metropolitan areas. Many non-urban or rural areas may find
significant benefit in creating an RCTO, as they often do not have a
regional planning process or metropolitan planning organization to bring
focus to the region.

**How will an RCTO affect how a participating agency operates?**

Agencies and jurisdictions will still control their own projects or
actions. Through developing an RCTO, agencies and jurisdictions can see
how some of their projects and actions can be coordinated and they can
work together to achieve a mutually agreed-upon operations objective. An
important feature of an RCTO is that it addresses services or functions
of regional significance that are best addressed from a regional
perspective. In some cases, an RCTO will lead to regional services
operated by a regional entity; in other cases it will provide the
overarching regional agreement that guides individual jurisdictions and
agencies as they make capital investment decisions, procure equipment
and services, and carry out their day-to-day operations
responsibilities.

**How does an RCTO relate to a regional intelligent transportation
systems (ITS) architecture?**

If a regional ITS architecture exists, it can be very useful in
developing a regional concept for transportation operations. If a
regional ITS architecture does not exist, its development can be enabled
through an RCTO. The relationships and procedures of an RCTO are closely
related to a regional ITS architecture. A regional ITS architecture maps
out how critical relationships and information sharing are enabled by
ITS. Key features contained in a regional ITS architecture that
facilitate relationships and information sharing are:

-   Operations concepts

-   Agreements

-   Inventories

-   Architecture flow

-   Standards

## The Benefits of a Regional Concept for Transportation Operations

A Regional Concept for Transportation Operations is a foundational,
outcome-oriented product of regional transportation operations
collaboration. It provides the overall guidance for both planning and
operations needed to ensure that both projects and day-to-day operations
are consistent with the regional vision and expectations for regional
transportation system performance. As such, it affords many benefits to
the region. For example, an RCTO:

-   **Presents a holistic approach to regional transportation system
    management and operations.**

> An RCTO enables managers responsible for day-to-day operations and
> regional planners to be proactive about operations. Creating an RCTO
> leads participating stakeholders to determine what the future of
> transportation operations needs to look like and how it can be
> achieved. This holistic approach helps decisionmakers to make better
> choices about operations and management investments because they have
> a better understanding of the overall direction of transportation
> operations in the near future.

-   **Helps to link operations to the planning process.**

> An RCTO provides a coherent operations strategy for consideration
> during the planning process. It also helps to create a common
> understanding of system operations by translating regional goals,
> objectives, and plans into an operations objective and actions.

-   **Creates a synergy between the regional ITS architecture and the
    broader picture of operations.**

> The synergy between these two "living documents" can develop as the
> RCTO informs the regional ITS architecture on the broader path of
> operations and the regional ITS architecture defines for the RCTO the
> region's current ITS capabilities and limitations in support of
> operations activities.

-   **Garners commitment among stakeholders to a common regional
    approach to operations**.

> As participating stakeholders gradually reach agreement on an RCTO,
> dedicate common resources, and form relationships with other
> participants, they become committed to a regional approach to address
> one or more issues of mutual interest, e.g., traffic incident
> management, traveler information services, and road weather
> management.

-   **Facilitates consistency between local decisions and regional
    objectives.**

> With an RCTO, agencies and jurisdictions control their own projects or
> actions with view to also helping achieve a larger regional operations
> objective. An RCTO provides a basis for local decisions because of
> unified participant support for regional collaboration and
> coordination. An RCTO forms a foundation for agencies and
> jurisdictions to understand the regional implications and benefits of
> their actions.

-   **Provides elected officials justification for promoting regional
    benefits through local decisions.**

> An RCTO gives elected officials a stronger case for justifying and
> supporting local decisions. It enables elected officials and operators
> to point out how managing, designing, and operating decisions, which
> affect different constituency groups in different ways, have positive
> benefits for the entire region.

## Elements of a Regional Concept for Transportation Operations

The four important elements of a Regional Concept for Transportation
Operations are: 1) the desired operations objective; 2) the set of
physical improvements, 3) the relationships and procedures, and 4) the
resource arrangements needed to achieve the objective.

### Operations Objective

The objective is derived from the collaborative activity and sets the
direction for its future. The operations objective defines the desired
state of operations at the end of a set timeframe that is mutually
agreed upon by all the participants. It is also what the stakeholders
believe they can realistically achieve within that timeframe through a
combination of physical improvements, relationships and procedures, and
resource arrangements. The objective must support and help to actualize
the overall regional vision and goals, if they exist, established
through the regional transportation planning process.

