TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS

TSMO strategies help make road and bridge maintenance activities 

safer for workers and traffic and less disruptive to travelers by 

managing traffic during maintenance activities and alerting drivers 

to the presence of work crews and lane closures. 

Maintenance is vital to preserving the mobility and safety of 

transportation facilities, but road work activities often temporarily 

disrupt mobility and constrain the available capacity of the system. 

By incorporating TSMO strategies into planned and unplanned 

maintenance activities and making use of existing TSMO resources, 

maintenance staff can alleviate some of the congestion caused by 

a temporary lane closure or other capacity reduction and increase 

safety for travelers and workers. 

TSMO strategies that are helpful in increasing safety and mobility 

around maintenance activities include the following:

 Posting messages to variable message signs about 

maintenance work ahead enables drivers to be more alert as 

they drive by workers or to divert to another facility and avoid 

the work area. Operators at transportation management centers 

(TMCs) in the area are important partners in communicating 

alerts to travelers.

 Disseminating traveler information prior to maintenance activities 

alerts travelers to the time and location of traffic disruptions. 

By getting this information out early to potential travelers, 

departments of transportation (DOTs) can avoid or lessen demand 

on the facilities where maintenance work is occurring. 

 Activating existing active traffic management strategies 

manages traffic on the facility dynamically. Examples include 

variable speed limits to smooth traffic flow and reduce 

collisions, dynamic shoulder use to add capacity when needed, 

queue warning systems to prevent incidents, and lane control 

to indicate which lanes are closed ahead. 

 Coordinating with operators of potentially impacted jurisdictions 

to plan for and activate detours, signal timing, and ramp 

meter changes, or to change signal timing smooths the flow 

of traffic when maintenance work impacts lanes and traffic flow 

near intersections.

Enhancing Transportation:

Connecting TSMO

anD Maintenance

WHAT IS TSMO?

Transportation systems management 

and operations (TSMO) is the 

use of strategies, technologies, 

mobility services, and programs to 

optimize the safety, mobility, and 

reliability of the existing and planned 

transportation system. A significant 

cause of congestion and unreliable 

travel is non-recurring events, such as 

crashes and transportation network 

disruptions, bad weather, and special 

events. TSMO enables agencies to 

target the underlying operational 

causes of congestion and unreliable 

travel through targeted solutions that 

typically cost much less and are quicker 

to implement than adding capacity. 

TSMO expands the range of mobility 

choices available to system users, 

including shared mobility and nonmotorized options. 

This Fact Sheet is part of a series 

that explains how TSMO relates to 

other State and local transportation 

agency functions and offices. Other 

Fact Sheets focus on how TSMO 

relates to: asset management, 

performance management, design, 

safety, environment, planning, human 

resources, and construction.

MAINTENANCE

Photo Source: Getty Images
ENHANCING TRANSPORTATION: CONNECTING TMSO AND MAINTENANCE

Maintenance and TSMO functions depend on each other during road weather events such as major snow 

storms or other adverse weather conditions. TSMO strategies for addressing adverse weather conditions on 

roads and bridges include systems that monitor road weather conditions and provide critical travel advisory 

information. This helps keep travelers off roadways that need to be cleared by maintenance personnel. 

Additionally, road weather information systems support maintenance decisions, and in turn, maintenance 

supports TSMO functions during weather events by providing information back to operators on the 

conditions of roads and bridges based on observations or detectors installed on maintenance vehicles. TMCs 

can then relay this information to travelers. Routine maintenance activities, such as shoulder repair, shoulder 

cutting and grading, and pipe cleaning, work to drain and keep water off the roadway surface and help 

minimize flooding due to excessive stormwater. 

Why is maintenance important for TSMO?

Maintenance serves an important role in ensuring the effectiveness of TSMO strategies. Maintenance staff 

keep the physical assets or intelligent transportation systems (ITS) necessary for many TSMO functions in 

good operating condition. Assets such as traffic signals, ramp meter/count stations, closed-circuit television 

cameras, variable message signs, roadway weather information systems, and fiber-optic communications 

infrastructure must be repaired and replaced when necessary to enable the dissemination of traveler 

information and active traffic management. Maintenance staff should provide input to roadway design 

decisions that may impact their ability to access ITS devices and other TSMO-related equipment for 

maintenance. Maintenance staff should also provide input to the asset management of ITS devices to ensure 

that ITS devices are scheduled for maintenance and updated at appropriate frequency. 

How Has This Worked in Practice? 

 The Ohio Department of Transportation (DOT) encourages the use of TSMO strategies by highway 

maintenance forces to minimize traffic impacts. Strategies include coordinating road closures, 

communicating with TMCs, using driver alert information systems, and performing work during nonpeak hours when possible. 

 The New Hampshire DOT conducts an annual winter storm meeting to discuss how the State’s TMC, road 

maintenance, and weather operations will coordinate operations during the winter months. 

 The Minnesota DOT deployed a system that will automatically post messages on variable message signs to 

alert drivers to snow plows or maintenance vehicles when an equipped vehicle enters a pre-defined area. 

The system is used on a 34-mile stretch of I-94 and is intended to improve safety for snow/ice and other 

maintenance operations.1

 The Florida DOT operations and maintenance personnel use an ITS Facility Management (ITSFM) 

system to manage daily maintenance needs including preventative maintenance, diagnostics, and asset 

management for ITS devices.2

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Joseph Gregory, Federal Highway Administration

(202) 366-0610 | Joseph.Gregory@dot.gov

FHWA-HOP-18-090

December 2018

 1 Minnesota Department of Transportation, Work Zone Accident Reduction Deployment Evaluation (WZARDE), Web page. 

Available at: https://www.dot.state.mn.us/its/projects/2016-2020/wzarde.html. 

 2 Florida Department of Transportation, ITSFM Operations and Maintenance, Web page. Available at: http://www.fdot.gov/

traffic/itsfm/operations.shtml.