Preface
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.