The breadth of the operations objective depends on the functional scope
of the collaborative activity. For example, the operations objective for
an RCTO about road weather management may have the following operations
objective: reduce speed limits with Variable Speed Limit signs during
hazardous weather conditions on at least 75 percent of all major roads
in the region. In cases where the collaborative activity driving the
RCTO has a broader focus on operations, the objective will typically
address numerous operational issues rather then a single service area.
An operations objective of this nature may be to develop a regional
traffic management center that coordinates the flow of traffic
information between agencies and with the public during special events,
hazardous weather, construction, and emergencies. As the nature of the
sustained collaborative activity between stakeholders evolves, so should
the objective stated in the RCTO.

### Physical Improvements

The physical improvements defined in an RCTO describe the facilities,
equipment, systems, staff, and services needed to be put in place to
achieve the operations objective. Additionally, an RCTO shows what
investments are needed for these improvements and how they fit together
to deliver better customer service and system performance. To be
accomplished in a three- to five-year time period, some or all of these
improvements may be programmed locally in existing capital improvement
programs or regionally in the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP)
prepared through the regional transportation planning process.

Some of the critical physical improvements of an RCTO may include the
following:

-   Communications technology and equipment that connect police, fire,
    emergency medical, transit, maintenance, and traffic.

-   Roadside technologies for collecting data and disseminating
    information to travelers along evacuation routes.

-   Vehicles and equipment needed to respond to traffic incidents and
    emergencies on designated arterials and freeways.

-   Hardware and software to monitor and manage traffic at a regional
    level.

### Relationships and Procedures

The *relationships and procedures* of an RCTO define how the
stakeholders participating in the collaborative activity will work
together to achieve the operations objective. This includes multi-agency
and multi-jurisdictional working agreements, institutional arrangements,
memorandums of understanding (MOUs), and interoperability standards.
Given the expectations of decisionmakers and the public for regional
operations activity in the future, the challenge is to build and sustain
the relationships that will be needed to meet these demands beyond just
the operations objective at hand. Much of what it will take to achieve
the operations objective of an RCTO depends on relationship building and
information sharing.

The relationships and procedures in an RCTO should reflect the fact that
although agencies and jurisdictions retain control of their operations,
they may have responsibilities for operating and managing their systems
and services in ways that provide for a more collective regional
benefit. Areas where regional relationships and procedures are paramount
include traffic incident management, traveler information services, road
construction management, and emergency response.

Some of the critical relational or procedural aspects of an RCTO may
include the following:

-   Establishing the potential benefits through a commissioned study,
    modeling, or other cost/benefit analyses.

-   Developing regional technical standards and protocols for data
    sharing, interfacing, and interoperability.

-   Identifying a sequence for deployment, prioritizing areas or
    agencies for improvement.

-   Developing agreements for procurement, ownership, or control.

-   Developing agreements for ongoing management and operations to
    achieve expected benefits.

-   Defining an approach to measure performance and track success.

The relationships and procedures may address:

-   How will stakeholders achieve coordination, integration and/or
    interoperability for optimum performance?

-   How is information obtained, managed, and shared?

-   How do agencies and systems work together in specific situations?

-   How can the RCTO leverage the regional ITS architecture, if one
    exists?

### Resource Arrangements

The *resource arrangements* identify the resources needed in order to
actualize and sustain the operations objective. Resources may include
investments in time, money, staff, and equipment for better operations
and system performance. Some of these investments involve budget
allocations; others are commitments of staffing, equipment, or
facilities to support regionally significant activities. The resources
may be made available for accomplishing a regional objective by
participating agencies that will understand and realize benefits.
Funding may also be pursued from local, State, and Federal sources.

Examples of resource arrangements are:

-   Jurisdictions or agencies budgeting resources for a project that is
    under their control, yet also a key aspect of a joint regional
    initiative.

-   Contributing funds and staff time to sustain regional collaboration
    and coordination activities.

-   Exchanging or sharing staff or equipment during emergencies or as a
    result of budget limitations.

-   Applying for state funds through the metropolitan planning process.

Resource arrangements may address:

-   How can resources be allocated to allow computer systems to expand
    over time?

-   What resources are needed to sustain and meet performance
    expectations?

-   How can resource and investment decisions help to achieve a regional
    objective for operations?

-   What staff will be needed to adequately operate and control joint
    systems?

-   How will we prepare the system to adapt to external events that
    affect system performance such as security threats, natural
    disasters, or special events?

## What a Regional Concept for Transportation Operations Looks Like

A Regional Concept for Transportation Operations can take many forms
depending on the current collaborative activity between regional
participants. The following examples illustrate three RCTOs that have
different focuses based upon the nature of the collaborative activity on
transportation operations. Please note that the examples are intended to
be illustrative of the contents of an RCTO and not necessarily
representative of the scale for a three- to five-year level of activity.
The content, scope, and scale will vary depending upon the nature of
what can be accomplished over a three- to five-year time period and what
may already exist in the Transportation Improvement Program.

The first example, Regional Concept for Transportation Operations --
Congestion Management, deals with a broader area of operations,
congestion management, which encompasses several related services. The
multi-jurisdictional services included are incident management, signal
coordination, and traveler information. They all contribute to the
overall objective of managing recurring and non-recurring congestion.

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ***Regional Concept for Transportation Operations - Congestion        |
| Management***                                                         |
|                                                                       |
| ***Operations Objective:** Within the next five years, recurring and  |
| non-recurring congestion will be actively managed through the         |
| application of integrated regional transportation systems management  |
| and operations strategies on selected facilities on major travel      |
| corridors.*                                                           |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ***Physical Improvements:***                                          |
|                                                                       |
| -   Signals at 50 intersections along major routes will be            |
|     coordinated.                                                      |
|                                                                       |
| -   Dynamic message signs will be operational at 10 arterial          |
|     locations and 10 freeway locations.                               |
|                                                                       |
| -   Highway advisory radio will cover 50 percent of selected          |
|     facilities along major travel corridors.                          |
|                                                                       |
| -   Incident detection, verification, response, and management will   |
|     be aided through the use of at least 20 new freeway service       |
|     patrol tow trucks equipped with advanced vehicle location         |
|     systems.                                                          |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ***Relationships and Procedures:***                                   |
|                                                                       |
| -   A regional operations collaborative activity will build           |
|     relationships, determine ownership and control responsibilities,  |
|     and guide the development and installation of equipment and       |
|     services.                                                         |
|                                                                       |
| -   Existing and planned initiatives, as identified in transportation |
|     plans and improvement programs will be coordinated on a regional  |
|     basis.                                                            |
|                                                                       |
| -   Region-wide system performance measures, interagency agreements,  |
|     and MOUs will be established to achieve installation and          |
|     performance expectations.                                         |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ***Resource Arrangements:***                                          |
|                                                                       |
| -   Joint purchasing agreements help agencies and jurisdictions to    |
|     buy according to agreed-upon standards.                           |
|                                                                       |
| -   An ongoing regional operations collaboration and coordination     |
|     forum will be jointly supported by agencies and jurisdictions in  |
|     the region.                                                       |
|                                                                       |
| -   The regional TIP will contain projects and services that support  |
|     the operations objective.                                         |
|                                                                       |
| -   The capital improvement programs of participating agencies and    |
|     jurisdictions will contain supporting projects and activities.    |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

The second example, Regional Concept for Transportation Operations --
Regional Communications, demonstrates an RCTO that focuses on a regional
capability that cuts across multiple services. The wireless integrated
network facilitates road weather, evacuation, traffic incident, and
special event management.

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ***Regional Concept for Transportation Operations - Wireless          |
| Integrated Network***[^1]                                             |
|                                                                       |
| ***Operations Objective:** Within the next five years, operators in   |
| the region will be able to coordinate activities rapidly and          |
| effectively using a wireless integrated network in response to        |
| non-recurring congestion caused by construction, weather,             |
| emergencies, traffic incidents, and special events.*                  |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ***Physical Improvements:***                                          |
|                                                                       |
| -   Voice and data network integrated across public safety and        |
|     transportation agencies and across multiple states.               |
|                                                                       |
| -   Mobile data system with message-switching functions and a message |
|     gateway function to connect different systems.                    |
|                                                                       |
| -   Graphical user interface software for mobile computers and        |
|     personal digital assistants (PDAs).                               |
|                                                                       |
| ```{=html}                                                            |
| <!-- -->                                                              |
| ```                                                                   |
| -   Computer hardware including PDAs for field personnel.             |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ***Relationships and Procedures:***                                   |
|                                                                       |
| -   An executive leadership group, development group, technical       |
|     working group, and operational group will be formed, assigned     |
|     specific duties, and meet at least once a week.                   |
|                                                                       |
| -   The benefits of the wireless integrated network will be marketed  |
|     to decisionmakers and the public.                                 |
|                                                                       |
| -   An ITS architecture with associated agreements and standards will |
|     be developed and used to guide information sharing and data       |
|     exchange.                                                         |
|                                                                       |
| -   Interagency agreements and MOUs to facilitate information sharing |
|     will be established.                                              |
|                                                                       |
| -   Region-wide system performance measures and information sharing   |
|     standards and protocols will be established.                      |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ***Resource Arrangements:***                                          |
|                                                                       |
| -   Joint purchasing agreements will be established and used.         |
|                                                                       |
| -   Staff exchange and training programs will be created and          |
|     utilized.                                                         |
|                                                                       |
| -   Cost sharing arrangements and shared use agreements will be       |
|     produced.                                                         |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

As the final example, the Regional Concept for Transportation Operations
-- Traffic Incident Management (TIM) represents an RCTO that features a
single service area, TIM. Some of the physical improvements,
relationships and procedures, and resource arrangements are similar to
those in the two earlier examples. The stakeholders forming the RCTO can
take advantage of systems, agreements, and resource arrangements that
they already agreed to or put in place. The ties between these examples
illustrate how one RCTO can serve as the foundation for others.

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ***Regional Concept for Transportation Operations - Traffic Incident  |
| Management***                                                         |
|                                                                       |
| ***Operations Objective:*** *Within five years, improved              |
| communications, procedures, and equipment will reduce the clearance   |
| time of traffic incidents by 25 percent on all freeways.*             |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ***Physical Improvements:***                                          |
|                                                                       |
| -   *Detection* -- The number of improved loop/camera detectors, and  |
|     service patrols will be expanded by 20 percent.                   |
|                                                                       |
| -   *Verification* -- Number of cameras and other devices will be     |
|     expanded to provide information for deploying resources.          |
|                                                                       |
| -   *Response* -- Compatible computer-aided dispatch systems to alert |
|     and quickly dispatch appropriate assets will be installed in all  |
|     agencies. The number of service patrols and emergency vehicles    |
|     with AVL will be expanded by 20 percent.                          |
|                                                                       |
| -   *Clearance* -- 20 new freeway service patrol trucks will be used  |
|     for efficient vehicle clearance;                                  |
|                                                                       |
| -   *Recovery* -- The number of pre-positioned towing assets to       |
|     remove vehicles will be increased by 25 percent during peak       |
|     periods and for special events.                                   |
|                                                                       |
| -   *Incident Site Management* -- Compatible mobile communications    |
|     devices on common frequencies will support coordination among     |
|     agencies, jurisdictions, and private sector entities.             |
|                                                                       |
| -   *Traffic Management/Motorist Information* --highway advisory      |
|     radio and dynamic message signs will provide timely and accurate  |
|     information to motorists concerning expected delays and alternate |
|     routes.                                                           |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ***Relationships and Procedures:***                                   |
|                                                                       |
| -   *An ongoing regional forum for collaboration and coordination on  |
|     traffic incident management will be created and used to build     |
|     relationships, determine ownership and control responsibilities,  |
|     and guide the development and installation of equipment and       |
|     services.*                                                        |
|                                                                       |
| -   *Contracts and incentives with towing companies for quick         |
|     response will be established.*                                    |
|                                                                       |
| -   *Agreements and protocols for information sharing and data        |
|     exchange will be established and used by each agency responsible  |
|     for traffic incident clearance such as fire, police, State DOT,   |
|     emergency medical, and towing.*                                   |
|                                                                       |
| -   *Formal agreements for response coordination and mutual           |
|     assistance will be established and used.*                         |
|                                                                       |
| -   *Standard measures to track success, including detection,         |
|     response time, and time to clear the incident will be developed   |
|     and agreed upon.*                                                 |
|                                                                       |
| -   *Agreements to share monitoring and control in off-peak periods   |
|     will be established.*                                             |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ***Resource Arrangements:***                                          |
|                                                                       |
| *Support for an ongoing regional forum for collaboration and          |
| coordination by contributing staff time and dollars among agencies    |
| and jurisdictions will continue. Traffic, transit, and public safety  |
| agencies will routinely exchange staff. Shared equipment and staff    |
| during emergencies, weather events, special events, and traffic       |
| incidents that are long term (e.g., more then six hours in duration)  |
| are enabled by cost reimbursement agreements.*                        |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

## Challenges and Opportunities

A regional concept for transportation operations requires deliberate,
sustained collaboration among transportation operators and others who
recognize the opportunity to improve transportation system performance
in their region. The participants will face a number of significant
challenges and opportunities as they work together to achieve mutual
objectives. Among these challenges and opportunities are:

-   **Identifying and defining the basis for collaboration**.

In some areas, collaboration will come as a natural outgrowth of
existing relationships fostered through past projects (e.g., ITS model
deployment initiative or regional ITS architecture process) and events
(e.g., hosting the Olympic Games or a political convention) that brought
individuals and agencies together. These collaborative activities can
demonstrate the benefits of working together and provide the foundation
for recognizing areas where the collaboration needed to develop an RCTO
can be sustained. In other areas, collaboration will be initiated when
operators and others from two or more jurisdictions identify
opportunities for improving regional transportation system performance
and *decide* to collaborate to develop an RCTO. The RCTO may begin as a
single function that crosses a jurisdictional boundary but grows to
include more functions and jurisdictions as the value of the RCTO
becomes more evident.

-   **Creating a multi-jurisdictional operations perspective.**

> Most operating agencies are responsible to the leadership of a single
> jurisdiction and operate assets and provide services within a single
> jurisdiction (the notable exception being regional transit services).
> This leads operators to typically view their responsibilities from the
> perspective of their individual jurisdictions and agencies. An RCTO
> requires a larger perspective of how multiple agencies can work
> together across jurisdictional boundaries to improve *regional*
> transportation system performance. This view acknowledges that a
> *regional* approach to transportation systems management and
> operations requires jurisdictions to develop *regional* strategies to
> achieve significant gains. This view also recognizes that if
> jurisdictions fail to work together, regional transportation system
> performance will reflect the conflicting purposes, lack of
> coordination, system incompatibility, and parochial thinking of
> individual agencies and jurisdictions that attempt to achieve local
> objectives without a regional perspective.
>
> A multi-jurisdictional operations vision enables the creation of a
> multi-jurisdictional operations objective. The challenge in developing
> these objectives is recognizing how cooperating agencies and
> jurisdictions can translate a multi-jurisdictional operations vision
> into a measurable and actionable objective that helps guide both the
> day-to-day activities of individual agencies and the investment
> decisions.

-   **Determining what can reasonably be done over three- to five-year
    period.**

> One of the challenges operating agencies face is balancing the demands
> of the day-to-day with longer-term planning. Operating agencies are
> typically most concerned with delivering services that respond to
> near-term imperatives and are not expected to prepare long-term (e.g.,
> 10- to 20-year) plans. Operating agencies typically plan for budgeting
> purposes; for replacing, maintaining, or augmenting equipment; and for
> introducing new technologies and materials that will improve service
> delivery or administrative efficiency. Developing an RCTO helps to
> balance these competing imperatives of delivering service today while
> thinking about how best to delivery services in the future.

-   **Understanding what relationships and stakeholders are key to
    creating an RCTO**.

Each multi-jurisdictional region is unique in its composition, economy,
needs, and priorities. Operating agencies and others who participate in
creating an RCTO must understand the "drivers" that make the region
unique. This will largely determine where support is needed to develop
and implement the RCTO. These stakeholders include those that use the
transportation system directly (e.g., commuters, goods movers, public
safety agencies), those who provide transportation services (e.g.,
transit agencies, toll operators, transportation authorities, DOTs,
departments of public works, port authorities), and those who depend on
the regional transportation to support their activities (e.g., shippers,
major employers, tourists attractions, local businesses). While not all
of these stakeholders may be involved in developing an RCTO, most will
be affected, so their perspectives and concerns should be considered to
ensure that the RCTO is robust and garners maximum political and
resource support.

-   **Obtaining, allocating, sharing resources to achieve the
    multi-jurisdictional operations objective.**

> Perhaps the greatest challenge comes in convincing individual
> jurisdictions to share resources to achieve significant improvements
> in *regional* transportation system. These resources may be in-kind as
> when agency staff participate in regional meetings; they may be staff
> assignments as when jurisdictions and agencies agree to staff a
> regional facility with personnel from individual agencies; they may be
> pooled resources as when jurisdictions include in their individual
> budgets the resources needed to fund a joint effort. In some cases,
> multiple jurisdictions will need to work together to obtain grants
> from Federal agencies or other sources to develop and implement an
> RCTO which will often require some level of matching funds from State
> or local sources. Resource allocation and sharing requires the same
> level of commitment as that of setting a regional operations objective
> -- and, in many ways, is the best evidence of how committed each
> jurisdiction is to achieving these objectives.

-   **Building on current collaborative activities occurring in the
    region.**

> In most regions, there are numerous events and projects that require
> multi-jurisdictional collaboration and coordination in planning and
> execution. For example, many areas host large festivals, conventions,
> or experience tremendous seasonal variation in travel demand, so
> neighboring jurisdictions work together to accommodate the event or
> period of high demand. Similarly, when major road or transit system
> construction or rehabilitation projects occur, neighboring
> jurisdictions often coordinate travel demand management and traffic
> management to minimize the degradation of system performance.
>
> In recent years, increased concern for homeland security and emergency
> evacuation have caused neighboring jurisdictions to work together to
> develop plans and implement procedures and technologies for emergency
> situations. Activities such as these often bring together the
> transportation, public safety, planning, and other interests to
> develop and execute the most effective *regional* strategy for the
> event or activity. These collaborative activities can provide the
> foundation for longer-term, sustained collaboration in developing an
> RCTO.

-   **Linking planning and operations.**

> An RCTO can be an effective way to bring operators and planners
> together by providing a window through which planners see operations
> investments as an important option for enhancing the capacity and
> efficiency of the existing infrastructure. Likewise, operators see
> ways of introducing capital investment opportunities for operations
> projects into the planning process. Further, the RCTO encourages
> operators in a region to think together about the possibilities for
> improving the regional transportation system through strategic
> investments in operations-related projects.

## Closing

Many of the possibilities for safe, reliable, and secure transportation
in the 21^st^ Century depend upon operators, planners, and others
working together toward a collective vision for regional transportation.
These possibilities are realized only when managers and officials of
agencies and jurisdictions responsible for delivering transportation and
public safety services in a region collaborate on what needs to happen
to improve regional transportation system performance. With agreement on
what is possible and what must happen to get there, these stakeholders
can focus on improving regional transportation system performance for
the future. Serving the public and improving performance at the
region-wide level requires extraordinary collaboration between regional
stakeholders led by a common operations vision. This is what a Regional
Concept for Transportation Operations provides.

## Appendix A: Who is doing it? Some Examples  {#appendix-a-who-is-doing-it-some-examples .unnumbered}

While the term "Regional Concept for Transportation Operations" is not
widely used, several regions have developed a similar approach to guide
investment decisions, design and deployment activities, and day-to-day
activities. Two such examples are in Phoenix, Arizona and San Francisco,
California.

### Maricopa Association of Governments Regional Concept of Transportation Operations[^2]

The central region of Arizona contains one of the largest urban areas in
the nation, Maricopa County. It spans the Phoenix urbanized area where
more than three million people live in roughly 1,500 square miles. The
complex jurisdictional division of transportation services in Maricopa
County presents a significant challenge to the delivery of regional
system management and operations. Each city has its own transportation
system, operational procedures, and priorities, although public safety
is well-coordinated under mutual aid agreements. Crossing several
jurisdictions are many major arterial corridors that often include
multiple traffic signal systems. A few organizations provide a
foundation for regional transportation operations coordination including
the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) ITS Committee, AZTech^TM^,
and the East and West Valley Traffic Signal Timing Groups.

Spearheaded by the MAG ITS Committee in 2001 and fueled by the region's
need for ITS deployment coordination, the *MAG Regional Concept of
Transportation Operations* was developed by a group of stakeholders from
city, county, regional, State, and Federal agencies and assisted by
consultants.

The stakeholders arrived at a common vision and mission for the region's
transportation system operations by reaching a consensus between
stakeholder perspectives. Guided by the vision, the stakeholders
developed three- and five-year operational goals for the region, such as
"limit the percent increase in average arterial travel time to less than
the percent increase in traffic volume." To address these goals, eleven
initiatives and associated steps for action were created such as the
initiative of transit signal priority and its associated action, "plan,
deploy, operate, maintain and evaluate a Transit Signal Priority pilot
project." In order to track their progress, they agreed upon common
operational performance measures.

Several measures were taken to insure success of the newly formed
initiatives. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to be signed by each
participating agency was formed. The intent of the MOU is to acquire
commitment from the participants to work towards the initiatives and
coordinate with one another in managing and operating the region's
transportation system. Furthermore, existing regional forums or
committees and a champion were assigned responsibility for one or more
initiatives. The champion's duties included being a leader for the area
and reporting on the progress at the MAG ITS Committee meetings. A
guidance document is currently being developed to assist agencies as
they begin to implement the actions described in the *MAG Regional
Concept of Transportation Operations*.

### Bay Area Freeway Concept of Operations

The Bay Area, a heavily urbanized region of California which includes
San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland, is home to more than 6.7 million
people. Between 1990 and 2000, the area experienced rapid population
growth, contributing to severe congestion.[^3] The extensive freeway
network of the Bay Area is managed primarily by three regional agencies:
Caltrans District 4 (Caltrans), Metropolitan Transportation Commission
(MTC), and California Highway Patrol Golden Gate Division (CHP) along
with several local agencies.[^4]

The Bay Area Freeway Management systems include independent congestion
management, incident management, and traveler information systems.
Congestion management is primarily the domain of Caltrans through its
Traffic Operations System (TOS). MTC covers traveler information for the
area though TravInfo. CHP has historically been the primary agency for
freeway law enforcement and incident management and utilizes a
computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system. Because the freeway management
activities demand a high level of coordination among so many agencies,
the three regional agencies, Caltrans, MTC, and CHP, decided to jointly
develop the *Bay Area Freeway Concept of Operations* in order to improve
the Bay Area operations policies, procedures, and practices.[^5]

The development process involved a Technical Advisory Committee composed
of agency staff, an Executive Committee of a top executive from each of
the regional agencies, and public agency stakeholders who provided input
during the process. The formation of the *Bay Area Freeway Concept of
Operations* followed approximately these steps[^6]:

-   Define a mutually agreed upon Freeway Management Program Vision, and
    develop supporting goals and measurable objectives at three levels:
    Freeway Management Program, Freeway Operations, and the Freeway
    Concept of Operations.

-   Inventory the current policies, practices, and resources of regional
    and local agencies in order to identify areas of potential
    improvements especially those involving interactions between
    regional agencies.

-   Identify key institutional and technical issues likely to be
    significant in future freeway operations. Institutional issues that
    are raised indicate where coordination is lacking and should be
    improved such as harmonizing ramp meters with nearby traffic signals
    on arterials and data sharing policies.

-   Develop a strategy plan that recommends institutional and technical
    improvements that will facilitate freeway operations.

-   Create an action plan that prioritizes initiatives from the strategy
    plan and provides a sequence of actions to implement each strategy.
    Within the action plan, a lead agency is designated for each
    initiative, and the timeframe and resources needed to implement the
    strategy are defined.

The immediate result of the *Bay Area Freeway Concept of Operations*
project consists of several key documents that delineate a regional
consensus of what freeway operations should look like in the near future
and how the participating agencies can meet the new expectations.

[^1]: Some ideas were taken from the Capital Wireless Integrated
    Network. (November 15, 2002). Strategic Plan. Retrieved on June 26,
    2004, from
    http://www.capwin.org/extras/reports/CapWIN_Strategic_Plan_2002-2003.doc

[^2]: Maricopa Association of Governments, [Regional Concept of
    Transportation Operations: Final Report]{.underline} (Phoenix: MAG,
    November 2003) in consultation with Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc.

[^3]: Bay Area Census from Census 2000,SF1, SF3, DP1-DP4, American
    Community Survey 2002 Summary Tables. Retrieved April 2004 from
    <http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/bayarea.htm>.

[^4]: Metropolitan Transportation Commission, [Bay Area Freeway Concept
    of Operations: Public Agency Review Plan]{.underline} (2001)
    prepared by Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc.

[^5]: Metropolitan Transportation Commission, [Bay Area Freeway Concept
    of Operations: Key Institutional and Technical Issues]{.underline}
    (2001) prepared by Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc.

[^6]: Metropolitan Transportation Commission, [Bay Area Freeway Concept
    of Operations: Public Agency Review Plan]{.underline} (2001)
    prepared by Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc.